Pope Benedict

I have been pinged by a number of people who would like to find out what my thoughts are on the new pope. The answer is that I am somewhat ambivalent about him. From a religious perspective there is no impact whatsoever. It really doesn't matter what he thinks because we come at faith from two different perspectives.

From a global community perspective I am interested because he has the ability to influence many people in many places and I am not so insular to think that he is meaningless to me.

I would like to see the church do more than it has done in regard to Jewish-Catholic dialogue. I would like to see a more evenhanded approach to the peace process in the ME and I am curious to see if he will bring it into a more modern stance or push it backwards.

For now I am content to wait and see what old Benedict does. I have to admit that the name just gets me, I so very much want to refer to him as Pope Benedict Arnold or Eggs Benedict. It is not particularly funny, but I do have a child like sense of humor.