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{"id":42129,"date":"2013-02-20T00:46:41","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T07:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=42129"},"modified":"2014-12-30T00:54:07","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T07:54:07","slug":"the-case-for-an-african-pontiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/02\/the-case-for-an-african-pontiff.html","title":{"rendered":"The Case for an African Pontiff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026according to Fr. Dwight Longenecker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I sort of regard speculation about papal elections the way I do talking about the weather. My views will have no impact whatsoever on the outcome and it\u2019s basically all up to the Holy Spirit. I can give God input via my prayers, I s\u2019pose. But mostly those are of the \u201cSend us somebody good\u201d variety, not of the \u201cFather, in review the list of candidates, I would strongly advise Peter Turkson\u201d variety since I don\u2019t know a thing about any of the papabile and I really like it that way.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say I think there\u2019s any problem with speculations, Pope pools, and all the rest of it. Part of the fun of life for us peons who don\u2019t have much control over Big Huge World Historical Decisions is placing bets on how it will all shake out. My only counsel is \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it.\u201d Or rather, Jesus\u2019 counsel is not to worry. Fr. Dwight isn\u2019t worried, so I say, \u201cOpine away, padre!\u201d<\/p>\n

For myself, I don\u2019t really care where the next Pope is from, so long as he\u2019s good. An African suits me fine if that\u2019s who the Holy Spirit picks. I would enjoy watching all the \u201canybody who criticizes Obama is racist\u201d people blow a gasket just as much as I would enjoy watching the \u201cCatholicism is European\u201d people blow their gaskets. So that would be fun. On the other hand, I have nothing invested in the *hope* for pope from a developing nation either and think that electing one primarily on the basis of ethnicity would be a spectacularly bad idea. I got the vague impression last week that Turkson was, well, sort of campaigning for Pope in the media, which made me think, \u201cNope. Not that guy.\u201d But that\u2019s just me. Ultimately, it\u2019s up to the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"