WTF? Pope about to resign?!

[Ben Kenobi]

Worship an image of the pope? Enjoy hell.

You'd be more correct for my little icon of the BVM, except for that little inconvenient fact that veneration!=worship.

[molly bloom]

Oh, would you like an exciting Pope?

With jet powered Popemobile, a Popecopter, a Popearang, Popecycle and a jet-propelled Popeope stick for early morning exercise on the Spanish Steps.

I'd really like one that was familiar with something other than 19th Century morality, one that didn't see women as sperm depositories, one that was honest about the Vatican's role in WWII, one that opened the Vatican archives unreservedly, and one that flogged off some of the art to help the world's poor and sick. And preferably one who wasn't an ex-member of the Hitler Youth and hadn't dragged his feet in the cases of priests found guilty of serial child sex abuse.


I'd also like to find Anglo-Saxon treasure in my front garden as that seems much likelier.

[Ben Kenobi]

flogged off some of the art to help the world's poor and sick

Hello Judas.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

[molly bloom]

SOMEONE PLEASE SLAP ME

Tcho.
There's never a sadistic gerontophile priest around when you really need one....

[molly bloom]

Hello Judas.

Oh look, even the Devil can quote scripture.

Now it's my turn:

[QUOTE] So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple./QUOTE]

I like this one too:

He answereth, and saith vnto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him doe likewise.

Both from Luke, in case you're interested.

[Ben Kenobi]

Both from Luke, in case you're interested

Funny you should quote those ones

You mentioned 19th century morality. Do you insist that the Church should reject communism?

[molly bloom]

Funny you should quote those ones

You mentioned 19th century morality. Do you insist that the Church should reject communism?

You have me confused with a Pope. I can't insist the Roman Catholic Church do anything, least of all drag itself into modern times. It's only recently apologised for its use of slave labour.

It takes an age to squeeze much remorse out of the Irish government, doesn’t it? In 1999, after decades of child abuse in Catholic-run organisations, it finally issued “a sincere and long-overdue apology” to the victims and set up a Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which took nine years to present its findings.

Now the government has been told – by a report prompted two years ago by the UN Committee Against Torture – that the Irish state colluded in sending 30,000 women to the infamous Magdalene Laundries between 1922 and 1996.

The prime minister, Enda Kenny, didn’t apologise to the families of the women who’d been incarcerated in these hellish institutions despite committing no crime. He said: “The stigma [of] the branding together of all the residents… in the Magdalene Laundries needs to be removed.” No, it doesn’t. The stigma of the Laundries will survive as a reminder of how inhumanly innocent people can be treated by supposedly charitable institutions.

These were places where “loose girls” or “fallen women” could be packed off to, girls impregnated by their fathers or uncles or the local priest, girls who were considered too flightly or flirtatious or headstrong to be biddable members of society. They could be put to work all day, washing sheets for the military, fed on bread and dripping, forbidden to speak and offered no way out, or any explanation about why they were imprisoned. Half of them were teenagers, doomed to spend their best years in a workhouse, being humiliated by nuns, told they’d offended God and that their parents didn’t want them.

The Laundries’ existence isn’t news. People have been familiar with their cosy-sounding name for years. Joni Mitchell wrote a song about them on her 1994 album Turbulent Indigo. Candida Crewe wrote a novel about them in 1996. Miramax produced the 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters, left, directed by Peter Mullan. The only people seemingly oblivious to their existence are Irish politicians.

Why they stayed oblivious is pretty clear. Ireland has had a chronic problem of keeping church and state matters apart. Government and church traditionally, if tacitly, support each other – which meant, in the past, the authorities turning a blind eye to abusive priests. The girls sent to the Magdalene Laundries had committed no crime – they were accused of committing sin – but they could be taken by Gardai and locked away in prisons funded by the state.

No wonder the government didn’t want the ghastly business coming into the light. It’s vital Mr Kenny tries to frame some response to the victims’ families beyond feeling sorry for what the victims endured. And the Magdalene report confirms the importance of keeping church and state matters separate – even if, as we’ve seen in this week’s historic Commons vote, the institutions are heading for a fight.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-magdalene-laundries-report-confirms-the-need-to-keep-church-and-state-matters-separate-in-ireland-8483749.html

Wash away your sins the R.C. way:

[Ben Kenobi]

I'd really like one that was familiar with something other than 19th Century morality

I can't insist the Roman Catholic Church do anything

I'm not quite sure how staying faithful to your husband or wife was a 19th century innovation. Communism on the other hand, is.

[molly bloom]

I'm not quite sure how staying faithful to your husband or wife was a 19th century innovation. Communism on the other hand, is.

How fascinating. Almost as interesting as watching glue dry.

[giblets]

Oh, would you like an exciting Pope?

I'd prefer no pope, but if there's going to be one at least do something that merits this level of attention.

[DaShi]

You'd be more correct for my little icon of the BVM, except for that little inconvenient fact that veneration!=worship.

Call it what you want. The fact is that you used it for personal gain.

[Ben Kenobi]

Call it what you want. The fact is that you used it for personal gain.

Hrm?

By citing the true statement that, according to Benedict and the catechism, I am a Catholic in good standing?

If you believe I am not a *real* Catholic then it's up to you to prove your accusation!

[DaShi]

You appealed to your avatar as an authority to prove your false Catholicism. Not only it is idolatry, it is a lie. The only way to redeem yourself at this point is to take your own life. You will still go to hell, but it won't be as bad as you deserve. This is the best that you can get.

[Ben Kenobi]

it is a lie.

Oh. I see. Now, how do I fail your definition of a *real* Catholic?

[DaShi]

Avatars don't make you Catholic, moron. I'll bet your tongue tastes like your anus.