Habemus Papum!

We have a Pope!

So went the cry of "the faithful" in The Vatican! With the selection of the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope, we can be fairly certain the Romanists will keep pace with the conservative cultural fight of the days. The Vatican will use its bully pulpit to argue against human cloning, abortion, birth control and ordination of women or homosexuals. For that we can be thankful.

We can, however, also be certain that Mary will continue to be worshipped, priests the world over will attempt to re-present the death of Christ at every mass and "the faithful" will continue to do penance for "the absolution of their sin."

I do not go on the record with predictions too often. However, let me offer my expectation that the Roman Catholic Church will see a quick and substantial influx of numbers attending mass. Then in short order the numbers will significantly decrease. The majority of Catholics, at least American Catholics, are far more cuturally liberal than John Paul II or Benedict XVI. They desire the ordination of women, if not homoselxuals. They do not practice the Catholic belief that birth control is wrong. They do not hold to a pro-life position. Just look at John Kerry or Ted Kennedy, or most any Catholic in your neighborhood. Catholics, much like most Americans, do not like the idea of someone having authority over them. As Ratzinger continues the tradition of the previous Pope of consolidating authority and control in Rome, the people in the pews will increasingly see the Church as irrelevant and outdated.

This bodes poorly for the Catholic Church. This same mentality, however, bodes poorly for evangelicals as well. I beleive the Bible teaches that the Church, as the pillar and ground of the Truth, has a certain authority in the lives of believers. People don't like that. When churches and pastors, preach authoritatively the doctrines of grace, people will flock away. Oh, some will come, as God continues to do the work of regeneration. But the statistics (usually) don't lie. More Americans are calling themselves religious, even "born-again." But less and less are actually darkening the doors of churchs (which gives at least one indicator of the genuinesness or lack thereof of their profession).

Anyway... there you go! Sorry to be negative today. But sometimes we must face reality. Preach the word in season and out of season... but do so with longsuffering. People will respond to God's word (He has promised that). They just might not do it as fast as we'd like!

Grace to you!