If any passerby ever stumbles upon and reads this blog, the passerby should be able to ascertain that politically, I'm a liberal. I come from a long line of Democrats. I'd say 90% or so of my relatives are Democrats. And yes, we're all Catholics. I've never posted any anti-Republican or anti-George Bush comments in here and probably won't because it's so not worth the time or the effort. However, today when I saw him address Pope Benedict 16, as "Your Holiness," I was so sure, so confident that he bumbled again and made a huge social faux pas. To me, "Your Holiness" sounds so awkward and I was sure it was an incorrect way to address the pope. I mean, for Bush, it's quite easy to embarrass himself. He constantly fumbles over big words and manages to mispronounce others that aren't so big. Expecting him to know proper protocol to correctly address the leader of the world's Catholics was something I (naturally) anticipated he wouldn't know. However, now I find out "Your Holiness" is appropriate. Guh. It still sounds clumsy and awkward to me. I guess the president must have had a nice talk with his brother, Jeb, the Catholic, about how to greet the pope. Or perhaps he actually listened to his advisers .
Still, I think "Holy Father" or "Most Holy Father" sound so much better. Perhaps, since the president isn't Catholic, he didn't feel comfortable calling the pope Holy Father or the Most Holy Father.
Needless to say, I'm quite curious about the pope's visit. I'm probably a bit more curious because I've come back fully to the church than I would be otherwise. The only pope I truly remember in my lifetime was Pope John Paul II. I remember JPI's funeral and the election of JPII, but I was a kid then and so I grew up watching PJII. I will watch and see just how well Benedict 16 does in America and hopefully he won't be as polarizing as he seems to be and his papacy will have a long-lasting legacy as JPII's did.
No comments:
Post a Comment