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Today’s Friday on Faith is being aired on Monday because of Bob Uecker’s passing last week.
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – There’s a thought-provoking movie called Conclave. It was released a few months ago. It is a work of fiction, but it gives audiences an inside look at something the public never sees – how the Catholic church chooses a new pope.
There is a plot twist at the end, so this is your spoiler alert.
The cardinals gather in a secret Conclave. They will pick a new pope from among themselves. And each of the five most-likely candidates have something wrong with them. One has been using a secret banking account to bribe the others to vote for him. Another had a secret child, born by a nun, years earlier. Another is an arch conservative who cannot gain enough support among more liberal church leaders.
And then a wildcard appears. Vincent Benitez is the Archbishop of Kabul, Afghanistan. He was named a cardinal en pectore – not publicly named to protect his safety. A bishop of the church in the Muslim world could be a target for assassination or kidnapping. Some wonder if Cardinal Benitez is an impostor. He is not.
It soon becomes clear that Cardinal Benitez is the right choice to be Pope. But there is a last minute surprise. Cardinal Benitez suffers from Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome. It is a rare disorder, where a person who physically appears to be male, has female parts within them. Cardinal Benitez has a womb and a uterus. He confesses to another cardinal – what passes between the two men will never become public. Cardinal Benitez says the syndrome wasn’t discovered within him until he was hospitalized for an unrelated medical procedure to have his appendix removed. He says he informed the late Pope, and arrangements were made for another operation, a hysterectomy to remove his female parts. He decided not to have the operation. He says during his confession that he decided to remain as God made him. He says he understands what it is to live with uncertainty. The other cardinal will keep the secret, and Cardinal Benitez becomes the new Pope.
The story is far-fetched, but not impossible. There are about 250 documented cases of such a medical condition. At first, I thought the plot twist of a Pope who is both male and female was manipulative. And maybe it is. But the writing was so perfect that I was convinced. The new Pope said, “I am as I’ve always been. I decided not to interfere with God’s handiwork.”
Today we have so many people who are trying to change their bodies – boys who think they should be girls or vice versa. Thinking that God made a mistake seems like the road to terrible unhappiness. Scripture tells us that God made each one of us in His own image. And that each one of us is perfectly made.
Chris Conley
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