It’s all about the lid
Sean Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of the Boston Archdiocese, was recently promoted to cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI. I think it’s XVI. Don’t quote me on that. Boston.com, the web site I love to hate, came through like it always does with a slide show. That web site would be nothing without its slide shows. While flipping through, I noticed one glaring issue above all else - Cardinal O’Malley might be making more money (since he’s a friar, I think he gives it away anyway) and he undoubtedly has more clout now, and he is now eligible to become pope (an American pope will always be a long, long, long-shot) but he took a major step back in the hat department.
As a bishop, you get a nice big chess piece hat just like what the pope wears. It just looks cool. That hat might be the reason so many men join the priesthood. But the hat that cardinals wear (all these hats have proper names, but I can’t remember them) is much shorter, bright red, and has four pointy corners surrounding a half dome which covers your head. I don’t know if this is enough reason to politely decline a promotion to cardinal, but it certainly sheds more light on why all the world’s cardinals clamor to become pope.
