tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post5188822437383743859..comments2023-10-29T06:41:23.910-07:00Comments on Halfway There: The Vatican played for a suckerZenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-52860747385640563012010-07-04T10:36:25.200-07:002010-07-04T10:36:25.200-07:00The Galileo parallel may also be a figment of my i...The Galileo parallel may also be a figment of my imagination ... but it seems to me most unlikely that a cardinal would insult the pope <i>accidentally</i>.Zenohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-76197615759218942042010-07-04T10:27:17.899-07:002010-07-04T10:27:17.899-07:00The Galileo parallel is intriguing...
I'd cer...The Galileo parallel is intriguing...<br /><br /><i>I'd certainly like to see the next Pope (isn't he supposed to be the last one?) favour ID. I can't wait to see Ken Miller's head explode.</i><br /><br />Nah. Miller would try to convince the clearly ignorant Schönborn, and would succeed in no time.David Marjanovićnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-46684385723500353482010-07-01T12:42:57.639-07:002010-07-01T12:42:57.639-07:00I don't know, this blog post looks more like h...I don't know, this blog post looks more like homework than a, um, blog post. Is someone issuing degrees based on the quality and quantity of a blogger's posts? Zeno's interests range far and wide. And deep, so very very deep. (And keeps me interested)Genenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-16220208063157459162010-06-30T10:58:56.557-07:002010-06-30T10:58:56.557-07:00Eamon, there's an old observation about the Su...Eamon, there's an old observation about the Supreme Court that says the court follows the election returns. (As originally put in the mouth of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finley_Peter_Dunne" rel="nofollow">Finley Peter Dunne</a>'s fictional Mr. Dooley, "No matther whether th' constitution follows th' flag or not, th' supreme coort follows th' iliction returns.") Something similar is true of the Vatican.<br /><br />The College of Cardinals is a hive of political intrigue. When the Church was exhausted after Pius XII's long and ascetic papacy, the cardinals surprised everyone by choosing the cheerful and rotund (and elderly) John XXIII. He made people smile and could be trusted not to last very long. (Well, not all of the cardinals smiled when he launched Vatican II. <i>That</i> was a surprise.) When grumpy old Paul VI passed on in 1978, the cardinals picked another smiling pontiff (John Paul I). He didn't last very long, so they reinforced their earlier selection with a young and optimistic Polish prelate who liked to ski. After John Paul II's long, long papacy, it was time to pick another senior citizen, so grumpy old Ratzinger got the nod. (He's so senior that he was one of the last cardinals appointed by Paul VI.)<br /><br />Some of guys in red hats are probably sincere when they claim they vote in accordance with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Most of them, though, are keenly conscious that their choice is the public face of the Church and will be on the lookout for someone to please the crowds when sourpuss Benedict passes on. Since Schönborn is doctrinally conventional, his PR savvy will attract support among his peers. His political maneuvers—<i>if they work</i>—won't be held against him. They'll be regarded as a qualification for office.Zenohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-59994971268493226792010-06-30T10:40:23.867-07:002010-06-30T10:40:23.867-07:00I'm really amazed at just how blind the Church...I'm really amazed at just how blind the Church leadership is to the PR of the abuse coverup. They don't seem to realize the fastest way to get people to *not* think of child rape when they hear "priest" or "Catholic" is to come clean finally, admit the past transgressions, pay whatever is needed to satisfy the abused, and make sure it never happens again. They can't guarantee that individual priests won't abuse, but they can institute changes that ensure the predators won't be repeatedly transferred to a new population of potential victims. <br /><br />The fact is to do this effectively, they'd have to be able to admit that the celibacy requirement is a major factor in the abuse, and that's just not going to happen. I can only guess that this is the "I did it, I suffered, and so you have to do it also, even though it's completely pointless and stupid and leads to major problems" syndrome. <br /><br />Toss out the celibacy requirement, and let women be priests (priestess? LOL) and the recruitment problems the Church has faced for decades would be diminished greatly.Meganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05394174267762297586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-27293829857862381122010-06-30T10:29:51.382-07:002010-06-30T10:29:51.382-07:00Hmmm...I'm not a Vatican-watcher, but it looks...Hmmm...I'm not a Vatican-watcher, but it looks like the old guard there is circling the wagons:<br /><br />http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/06/30/vatican-shakeup-.html<br /><br />Continue with the groupthink, and they're guaranteed to not solve anything, and end in further discrediting the whole rotten system. Whether the College would then go for a reformer, or just retrench even more....?<br /><br />As I've said elsewhere: what the RCC needs now is a new Luther to scare hell out of them, and an Erasmus to say "Told you! Now here's what we need to do to save our ecclesiastical asses..."Eamon Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262012749524758120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-42948464665640566212010-06-30T10:09:03.020-07:002010-06-30T10:09:03.020-07:00I'd certainly like to see the next Pope (isn&#...I'd certainly like to see the next Pope (isn't he supposed to be the last one?) favour ID. I can't wait to see Ken Miller's head explode.<br /><br />The current one is good for publicity, though. I used to agree that any publicity is good publicity, but Benny is doing his best to prove me wrong.Jens Knudsen (Sili)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14078875730565068352noreply@blogger.com