After the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and a swift election process, the cardinals in Vatican City elected Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as the new pope of the Catholic Church on Wednesday, March 13th. Catholics around the world were thrilled by the decision of the new Pope, who has taken the name Pope Francis. Although it would seem that some level of awareness of the Pope is common knowledge among everyone in our world, it has come to light that not everyone is so clear about this popular figure.
Since the rise of the Catholic Church as one of the most dominant religions in the world, the Pope has been the most powerful religious figure known. The Pope as the leader of the Catholic Church plays an important role in the news stories we hear today.
The coverage of the new election was worldwide, and especially intense within our Western World where the number of Catholics is so high. Adding to the hype this time around as well was the possibility that an American might be elected Pope.
With the amount of coverage that the Pope receives, one would think that most everyone would have at least some level of awareness about the Pope and the election that occurred.
To test the knowledge of the average American, as well as to put people on the spot and create a hilarious segment, Jimmy Kimmel sent out an interviewer to ask people on the street about the new Pope. However, when this episode was aired on March 6th, the new Pope hadn’t even been elected yet.
People were being asked about a Pope that didn’t exist. The questions
became increasingly more ridiculous, which led to even more ridiculous answers. One man, upon being asked about what he thinks about the new Pope, answered by saying how great of a guy the Pope is and how he would love to go to Italy to meet him.
Another man was asked about what he thought about the new Pope being Jewish, and he answered saying that he thinks it’s good and that a Pope shouldn’t just stick to one religion. All of the people that were asked questions about the Pope responded with opinions that were complete and utter lies.
Although the segment was meant to be funny and entertaining, its underlying message can be taken as ignorance of Americans. It has to be taken into consideration that these people were put under the pressure of a camera, and anyone put under such circumstances may resort to spewing out nonsense.
Being put on the spot can be nerve-wracking and lead people to creating some response to give an impression that they know what they are talking about. However, this segment could be just one example of the ignorance of many Americans. The fact that some of these people seemed to really believe that such a Pope existed is sad.
As involved as the media is in our lives today, it isn’t hard to be aware of something if one just pays attention. It doesn’t take extensive research to hear about news and it isn’t difficult to access information. To simply be unaware of such an important and worldly figure is nothing more than pure ignorance of worldwide events.
Ignorance to this extent is curious; it is a wonder as to where people’s focus is when they surf the internet or check their Twitter that leads them to being so unaware of something that is so extensively covered.
Americans are stereotypically thought of as ignorant by other people of the world, and when situations like this are brought into light, it isn’t difficult to see why. As Americans, it seems that our social priorities are skewed and should be reevaluated.
To be well-rounded individuals, we need to be at least aware of what important events are going on in the world, whether or not they have an effect on us. However, I don’t believe that this ignorance is completely nationwide. There are certainly plenty of people that have their eyes open to events like this in the world. This may only be an example of a small group of ignorant individuals that exist, but it is a type of ignorance that we as Americans should be aware exists.