I'm kinda falling in love with the new pope.

[Dinner]

Also:

What are those animals on the lower left?

Are the two old guys on the right making out?

Who's the hobbit with the dove?

Clearly they're about to have gay sex. I have no idea what those weird beasts of Satan are in the lower left.

[Alexander's Horse]

To someone coming from the outside - what's remarkably Catholic was Pope John Paul II. To me and many others, he *was* Catholicism personified.

There you have it right there. You see for those of us raised catholic, Popes come and go. The most loved of the 20th century were John XXIII for opening the windows of the church through Vatican II and before that Pope Leo XIII early in the century, who is fondly remembered for championing workers rights through the encyclical rarem novarum, also for promoting the rosary and Marian devotion, not just that Polish fellow.

Leo XIII lived and presided to the staggering age of 93. John XXIII had one of the shortest pontificates but one of the most influential. But he was most loved by ordinary catholics for his simplicity and humility. I remember that being often commented upon when I was a child.

[MOBIUS]

To someone coming from the outside - what's remarkably Catholic was Pope John Paul II. To me and many others, he *was* Catholicism personified. Then you have someone like Benedict. Then Francis, etc. It's been an embarrassment of riches for this past while.

I didn't know very much about Francis of Assisi, and we regarded St. Paul as one of ours. We don't have that legacy that you folks have with a Catholic education and being familiar with the long lists of Saints.

As for Popes, I'd beg to differ. There have been some really important ones. My list, those I consider significant to teach about in my class:

St. Paul
Pope Damasus
St. Leo the Great
Gregory the Great
Leo III
Nicolas the Great
Gregory VII
Gregory XIII
Urban II
Innocent III
Pius V
Pius IX
Leo XIII
Pius X
John Paul II
Benedict XVI

My favourite pope is Alexander VI

[kentonio]

Wow, I really am falling in love with the new pope..

Bucking tradition, Pope Francis could soon be seen tooling around the Vatican in a vintage Renault 4.

The vehicle, still in working condition despite clocking 190,000 miles, was given to the new leader of the Catholic Church by Fr. Renzo Zocca, an elderly priest from the northern Italian city of Verona.

The battered car, which reportedly rolled off the assembly line in 1984, was used by Zocca to minister to a hardscrabble, working-class community, according to Vatican Insider. Indeed, it was the car's legacy of working with the poor that inspired Zocca to hand the keys over to the famously populist Pope Francis.

Earlier in August, Zocca wrote to Francis, asking if he could give him a gift, according to Vatican Insider. Zocca was shocked when Francis called him up. At first reluctant, Francis eventually agreed to take the car, which was delivered on Saturday.

Before driving off, Francis told Zocca that he had once owned a similar car, according to the Agence France-Presse.

"The security guard standing next to me was really worried because he knew that from now on he'll be going around the Vatican in my car," Zocca said, according to the AFP.

While stylish in its own way, the Renault's recycled status fits with the pope's earlier statements regarding humility and frugality.

Although Francis' predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, was often transported in luxury cars including a BMW X5 and a Mercedes, Francis chose a modest Ford Focus to travel to the Holy See summer home in July.

“It hurts me when I see a priest or nun with the latest-model car," Francis said at the time. "You can’t do this. A car is necessary to do a lot of work, but, please, choose a more humble one. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger in the world."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...usaolp00000003

Fair play to you sir.

[Colonâ„¢]

Old cars are substantially more polluting.

[molly bloom]

Unlike the Episcopalians, the Catholic Church still holds the Scriptures in high esteem.

Yeah, 'specially the 'suffer the little children' bit. Except of course they interpret it differently.

[molly bloom]

Unfortunately the Pope takes a vow of celibacy. Find another religious leader to fall in love with, kentonio

It didn't stop numerous early mediaeval, late mediaeval and renaissance Popes from fathering numerous offspring having male lovers of various ages, staging a competition for whores in the Vatican, or letting the church be ruled by the pornocracy (see Sergius and the Rule of the Whores- great fun!)

Nowadays things have calmed down slightly, with ex-Hitler Youth members taking years and years to respond to enquiries about institutionalized paedophilia before they were elected pope, and of course others being caught up in the murky depths of Italian and Euorpean right wing politics and banking scandals (P2, Licio Gelli and Marcinkus).

Then of course there was that delightful chap who during World War II earnestly requested that black troops not be stationed in Rome, and yet who failed to respond as forcefully as might have been wished to the anti-Jewish laws in Fascist Italy and the eradication of European Jewry.

On the whole, wouldn't give you tuppence for 'em.