The Pope Quits? February 11, 2013
Posted by ubi dubium in Rants.Tags: Catholic, pope, pope resigns, sith lord
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Seriously, he’s stepping down?
Who does he think he is – Sarah Palin?
Hey Joe, did you forget the job contract on this? You get to be “king” of the Vatican, live in unimaginable weath and splendor, have enormous power, order around a billion catholics, and have people grovel at your feet all day. But the catch is that you have to do this until you die, no matter how sick you get. Seems a fair trade-off. If you can condemn millions of Africans to an agonizing death from AIDS by telling them not to use condoms, then you can just stay on the job from your sickbed!
The last pope to step down was in 1415, and he did it to end a schism, not because he didn’t feel like being pope anymore.
So what’s actually going on here? Can it be that the bad press has finally gotten too overwhelming? It’s becoming increasingly obvious that he knew about all the pedophilia and other abuses going on in the Catholic Empire, and has for a really long time. It’s apparent he was deeply complicit in the cover-up. As I saw on a comment this morning, he’s not the Sarah Palin of religion, he’s Richard Nixon.
But what I think actually is going on is his last grab at power. Since a pope serves until he dies, the one thing he never gets to do is choose his own successor. Even if he were to let the cardinals know his preference for a successor, he’s gone by the time they choose. So there might be a chance that they would actually pick a decent person who was more concerned with the wellbeing of humans than in the power and public image of the catholic bureaucracy. (A small chance, but a chance). If Ratzo hangs around he gets an opportunity to push the cardinals to select another Sith Lord and keep the church securely on the Dark Side of the Force.
Will he be allowed to attend the conclave? I hope not, but there’s really no precedent for this, so this will be interesting to watch.
I think he wants more time to play with his Light Sabre.
The Cardinals threatened to throw him down a shaft.
I suspect that a number of high ranking church officials realized how poor a representative he is, especially on the child rape issue. I suspect they’ll look for someone who is conservative but perceived as friendly and kind by many (but not me), like John Paul II.
They’re deemed to take the word of God undoubtedly. Does this mean that the government officially states that God is proven to exist, is proven to speak his will to the pope (why does he need the pope to do that if he’s omnipotent?), and that the pope won’t be sneaky and push in a few of his own requests for personal gain? Giving a man so much power based simply on trust seems incredibly naive and dangerous with someone that high up; power corrupts.