Kudos to the Pope for his visit.

[pinto]

I'm an American Catholic, not overly fond of our current Pope. Yet, appreciate his outreach to the US.

The Catholic Pontiff's message, as conservative as expected, was stated in every venue. Gotta give him some props 'tho for the acknowledgment of American Catholics. We are a more liberal church, generally, than the Pope usually sees.

[searchingforlight]

1. Speaks out of both sides of his mouth.

Isn't this the same man that is of two minds about how the Catholic Church should handle pedophile priests?

[demosincebirth]

2. Refresh my memory, please

[elocs]

3. The Pope piously pontificates about preventing pedophile from entering the priesthood,

but as the paternalistic old boys' club joins hands little will be done other than ponying up hush money or shuffling the guilty priests from parish to parish. Pedophile priests: one perfect definition of evil.

[moodforaday]

5. Not two minds. Just one:

as seen back in 2005:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection

Pope 'obstructed' sex abuse inquiry
The Observer, Sunday April 24 2005

Pope Benedict XVI faced claims last night he had 'obstructed justice' after it emerged he issued an order ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret. The order was made in a confidential letter, obtained by The Observer, which was sent to every Catholic bishop in May 2001.

It asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as John Paul II's successor last week.

(...)

Ratzinger's letter states that the church can claim jurisdiction in cases where abuse has been 'perpetrated with a minor by a cleric'.

The letter states that the church's jurisdiction 'begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age' and lasts for 10 years.

It orders that 'preliminary investigations' into any claims of abuse should be sent to Ratzinger's office, which has the option of referring them back to private tribunals in which the 'functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests'.

(...)


And so on.

[Evoman]

4. Video of negative reactions from the popes visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

[moggie]

8. Oh, you!

But seriously, this is the real thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9sJVJMiYM

[Evoman]

9. HOLY FUCK THAT's HILARIOUS.

:rofl: <--- for realz

[beam me up scottie]

10. !

:rofl:

[pinto]

6. Yep, all the above is true. I guess I was speaking more to my own

personal history, than the history of either this Pope or the church. My bad.

[moggie]

7. Where's his moral leadership?

He shared a platform with the leader of a country which uses torture, indefinite detention without trial, the death penalty, and is engaged in an immoral war. I must have missed the bit where he called for an end to those evils.

[Realityhack]

11. dissagree.

What makes this popes actions good in any way?

Has he called for an internal investigation to route out every person in the clergy who covered up abuse and turn over evidence to the relevant authorities? not that I know of. His 'big stand' on the issue was stating that he would not allow pedophiles to become priests on the plane on the way over. Huge moral stand that was.

Has he changed the policy of the church and admitted that it should NOT run government? Not that I know of. He said our secular government seemed to be working ok for us. Huge stand that was.

Surely he apologized for his personal attempts to protect the church during the abuse scandals and offered all of the church investigative records to the relevant authorities right? no? Just said he would pray for the victims?

He 'acknowledged American catholics'? How is that worth 'props'? What was he going to do pretend the US didn't exist?