Thread: His Holiness The Pope of Rome

..... you got to love the teachings of the big lobed one, he even factored in TC

Originally Posted by Looper

33-day 'Smiling Pope' John Paul I beatified at the Vatican

Pope John Paul I, who led the Roman Catholic Church for 33 days in 1978, has been beatified at the Vatican - the last step before sainthood.

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Thousands gathered in St Peter's square for the ceremony led by Pope Francis.

Last year, Pope Francis credited the late Pope with the miracle cure of an Argentine girl. A second miracle is needed for the move to sainthood.

Described as the "smiling Pope", John Paul I was the shortest-serving pope since 1605.

John Paul I was born Albino Luciani, the son of a bricklayer in the Dolomite mountains in Italy.

During his brief tenure, he defended the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion and contraception but he also sought to reform institutions and root out corruption.

How does someone become a saint?

Pope Francis described the him as someone who "lived without compromise".

John Paul I died of a heart attack on 28 September 1978.

His death caused much controversy - and conspiracy theories - due to two slightly differing accounts.

The Vatican said he was found dead by two nuns.

Initially, however, it had said a priest had found him - uneasy with the fact that women had entered the Pope's private quarters.

For an individual to be beatified, a miracle needs to be attributed to prayers made to them after their death.

The miracle attributed to the now beatified Pope was the healing of an 11-year-old girl after her parents had prayed to Pope John Paul I.

In the last 1,000 years, just eight popes have been made saints.

33-day '''Smiling Pope''' John Paul I beatified at the Vatican - BBC News


Without JP1 we would never have had the timeless witticism: What lasts longer a Pope or a wine-gum?

If that is not deserving of beatification by itself then I do not know what is.

The fact that you cannot see this as single faith widow dressing just proves my point.

Why should leaders of various faiths be automatically granted a seat in the House of Lords? That house is simply an anachronism in this day and age.

If Faith is an anacronism then you must accept so is the institution of the monarchy. Because the Queen’s right to rule comes from a nonexistent deity.

I am enjoying this TV show The Young Pope.

KGBGF recommended it to me in 2016 but I demurred.

The Young Pope highlights where Francis is going wrong. We don't need the wimpish niceness. We need a bit of panache.

We need a pope with a bit of swagger, omniscience, charisma, supernatural aura and miracle-casting mystery who keeps a large boomer kangaroo in the gardens behind St Peters Basilica and rocks the papal tiara to cow the cardinals.

Many of the scenes actually feel genuinely spiritual which adds to the general unexpected weirdness.

I am only half way in and I am almost scared to watch the rest in case it starts to let its finely balanced mystical mojo slip.

It was a truly moving show in the end and the contrarian young pope was redeemed in a way that felt spiritually uplifting. It was so good I think I might watch the whole thing again from the start before going onto the the 2020 show The New Pope

We need a pope with style to shake the dust of the church...



I felt the holy spirit moving during the finale of the final episode and then a remembered that my mango tree has been struck by athracnose blight and has not responded to the usual copper fungal treatments.

So time to up my game with a Virgin Mary of the Mango Tree grotto to see if I can cure my mango tree with a miracle...

I will build a grotto under the tree to house the statue and pray to Her every day and if the statue starts to weep I will know my tree is on the mend

I know the statue works and I won't have to return it under warranty since I got my first miracle just moments after unboxing

I put my hand on the back of my neck while gazing into the eyes filled with the sorrows of mankind and I felt something tiny under my finger

I instinctively felt I should look at it before brushing it off and it was this tick. It must have got on my t-shirt while I was in the forest earlier. If this little fooker had got his nasty little mouthparts into the back of my neck I would have had to go to ER since I cannot self-surgery in that location.

Miracle number 1 is chalked up

^Indeed! Your faith is a testimony to the power of a corrupt institution. Catholicism has been portrayed in film and tv from many viewpoints, often with very high production values and distinctive viewing figures.

I suspect that such hegemony will continue for some time to come.

Originally Posted by DrWilly

If Faith is an anacronism then you must accept so is the institution of the monarchy. Because the Queen’s right to rule comes from a nonexistent deity.

Not really, a monarchy rules by the will of the people not by devine right. Louis 16th was testament to that. These days there are more dictators than absolute monarchies, if any. Even the Chrysanthemum throne has lost much of its' power. There is still the wingnut throne I suppose, but ruled more by corruption.

Originally Posted by Switch

I suspect that such hegemony will continue for some time to come.

The only hegemony that I sense in current popular TV and film media is the hegemony of left wing politics.

It is almost impossible to get through a TV show these days without the conspicuous insertion of some director or producers virtue-begging political credentials.

