The Reformation, as practiced in England by Henry the Eighth and his
Royal successors, is over. The other mob, the Romans, have won. And why this weeping statement? Well Prince Charles, as the
successor in waiting to the head of the Church of England, has postponed his
wedding to Camilla, The Princess of Whales.

These days it’s not the number of souls that matters,
it’s the number of eyeballs watching on the various media.

Why, well, more people would be watching the Pope’s
interment than would be watching Charlies marriage.

So the decision was a simple one for Charlie and his
handlers. Postpone to avoid a clash with the Pope’s burial on Friday, and the TV coverage the Rome
event will command. Likewise all the guests who would have been forced to choose
between the Pope’s burial and Charlie’s wedding.

No contest. Remember how Stalin worried about the Pope’s
divisions decades ago. The heavy hitters would have gone to Rome, Charlie would have been stuck with a
group of Z listers and a bunch of hated Fleet street media, watching for every
mistake.

Deferring to Rome
will of course not go down well among some of Charlie’s Co-Religionists.
The Jensenites in the Sydney Diocese and their fellow evangelical Anglicans
will not like the symbolism of Lambeth deferring to the Vatican.

Nor will some monarchists who value the religious
affiliations of the British Royal family.

Chaps
like David Flint, former head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority
until he was brought down by fellow David (Marr) when the
latter was at Media Watch and produced the Dear Alan (Jones) correspondence from
Professor Flint.

Well, Flintie has a letter in The Australian today taking
the other David to task for the latter’s sharp comment about the death of the
Pope. Asked for his prediction for the coming week on The ABC’s
Insiders on Sunday, Marr said the “the possibility we’ll have a better
world as a result”.

Flintie let fly in his letter:
“The most tasteless and offensive remark, ” he thundered.

“We know from his own words Marr wishes to purge
journalists who are not of the Left. It is clear that he has similar plans for
the church and no doubt other institutions. But what a way and what a time to
express them”.

Well, Flintie, I don’t know about you but the sight of 180
males gathering to elect one of themselves to run an institution where hundreds
of millions of women believe but do not get a say(and no women among the Cardinals,
is just as tasteless and offensive.

There has been considerable comment in the US about how
little and how late the Church and the late Pope came to understand the damage
sexual abuse by priests has done to people and the institution in that country.
By some US
estimates 40% of all priests may have engaged in some form of abuse, sexual or
physical or mental.

What does that say about the 180 Cardinals in their funny
frocks and red skull caps gathering at the Vatican to elect one of their own
to the top gig?