Looking Ahead (Reluctantly) to a Post-Benedict Era

Newsweek asked me this week to look into the possibility of a post-Benedict Church and who his successor might be.

I agreed but with some reluctance as such articles are obviously somewhat distasteful when the Holy Father is still alive, and actually very fit despite his recent fall. But after a fair amount of too-ing and fro-ing with the editors to make it more sensitive to Catholics, I think we got there in the end, though I probably should have written that women priests and married clergy are dogmas rejected on grounds of "Scripture or tradition" rather than "Scripture and tradition". As a reader correctly pointed out, priestly celibacy is not strictly related to Scripture, but it is very much part of the tradition of Latin Rite Catholics.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/207930