That is what currently makes shows that dare to include anything even obliquely conservative so refreshing.

This is where I think Francis is going wrong with his hand-wringing worried-face predictable political pandering.

I feel that we could maybe use a slightly more radical pope who is not so shy to occasionally put some left wing political noses out of joint.

Originally Posted by Looper

The only hegemony that I sense in current popular TV and film media is the hegemony of left wing politics.

It is almost impossible to get through a TV show these days without the conspicuous insertion of some director or producers virtue-begging political credentials.

That is what currently makes shows that dare to include anything even obliquely conservative so refreshing.

This is where I think Francis is going wrong with his hand-wringing worried-face predictable political pandering.

I feel that we could maybe use a slightly more radical pope who is not so shy to occasionally put some left wing political noses out of joint.

Very neat body swerve Looper. I was referring to the hegemony of the church. Most of them go through a war phase. Think of the crusades, anti semitism, or radical Muslim fatwah!
The political battles will probably last even longer. More centuries of pointless misery.

No wankee spankee by Papal Decree...

Even the nuns are into a bit of Pornhub according to the holy father.


Even nuns watch porn, Pope says, warning of risks

Pope Francis has warned priests and nuns about the dangers of watching pornography online, saying it "weakens the priestly heart".

The Pope, 86, was responding to a question about how digital and social media should be best used, at a session in the Vatican.

Pornography, he said, was "a vice that so many people have... even priests and nuns".

"The devil enters from there," the Pope told priests and seminarians.

As to how to navigate social media and the digital world, he said that they should be used but told them not to waste too much time on it.

"The pure heart, the one that Jesus receives every day, cannot receive this pornographic information," he said.

He advised the group to "delete this from your phone, so you will not have temptation in hand".

Church teaching sees pornography as an offence against chastity.

Even nuns watch porn, Pope says, warning of risks - BBC News


I am not surprised given the steamy intro to season 2 The New Pope

It starts well but The Young Pope will be a hard act to follow.

Pope Francis appeals for prayers for 'very ill' predecessor Benedict

Pope Francis has said former Pope Benedict XVI is very ill and he has asked pilgrims at the Vatican to pray for him.

Benedict, 95, became the first leader of the Catholic Church to stand down in 600 years in 2013, citing advanced age.

At the end of the Pope's final audience of the year, he asked people to "pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict".

The Vatican then said the ex-Pope's health had worsened in recent hours.

"The situation at the moment remains under control, constantly followed by doctors," said spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Pope Francis was addressing a general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI hall when he looked up from a piece of paper and spoke about Benedict's declining health.

He then made the short trip from the hall to the Vatican Gardens to see Benedict at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where he has lived since he stepped down.

Earlier this month Francis revealed he frequently visited his predecessor.

Speaking of Benedict as a "saint" and a man of high spiritual life, he said the former pope was lucid and had a good sense of humour.

The former Pope has struggled with speech for some time and two years ago a Maltese cardinal said Benedict had told new cardinals that "the Lord has taken away my speech to let me appreciate silence". "He speaks softly but follows your conversation," Pope Francis told Spanish newspaper ABC.

Cardinals around the world joined Pope Francis in praying for his predecessor. "In these difficult and serious moments, let us unite in fervent prayer for our dear Pope Emeritus," wrote Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, the most senior African prelate at the Vatican until last year.

When the Pope took new cardinals to meet him at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in August, Benedict looked frail but he shook them all by the hand and engaged with them.

Benedict XVI was 85 when in February 2013 he surprised Catholics around the world with his decision to step down, less than eight years after he had been elected Pope as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Not since Gregory XII stepped down in 1415 had a pope resigned.

Benedict had presided over his predecessor John Paul's funeral Mass. He was the eighth German to become Pope and was known for his conservative, traditionalist views, campaigning against the social activism of liberation theology.

But his papacy was marked by a scandal involving child sexual abuse by priests. Two reports in 2009 detailed the extent of paedophilia and cover-ups within the Irish Church - and it later emerged that almost 400 priests had been defrocked by Benedict in 2011 and 2012.

However, earlier this year the former Pope accepted that errors had been made in handling sexual abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.

A German inquiry commissioned by the Church found that he had failed to act in four cases. Benedict denied wrongdoing but asked forgiveness for any "grievous fault".

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the current archbishop of Munich, said he had seen Benedict in September and called on churchgoers to include him in their prayers.

Although Benedict was the first Pope for 600 years to stand down, Pope Francis made clear in his Spanish interview this month that he too had signed a letter of resignation in 2013 "in case of health impediment or whatever", handing it to Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state at the time.

