Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article

from Nick Friday, June 17, 2005 - 10:34 (Agree/Disagree?) I never liked him from the get go! I mean the last pope projected a feeling of compassion and care IMO. He gave the impression of a good godly person. I feel like the current pope is all about politics. He said he prayed to god that he would not get chosen??? My ass, he prayed! Not to mention that the fucker is about to keel over and die! He is like 100yrs old or some shit… Then another thing that pisses me off if that the pope is supposed to hear from God yet the new pope has completely contradicted the old one on many topics. One that comes to mind is Harry Potter. The old pope congratulated J.K. Rowling on her success and used her as an example of someone rising above it all. The new pope condemns her for teaching young kids evil witchcraft. I hope the fucker dies soon then we can get us a hot woman lesbian pope! (reply to this comment)

from xolox Friday, June 17, 2005 - 08:49 (Agree/Disagree?) Just another example (and a big one) of how religious people will follow anyone in a position of religious authority. Ratzinger wore the swastika, assisted with Anti Aircraft batteries, and while reluctant as a Nazi, he didn't exactly fight the orginization either. All popes give me a bad vibe. And priests.... and bishops, and anyone who claims service to god while entertaining fanatasies about little boys. (reply to this comment)

from the last word.... Friday, June 17, 2005 - 06:43 (Agree/Disagree?) http://www.bongonews.com/layout1.php?event=1811 (reply to this comment)

from neez Friday, June 17, 2005 - 02:37 (Agree/Disagree?) Meh.. (reply to this comment)

from vixen Friday, June 17, 2005 - 01:14 (Agree/Disagree?) I don't like him. Not sure what it is but I had bad vibes from the moment I first saw him. His smile looks fake and his eyes are not friendly. I dislike the ideology of Catholicism, but I have to say I respected John Paul II because although I disagreed with his religious and moral stance, I felt he was a good man with a generous and compassionate heart. (reply to this comment)

From Friday, June 17, 2005, 07:34 (Agree/Disagree?) I used to feel the same way about JP II, but I think he failed miserably on the issue of priestly child abuse. (reply to this comment)

From vixen Friday, June 17, 2005, 08:58 (Agree/Disagree?) Very true. He also failed miserably on many other issues. (reply to this comment)

from Well... Thursday, June 16, 2005 - 22:26 (Agree/Disagree?) A reliable source tells me he's Catholic. (reply to this comment)

From and... Friday, June 17, 2005, 01:03 (Agree/Disagree?) and probably male, though not confirmed...(reply to this comment)

From Herman's Head Friday, June 17, 2005, 07:43 (Agree/Disagree?) Here is some more info. According to GayUSA reporter Andy Humm, John L. Allen, Jr. left two things out of his biography of Ratzinger. That he had attempted suicide and that he was gay. So the new pope is a self-loathing closeted homosexual. He is arguably the most homophobic of all Vatican leaders, being responsible for two of the most virulently antigay declarations ever made by the Catholic leadership. In 1986, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote the infamous Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. Ratzinger wrote that a homosexual orientation, even if the person is totally celibate, is a "tendency" toward an "intrinsic moral evil". Moreover, a homosexual inclination is both an "objective disorder" and a "moral disorder", which is "contrary to the creative wisdom of God". "Special concern and pastoral attention should be directed towards those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not." Ratzinger's 1986 Letter concludes that pastoral care for homosexual persons should include "the assistance of the psychological, sociological and medical sciences", and that "all support should be withdrawn from any organisations which seek to undermine the teachings of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which ignore it entirely". In July 1992, the Vatican issued a further proclamation authorised by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and by Pope John Paul II, entitled "Some Considerations Concerning the Catholic Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons". This document was designed to mobilise Catholic opinion against equal rights legislation for lesbians and gay men. It describes homosexuality as an "objective disorder" and a "tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil". Rejecting the concept of homosexual "human rights", it asserts there is "no right" to homosexuality; adding that the civil liberties of lesbians and gay men can be "legitimately limited for objectively disordered external conduct". While condemning "unjust" discrimination, the Vatican document says that some forms of antigay discrimination are "not unjust" and may even be "obligatory": especially with regard to "the consignment of children to adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or coaches, and in military recruitment". Most shocking of all, the 1992 document suggests that when lesbians and gay men demand civil rights, "neither the Church nor society should be surprised when ... irrational and violent reactions increase". This implies that by asking for human rights, lesbians and gay men encourage homophobic prejudice and violence: we bring hatred upon ourselves, and are responsible for our own suffering. The Catholic Church, it seems, blames the victims of homophobia, not the perpetrators. Born in 1927 in Bavaria, Ratzinger was already a professor of theology by the age of 31, holding prestigious positions in Freising, Bonn, Münster, Tübingen, and Regensburg. Throughout the 1960's he held influential positions on Vatican commissions dealing with church law and education, rising in 1977 to become the Archbishop of Munich and be appointed a cardinal. In 1981, Ratzinger moved to the Vatican in his position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he authored the two key homophobic Catholic declarations of 1986 and 1992, endorsing discrimination against lesbian and gay people. (reply to this comment)

From lmao Friday, June 17, 2005, 07:30 (Agree/Disagree?) Probably catholic and male but not yet confirmed? lmao! It's amazing how easily we're entertained, I blame it on the family. (reply to this comment)

From oopsie Friday, June 17, 2005, 09:09 (Agree/Disagree?) Not yet confirmed?? Isn't confirmation one of the sacraments? Fire him! And institute mandatory background checks for papal candidates!(reply to this comment)