Headline du Jourm, Article du Minute

Awesomeawesomeawesome.

Canadian cardinals defend new pope, saying the world needs an attitude change

Eerily, the Canadian arm of the Catholic Church has channeled my Presbyterian mother with their "I'm not the one with the problem, YOU'RE the one with the problem" speech. Now they'll just sit back and wait for the masses to happily return to the fold!

Equally fun is the article itself, starting with the misprint in the first paragraph. (I'm adding a dash and officially starting the rumour that they've elected a computer, Benedict XV-1.)

The huh?-worthiest section was this:
Benedict - also once known by harsh nicknames including the Panzer Cardinal, the Rottweiler and Cardinal 'No' - is misunderstood because his job was to defend traditional church doctrine for nearly 25 years, the cardinals said. As a cardinal, it was often Benedict's job to crack down on Catholics who strayed from church teachings... "Not only is he German, he had the most terrible job you can have," said Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte of Montreal, one of the more liberal Canadian cardinals who was first to speak up to defend Benedict. "He had the unappreciated task of being in front of many battles. He did it remarkably well, but it may be natural that he has an image that is a bit negative."

(I love the subtle point that being German should elicit sympathy.)

Here are my questions:
1) If it's a "terrible job", does that not imply that you don't believe what you're - quite literally - preaching?
2) If you don't believe what you're preaching, why not quit?
3) Have none of the cardinals read any of Ratzinger's position statements?

This is not a happy guy; this is a guy who sounds like he quite enjoys saying 'no.' And Toronto's bishops, in supporting him, should get accustomed to hearing that both from the pope and their dwindling flock.