The Pope's Billion. But, hey, the billion in India or China?

Ever since Pope Benedict decided to abdicate his throne, not a single day has passed without updates, analyses, and commentaries on the succession.  Now that the cardinals are in sequestration, news updates at the hour seems to be the norm at major news sources--they all seem to have something about the conclave.

Compare this nonstop coverage with the leadership transition issues in China or India.  The global Roman Catholic population is about 1.2 billion, which is the same as India's, while China has a hundred million additional people in its count.  But, news updates on China and India are no where near this barrage.

Ask yourself this question: will leadership in China and India matter more, or less, to the entire world, especially here in the US, than whoever is installed at the Vatican?

What's going on in China?  This is the period of their big time, I mean big time, leadership changes.  Given the tremendous concentration of political and economic power with those few men--yes, men--at the top, the words they say and the actions they take will have global repercussions.  From economic and environmental matters to military and cyber conflicts.

[Premier Wen Jiabao] and Hu Jintao, the president, will step down by the end of the 12-day session to make way for a new leadership headed by Xi Jinping, already secretary of the Communist Party, and incoming premier Li Keqiang.

Now, ask yourself this: how much did this leadership transition command our attention?  Compared to the papal paparazzi coverage?

It is a similar situation in India, which is gearing up for national elections in a year, or even sooner than that.  But, extensive media coverage it will not get.

My hypothesis is that the Western media have yet to truly understand how important China and India have become on the global stage, and how much more important they will become in the decades to come.  If there is any coverage at all, there is almost always a skewed representation of those two countries as our competitors.  And that is where the story ends.

We slice and dice the demographics of the cardinals at the conclave, and their political machinations.  We might even know about a cardinal from some country with a couple of million people.  But, we can barely even name those in the highest political offices in China and India.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture.

Which then leads to a follow-up hypothesis that the media attention on the Vatican is no different from its focus on the British royal wedding.  We have become a celebrity obsessed culture, and the pope is an important celebrity--way more than he is a spiritual leader.

But, of course, we are always way too keen on targeting--sometimes literally--that other billion-plus population!

Oh well ... can't change the world. Have to accept defeat and crawl back into my cave :(

Statue of Madonna in Quito, Ecuador, Summer 2011