i think he was 58 when he was selected as pope. first of all, briefly, you know we ve been talking about the church in crisis. i might be a minority, but i don t feel that the church is in crisis. the hierarchy is in crisis. but the faithful, that is the church, i don t think they feel a sense of crisis as much as they feel a sense of te despondency. i think it would send a strong signal if it was a third-world cardinal, from ghana or latin america. it would send a strong signal. the developing nations. i mean it s worth noting that there is not been a noneuropean pope in 1200 years. that was pope gregory iii from syria in the eighth century, that gives you of a, how long the catholic church has been around, and i m not a big fan of tokenism. i think it would be great if we
possessed the weapon, it was thought to be the most serious diplomatic gesture he s made during long months of fighting. this might give hoep there s a way to negotiate out of this syrian crisis. still assad s assertion he would only negotiate if u.s. dropped the military strike threats led some to pray for peace. like this church, gregory iii has been watching anxiously in the predominantly christian down north of damascus. many others have been caught in the shelling. the group in part of the syrian population are the christians. they are few. they are without arms. they submit more signs the trouble is far from over. saudi arabia began to delay