The pope still doesn’t get it
Why, oh why, does anybody listen to him?
Paul at Cafe Philos put the atheist “A” letter on his sidebar in solidarity with nontheists. Not because he’s a nontheist particularly; the question of god’s ontological existence is not of interest to him one way or the other. But he wanted to make a statement, particularly in support of one Nicole Smalkowski, a teen girl in Oklahoma facing prejudice and bullying.
Which inspires me to go find the atheist “A” and put it on my sidebar as well - it’s now next to my “Religion & humanism” links. Because my other inspiration is Pope “Ratzinger” Benedict XVI visiting our country, offering some inspiring thoughts about the child-molesting priests. He assures us that…
“we will absolutely exclude paedophiles from the sacred ministry”
Oh, yeah… heh… What were we thinking? Those kid-raping, trust-betraying phonies are so out of our frock club!
He laid part of the blame for the crisis, of which he feels “deeply ashamed”, on a breakdown in US values.
Um, exqueeze me? It’s a breakdown in OUR values?!!!
I will pause at this moment to allow the Catholics in the audience to put on hearing protection. On second thought, don’t. It’s probably considered disrespectful to address the pope this way, but public piety will only buy you just so much immunity from criticism. I’ll phrase it as a blockquote to set it off from the rest of the post:
Pope Ratz, you stinking sack of corruption! How DARE you come to OUR country and tell us that our values are breaking down? Kiddie porn is illegal in this country. We prosecute child molesters in this country, and send them to prison! And once they’re in prison, even our criminals hate them!
But not you, oh no, before you were Pope, you wrote a memo calling on bishops to hide evidence, to transfer offenders, and to protect the good name of the church. YOU let the infection grow, and deepen. YOU moved the enablers beyond the reach of law enforcement.
You, your “holiness”, OBSTRUCTED JUSTICE! Don’t come to our country dressed in your finery and lecture us about morals. You are precisely this: a “whitewashed sepulchre, full of dead men’s bones.“
OK, now on with our show…
- (Hat tip to Fallacio)
...and apparently I have a lot of company. See also: - Dispatches: The Audacity Of Pope
- Pharyngula: Sanctimonious Monsters
- UTI: What that Rude guy said
- Dana at Tequila Es Verdad has a few observations on His Holiness’ response to materialism: Pomp And Pope.
I found a few follow-up articles, but I can’t calm down enough to comment on them.
Yeah, right. Blaming American values—which very definitely do not support child rape, but sport a misplaced trust in the clergy—and throwing a few bishops under the bus (gently, otherwise they may actually get hurt) is an outrage, particularly from the guy behind the Crimen Sollicitationis.
I have disliked Ratzinger since I was old enough to pay attention to the political debates in Germany. Ratzinger and Meisner are two names that made me go ballistic more often than I care to remember after hearing about the Church’s position on some topic or other.
Posted by elwedriddsche on 04/18/08 at 10:10 PMIf you want more on this issue see the movie “Deliver us From Evil”.
Second thought, calm down first, give yourself sometime, then see it. No need to have a coronary.
Posted by webs05 on 04/18/08 at 10:32 PMI have seen that movie soon after Netflix carried it. There’s also the Philadelphia DA’s Grand Jury Report on the Sexual Abuse of Minors by Clergy.
Posted by elwedriddsche on 04/19/08 at 06:07 AMSo, a nazi from Germany who runs a tax-exempt multinational in Italy comes to the USA wearing a dress to mildly rebuke some local employees of his company for screwing our children, and he blames us?
Right. Well, maybe in Germany and Italy screwing children is more acceptable. Certainly torturing people for their beliefs is. Running a company which gets its revenue via threats with no hope of any return or delivery of any product or services is. Certainly denying the evidence of ones senses in favor of superstition is.
Religion, the scourge of humanity.
Posted by gerry rosser on 04/19/08 at 06:22 AMBravo! My tendency is to ignore Da Papa and all things religious, but the crimes of the Catholic church and their employees needed and deserved this highlighting. I do not understand a religion that worships a man, a man who is no different than any other man except he possesses the perversion of celibacy. No damn wonder they do some of the things they do. T’aint normal, my friend, t’aint normal…
Posted by Winston on 04/19/08 at 06:32 AMThis “blame the American’s for crimes against their children that we condoned for decades” seems to be yet another example of the fine moral sensibilities of the Catholic hierarchy, which sensibilities include lying about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing pregnancy and AIDS, and pushing to prohibit abortions even in cases of rape.
The saddest part of this is the Church is actually in a position to become a genuine moral authority—and yet it refuses to be any better of one than the average multi-national corporation.
Thanks for getting my back with the “A” Campaign, George! :D
Posted by Paul Sunstone on 04/19/08 at 08:15 AMSo, a nazi from Germany who runs a tax-exempt multinational in Italy
Calling Ratzinger a Nazi is one of the few accusations that won’t stick. Plenty of teens were forced into the Waffen SS at the end of WWII and it simply doesn’t follow that these latecomers were full-blown Nazis.
Vatican City is located within Italy, but it would be more accurate to say he’s running the only multi-national who owns what amounts to a sovereign nation.
Well, maybe in Germany and Italy screwing children is more acceptable. Certainly torturing people for their beliefs is.
Neither raping children not torturing people is acceptable in either modern-day Germany and Italy.
All told, Father Doyle has it right. The overriding concern of the Catholic Church is self-preservation and preservation of the company’s assets. Never mind the
flocktithe payers.Posted by elwedriddsche on 04/19/08 at 08:18 AMObviously, my cleverly-phrased cynicism did not get its message across. I won’t bother explaining it all, but my message is simply this: since Roman Catholicism, Inc., did not do anything to punish, fire, or get rid of its pedophile employees in the USA, and it is a company in Italy (Vatican a nation? What a load of ####.), and run by a German, then I say Germany and Italy must, perforce, be more tolerant of child abuse than one would think. At bottom, I was just cursing the Pope, his Company, and the horse they rode in on. Also, why would we not expect pervs from this outfit where men wear dresses, are not supposed to have sex at all, and which thinks overpopulation is a swell way for the world to end?
I don’t care if he’s a Nazi Party member or not, he’s German, and runs a totalitarian fascist “state” (“Vatican Land”), so, to me, he’s a Nazi.
Posted by gerry rosser on 04/19/08 at 12:41 PMObviously, my cleverly-phrased cynicism did not get its message across…
I hate when that happens. Like every other problem there’s a pharmaceutical solution. Ask your doctor if Sarcasma is right for you!
Posted by George on 04/19/08 at 12:58 PMMaybe we’re just supposed to be grateful that he’s promised to do something about a problem that’s existed for many, many years. Why do I smell a PR moment?
Posted by SylvieMac on 04/19/08 at 10:26 PMHe’s already done something - he’s called for people to pray about it. A lot.
And since April is poetry month, please enjoy Digital Cuttlefish’s wonderful poem about prayer and how much good it actually does.
Ratzie says they’ll “exclude paedophiles from the sacred ministry”. Well bully for them. The next step is giving the police 100 percent cooperation to help exclude them from society by sending them to prison. And nailing higher-ups for conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Posted by George on 04/20/08 at 07:12 AMIt seems the mind sets for wacko Religious nuts and wacko Atheist nuts are very close, just the orientation seems to change. They are like rabid Right and left wingers from eithr party take your choice. Being PC is not the same as being tolerant.
Posted by james old guy on 04/21/08 at 10:48 AM
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