The ages of Popes, get with the times (part I)

No, I don't mean how old they are... actually, I kind of do.  The title is in reference to the Rolling Stone article comparing Pope Benedict to Pope Francis.  I'm not going to comment directly on it, but it spurred me to want to write about something I've been thinking about for a while.

When I look back at how different Popes were covered by the media and perceived by the public, I notice a trend.  When JPII was young, he was described using terms like 'strapping'.  He received a lot of attention for being a globetrotter who visited his people where they lived, for celebrating youth culture and inviting it into the church, and for being kind of a rockstar Pope.  Now, fastforward to the point where JPII's health is fading.  If you look at what he did in his older years, it's pretty astonishing in a lot of ways.  Despite his physical difficulties, he still travelled far and often to see Catholics around the world, he still celebrated youth culture, and he lived with tremendous courage and dignity to the natural end of his life.  Of course, the media attention at that point was more likely to mock his appearance and comment on how old he was, questioning his worth.

Now look at the media coverage Pope Benedict XVI got, and is still getting.  He was portrayed more or less from day one as a Nazi, compared through various memes to an evil Star wars villain, and mocked for wearing red shoes (which weren't Prada for anyone with half a brain, they were made by an Italian cobbler who has been providing shoes for people in the Vatican for a long time... besides the fact that red shoes look odd if you ignore the symbolic meaning of the colour, which is what Benedict wore them for, there was nothing remarkable about them). 

Of course I don't need to summarize the media attention for Pope Benedict, you'd have to be blind to have missed it, but I do wonder, if he looked different, a little older, a little physically frail, a little too academic, would he be getting the same attention, or would the media be presenting him as a scary, dour, cranky old man, like they did Benedict.  I think what the media has proven more than anything isn't a bias towards any end of the political spectrum, but rather that it is unashamedly prejudiced.  All three Popes have been openly judged (both in subtext and openly) for their physical appearance, their dress (most notably Pope Benedict who favoured a more traditional style of dress), and for their value based on their age.  If you took comments people made about the three of them, and applied them to just any random group, it would be disgusting.  Look, here is this nice looking guy, he must be way better a person than that old grandpa who has less of a round face, and yeah sure, buddy over there was amazing in his youth, but he has Parkinsons and arthritis now, so he must be worthless... he's better off dead, even though he's so passionate he's trying to talk to us even though they just cut a hole in his windpipe so he can breath.  It's disgusting and offensive to judge anyone like that, and all the media has done is perpetuate and facilitate this culture of ageism. 

I pray that we as Christians, and all people, come to see the dignity inherent in the human person, regardless of age, ability, or appearance much sooner than later, but as long as yellow journalists like the ones at Rolling Stone are around, we have an uphill battle.