As was reported earlier today, Pope Benedict XVI shocked a lot of people with his announcement that he was retiring effective February 28th of this year. He says he’s just too old to fulfill his papal duties. That makes sense to me, but my opinion doesn’t count because I’m not Catholic. I’ve never even been in a Catholic church before.
Today’s announcement has given all those people with Catholic Derangement Syndrome an excuse to come out of the woodwork. During the next few weeks they will get lots of airtime and column space. Billions of pixels will be used in the blogosphere on the topic of papal succession.
This may surprise a few people but the Vatican doesn’t really care what the gang at MSNBC thinks about anything. As a matter of fact, the United States itself has very little influence over the church and its doctrines.
Sometime next month a bunch of old men will select a new Pope. Then that guy will set policy for the church until he dies or resigns.
Well this is awkward
I’m a Catholic, but my mother had me re-baptized (at the church in her head) as a “heathen” when I stopped going to church regularly in 1969.
I saw a WaPo article speculating on the black Cardinal from Africa as a pick. Either WaPo reads Drudge (where I stole it) or TCH (where I posted his bio downstairs). Or maybe they’re just racist and spotted the black face on the Popestakes race form
Remember when it was a safe bet that the Pope would be Italian?
It’s still a safe bet it won’t be a woman.
My older relatives decorated their “parlors” with a crucifix and portraits of JFK and the Pope.
Also remember people feared a Kennedy win because he’d take orders from the Pope and run the country like a Catholic Church. Crazy politics, we Catholic kids taunted the Protestants with “Hail Mary Full of Grace, the Masons are now in second place” when JFK won.
LOL “Parlor” We had one of those when I was growing up!
Television killed parlors.
It must have been the obligatory “See, we’re not racists” story.
The MSM is salivating over idea of an African becoming Pope — what they don’t understand is that the African cardinals are SUPER HARD LINE ORTHODOX.
Of course, the fucking idiots in the MSM can’t see past skin color — they think black skin = liberal.
TRUE that! Though to tell the truth- between JPII and Ratzinger- most of the cardinals are hard line regressives.
sigh
Kind of like how Dems salivate over getting more latinos, not quite understanding how conservative socially they often are.
Andrew Klavan:
I sometimes think myiq would look like Klaven if he had a closer haircut.:-)
funny one from NES timeline
Agree. Benedict has certainly never been a favorite of mine but it has always been apparent that he is bright and extremely well organized. He did not make an announcement without having his ducks in line. Not to mention that the Vatican represents the oldest bureaucracy on the planet (and from most accounts the most efficient postal service in Europe/World).
I do find it fun to watch so many try and claim some special inside knowledge of something they do not comprehend and have not a snowballs chance in hell of influencing.
Ratzinger managed two of the greatest injuries to women in this modern age . The effects of his offense against women ripple far beyond the confines of the Catholic Church
He came out strongly and irrevocably against women attaining priesthood in the RCC , and also against parish priests marrying.
So the message went out far and wide , to the entire world .
Women not only are not acceptable as priests , we the RCC do not even want our priests marrying them. We women , simply do not measure up , and never will according to the RCC and the view of Ratzinger the Pope.
This is no small matter for the status of women in the world . It is a grievous and unforgivable offense against half , or more than half , of the world population. Unforgivable .
He doesn’t seem to mind bucking 700 year old traditions when it comes to himself .
Those of us who are not Catholic are still affected by the Catholic Church because of its sheer size and its political influence in the world. I’d like to be able to ignore it, but it’s kind of like the proverbial elephant in the room. It takes up a lot of space and if you aren’t careful, it will trip you . Unfortunately, who is chosen as pope matters to the rest of us. I don’t expect the new pope will be much different than the old pope. He is in a nearly unique position to influence who is selected.
I agree with your marrying priesthood rant. The hypocracy of allowing merging married Anglican fathers the whole enchilada but nada to their home grown variety ill serves today’s RCC and B16, imo. It’s extrabiblical, to boot, which puts that entire hierarchy on shaky footing in view of today’s culture. This is something they coulda fixed and didn’t. Too bad.
Jesus healed Peters mother in law . There is precedent in the gospels for priests marrying . Mary was a disciple as esteemed as any of the men , and was the first witness of the risen Christ .There is precedent for women being ordained as priests . The Pope , any pope speaking ex cathedra , ( latin for ” from the chair ” and meaning as exercising his authority as the head of the church ) according to RCC dogma is infallible .
. It could be done .
Not just Anglicans. Little known- RCC took and still takes, converts from the paganistic religions- WITH wives.
Yes , and Jackie Kennedy can have a divorce , but no one else can .
not exactly true. My ex-husband could have a divorce, (so he could remarry in the church) but I couldn’t. Don’t ask me why that was.
Leslie- if your ex got an annulment- it automatically applies to both parties to the marriage, leaving both free to remarry in the Church.
The Catholic priesthood is a self-selected group of people who tend to be traditional & conservative.
There was a blip of radicalism during the liberation theology days when a generation in Latin America grew up thinking communism was all that, but that, I think, has pretty much died out now, faced with the reality of the corruption & tyranny that new regimes so idealistically supported by young radical priests turned into.
I do wonder about the generation of young African priests – the reality they grew up in is one that faces poverty, violence, genocide, and radical Islam.
My larger point is that priests, from parish priests to Pope, are simply people who have attitudes & world views shaped as much by their childhoods as by their years in the seminary & in service.
The reporting of this shows how little our betters in the media know about anything — first, they think that they can influence the pick and second they act as if a new Pope will somehow dramatically change the church like a new POTUS changes policies in DC. The gospel and mission of the church is going to remain the same regardless of the Pope.
I must confess I find crazy women irresistible. In fact, that’s pretty much “my type”
I finally figured out it wasn’t just bad luck.
Not your fault. Blame it on the “fix things” gene.
Before they try to kill you, they can be damn fun.
Not that I know anything about that. Oh wait.
The scary part was they kept getting progressively worse. I quit dating because I was afraid of what was “next”
And then lightning struck the Vatican
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2276884/Pope-Benedict-XVI-resigns-First-Pontiff-600-years-stand-longer-strength-carry-on.html
A sign from God? Lighting strikes the basilica of St.Peter’s dome earlier this evening during a storm that struck Rome on the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation
The Holy Spirit is coming and She is not happy the boyz are rigging the game?
They don’t call her “Mother Nature”for nuthin’.
…and when mother ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.
It does make one wonder if it was A sign from God.
I just learned the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is on. THAT is the Most Important News of the Day.It’s really the only thing I look forward to until March Madness begins. (Except, of course, the Oscars)
Yes, I’m that shallow.
OH cool the herding groups ~
the Old English Sheepdog wins the herding dogs! My dog was an old English. We named him Oliver Money cause that’s what it took to pay for him and keep him healthy.
Potus says it is provocative.