Panelists' predictions or lack thereof

Panelists consider direction of the papacy under Benedict XVI is an article from Catholic News Service that details the comments of a panel at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The comments themselves are varied and are pretty much the usual, but I'll point out one thing that caught my eye.

Kenneth Woodward is a religion editor at Newsweek:

Woodward said it might be a good thing for the church if Pope Benedict is more of a stay-at-home, low-profile kind of pope than Pope John Paul was.

Much of the recent image of the church and the papacy has been directly related to the personal charisma of Pope John Paul II, Woodward said. A pope who is not as highly visible in all the workings of the church would open the opportunity for the world's cardinals to become more of the voice of the church, he said.

"We might see that the cardinals have something to say, something worth listening to," Woodward said.

I merely watch and I don't claim to be an expert on the Vatican or the Roman Catholic Church, but that has to be the stupidest thing I've ever read. I think the cardinals have quite a lot to say. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger certainly wasn't a mute figure during the life of John Paul II. That's just one example, certainly, but such broad, meaningless statements as Woodward are not only meaningless but display a level of incompetency that one would not expect at such a panel.

But enough of that.