I was hoping passively for Scherer but a break from the European of any sort is welcome. The time was definitely right for an influx of "new blood" after all the crap the papacy's been through lately.
Unfortunately, we're talking the Vatican here, and the new blood is still so conservative I have to automatically hate him. But change is slow.
Alas, my Colbert for Pope push didn't catch on quickly enough.
I hate how much press attention the announcement of a new Pope gets. I really rarely discuss religion anymore because it is just so tiring and redundant but isn't it a little ridiculous that there is an organization on our planet that claims their leader can talk to God? Well I suppose that is to be expected... but what is ridiculous is that that organization has power and cultural capital. In positive news... religion is beginning to crumble in America. I think we are about to witness an avalanche of secularism in the new 20 years. 20% of Americans are now "non-religious" and 40% of liberal Americans are "non-religious". It's coming.
Oh, an old white guy? Who picked him, M. Night Shyamalan? 'cos I'm surprised. EDIT: To avoid this comment being equal to a low-quality reddit comment, I will also add: His race actually doesn't matter terribly, but I'm not convinced he's going to actually be any different than his predecessor, whether he's from Argentina or not. His track record isn't particularly liberal, that's for sure. A Jesuit is a pretty interesting choice though, they do have a tendency to favor education quite a bit. Perhaps we'll see a rise in scientific and educational standards among Catholic institutions soon, which would be exciting. I don't have high hopes though.