You Don't Care Who The Next Pope Is? You SHOULD!

A number of people have scoffed at paying attention to the conclave -- who cares, religion is a farce, the Catholic Church is blah blah blah. Well, it does matter. Whatever you think of China or WalMart or numerous other countries and transnational institutions, they have a huge impact on many people's lives. Paying attention to the direction they're heading in and who is leading them is important.

Maybe -- like me -- you thought the former Soviet Union really was an evil empire. Or maybe you thought it was no better or worse than the U.S. But its leader mattered. Mikhail Gorbachev is a far different ruler than Josef Stalin.

So, yes, it does matter who becomes the next bishop of Rome.

So far, day one and the smoke is black, meaning no new pope. Remember, JP II instituted the nuclear option ahead of Bill Frist, so the longer it drags on (10 plus days), the more likely we are to have a divisive candidate who couldn't muster the support of the super-majority (2/3rds plus one) that used to be the benchmark for a pontiff.