Pope Bashing?

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

It was never really about Catholicism or spiritualism, but more about the political posturing of the Vatican.
I find the Pope to be a very interesting person to observe.

When quoted accurately, almost any high-level leader is worth watching, if only to see if he/she trips up. What is interesting to me is the reaction of the lesser levels, the local Bishops and so on in reaction to whatever their Superiors say. Sometimes, you can almost hear the dithering. . . .

[NoJo]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

With the latest headlines, the Pope (Ratzinger) has declared that "bishops and other high-ranking clerics should report such crimes to police if required by law", quoted from the article on Yahoo news, Vatican makes clear bishops must report sex abuse , does anyone out there want to join me in a little Pope Bashing for fun?

I have to say I'd rather enjoy kissing the Pope's ring.

[AllardChardon]

I would like to go to Rome and visit St. Peter's Square, and I might even attend Mass while there, but I don't want to kiss anyone's ring. The Pope is a man, who was selected by other men of a like mind, and I am not sure God had anything to do with it at all.

[AllardChardon]

Here is another juicy tidbit;

The pope has joined Twitter
By Claudine Zap | The Lookout

Watch out, Justin Bieber. Step aside, Rihanna. You've got competition for groupies: The pope. LOL!

Yes, the pope has a Twitter account. Followers of Pope Benedict will be able to read his 140-character messages under his new handle, @pontifex.

The Vatican's senior media adviser (the Vatican has a media adviser?!), Greg Burke, said at a press conference, "The handle is a good one. It means 'pope,' and it also means 'bridge builder.'"

The Twitter account will launch Dec. 12 and will start by answering questions posed to #askpontifex. While the 85-year-old will post the first tweet, according to the AP, "Subsequent tweets will be sent by someone in the Vatican's secretariat of state. They will, however, all be approved by the pope, officials said."

The social media account will truly be global, turning out its posts in eight languages: Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French.

And although the pope has yet to send out one tweet, he already has 110,000 followers and counting. But don't expect to see the spiritual leader walking around with an iPhone. Burke said, "The pope is not going to be walking around with a BlackBerry or an iPad, and no one is going to be putting words into the pope's mouth. He will tweet what he wants to tweet."

Messages will be spiritual, not personal. Burke added, "The pope wants to reach out to everyone, especially the young."

Underlining his point, "Pope" was a trending topic on Twitter this morning.

[PennLady]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I would like to go to Rome and visit St. Peter's Square, and I might even attend Mass while there, but I don't want to kiss anyone's ring. The Pope is a man, who was selected by other men of a like mind, and I am not sure God had anything to do with it at all.

But those men believe their choice to be divinely inspired, right? They pray for guidance, etc., so I guess you could say that in their mind, God is pretty deeply involved. (I was raised Catholic but admit various points are fuzzy.)

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I would like to go to Rome and visit St. Peter's Square, and I might even attend Mass while there, but I don't want to kiss anyone's ring. The Pope is a man, who was selected by other men of a like mind, and I am not sure God had anything to do with it at all.

Been there, done that, and it's all far more interesting than the Pope and his ring...

[oggbashan]

The baby due to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will no longer be excluded from the Royal succession if it marries a Roman Catholic...

[Exquisition]

Originally Posted by PennLady

(I was raised Catholic but admit various points are fuzzy.)

Interesting, Penn, care to elaborate?

[AllardChardon]

Considering the long history of pope selection, how some pope's behaved once they attained their position, both politically and personally, I cannot say that the Holy See was always occupied by men of good faith. But most of that was a very long time ago.

Nowadays, the Vatican bank is having trouble with transparency. Times change, but that makes me wonder about what does not change, and will not, for reasons of secrecy. The booty alone, stashed in the catacombs, has my complete interest. But, I will probably never know the extent of that treasure in my lifetime or yours.

Og, that is very interesting about the child of the Duke and Duchess. I am sure the Pope would love to have a Catholic Monarch on the throne of England.

[PennLady]

Originally Posted by Exquisition

Interesting, Penn, care to elaborate?

