I’m not good at predictions. If I were, I’d be in Vegas and this blog would be a money-generating machine. Despite this failing, I’ve been asked a lot by the media what I think of the new pope, his record, what I expect to see in the next few months.

So I made a “to-do list” for the pope’s first week. Then, if any of it comes true, it’ll be like Christmas in March.

Pope Francis I’s to-do list:

• Strip Cardinal Mahony of his title and force him to live a life of silence, poverty, prayer and penance in a mental health facility that treats victims of child sexual abuse,
• Require Pope Emeritus Benedict to sit in a video recorded deposition and tell what he knows about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church,
• Mandate that bishops worldwide cease legal and verbal (that means you, Cardinal Dolan) battles with survivors and survivors groups, 
• Turn over all secret personal files globally to law enforcement and the media, and
• Turn over to law enforcement all accused clerics currently in hiding in the Vatican and other countries.

Yep, I think that would be a great first week. And no, I’m not hopeful.

But a girl can dream, can’t she?