Following days of delirium in the media, with journalists prey to bouts of mystical ecstasy, heads of State (even some wanted by the police) genuflecting in front of the sacred corpse of JPII, and the long wait to see what decision the “holy spirit” would make, the election of this pope will finally bring things back to a state of normality.

The normality in this case being the same old unsurprising, calculating church which is everything but holy. We knew that JPII had appointed most of the cardinals in the conclave and that, despite his media-friendly image as “a nice guy”, he strongly supported the reactionary moral policies of Ratzinger.

Notwithstanding the crazy expectations of some (an African pope, a pope of the Latin-American masses, and so forth), we were all too aware that JPII firmly intended the church to remain as a monarchic State with an aversion to any sort of innovation or participation. The conclave has confirmed that the political plan of Wojtyla and his staff was right. The cardinals have obeyed. Anyway, in this world which is more and more oppressed by the domination and a drive for conformation, the Vatican was only deluding itself by continuing to mass-market its “good” side, dispensing jewels of humanity here and there, while pursuing its objective of moral domination of the masses and a refusal to change. And Ratzinger too will continue with these aims: a rigid, authoritarian church, the enemy of female freedom, of free and mature sexuality, of unbelievers and of those who believe “differently”.

The holier-than-thou opinion-mongers are now a bit concerned to see their dreams of glory shattered. They are already to be seen muttering in protest like children who have been told they can’t have another toy. Many on the left are left ruing the choice of this pre-Vatican II pope. But we anarchist communists were expecting it: it is the triumph of the Vatican nomenklatura, the start of an intestine struggle which we hope will result in the wiser and more open believers fleeing for ever from the shadow of the dome of St Peter’s and start to ask themselves some serious questions about the policies of the catholic church.

(Source: Retrieved on 28^th October 2021 from www.anarkismo.net.)