Queen Bee Decree
by digby
David Shuster had Sally Quinn on his show to discuss the Vatican scandal. She says that it's the Catholic Church's Watergate and that the Cardinals will be marching up to the papal residence any day now to tell the Pope that it's time for him to go. She said it with such assurance that you'd think she has informants on the inside which I think we all know that's highly unlikely.
Her expertise on Catholicism is a tad overstated, as she has previously demonstrated. Melinda Henneberger wrote about it at the time:
For years, Catholics have been arguing about who is and is not supposed to receive Communion. Until now, these were family fights, always over abortion, and nearly always involving elected officials. After pro-choice presidential candidate John Kerry received the Eucharist at my parish in 2004, for instance, the priest was so excited, he announced the big news at a subsequent Mass, and got a standing ovation. (I know, right? Oy.) While at the other end of the spectrum, some cowboy in vestments recently refused to serve the conservative pro-life jurist Doug Kmiec, for the supposed sin of having smiled at Barack Obama. (OK, he endorsed him, in Slate.)
But then non-Catholic Sally Quinn took Communion at Tim Russert's funeral—and blogged about the body and blood in the Washington Post-Newsweek religion site "On Faith."
Last Wednesday at Tim's funeral mass at [Holy]Trinity Church in Georgetown (Jack Kennedy's church), communion was offered. I had only taken communion once in my life, at an evangelical church. It was soon after I had started "On Faith" and I wanted to see what it was like. Oddly I had a slightly nauseated sensation after I took it, knowing that in some way it represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Last Wednesday I was determined to take it for Tim, transubstantiation notwithstanding. I'm so glad I did. It made me feel closer to him. And it was worth it just to imagine how he would have loved it. After I began "On Faith," Tim started calling me "Sister Sal" instead of "Miss Sal."
This reads a little too much like a restaurant review for my comfort; Christ Almighty: Tangy Yet Nauseating? And good as he was, we don't really take Communion to feel closer to Tim Russert.
Knowledge of the church's rituals be damned, if the Queen Bee says the Pope is going to resign, then everyone has to take notice.
As for what should happen to the pope, well, I'd say he probably needs to be arrested. But I'm not making any predictions. Unlike Quinn, I don't have access to the Village tarot deck so I'm hesitant to say exactly what's going to happen. Let's just say I'm doubtful that they operate like American politicians. They don't put a lot of stock in popular opinion.
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