But I really liked the Grand Inquisitor’s homily at the Holy Father’s funeral. For one thing, it was the first time I’d ever actually seen him on live TV (the nature of his job is mostly a written one) and he really came across as a humble priest and not as … ahem … a Grand Inquisitor (again the nature of his job is not primarily a pastoral one). He tied in his He had both a memorable opening line (“follow me”) and he had a great walkoff theme — about John Paul standing at the window to bestow an Easter Sunday blessing, his last public appearance, and how he was now at the window of his Father’s house, blessing us all still. And when (I’m assuming) the image on the Vatican TV feed cut away from Ratzinger to that window at the palace, it was as if … as if we were expecting John Paul to be back (even typing in these words causes my eyes to well up). And it underlined that he wasn’t, at least in the earthly sense, and then Ratzinger gets to the punch line about the Father’s house. Just one of the most incredible TV moments ever.

In other words, Ratzinger’s eulogy was everything the homily at a funeral Mass should be. I hope he’s the next pope (Victor ducks …)