How Big is Your Hat?

Today the cardinals have crawled into seclusion to pick the new pope. In celebration of this joyous occassion, I am retiring to my study to read "The DaVinci Code" for the second time. HA! The Church of Rome is probably one of the most corrupt institutions on the planet - yet it is still so reverred. The cardinal molestation scandal is really just the tip of the iceberg. In all honesty, if this would've been a foreign government that was moving diplomats who had molested young boys around the United States we would all be up in arms. Yet it seems as if a lot of people simply accepted the cardinals as "weak." How pathetic... I also am a bit confused as to this whole "the Pope speaks for God," thing. I'm not a Biblical scholar by any means, but I'm pretty sure a central theme is that God speaks for himself and does not want nor require anyone to speak for him. In Catholicism, can you actually talk to God? Or do you have to follow the "chain of command" to get to God? Another thing that boggles my mind about Catholicism is that, apparently, your importance and power in the church is determined by the size of your hat. I am a bit bwildered by this concept - mainly because I do not like hats, but there are other reasons too. As a famous comic once said, "How can you take a religion seriously that basis its foundation in the size of hats???"