Rejoice! Rejoice! The world’s favorite reality show is about to return much sooner than expected. I’m talking not about the highly anticipated start of X Factor, but the greatly publicized election of the newest pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI announced that come Feb. 28, he would officially step down from his papal throne, making this the first resignation in the last 600 years. This resignation came only months after activating his highly followed Twitter account. I can’t seem to believe the stressor associated with 140-character tidbits of knowledge is the reasoning behind this sudden career change. 

And neither, it seems, does his team. A Vatican spokesperson announced that the head of the Catholic Church will be leaving because he does not seem to have the strength to continue as the leader.

Catholics all over the globe were flabbergasted by the news because of the rarity of the situation. In most cases, the pontiffs perished during their reign. Then, after a specified grieving time, the College of Cardinals was called upon to elect a new leader. Most recently, this occurred in 2005 when Pope John Paul II died. After much deliberation, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was the chosen follower.

With last week’s resignation, people already have begun speculating who will be the next leader -— and therefore what sort of changes may come to the Church. To be considered for such an esteemed honor, one just has to be a baptized man in “good standing” with the Church. 

This opens up the door for quite a few possibilities, including my personal choices: funnyman Stephen Colbert or Irish musical genius Bono. This decision is out of my control and in the blessed hands of the 118 Catholic leaders younger than 80 years old.

This unique situation presents an excellent opportunity for the Catholic Church to pick someone more liberal than past pontiffs. This would warrant more cohesiveness with the changes that are occurring throughout the world. 

With the decreasing interest in priesthood, the ability for a man to marry may be a worthwhile change to consider. Another hot topic on the altar is child abuse. In recent years, the Catholic Church has almost become a walking punch line for perverse jokes about pedophilia. Therefore, the Church needs to take more responsibility and show greater concern for the victims as opposed to ignoring the crisis at hand.

 Lastly, the Catholic Church needs to become more open-minded to the idea of homosexuality. Within the last few months, the support of gay marriage has increased dramatically, and one can only anticipate that trend will continue. Holding such a firm stance against gays not only alienates possible members of a congregation, but practices more hatred than love.

So if you are particularly invested in the election of the new pope, you can tune in to watch the outside of the Sistine Chapel and look for either dismal black smoke or celebratory white smoke during the next few weeks. 

As a product of Catholic schooling, I can tell you this activity is about as riveting as watching paint dry, but I am in no position to judge whatever lights your baptismal candle. I can only pray the Catholic Church makes the slightly radical, yet rational, decision to move toward a more liberal leader.