Fionn, you're absolutely right. I've read most of what you said from the same critical perspective - in the pages of Catholic publications. If it were the Vatican I were defending, I'd have to back down and agree with your perspective completely. The Vatican has all the politics and intrigue and corruption that you'll find in any political organization on earth - and the Vatican may well be the oldest political organization on earth. If the Vatican were the sum and substance of my faith, I'd be truly miserable. Politics isn't pretty - and the Vatican is very political. Still, you need the politics to give the organization structure and keep it going.

I've lived in the United States for all but two of my 53 years, and I like it very much here. I guess I could say that for about ten years of my lifetime, I was proud of the people leading my country. I suppose that about the same is true for my church. I swore I'd move to Canada if Ronald Reagan were elected, but I didn't - and the country survived his reign. I get frustrated as hell with Pope John Paul II's stodgy conservatism - but I have to say I think he's a good man. The only popes I was proud of were John Paul I and John XXIII.

If you judge an organization by its leadership, you will most likely have a very negative view of that organization. Generally, leaders are not nice people, and it's quite often that they're less than amazingly intelligent. Leadership is only one facet of an organization or a community. Leadership is essential for any organization, but it is usually not the essence of an organization - and maybe "organism" would be a more descriptive word than organization. Along with a history of political intrigue, the Catholic Church has a strong intellectual backbone; a deep, widespread spirituality; and a tradition of altruism and charity. Rome has very little to do with the intellectual, spiritual, and charitable essence of the Catholic Church. Oh, yes, we have some right-wing kooks who won't lift a finger without permission from Rome - but every organization has right-wing kooks. In the life of a normal Catholic parish, Rome is hardly ever even mentioned.

So yeah, Fionn, the Vatican stinks. It's every bit as political and corrupt and full of intrigue as Washington, D.C. I suppose it would be nice if it were otherwise, but that's not the nature of organizational leadership. the U.S. can't get along without Washington, and the Catholic Church can't get along without the Vatican - but Washington is not the essence of the U.S., and the Vatican is not the essence of the Catholic Church. I'm fascinated with the politics of both organizations and I follow their politics closely - but I've learned not to take the politics too seriously.

-Joe Offer-

By the way, Papal Knights serve two functions in the Catholic Church:

1. they donate lots of money
2. they get to wear silly-looking costumes

If the Pope made Rupert Murdoch a papal knight, it's no big deal.