Requiescat in pace

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Yes, it’s AI. Again, I’m a thug, not an artist.

Society needs pole stars, centers of stability that people as a whole can look to and use as a guide and navigation aid in turbulent times.

Not a lot of “world leaders” fit this description. Most of them aren’t in office long enough to become a stable figure to their own countries, much less anywhere else.

Queen Elizabeth II was one such pole star. Like her or not, she was a solid, serene presence for the Western world for 70 years.

The Pope of the Catholic Church is another one. They all blend together into one amorphous individual, but there has always been a Pope in Rome.

I dislike organised religion intensely (a trait, I think, that I inherited from my father¹) however I’m old enough and wise enough to understand that religion is a necessary pain in the butt for society as a whole.

Of all the major religions that I’ve had to deal with throughout my life, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have been the ones that were the least pain in my fourth point of contact, while still being the most effectively² good.

This last Pope, though …

To be gently honest, he seemed to enjoy being a disrupter during a time when the world needed more stability, not less; and the faint whiff of Marxism that seemed to linger in his presence didn’t do much to engender trust from those of us suspicious types.

However, he has gone beyond the veil — what happens to him now is beyond our ken, or concern — and recriminations levelled against a man who can no longer defend himself draw no honour to anyone³.

Rest in peace Jorge Mario Bergoglio. May your memory be a blessing and a comfort.

Ian

1. Da’ once said, “Organised religion is a Latin phrase that means ‘You’re too damned dumb to understand what God really means, so I’ll let you know what God really means.’”

2. Note the qualifier. Praying at the altar while thugs drag your parishioners out the door may be “good”; but standing between the thugs and the parishioners with a Browning Hi-Power, loudly praying that the head thug gets right with Jesus is “effectively good”.

3. However, if the College of Cardinals could see fit to elect a Pope who is — I don’t know — Catholic this time, those of us watching events unfold would take it as a kindness.