Oh it's nothing major. I was raised Catholic (my dad was Catholic, as was his family; my mom was Episcopalian but became Catholic). I had the sacraments, went to Catholic school, etc. Probably like many others, I kind of drifted in and out of going to church during college and the years after. I don't go now. I don't agree with the Church on many areas, which made me feel kind of hypocritical going to a service, and after the child sexual abuse scandals, I lost any trust in the institution.

Anyway, I was speaking more to the history and administrative stuff. I had one course, don't remember tons. And I didn't study it beyond the course I took, b/c I wasn't all that interested. So I know that the cardinals gather to choose a Pope, and as I recalled, the choosing is supposed to be divinely inspired or guided; it's not simply that candidates are named and then voted on. I just noted that in response to AllardChardon's post.

[lovecraft68]

I was at a church on Sunday night for the memorial mass of my sister in law.

Catholic churches make me want to vomit.

They are the bloodiest most war like religion that has ever seen the face of this earth.

They swept across the world destroying all the "pagans" and witches" and "converted entire cultures to their ways.

They converted them by killing and torturing their religious leaders, burning them at the stake, stealing their belongings.

all in the name of God? Oh, please.

The Catholic church has destroyed the very name of God.Turned "religion" into a bad name.

They killed "savages" for worshiping idols.

What did I see at that stinking shrine a 30 foot(no I'm not kidding this statue is famous) statue of Mary.

Their church is full of "relics" and holy items. They worship idols as the pagans did, but its okay isn't it?

The vatican sits on billions all of it pilfered and stolen from religions that actually had faith.

Their entire religion is built on blood and hypocrisy.

But through their support of pedophilia and the fact the world has woken up to them they are a dying religion.

That enormous church was next to empty last night as it should be. Their schools are closing, their churches are closing

all well deserved but centuries to late.

In the bible they are the whore of Babylon and will side with the anti-christ, because they are so totally opposite of what Christ taught its not funny.

as for the current pope? A nazi sympathizer?

Kiss his ring? Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, kiss this faggots ring?

If I had an "audience" with the pope it would be to spit in his face and piss on his pretty robe.

The false prophet that will aide the anti-christ is sitting right in the vatican surrounded by stolen graven images and gold taken from others.

People think the vatican is beautiful? That church has destroyed more beauty than can ever be imagined.

The pope the cardinals the bishops, the liars, the misleaders, the brainwashers of generations?

All rotting in hell.

Oh, btw during the mass they passed the plate not once but twice. It also cost my wife's aunt a two hundred dollar donation to have my sister in laws name mentioned by a faithless poser in a dress.

Real cute.

Is that enough bashing? I have more if anyone wants it.

[Exquisition]

Originally Posted by PennLady

Oh it's nothing major. I was raised Catholic (my dad was Catholic, as was his family; my mom was Episcopalian but became Catholic). I had the sacraments, went to Catholic school, etc. Probably like many others, I kind of drifted in and out of going to church during college and the years after. I don't go now. I don't agree with the Church on many areas, which made me feel kind of hypocritical going to a service, and after the child sexual abuse scandals, I lost any trust in the institution.

Anyway, I was speaking more to the history and administrative stuff. I had one course, don't remember tons. And I didn't study it beyond the course I took, b/c I wasn't all that interested. So I know that the cardinals gather to choose a Pope, and as I recalled, the choosing is supposed to be divinely inspired or guided; it's not simply that candidates are named and then voted on. I just noted that in response to AllardChardon's post.

Ah. Thanks for sharing.

[Stella_Omega]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Considering the long history of pope selection, how some pope's behaved once they attained their position, both politically and personally, I cannot say that the Holy See was always occupied by men of good faith. But most of that was a very long time ago. <snip>

What makes you think it's any different now?

[topace]

The answer is simple why the Catholic Church is losing members and not gaining any new ones:

It has refused time and time again to change with the times.

[PennLady]

Originally Posted by topace

The answer is simple why the Catholic Church is losing members and not gaining any new ones:

It has refused time and time again to change with the times.

