The Pope

[Nkd666]

Did i mention i am also half Italian.

Which half?

[Commander]

Which half?

Left

[watanabe2k]

Just had to post the link to this pic.......

http://www.dullahan.com/stuff/papa.jpg

[Samanosuke]

Everything is proceding as I have forseen...

[bluhawq]

Just had to post the link to this pic.......

http://www.dullahan.com/stuff/papa.jpg

ARGH...no wonder he looked sooo familiar!

[KhawMengLee]

Just had to post the link to this pic.......

http://www.dullahan.com/stuff/papa.jpg

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, thats scary...

[Kirsty]

Just had to post the link to this pic.......

http://www.dullahan.com/stuff/papa.jpg

Thats awesome =P

[Fonsz]

Did i mention i am also half Italian.

So this should explain the snazzy bogu, always thought that folks from Scotland to be a bit .....well plain. This sure sheds some light on matters. Is your Bogu now approved by Hai Hai, because he never put it down last time I checked.

[Commander]

So this should explain the snazzy bogu, always thought that folks from Scotland to be a bit .....well plain. This sure sheds some light on matters. Is your Bogu now approved by Hai Hai, because he never put it down last time I checked.

Actually Scottish people are quite fashionable
Depends on the area you go to.

Im not sure if i've had his approval.

[Darth Neighbour]

i still got that daily mirror headline in mind: "from hitler youth to papa ratzi"
well, that tells you nothing, cause my grandfather, a farmer from styria, was also forced to join the wehrmacht and even had to fight in finnland. almost every friend of mine got a grandfather that was in the wehrmacht, but no nazis.
to me, it´s like an american, who was part of the peacemovement, but drafted to vietnam. he also had no choice. but he only would go in jail, our grandfathers would have been shot. but enough of that.

the real "problem" is that he is ultra-conservative and already 78, so no change of politics but more fluctuation. so either there will be more older popes (more likely to be conservative) in future for just the look of "modernization", but this won´t help the church´s crisis, or they elect a younger open minded candidate, that is willing to make changes (provided that the conclave wants a reformer next time) and also capable to gain the worlds´ respect and sympathy.
i resigned from the catholic church some time ago, but i think, that the pope is an important factor in the world´s social development for his influence on politics, like jp2 in the cold war.
still, they must learn to accept the changes of time and reform their structures (women priests, celibacy) and their philosophy concerning homosexuality, abortion and contraception.
at least some of the first steps could be made by beni 16th. i hope he will.

[damon4130]

The Catholic church is responsible for an unbelievable amount of (innocent) victims during her excistence: the Crusades, the Inquisition and the slaughtering of the Templar Knights (and other religious groups) by pope Innocentius (what's in a name?) at Friday the 13th, early 13th century. I find it very hard to believe people still have faith in the Catholic Church and the pope as their religious leader.

[Berugijin]

When people refer to the dead pope as "JP2" or "JPII" I always get a mental image of some rapper with heaps of "blingbling" who's down with Jesus.

Jay-Pee, Jay-Lo, Jay-Zee, ...? Sorry this is all I had to contribute to this thread.

[Andoru]

the real "problem" is that he is ultra-conservative and already 78, so no change of politics but more fluctuation. so either there will be more older popes (more likely to be conservative) in future for just the look of "modernization", but this won´t help the church´s crisis, or they elect a younger open minded candidate, that is willing to make changes (provided that the conclave wants a reformer next time) and also capable to gain the worlds´ respect and sympathy.

still, they must learn to accept the changes of time and reform their structures (women priests, celibacy) and their philosophy concerning homosexuality, abortion and contraception.

Let's have a look at another perspective: do you want kendo to change from its present form simply because of changes to social perceptions? What if the meaning of budo is lost?

Like Cardinal Ratzinger (as he then was) said in the last public mass before the conclave, the Church cannot simply change just because of changes in the winds. The Church is the protector of the words of god i.e. the bible. As Ratzinger says, the winds of change cannot hide nor sway the Truth. The Church has to remain steadfast in this capacity. If the bible says A, the Church cannot say anything else but A. The bible is the spiritual source after all.

Alot of people feel that the church can interpret the bible like judges would to statutory and common law. That merely causes confusion and creates instability - religion loses its significance and purpose if it's opened to such changes.

Granted, the church has made decisions on issues not specifically addressed by the bible, such as married priests. Perhaps these issues may be opened to debate.

For the record, I am a roman catholic, and yes there are church teachings that I disgree with. Still, I prefer my church to be "strong and constant".

[Berugijin]

Let's have a look at another perspective: do you want kendo to change from its present form simply because of changes to social perceptions? What if the meaning of budo is lost?

Interesting perspective... But what if kenjutsu had never changed simply because of evolutions in social perceptions in Japan? What if the meaning of bujutsu is lost?

Your analogy is flawed. The church is an institution that promotes discrimination, kendo is about self-improvement. I've never seen a sensei tell someone she can't be a kendoka because she's female. The catholic church can bite my shiny metal ass.

[Neil Gendzwill]

If the bible says A, the Church cannot say anything else but A. The bible is the spiritual source after all.

Hogwash. That's the fundamentalist Christian view, the Catholic church is anything but that. They don't teach literal creationism, for one glaring example. The Catholic church has always treated the bible as something that needs to be interpreted and understood in a deeper than literal sense. Which is why their steadfast refusal to allow women more power in the church smacks more of male politics than biblical literalism, for another example.