Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Now that they're busily trading in Catholicism for materialism, the newly irreverent Irish still manage to combine the old and the new by wagering their money on who will be the next pontiff. Over at bookmaker Paddy Power, the money is piling in on Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, who is now at 7-2, meaning that you would win $7 for a $2 bet.

The irreverent British, who long ago traded in Catholicism for convenience, read newspapers such as the Guardian, which has declared Arinze to be "candidate for first black pope", but as many commentators have pointed out, this would be news to Pope St Victor, an African and pontiff from 189 to 199, whose legacy includes the celebration of Easter on a Sunday. As Mark Steyn witheringly observed, "That's not what the Guardian had in mind, of course: it meant 'the first black pope since the death of Elvis' — or however far back our societal memory now goes."

So, would Guardian readers like Arinze if he got the top job in Rome? Well, possibly. They'd certainly like much of what he said in a talk on "Christian-Muslim Relations in the 21st Century", which he gave at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., on 5 June 1997. An excerpt:

"The experts tell us that 20 per cent of humanity consumes 80 per cent of the earth's resources, leaving only 20 per cent to fourfifths of humanity. Moreover, certain rich countries restrain food production for the sake of balancing market prices, while there are poor countries whose inhabitants do not have enough to eat. And no one needs the experts to know that the earth's resources can be devastated or slowly depleted by greed, carelessness and war. Here is a rich area for Christian-Muslim collaboration in the forthcoming century in a world in which people realise more and more their interdependence."

Clearly, leaders of the developed world could expect some straight talking from Arinze, if he were Pope. By the way, you can read the full talk here. The cardinal was back in Georgetown in May 2003 to give a commencement address. His topic was "human happiness". Here's how he began:

"True happiness does not consist in the accumulation of goods: money, cars, houses. Nor is it to be found in pleasure seeking: eating, drinking, sex. And humans do not attain lasting joy by power grabbing, dominating others, or heaping up public acclaim. These three things, good in themselves when properly sought, were not able to confer on Solomon, perfect happiness. And they will not be able to confer it on anyone else!"

So far, so JP II. But now comes the bit that saw Professor Theresa Sanders leaving the stage in protest while Arinze was speaking. Sanders teaches "Religion and Film," "Saints in Film" and the general-education theology course "The Problem of God" at Georgetown. Here's what led to her problem with Cardinal Arinze:

"In many parts of the world, the family is under siege. It is opposed by an anti-life mentality as is seen in contraception, abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. It is scorned and banalized by pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality, sabotaged by irregular unions and cut in two by divorce."

Can't imagine the Islington set liking that, eh? Too bad. You can read Arinze's splendid address here.