I mean no disrespect – for NBC, the writer, or the Catholic Church for that matter. But this headline surprised me, just a bit.
From the website: NBCNews.com
Without a pope, who’s running the Catholic Church?
Really? Who is running the church? Like it’s a school bus barreling down the street filled with screaming children and the overwrought driver just leaped out? Not the same scenario.
Like a grocery store – at the express line maybe – and about a dozen shoppers with arms filled with merchandise watching in distress as the clerk peels out of his apron and abandons the cash register? Nah. I don’t think so.
Like the President of the US up and quitting and maybe North Korea or some other jumpy bunch thinking it’s the most opportune time to launch an attack? Well….. no. Who is going to fire up the rocket launchers and tanks to invade the Vatican? I’m thinking, no one.
The Pope changed the rules before he quit, so the Cards can elect a successor right away. They’ll get about their business and a new passenger for the Pope-Mobile will take his comfy and secure seat. Could be any day now, already.
Without a pope, who’s running the Catholic Church? What? They don’t have someone to sign the payroll checks, or lock up the doors at night? Without a pope, is there no one to put out the Papal cat? Was the Holy Father answering the Apostolic Telephone Switchboard?
The Church? Been around a couple of thousand years.
It will last through the intervening days, while the Pope-cape and top hat are resized.
Meanwhile, if you are looking for some heavy religious reading, you might consider the 1855 volume shown in the image. It weighs in at five-pounds, eight-ounces. Compare that to less than a pound for a typical paperback book.
This little one-owner (I can’t guarantee that…) was published before the US Civil War, and is still holding up very nicely, thank you very much. Typical of the more expensive books of that time, it has a quantity of steel engravings, which in the era before the invention of photography as we know it, allowed folks to see exacting reproductions and original works of art. Many were carefully clipped from books and framed, to be hung on the wall as artwork.
There are no pages missing in this book, though. Leather bound with gold embossing, it would make an impressive addition to any scholar or book collector’s library.
Unfortunately, my cellphone camera doesn’t do close-up photography that well (or perhaps it is better blamed on the photographer…), but you can click on either image for a larger view of the book and one of its plates.
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