|
|
Article: Between this world and the next; Can the Catholic church change?(as Pope John Paul II creates what is probably his last batch of cardinals, the Roman Catholic church waits for change. Will it come?)(Special)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 27, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
STEP into London's Westminster Cathedral at 8am on any morning, and you will find 60 or 70 people attending mass in a side-chapel. The same number appear at the 8.30 mass, and at the 9 o'clock. Most are on their way to work, but they make a deliberate pause for this. And the scene could be repeated the world over.
The business of the Roman Catholic church is not this world, but the next. Most of those morning mass-goers could not tell you the names of two people in the Curia in Rome. They could not care who is up or down in the Vatican horse-race. They cling to the church as a conduit of comfort, grace and, ultimately, salvation. This is all that matters; and, at ...