"...medieval princes prancing about Rome."

Cardinal Franc Rodé is in the news again, for reasons you can read about here.

I quite liked a comment regarding this story that was posted on the America blog, by someone named Christa, so I thought I would quote it in full:

Once again, in the mouths of the medieval "princes," the words, "secular," and "modern" are seen as evil.
The benighted hierarchy, particularly those in the curia, are trying desperately to continue "ruling" the church, but those of us who live in the real "secular" world in this very post-modern age, love the creation that God has given us and love the fact that the world is a holy place to live and work.
We do not need or want to look like the medieval princes prancing about Rome. We do not need or want to be "set apart" for special adulations. We have the intelligence and zeal to carry out the mission of Christ in this God-created, God-redeemed place called Earth. Our minds and hearts have developed to the extent that we take very seriously the message and example of Christ in ministering to his people. Like Christ, the religious and laity together blend in with all of God's people in God's marvelous world. Our faith is in our hearts and translated to our hands. What we profess is seen in what we do for others, not in how we observe the bows and folded hands of rubrics.
This glorious world is also home to our human condition - one that is not perfect or perfectable in this life. Because we are all imperfect, we find in this beautiful world the results of what Pere Teillard called our diminishments - violence, war, hatred, injustice, and all the evil things we do to each other. It is in these arenas where life is hard to the point of being snuffed out that our mission and ministry leads us - not to the hallowed halls of palatial residences or mighty cathedrals.
I believe Christ never wore a cappa magna, tiara, miter, ring, bejeweled crucifix, lace, or silk slippers. I believe he never carried a crosier or was followed by white-gloved little boys who carried his accoutrements like robotic pages. I believe that Christ saw his life and the lives of his followers as giving glory to God through what they DID for each other, not how they wanted to APPEAR to others; through how they lived their lives, not how they observed rituals.
The Good and Holy Pope John XXIII helped Ruah* breathe more freely through the church after the Second Vatican Council. Rode and his ilk still cling to form over substance and so cannot imagine how Ruah is at work today.

* The Hebrew word ruah, if you're not familiar with it, appears frequently in the Hebrew scriptures, and is usually translated "spirit," or "wind."