Please, no self-inflicted wounds. Just savor the cosmic pomposity, and dream of the pin that could have deflated this gas bag. Feel the rush...

Apparently CNN feels a PC Dope is required to be relevant to CNN's navel gazers and magic crystal devotees. Too bad CNN has long since ceased being relevant.

I liked the quote where Anderson said of the tradition and ritualistic laden ceremonies "you get the impression they would be doing this whether we (CNN) were here or not."

What a world the media must live in!

Gee, lets see...Church attendance is down throughout all of Europe, including Italy. Church influence is in rapid decline there, particularly in so-called "Catholic" nations such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S. several recent polls of American Catholics find an overwhelming majority feel its the Church that is leaving them, not them leaving the Church (sound familiar?). Most American Catholics favor contraceptives, many favor more power for women in the Church. Combine with that the view held here among American Catholics that the Church for decades covered up child-abuse, and the Pope essentially ignored the issue...

Amanpour's comment, as applied to Europe and North American seem very much on the money. Indeed, the only place the church is growing today is in Africa and South America (where, ironically, the church's refusal to allow use of condoms even in lands with AIDS epidemics is likely to decimate its own growth).

I'm now convinced: Zoomie is a fake leftytroll, invented to remind us of the idiocy of left-liberal ideas.

Hey Zoomie
Think maybe the Pope should have taken a poll or two, or organized some focus groups, or called in McKinsey&Co. for some consulting (we're losing market share, we're losing market share!!)

I think he knows that what goes around, comes around and is waiting patiently for the Zoomies of the world to crash.

Amanpour speaks with a Western liberal bias at the funeral in Rome. Of course, when covering many other subjects she criticizes those with a Western bias.

a) Demonstrating the total lack of concern or care for VICTIMS OF ABUSE - the Church has selected Cardinal Bernard Law as of those who will conduct services related to the Pope's funeral...Law is best known in the United States as the guy who (pardon the pun) moved heaven and hell to keep the abuse of children by priests a secret for 20yrs, even going so far as to blame the victims and their families...Yep - that's gonna pull them into the chuches, ain't it?

b) Since JP2 became Pope, in the US ordinations of priests, down from 770 annually to 533 last year (actually hit a low of 442 in 2000). On a per capita basis, this is a 50% drop. And almost half of the current staff of priests in the US is over 60 yrs of age.

c) When he became Pope, the US had 702 parishes with no priest; today there are over 3,000. Worldwide, the number without priests has increased from 23% to 25% of all parishes.

d) Over the last 25yrs weekly church attendance has steadily declined, and now less than half of all Catholics actually attend Mass on a weekly basis.

Conclusion, unless you live in a cave - the Church is becoming an irrelevancy in Europe AND the U.S. It has no strong basis in Asia. That leaves Africa and South America as the only fruitful grounds. Actions such as covering up the abuse of children left literally millions of Catholics turning from the Church, especially when they learned the Church had attacked the victims, protected the pedophiles.
Finally - the most successful anti-AIDS program in Africa (possibly in the world) was the Ugandan ABC program...except the "C" stood for CONDOMS, and since the church refuses to budge an inch on use of condoms, they condemn literally millions of their own followers in Africa to a slow, horrible death! A great path to making yourself slowly but surely irrelevant!

And if you recall - Amanpour's statement was that the church will need to find a way to remain relevant to survive. I think the objective evidence (not the theocratic wishful thinking of the rightwing) makes her case that the Church is EXACTLY in a crisis at this time. And this is nothing new - the Church has had to make very basic changes in the past to remain alive (ie. priests used to be allowed to marry; when the church got too far out of whack, we had this thing they called the Reformation...ever hear of it?), but the Church learned, modified, survived. And I think they will again. I grew up in a mixed Jewish-Catholic neighborhood, and I've always had a high regard for the Church, and some, even many, in the Church. But like any organization, its far from perfect!