I think you may be wrong on this one. As I found out when I looked into doing so, you can’t “quit” the Catholic Church, nor IIRC are you automatically excommunicated for joining a different religion (nor, I suspect, for being an atheist). You don’t become an ex-Catholic, you just become a lousy Catholic who’s likely to burn for a couple of million years or so. So I think an atheist who had been previously baptised and confirmed as Catholic would still be eligible for the papacy despite little details like not believing in god unless specifically excommunicated (barring additional requirements regarding actual faith which have not been mentioned here).
How do you look in a mitre? Any problem with wearing lots of red and white? I wouldn’t let the celibacy thing get you down. A lot of popes throughout history have had more “nephews” than Donald Duck.
But, they must be hot… under those long black head-to-toe habits…
(But hey, if you are into the whole “goth” vibe, members of the Religious Orders are right up your alley… the isolation, the incantations in ancient languages, the self-denial, the self-mortification, the black outfits…)
Scene: Five cardinals lounging in a curtained Popemobile, four of whom are trying to stiffle their giggles at the expense of one increasingly embarassed, blushing Cardinal.
Lieu’s post makes me wonder what the hazing/initiation rites are for the new Pope. Do you suppose it involves the grabbing of ankles and the phrase, “Thank you , Excellency, may I have another?” (in Latin, of course)
