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On Christmas Eve, the Pope chastised humanity for "selfishness" -- while he preached in gold robes that clearly were not purchased at K-mart. Nothing speaks to shared sacrifice during a recession like an opulent display of wealth by the pontiff, who sat on a throne and wore a gold crown. He might do better reaching the "greedy" paupers if he'd given up his Prada footwear for a trip to Payless Shoes. The Pontiff's sermon was the equivalent of Donald Trump urging New Yorkers to take mass transit -- as he gets out of a stretch limousine.
The Pope's hypocrisy is as pronounced on issues of poverty as it is on sexual orientation. It is increasingly hard to take him seriously on critical matters of the day.
In his Dec. 22 World Youth Day speech, the Pope spoke about the environment -- and somehow tied it to his favorite obsession, homosexuality.
On the environment, the pope said: The earth is "the gift of our Creator, with certain intrinsic rules that offer us an orientation we must respect as administrators of creation. ... [The church] must defend not only the earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to all. It must also defend the human person against its own destruction. What's needed is something like a 'human ecology,' understood in the right sense. It's not simply an outdated metaphysics if the church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected."
The pope went on to opine that if humanity ignores this "order of creation," it is self-destructive. "That which is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender' in the end amounts to the self-emancipation of the human person from creation and from the Creator," and as a result "the human person lives against the truth, against the Creator Spirit," said the pope.
I saw the movie "Doubt" last night. It was a chilling reminder that this anti-gay church presided over a shocking child sex scandal. Clearly, the Pope has little moral authority to preach to those of us who have hurt no one. He ought to get his gilded palace in order before pointing his manicured fingers covered in gold rings at innocnet people.
24 Comments:
I completely agree. He has contributed in turning a religion i was raised in into something i want nothing to do with. What hypocrisy. What he says is as insignificant as what the CIA and FBI said about the late Earhta Kitt: that she was "foulmouthed and promiscuous." No wonder i liked that gal. Now she was definitely a true SOUL sista in all the right ways. Happy holidays.
posted by Spouse Walker, at
12/25/2008 11:33 PM
As leader of one of the most oppressive cults in history, this evil piece of work should be brought up on charges of crimes against humanity. The AIDS pandemic is ravaging a lot of African countries and elswhere primarily among the heterosexual population while his missionaries are forbidden to distribute condoms or provide birth control information.
He once described our orientation as intrinsically evil....well now, I think the shoe is on the other foot, he is evil incarnate. You can't take the nazi out of the fascist, the two are inseparable.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/26/2008 9:14 AM
I hear ya, mail and Robert. This man is a hypocrite and a scandal. I wouldn't go back to the Catholic Church if you gave me a million dollars. How DARE this man preach on poverty when he doesn't know the meaning of the word/ How DARE he accuse the poor of selfishness when they want to improve their lives a little? Oh I forgot, any money spent on themselves and their family and not given to the Church makes them "selfish". I didn't care for Ratzinger before he became Pope--now I loathe him as a conscienceless criminal against humanity. It's because of the Roman Catholic Church and others of its ilk that HIV/AIDS has spread as far as it has. Must'nt let people use condoms. People like the Pope decry abortion but don't want to allow effective birth control (the rhythm method is NOT effective). It is because of idiots such as he who say that gay priests cannot serve even if they are celibate. He should try to weed out paedophiles instead.
So, the Pope wears Prada whilst calling the poor "selfish". What a hypocrite.
posted by Merlyn, at
12/26/2008 10:24 AM
The Pope is what is classically referred to as a "reprobate." He is so blinded within his tiny bubble of ignorance that much of what comes out of his mouth is abject idiocy, evil, or both, because he is so removed from that which is decent that he simply cannot evaluate his words within the context of that abandoned decency.
You're looking at a church that's own and run by a cadre of deeply-closeted, self-loathing homosexuals; we should hold them in pity, not in anger. This predictably concludes in psychological "projection", in which others, like us, are accused by them of being precisely what they are. I was also raised in the Catholic church. Thankfully, I saw though it at 13 years old and walked away without ever looking back. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.
TO ALL OF MY LOVED GAY FRIENDS ON THIS BLOG: Don't allow a reprobate like the Pope to get into your head. Don't let him dim your happiness; even a tiny bit! Within the past 40 years, our world began to enter the post-Christian era. Intellectuals simply do not take this man, his church, or any other church, for that matter, seriously anymore. Look at the crowds who leave the mega churches each Sunday afternoon after service... do they look like the intelligensia to you? We must not allow these little people to cause us pain. That is the only weapon they have, and we have the power to render it ineffective!
posted by Chris L., at
12/26/2008 11:36 AM
Merlyn...now that this neofascist is weeding out gay priests, seminarians....I wonder what his litmus test is for weeding out all the straight pedophiles and philanderer priests, hierarchy and seminarians. Expecting priests to be celibate is unnatural, oppressive and against nature. In the RC cult, pedophilia is synonymous with a gay orientation, period. This is one sick man, a devolved one at that.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/26/2008 1:32 PM
Hell, I will NEVER let someone like him ruin my happiness, Chris. He can be a nasty unahappy old man and I will enjoy the remainder of the season with my spouse.
