Meet my Cardinal

Turns out, I was a good lil blighter and they gave me my own Cardinal. Neat, huh?

It's okay if you're craving one too, because they're not hard to come by, at all. Someone was telling me the other day about a little website, Mission Conclave, that assigns you a random Catholic Cardinal to pray for in hope of him winning the upcoming Conclave. (Are we calling it winning? I'm not sure. Anyway.)

All you have to do is fill in your details and they'll email you the name of your very own Cardinal to root for, since as with any good sports match, you need to pick your team and be ready to die for it, if it's gonna be any fun. Naturally, once we'd heard about it, everyone wanted to do it, and it became a whole thing, with people arguing over who got what Cardinal, and of course, Googling the man's religious and political views.

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I got the Archbishop of Valencia, Antonio Canizares Llovera, who's been a Cardinal since 2006. That's good points already, since you probably don't want anyone Francis appointed. Or at least I don't. This one got bumped by dear old Benedict, so we're already off to a good start.

In the past, Cardina Llovera expressed his concerns about the dangers the modern world and technology in particular pose to young minds, suggesting a deeper and earlier instruction on the Holy Rites, First Communion, and generally the Church's role in guarding young minds. He's also apparently come under quite a bit of heat in more recent years for criticizing the increase of LGBT propaganda and the attack on the traditional family (between a man and a woman). Fair enough.

Is that something I agree with? Yes and no. I think families can take different shapes and certainly have nothing against gay people, though it does seem to me "boring, traditional, straight" couples are being regarded a bit as passe and vanilla right now, which I don't think is necessary of healthy, particularly for younger generations that find it hard to talk to one another, let alone date successfully.

Nevertheless, I'm even less keen on the Catholic Church's recent attempts at bending itself backwards and crossing every last one of its dictums in a desperate attempt at staying relevant. Personally, I think everyone is equal and we all have the same rights and don't see how sexual orientation enters into it. But it seems to me, once you've picked your "team", and reckon this Catholic Church is the one worth batting for, you should at least uphold its ideas, no? If you think the Church is backwards and crazy, what the hell are you doing in it?

So, go, Cardinal Canizares.

He does seem to support the Second Vatican Council which loosened quite a number of provisions on priests (most famously whether they carry out Mass in the traditional Latin, or should translate it, which many now do). But we can live with that.

Does it matter? Will I pray for Cardinal Canizares?

No. Sadly, due to ill health, he's not even going to attend the Conclave. So then, what's the point? The point is, it's exciting and I reckon we don't know very much about the men who could be Pope. And as we've seen with Pope Francis, but also with the great Pope John Paul II before him, the Catholic Church may be a dying beast, but it still yields quite a bit of power.

We did this little exercise, ultimately, for a laugh, but did end up reading about a few Cardinals, more or less important, men who may not be the next Pope, but are in the process of deciding who it will be. I reckon it's worth reading up a bit, as with any major political event, so that it doesn't find you entirely clueless. So why not go ahead? Get your Cardinal now, see if you agree with him.