They have a word for...

The media are in a tizzy over Pope Benedict XVI because they were hoping that the College of Cardinals would elect a new Pope who would (1) sanction artificial birth control; (2) permit the ordination of women; (3) permit priests to marry; (4) rethink the Church's attitude toward homosexuality; (5) rethink the Church's attitude toward abortion, blah, blah, blah. Why on Earth any serious person would think that that the Church would elect a Pope who would do any of these things is bizarre. They have a word for Christians who believe this litany of things... they are called Presbyterians (or Episcopalians or Congregationalists or any of the other "main-line" Western Protestant sects that have been withering over the past decades).

The media call Pope Benedict XVI "conservative" because that gives them a way of saying that they don't like what he believes that is superficially palatable. But what the media really don't like about Pope Benedict XVI is that he's Catholic -- that he believes and preaches what Catholics have always believed and preached and will always believe and preach in order to be Catholics. Understood this way, the outpouring of vile criticism of the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on websites like The Daily Kos can be seen for what it is -- they have a word for this too -- anti-Catholic bigotry.