Vol.15 No.6

White Smoke
The Papacy’s immense popularity and influence are a sign that we are living at the end of time.
by Betsy Mayer

I was 21 years old when John Paul II began his pontifical reign. I remember listening to news releases about the newly elected Pope—a largely unknown Cardinal from Krakow—while driving home from a class one rainy night. Papal elections and things Catholic weren’t of much interest to most Californians in the late 1970s. But suspicions surrounding the unusually short 33-day reign of John Paul I had heightened everyone’s interest in his successor.

When the Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected, I tried to remember how to pronounce his distinctly Slavic name and was relieved when he became known simply as John Paul II. 

The late Pope had a strategic understanding of the power of media. If we hadn’t been giving the papal office much thought, John Paul II placed himself squarely in our faces for twenty-six-plus years as reporters tracked his 104 papal visits around the globe. His face became a 20th century icon for everyone within sight of a news journal or television set. Soon, many national leaders were lining up for papal audiences and photo ops with the man who had the world’s attention.

But it wasn’t just his face that became familiar. It was his opinions, which were quoted about every major human event. And in an age of secularism, when moral values seemed to be at an all time low, John Paul II’s consistency to Catholic dogma did not waver. Secularists who didn’t agree with him knew they were no match for his total devotion to conservative Catholicism.

So when the Cardinals met to choose his successor, certainly they had to consider how not to lose the momentum of this Pope’s efforts. And while no one can fill another’s shoes, the strengths of the man they chose to succeed John Paul II indicates what they believe are the most important issues to preserve from his legacy.

Joseph Ratzinger, who has taken the name Benedictus XVI, is not known for his outgoing personality or his media savvy. What he is known for is his unrelenting commitment to traditional Catholic dogma and his willingness to pursue and remove priests not committed to orthodoxy.

John Paul II picked him to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the office once known as the Holy Inquisition), where he stood as guardian of church dogma. To his liberal detractors, he is “God’s Rotweiler.”

As a German European, the new Pope has a vested interest in the former regions of the Holy Roman Empire. Europe has been described as post-Christian. Benedictus XVI will likely use his papal influence to stem the inroads of secularism which threaten Europe’s Christian heritage.

In light of the hedonism and materialism of Western society, secular scholars have long predicted the collapse of religion and especially Christianity, as an inevitable result of cultural progress. Yet, quite the contrary seems to be happening. As news cameras strained to distinguish the color of smoke from the papal conclave, the world waited and wondered to know whose agenda would shape the next years of human history.

The Bible prophesies that at the end of time, religion and worship will become the central issue of the contemporary world. See Revelation, Chapter 13. The Papacy’s immense popularity and influence are a sign that we are living in these times.