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"  OMFG \u2014 you should pardon the acronym \u2014 the local newsdrones here in the Commonwealth (God Save It!) are all agog, except for those heathen PBS bastards who are all a-Magog, because rumors are filtering out from behind the Chair Of Peter that our own Sean Cardinal O&amp;#039;Malley may be emerging as a contender. And you thought we were insufferable about the Red Sox. Allen writes that there are two main reasons for the flurry of interest in O&amp;#039;Malley, who came to Boston in 2003: his reputation as a reformer in the aftermath of the clergy sexual abuse scandal and his image as a humble Capuchin friar with no interest in the trappings of wealth. The latter is viewed by many in the Italian press as an asset in a Vatican riven by \u00ADinfighting and allegations of \u00ADfinancial corruption...Allen cited Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, which recently praised O&amp;#039;Malley for &amp;quot;restoring credibility to the church after the &amp;#039;escape&amp;#039; to Rome of his predecessor, Bernard Law&amp;quot; by reaching settlements with victims of sexual abuse, selling the chancery to help cover the cost, and moving into a modest rectory at the Cathedral of the \u00ADHoly Cross in the South End...Allen also quoted Vatican writer Paolo Rodari: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s no acci\u00ADdent that he&amp;#039;s a prince of the church who prefers his simple brown Capuchin habit to the sartorial splendor to which his office entitles him.&amp;quot; OK, so the optics are good, although it&amp;#039;s necessary to point out that O&amp;#039;Malley&amp;#039;s lack of interest in the trappings of wealth may have something to do with the fact that the Archdiocese of Boston doesn&amp;#039;t have any more of those, having hocked most of them to pay for the settlements arising from the crimes and malfeasance that occurred on the watch of the fugitive Cardinal Law, now the maitre d&amp;#039; at the Basilica Of Our Lady Of The Clean Getaway in Rome. And, let us not forget, he is an accomplished blogger, although, in that capacity, he seems entirely too respectable a person and he rarely writes about David Gregory or what&amp;#039;s goin&amp;#039; down in the Oklahoma legislature. I was on my way to the chapel of Capuchin house in Washington, D.C. at 6:20 in the morning when the superior stopped me to tell me that there was a news flash. It had just been announced that the Holy Father was resigning. So many things appear on the Internet that are just jokes or hoaxes to get a rise out of people that I said, &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t think that can be an accurate statement.&amp;quot; Jokes? On The Internet? I resemble that remark, Yer Imminence. I can&amp;#039;t buy it, though. It sounds to me like either a completely made up sack of bullpucky from the Italian media, or like someone inside the Vatican is floating a horrible rumor -- EEK! AN AMERICAN! -- to keep the members of the Clan in line. Against all the mounting evidence, the Vatican is still heavily invested that the whole sex scandal thing was an American problem, and I don&amp;#039;t think O&amp;#039;Malley could over come that. Also, the stories haven&amp;#039;t impressed the books at all. He&amp;#039;s not even on the board at Ladbrokes, and Paddy Power has him at 33-1, and I&amp;#039;m betting that those odds would be considerably longer if his name weren&amp;#039;t Sean O&amp;quot;Malley. While Frank Deford&amp;#039;s once-imaginary tabloid headline -- Tab Hub Man Pontiff -- dances in your head, dance yourself back to Alexander VI, whose real name was Rodrigo Borgia. One his daughters by one of his several mistresses was named Lucrezia. In other words, Lucretia Borgia, famed in song and story, and a real killer in the kitchen, was the daughter of a pope. And his girlfriend. With its characteristic discretion, the Catholic Encyclopedia says of the struggle to find a defender of Alexander among papal historians:  These and other works were occasioned, partly by a laudable desire to remove a stigma from the good repute of the Catholic Church, and partly by the gross exaggerations of Victor Hugo and others who permitted themselves all licence in dealing with a name so helpless and detested. It cannot be said, however, that these works have corresponded to their authors&amp;#039; zeal. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19752/daily-pope-2-20-13/>