Sistene Chapel, 1979

No disrespect meant by the title, it’s just that the upcoming concave of Cardinals to pick the next Catholic Pope has had something like Super Bowl levels of press.

Agreed, it’s a somewhat big deal – every Papal election is.

This one – which begins tomorrow – is quite different, however.

For the first time is, oh, 600 years, a sitting Pope has resigned (not died), and that is the reason a new Pope is needed.

The Catholic Church in particular – and many faiths overall – has come under fire in recent years for both the sexual abuse atrocities and for its increasingly conservative stance in a world that has begun (begun) to embrace beliefs that fall outside normal Vatican doctrine: gay marriage (well, gays in general); women in the workplace, including religious orders (i.e. female priests and such); no clear message that science is not evil, that faith and empirical-based systems can co-exist.

Let’s see who gets the red shoes, and what he does while he’s wearing same.