The smoke is white....

[AuntyQuated]

they have a pope

OK if you would prefer, I would like him to experience a sudden conversion to Islam. But to date, there's only been one way to end a papacy...

i am a practising catholic and i don't agree with his stance - nevertheless i find the comments wishing him dead very distasteful.

Yes, mp we have mentioned that about Bush, although no one I know has bothered with the peaceful part...

agree with bossykate

mp - is that true? (rhetorical btw) - that's shocking (I'm afraid my knowledge of catholicism and the pope is rather limited )

how on earth has been elected? this is the bloody 21st century.

still think they should've moved with the times and done 'Pope Idol' to determine the next one

pmsl at pope idol!

He sounds like a pussycat.

He's been in charge of the body that basically cracks down on liberal priests and theologians for the last 26 years - he's been the man effecting John Paul's conservative ideas. He's the man who's really responsible for the church's current climate of non-discussion and on-negotiation. His views and writings are truly shocking. He described feminists as 'lethal' and homosexuals as 'evil'. Last year he asked American Bishops to stop allowing pro-abortion political candidates to take communion at mass.

I apologise for causing offence by wishing him dead - however I really do hope that his reign is as short as possible, and if it can be terminated by happy non-fatal events, well that would be marvellous of course.

(non-negotiation)

Pope Idol!!
Love it NdP!!

So this is the guy who started the whole communion thing with politicians in the US?! The election was so close I will always wonder if that was one of the key turning points.

Yes I think it really was awful for the Democrats TBH.

I will find some more choice Ratzinger facts to cheer us all up later.

I'm not shocked at you words about wishing him dead mp - I think it's a thought many people have had about extreme individuals who have/do/will wield an enormous amount of power/influence over others.

POPE IDOL

As a practising Catholic, I am extremely disappointed in Ratzingers appointment, and I hope and pray that his papacy will not be too long.

I do find it a bit distasteful, in these days of global terrorism, to wish him dead as the result of an assasins bullet.

It's traditional!

MP

Take 3 Hail Mary's..............and after all I did to find you Black Magic............well really

This is one lapsed catholic who I think shall remain lapsed. If it wasn't for the good reputation of the local catholic primary I think our local church would be almost empty

Oooh I've been eating a lovely box... and in the box I got a free voucher for a session at a health spa - how cool is that?!

Some random facts about our Joe:

• in 2000, he ordered Bishops not to refer to Protestant denominations as "sister churches" as they "suffer from defects" and "are not Churches in the proper sense"

• As a young man, he served briefly with Hitler Youth

• 1991, Ratzinger argued that eliminating the ban on contraception would damage marital fidelity.

• in 1997, he referred to Buddhism as an ?autoerotic spirituality?

• 2003, one of Ratzinger's papers described homosexuality as "an anomaly" that is "a serious depravity" and "intrinsically disordered" and "objectively disordered." Homosexual marriages are a "legalization of evil" and "Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children."

• 1986 Ratzinger wrote that even one's homosexual "inclination," marked a "strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil" and thus must be regarded as "an objective disorder."

• 2002 Ratzinger insisted that less than 1 per cent of priests were guilty of child sex abuse (this figure turned out to be a least 4 per cent) - well not really his fault but worth mentioning

• in 2004, Ratzinger sent a letter to US Bishops stating that Communion must be denied to pro-abortion Catholic politicians

• As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which used to be known as ... the Inquisition! ok not really pertinent but quite funny) he has overseen the excommunication and revocation of Catholic teaching authority for many liberal theologians throughout the world, including the popular Jesuit priest Father Anthony de Mello.

Not good news then? I hoped they'd go for a change in philosophy but I suppose Pope JPII did serve for a long time and all those surrounding him would have been selected for their sympathetic views.

Dh, a practicing Catholic, calls Ratzinger a stand-in and predicts he'll be gone in 5 years. Apparently he was a Hitler-youth. Urk!