Malachi O’Doherty relecting on the innate contradictions between an evangelised Catholic church in the third world and what he claims is the a la carte Catholicism of Europe.He concludes with a complex irony:
The entire Catholic world is emotionally involved in the passing of that enthralling man, John Paul II. But in a perhaps ironic reflection of the old injunction to love the sinner and hate the sin, Catholics, in their millions, loved that man and disregarded his teaching. What many of them will be looking for in the next Pope is that same charm and energy; they will hardly get that. They will not be looking forward to a Pope who nurtures the same doctrinal fundamentalism as John Paul did. They did not love him for his teaching. They forgave him his teachings because they loved him as a man.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty