Benedict XVI

[stoutfellow]

Two words: Konstantin Chernenko. (But who are Romanov and Gorbachev?)

Comments

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

And here I always thought of Gorby as the USSR's equivalent of John XXIII (aggiornamento=glasnost).

Maybe Ratzinger=Putin.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Ah, if you push any metaphor too hard it'll break. I just don't think Ratz will last very long, and his successor will be from the Third World. Which will mean changes, but not necessarily foreseeable ones. (There are reports that the Latin American cardinals chose to bide their time, rather than pushing one of their own through - which they might well have been able to do.)

[timgueguen.livejournal.com]

I tend to think he was chosen deliberately as an interim Pope, so the other contenders will have the chance to solidfy their power bases.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

It's strange to think of a particular pope as a "palate cleanser."