Robert, you are right; celibacy is not natural to most of the human species. This is why I married. I know I could never be as happy alone as with the wonderful man I married. I tried celibacy (was an Orthodox monastic for almost twenty years. I knew after long hard experience that it wasn't for me.
I think the Catholic Church would be a hell of a lot better off if it would let its priests marry--I know they would be a lot happier.
I don't know what Benedict will do to ferret out the straight pedophiles, either. I think he's too hung up on teh gays.
Benedict is definitely one sick man...devolved is the perfect adjective to describe him.
posted by Merlyn, at
12/27/2008 7:17 AM
When the Catholic Church says that they are going to weed out the gays, I think they're just putting on an act. They're playing to their audience in the most cynical way. They know full well that their church is primarily run by homosexuals. I wonder if they actually laugh at their followers once the cameras are turned off. If I were a fly on the wall, I wouldn't be surprised to hear the Pope and his associates mocking someone like William Donohue, for example.
posted by Chris L., at
12/27/2008 7:27 AM
Chris, I only wish that were true in regard to that other profoundly devolved William Donohue. Actually, he does not represent the church officially. Many in the hierarchy do not acknowledge him as such and in fact distance themselves from him when he's on an antigay tirade which seems to be the norm of late. The Catholic League of which he is the president was set up by himself to oversee anti-catholic bashing. He has a background in sociology I believe and considers himself to be an expert on pedophilia. His customary mantra is always homosexuality = pedophilia. He too is obsessed with homosexuality, makes you wonder why. He's sick for sure just like his cultist Pope of Devolution.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/27/2008 8:35 AM
I have a tough time believing that when the cameras are turned off, all the collections have been taken and the Pope and his inner circle have changed into their pajamas, that they don't laugh themselves to tears over the fact that humanity actually takes seriously the obvious scam that they run. I truly believe that they see themselves as promoters of a very VERY lucrative swindle. Remember the "man behind the curtain" in the Wizard of Oz?
posted by Chris L., at
12/27/2008 8:50 AM
It's another example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jesus had virtually nothing good to say about wealth and power, but this is another part of the gospels that the RC church has conveniently ignored. I also think Benedict 16 is a classic gay bashing closet case. I heard Robert F Kennedy Jr say on the radio once that this pope decided to go into the church because when he was a boy he saw a cardinal or bishop (I forget which) pull up in a big mercedes and get out of the car with all his colorful flowing robes and rings. This so impressed our little closet drag queen that he said, that's the life for me. Good-bye Hitlerjugend swastika, hello red Prada Shoes of the Fisherman!
posted by Anonymous, at
12/27/2008 9:43 AM
"Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." (Luke 20:46,47)
posted by Chris L., at
12/27/2008 10:20 AM
What amazes me is that few in high positions of authority in the Roman cult are ever outed. For example, Cardinal Egan of the NY Archdiocese was outed by a Jesuit priest a couple of years ago when the molestation scandal was at its peak. Why this never took off is amazing and why the media never went after it. If Papa Ratzi wants to weed out gay priests, let him start with the hierarchy first, there are many of them.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/27/2008 2:12 PM
The funny thing about all this is that the people on this blog are more reflective of the spirit of Jesus than the "Christians" themselves are! Most religious leaders today, from the Pope to Rick Warren, are amassing wealth and power on the back of Jesus, while it is us on this blog who are engaging in fighting injustice, welcoming outsiders, and trying to spread peace! Pretty cool, huh?
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:9)
"By their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:20-23)
posted by Chris L., at
12/28/2008 9:46 AM
Robert, it is indeed interesting why all these priests an bishops seem obsessed when it comes to homosexuality. Methinks that the ladies protest too much.
posted by Merlyn, at
12/28/2008 11:46 AM
What fries my onion is that they have their claws on the Pieta and so many other gay artifacts. Talk about ingrates. But right wing catholicism has no limit when it comes to cruelty and arrogance. As long as His Popeness is throwing stones, how about this one? The church's support for unrestrained breeding is the real environmental problem. There are just too many of us now, and we need too many resources to live. That's been obvious to environmentalists for decades. Only someone ignorant of the basics of ecology could tell such vulgar lies about us. What a rube.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/28/2008 9:27 PM
I heard a good one on the radio this morning. Apparently it used to be against the mormon religion to drink coka cola, but then God sent a divine revelation that it was now ok to drink the sugar laden carbonated beverage. Coincidentally enough, this telegram from heaven arrived just weeks after the LDS church invested lots of money in coka cola. Latter Day bullshit is what it is!
posted by Anonymous, at
12/29/2008 7:27 PM
oops, i meant coca, i got it confused with coke. i dont drink that crap anyway.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/29/2008 7:31 PM
technically speaking, the pope doesn't own a thing. He just gets to borroew those prada shoes, eat with the church's golden fork, and live rent free at various castles and resorts. quoting osmeone else, it's clearly an example of the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
posted by Unknown, at
12/30/2008 12:12 PM
Merlyn....yes, they do protest and obsess far too much about our sexuality, quite revealing, but then most homophobes as well as the religious cultists have a lot of dirty little secrets in their closets, the biggest sinners, hypocrites and bigots of all. Sooner or later, it catches up with them in some form or other. We on the other hand have the luxury of sitting back and gloating when they're exposed for what they are.
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12/31/2008 12:12 PM
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