Sunday Times
John Cornwell Fight for the soul of the church
Bryan Appleyard The world bids farewell
Independent on Sunday
Peter Popham Show of devotion sways cardinals’ choice
Lucy Lethbridge Rome clears up after the millions who came to take part in a piece of history
Sunday Telegraph
David Willey (of the BBC) Behind the elaborate protocol, a naked power struggle begins
Kevin Myers Two, four, six, eight: time to transubstantiate
Observer
David Aaronovitch A papal morality tale for a moral age
Peter Beaumont Now the search begins
Economist
Well, can’t link to it, but GetReligion has this:
Let’s elect a British pope
David Aronovitch writes here with rare perception. Christians who define themselves as the good bit of a dualism in which all outside their institutions is evil badly misunderstand the times in which they live. Those who live without religion are not universally without morals or goodness. Doubt does not necessarily produce inertia. Christians who can share doubt are the ones who speak loudest to humanity today.
After seeing Rodney’s comments, I re-read Aaronovitch’s piece, and I think that Rodney’s got this right. Aaronovitch tends to rub me up the wrong way (largely because of his views on the recent Gulf War and his shifting positions to justify them), but his assessment does seem pretty much on the ball, and it stands out in a field where much comment, both favourable and unfavourable to the late Pope, has seemed to fall in the category “de mortuis nil nisi bunkum”. I also think Rodney is right to point out that Chjristians don’t have a monopoly on morality. Having… Read more »
“Christians who define themselves as the good bit of a dualism in which all outside their institutions is evil badly misunderstand the times in which they live.”
And should read Augustine’s City of God.
It is easy to write “it seems obvious that the rigid application of the church’s teaching on contraception has contributed to many deaths”. It would be easy for those who so write to dig deep in their pockets and provide condoms in the AIDS-ridden countries of the world. No Pope could stop them, so do they?