The New York Times Works Up A Lather Over Ratzinger

They must think he's the next Pope:

There was never doubt that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's hard-line defender of the faith, would have a strong hand in selecting the next pope. But in the days of prayer and politics before the conclave, which begins on Monday, he has emerged as perhaps the surprise central figure: the man who could become the 265th pope, choose him or be the one other cardinals knock from the running.

Any talk of who will become the next pope is guesswork, echoes from cardinals and their staffs sworn to silence about one of the world's most elite and secretive gatherings.

But one bit of wisdom has emerged in the Italian press as conventional: that Cardinal Ratzinger, a German close to John Paul II, has up to 50 votes among the 115 elector cardinals, or at least that is the strength his supporters claim.

It would be nice if major media organs would send somebody to cover these major religious events who would leave their Bolshevik politics and perpetual sneer at home.

The vote for Pope is not a political act, it's a religious one. The cardinals are doing their level best to pick the man who God wishes to run the Catholic Church at this time. It is quite a different enterprise than that undertaken by the New York City Democrat political machine to pick their next corrupt and mobbed-up city official.

It would be nice if The Times recognized that, but they somehow hold out hope the cardinals will pick John Kerry. After all, he's already got a Magic Hat.