This actually gets into interesting territory, if you like that sort of thing. I'm not sure I do, b/c I'm not too philosophical or anything. Nor versed enough in Church history or dogma.

When Mr Penn and I did pre-Cana (pre-marital) counseling with the Church, b/c we were having a Catholic ceremony, we were living together. In the initial conversation I had (over the phone) with the priest, I told him that yes, we were living together but didn't regard it as a sin. He said, well, basically, God said it was a sin and who was I to say otherwise? Naturally it wasn't the living together that was the problem, it was the pre-marital sex. Which of course you don't have to be living together to have. Sorry, I digress.

I think my reply was something like, Father, I'm not in a position to argue this with you, but this is the situation. For the record, this was not the priest who performed the marriage; that guy never said a thing to us about it, regardless of what he actually thought.

So, to take the first priest's question out a little further -- if God says something is a sin, then isn't it always? No matter what society might think?

Now I'm not agreeing with this, I'm just putting it out there. And there are other ways the Church could modernize, such as allowing priests to marry and allowing women to be priests. That seems to be more administrative, if you will; I believe that in the early church, priests were in fact allowed to marry.

So there's some thoughts and I imagine Pope Benedict wouldn't be too happy with them.

[topace]

Honestly, I don't believe in 'God' like religious people do.

I follow my one simple rule:

Do no harm to anyone in any way, whether it be word, thought, or deed.

Some call that the so-called 'Golden Rule' of the Bible, but it doesn't mention thoughts.

[AllardChardon]

Thank you posters for your lively responses.

I must admit with Lovecraft that the Catholic Church will herald the Anti-Christ into the world.

Penn Lady, I have always had trouble with the word "sin", which really means "miss the mark" like in archery. Sin to one person is not sin to another.

Here is a perfect example. My son worked with a Christian man, who told him one day, that a husband can do anything he wants to his wife, including anal sex, and that is all fine with the Lord. My son came home and asked me about it. I told him that was probably his boss' version of what is considered a sin and not his church's. He was not a Catholic. Anyway, it has always seemed to me that people change up the "rules" to suit themselves and their desires.

I mean, the Mafia were all Catholics, and they did as they pleased, in between going to Mass occasionally. It is a hypocrit's religion, in my book. And most of their problems have arisen from the celebacy issue, which is the perfect recipe for repressed sexuality rearing its ugly head.

[AllardChardon]

I read this morning the Pope has over a half a million tweeters following him, now. Not bad for an initial outing.

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I read this morning the Pope has over a half a million tweeters following him, now. Not bad for an initial outing.

They outed the Pope!?!

Oh, sorry. Misunderstood.

What language does he tweet in?

[AllardChardon]

Yes, Tio, I meant initial Twitter outing or coming out.

I have no idea what language he tweets in, but I bet it is translated into many languages.

[JackLuis]

Good Headline for hypocrisy.

Zealots to the left of them, Zealots to the right of them,
Perished and plundered!

[AllardChardon]

Thank you, JackLuis. That is what I call real "Pope Bashing"! When one thinks of all the land the Catholic Church owns, most of it stolen, like the case in your posting, all the world over, it must make their concealed treasure perfectly paled by comparison. Has anyone ever figured out how much of the Earth the Catholic Church owns? And most of it, prime property no less!

[bronzeage]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Thank you, JackLuis. That is what I call real "Pope Bashing"! When one thinks of all the land the Catholic Church owns, most of it stolen, like the case in your posting, all the world over, it must make their concealed treasure perfectly paled by comparison. Has anyone ever figured out how much of the Earth the Catholic Church owns? And most of it, prime property no less!

"Bashing the Bishop" and "Punishing the Pope" are old euphemisms for masturbation.

[AllardChardon]

Thanks, bronzeage, those are both very funny and I will add them to my long list of masturbation words.

[AllardChardon]

Thanks, bronzeage, those terms are both very funny and I will gladly add them to my long list of masturbation words.