Peter Popham at The Independent, writing about the impossibility of Benedict's attempt to reform the church from the center, when he stands dead-center in the place where reform is most needed:
Nobody doubts that the Pope would like the church to be a cleaner, leaner, quieter, purer institution, purged of paedophile priests and greedy careerists; he said as much again last week. But this man, who proposes himself as a new broom and wags his finger at those who take a permissive, typically Italian view of venality, has been at the heart of the church for half a lifetime. All these people are his old colleagues. If this is Sodom, he has been a citizen in good standing for 40 years.
If this is Sodom, he has been a citizen in good standing for 40 years.
Yes.
Yes.
