The first ever non-European pope takes over at the Vatican, while Italy's economic ills and ungovernability foretell, it's argued, the wider decline of the West. First World Catholics enmeshed in scandal in Europe and the United States have turned to a devout Argentinian to clean up their mess.
Meanwhile, there are weekly signs of the West's fall. It is not a Western high-tech company challenging Apple for global dominance of the smartphone market but South Korea's Samsung with its new Galaxy, launched with great fanfare last week.
This week, the British government will reportedly announce in its budget that Qatar is coming to the rescue of poverty-stricken, austerity-ridden Britain with a £10 billion fund for infrastructure. And everyone knows about the rise of China. The world is turning on its axis. It is now a commonplace that the West is in irredeemable decline.