Tuesday, April 19, 2005

MEET THE NEW POPE, SAME AS THE OLD POPE

Except, like, way worse.

Here's some cool facts about the new pope:

He wrote a letter of advice to U.S. bishops on denying communion to politicians who support abortion rights!

He publicly cautioned Europe against admitting Turkey to the European Union and wrote a letter to bishops around the world stating that the continent is essentially Christian in nature!

He was active in stamping out liberation theology, with its emphasis on grass-roots activism to fight poverty!

He once called homosexuality a tendency toward "intrinsic moral evil" and dismissed the uproar over priestly pedophilia in the United States as a "planned campaign" against the church!

He opposes contraception and the use of condoms to combat HIV/AIDS!

He advocates a diminished role for women in the Church and has called for mandatory celibacy for priests!

He was a member of the Hitler Youth!

Clearly the Catholic Church is begging for irrelevancy, though I'm not sure why.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ratzinger wasn't really a member of the Hitler Youth, was he?

Mathis said...

Well, I doubt they'll mention it on Fox News, but yes, he was.

Anonymous said...

Here's a good article about Pope Bernard's past as a member of the Hitler Youth.

In 1937 Ratzinger’s father retired and the family moved to Traunstein, a staunchly Catholic town in Bavaria close to the Führer’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden. He joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941.

He quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one,” concluded John Allen, his biographer.

Two years later Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slaves from Dachau concentration camp.

Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot — adding that his gun was not even loaded — because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps. He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp.

Mathis said...

Yay Pope! I can understand, though, because he did have a badly infected finger.

BK/CK said...

Ooh man, apocalypse-watchers are gonna have a field day w/ this. Some conservative protestant groups believe the pope will play a key role in end times stuff, i.e. supporting the anti-christ.