Habemus Papam

I've been alternately laughing and shaking my head at the absurdity of people trying to read the Vatican's smoke signals. The NYT describes the folly: "Several minutes after 8 p.m., a wisp of smoke wafted out from a smokestack, and many thought it was white, meaning a pope had been elected with lightning speed. A roar erupted and people surged forward, shouting, "It's white! It's white!" Apparently, there are thousands of people hanging out around the Vatican in the hopes that they will be present when the smoke turns white, to witness first-hand the "historic" moment. Am I the only one who finds this entire ritual, and the media circus that's eagerly reporting on it, a bit absurd? I'm more impressed by the "pink smoke" protest being staged by Catholic nuns and other Catholic women in Chicago who are launching a protest to encourage the church to buck tradition. “We have to tell the cardinals this: We no longer want a secret, sexist selection process,” said Sister Donna Quinn of the Coalition of American Nuns. “And we really think that the people of God deserve more and that women deserve more.” Now a pink plume of smoke in protest of an exclusionary, misogynistic system is a historic moment worth watching.