Holier than thou
In the age of fame and media scrutiny the new Pope must be without sin

Quote:

It's an article of faith in the media that John Paul II died as the most famous pope there had ever been. But a fresher cause for reflection is that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the moment of appointment, was already more recognisable than any previous new pontiff. Usually, the new man is largely unknown to both the media and the crowd in St Peter's Square, but on this occasion background television packages on the German were ready to roll as soon as his name was announced and the face on the balcony was already familiar to international TV audiences... The German cleric's elevation has been generally interpreted as the triumph of conservative over liberal forces within the college of cardinals. But an alternative view is that the princes of the church were playing Pope Idol. Dizzied by the celebrity achieved by John Paul II, they voted for the most famous among their number: a man who, because the last pope was the first to die and be mourned in a time of live 24-hour news, had, quite improbably for a backstage Vatican theologian, become a television face.