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News Quote of The Day
April 1, 2005
Catholic League President William Donohue discusses with Imus the future of the Papacy.

Imus: "You mentioned the next Pope. What will the Catholics worldwide be looking for, or what will the Cardinals who are going to select the next Pope be looking for? "

William Donohue: "Well don't forget, you have 119 Cardinals devoted and there are 119 that are under the age of eighty. This Pope has appointed more than 95% of them, I like that. The fact of the matter is, I think... I don't know who the next Pope is going to be, but I tell you what, he's not going to be fifty-eight. My guess is you'll probably get some guy maybe around seventy. The reason I say that is, I think they are going to have to rethink the direction in which they want to go. Obviously the next Pope will be stylistically different from this Pope. This is the media Pope, the world traveler. In terms of changing..."

Imus: "Will he be Italian?"

William Donohue: "He will probably be an Irishman..."

Imus: "Really?"

William Donohue: "(Laughing) No I'm kidding. The way the Americans handle the sex scandal they are not exactly... well they are probably in last place. I don't know whether he is going to be Italian or not, but I tell you I think they are going to take some time to rethink some things. Quite frankly everybody says he's a Conservative Pope and what not. I mean, what exactly do they expect him to do? He's not going to change, most of the teachings of the church have been pretty well set. You could change things on celibacy and dealing with Deacons I suppose... if somebody wants to take that on. As far as changing the church's teachings on sexuality, everybody wants a free-for-all Hugh Hefner's type of world. You're not going to get it from the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church talks about restraint in a world where restraint is a dirty word. That's not going to change. The next guy who is committed is not going to be a poster boy for Hugh Hefner."