Pope Francis appeals for prayers for '''very ill''' predecessor Benedict - BBC News


We can only hope that Benedict has an apprentice waiting in the wings who is schooled in the arts. It is not really Francis's strong suit

Originally Posted by Looper

I feel that we could maybe use a slightly more radical pope who is not so shy to occasionally put some left wing political noses out of joint.

Be careful what you wish for Loopy, torturing adulterers may be seminal from his dark materials, as the old saying goes,

"when you have them by the balls the hearts and minds will follow".

It's a shame all the kiddie fiddlers aren't dying really. Cancerous scum.

^
And sometimes those who shout the loudest……………

Originally Posted by Iceman123

^
And sometimes those who shout the loudest……………

Seems you don't understand how to "shout" on the interwebs.

Still, best for this sort to keep the "No Publicity" box ticked, eh?

Originally Posted by tomcat

...and act the same, and live the same, and marry the same, and despise the same and shun the same...until death removes the affliction...it seems certain religious folks believe that god has told them to persistently poke their noses into the business of others and provoke a little mayhem...

That's not all they poke...

The Pope is dead.

Long live the Pope.

Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95

He led the Catholic Church for fewer than eight years until, in 2013, he became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican where he passed away at 09:34 (08:34 GMT) on Saturday.

His successor Pope Francis will lead the funeral on 5 January.

The Vatican said the body of the Pope Emeritus will be placed in St Peter's Basilica from 2 January for "the greeting of the faithful".

Bells rang out from Munich cathedral and a single bell was heard ringing from St Peter's Square in Rome after the former pope's death was announced.

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said Pope Benedict was "one of the great theologians of the 20th century".

In a statement he said: "I remember with particular affection the remarkable Papal Visit to these lands in 2010. We saw his courtesy, his gentleness, the perceptiveness of his mind and the openness of his welcome to everybody that he met."

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the former pope "a great theologian whose UK visit in 2010 was an historic moment for both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout our country".

French President Emmanuel Macron said Pope Benedict "worked with soul and intelligence for a more fraternal world" and said his thoughts went out to Catholics in France and around the world.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Pope Benedict "was a giant of faith and reason".

"He put his life at the service of the universal Church and spoke, and will continue to speak, to the hearts and minds of men with the spiritual, cultural and intellectual depth of his Magisterium."

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said for many, not only in Germany, Pope Benedict was "a formative figure of the Catholic Church, a controversial personality and a clever theologian".

Irish President Michael D Higgins said the former pope will be remembered for "his untiring efforts to find a common path in promoting peace and goodwill throughout the world".

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said Pope Benedict was "one of the greatest theologians of his age - committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence".

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Pope Benedict as a "defender of traditional Christian values," in his New Year address to the nation.

Benedict: The Pope who resigned from the papacy

Following news of the former pope's death people began gathering in St Peter's Square in Rome.

Annamaria, 65, and Patrizia, 64, visiting from the northern Italian city of Bologna, said they went there immediately as soon as they heard about the death.

"We came here to pray. He was a great pontiff, certainly very different from Francis, he was a great intellectual and scholar. Like the rest of the Church we will always remember him," Annamaria told the BBC.

Barbara Bernadas, a tourist from the Spanish city of Barcelona, said she and her boyfriend felt a sense of bewilderment when they heard the news.

"We learned of his death just as we were in St Peter's Square. A tourist guide was just telling us where Benedict lived, it feels surreal. What will happen now? This situation is unprecedented; there are no protocols to follow for what will happen now. Certainly it is an unprecedented historical moment," she said.

Although the former pontiff had been ill for some time, Vatican authorities said there had been an aggravation in his condition because of advancing age.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed to his final audience of the year at the Vatican to "pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict", whom he said was very ill.

Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was 78 when in 2005 he became one of the oldest popes ever elected.

For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests.

Earlier this year the former pope acknowledged that errors had been made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982.

Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95 - BBC News

Originally Posted by Looper

Vatican authorities said there had been an aggravation in his condition because of advancing age.

What, exactly, does that mean?
Seems the Vatican is in crisis because it has never dealt with interring a retired pope before and there is no plan. FFS, they have had had years! How hard can it be?

Originally Posted by Shutree

FFS, they have had had years! How hard can it be?

That's cardinals for you

Couldn't organise an orgy in a brothel

Pope Francis managed to steady the ship after he got in. There was a lot of traditionalists that wanted to take him out in the first couple years.

I feel that we could maybe use a slightly more radical pope who is not so shy to occasionally put some left wing political noses out of joint.

I agree.

I suppose they will now try and make the former head paedo a saint.

another silly school girl one liner above