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Conclave musings

The Conclave had its first vote today and was not successful in picking a new Pope. Meanwhile, the rest of us can still ponder what might lie ahead. David Warren suggests that what we need is another Pope like Pius X. I don't known a whole lot about Pius X, although there are some things that are intriguing, like the 'syllabus of errors.' I am not sure that what the world needs right now is hectoring. A charismatic, telegenic and thoroughly orthodox example would my own preference. Mark Alexander explains why JPII saw a negative commonality between the communism he lived under in Poland and 'liberation theology,' a school of theology that was popular in South America until he gave it the cold shoulder. Alexander points out that there was no contradiction in the previous Pope's thinking on the issue:
The Polish Solidarity Movement, itself congealed by the Pope's historic visit to Communist Poland in 1979, was an anti-Marxist, pro-democratic movement aimed at dislodging Poland from the Soviet-controlled Eastern bloc. The Solidarity Movement embodied the concepts of individual liberty, free enterprise, and self improvement. Liberation theology, on the other hand, embraces collectivization, the subordination of the individual in favor of the group, and the forced redistribution of wealth and property without fair compensation.
Finally, Father Richard Neuhaus is blogging from Rome.

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