The King has made it plain that he sees himself as a reboot to the Firm’s franchise. As a historian,my view is that this is a mistake.
A spoonful of satire is no threat to faith or salvation. Christians have had a saucy sense of humour for centuries.
Even in his own writings,it became clear why George Pell failed to win over the Australian people.
Benedict was a conservative intellectual who managed to anger conservative Catholics. His actions normalised papal resignation. Witness all the media chatter about when Pope Francis will follow.
We haven’t taken Europe seriously enough for 30 years,either in policy terms or in our engagement with its complex history.