Before the year is out... I believe there will be smoke from a chimney for the first time in 27 years, signaling not only a changing of the guard, but the remaking of the entire edifice. If they want to continue on, they must embrace the reality of diversity, which has been ignored, even quashed, from the time the structure was built. This change is not yet written, but without major rennovation, the old structure will collapse.

This is not only true of the institution in question, but all such institutions. Religious, scientific, and political edifices have all become very frail, though they still seem solid on the surface. However, their structure has been disassembling, more rapidly as time passes. Soon the frameworks will be shown in their true hollow condition, like light through lace, and prove too insubstantial to stand. Their facades will no longer be enough to sustain them.

But this does not bode complete anarchy. Structure has been developing, just not in support of the outdated frameworks. When the facades collapse, the new structures will be revealed, already in existence, already functioning, for over time they have come into being to fill the needs left by the gradual failure of the inflexible obsolete forms. They will work even better when they no longer have to fight 'the establishment'.

There will be debris to clear out from the collapse, but in cleaning up, new connections will be found, further supporting the newer more flexible systems. No longer will we build from stone too heavy to move, nor direct from perches too high to see life on the ground. We'll work more organically, more dynamically, so that change can be made as change is needed, instead of years after it would have been useful.

Religion, Science, and Politics will learn they are all looking at the same picture and will each find ways to describe it so they can understand each other, and allow each other to exist without turmoil, and even work together eventually. This change will of course take much longer than merely a year, but the fire for this has been set and we'll all be better for it... when the smoke clears.

PS - Yes, I am predicting the current Pope will die this year and that his successor will likely be Arinze, the "Black Pope" from Nigeria.