Commentary
There is some significance in the fact that the new leader of one of the world’s largest religious denominations, and the head of the state and government of the world‘s most powerful and influential country, are both Americans. This certainly does not mean the impending Americanization of the Roman Catholic Church, any more than it implies the Catholicization of America. But it does demonstrate that so intelligent and international an electorate as the 133 voting members of the College of Cardinals is not intimidated by the controversy surrounding America, or the antagonism to the United States of the international left, including significant elements of the Catholic Church easily recognizable in contemporary American society.
