I had not watched, listened to or read any news this morning before a neighbor called to ask what I thought of “the news”; then explaining to me the news about the Roman Catholic Pope.
Of interest to the news report out of Germany that started this thread, was the additional news she had on the subject.
She said that a local New York radio talk show host, Mark Simone, had said on the radio this morning that Cardinal Dolan (of New York) had told him recently, on the QT, about the then secret but pending resignation of the Pope, and that that was the cause of the many trips Cardinal Dolan had had to make to Rome in recent weeks.
I would not call Mister Simone my favorite radio talk show host (only ‘cause on political topics, which are not his forte, he’s a real lightweight), but he has never seemed to me like someone who makes up stories just to boost up himself or his show’s ratings. But, what is strange, in juxtaposition to that was the reported statement of Cardinal Dolan on one of the morning TV talk shows that HE was surprised by the Pope’s announcement. And don’t tell me that just because a religious figure says something we area supposed to just take them at their word. The two pieces about Cardinal Dolan just don’t fit together. Is some institutional dissembling already in progress?
I have to offer a mea culpa about what I said concerning Cardinal Dolan.
My neighbor apologized in a conversation later today.
Apparently she remembered wrongly the name of the Cardinal Mark Simone mentioned on his radio show; it was actually retired Cardinal Eagan and not Cardinal Dolan.
My regrets for the confusion and my assumption based on the error. The disparate comments were made by two different men, two Cardinals, not the same one. One (Eagan) apparently knew the news beforehand and the other (Dolan) did not and was genuinely surprised by it.