Pundits and politicians salivate over
the new Pope gravely intoning from
his marble balcony about free market
cruelty and the need for economic
fairness, how beautifully he articulates
lessons on mercy and faith, his face
evidently the benevolent face of
a new and compassionate church that
surely we need rally around, singing
joyous to the heavens for his mighty
swing to a caring and progressive
dogma and forget that putrid history
of torture and support for fascists,
not to mention a continuing fascination
with sex with children. Nothing now
but spilt milk. But wait, isn’t there
something eerily familiar about his
oratorical progressivism?
Haven’t we witnessed over and over
words fashioned into wondrous tools
of deception by leaders here, who
deliver, like the Pope, heartfelt and
passionate speeches condemning
selfish and unjust greed poisoning
society’s very foundation, promising
swift action to rectify and re-balance
monetary equations only to see them,
then, rush headlong into back rooms
where the same old deals are made to
screw over the sacred “people” once
again? So beware Pope’s bearing gifts
of golden promises. Watch, instead, who
he walks with down the corridors of power,
when the speech is finally over. Watch
whose hand he takes in those darkened
back rooms. Watch the wicked smile.