RATZINGER

[tardfarmer]

Hot damn, I should be a prophet...

I picked him last year !!

[badshotbob]

White smoke?

[tardfarmer]

Yuppers,

He's going by Pope Benedict XVI

[North Texan]

ORIGINAL: tardfarmer

Yuppers,

He's going by Pope Benedict XVI

For a minute there, I thought I was missing a horse race or something.

[tardfarmer]

First German pope since the 11th Century.

And he's a strict sob, hope he starts excommunicating alot of the turds that were trying to bring the church down.

[Aught Six]

And he's a strict sob, hope he starts excommunicating alot of the turds that were trying to bring the church down.

I bet he'll get a lot of use out of one of my favorite German expressions: "Zum Teufel mit Dir!"

[Alsatian]

Yes, Ratzinger has a reputation as being unyielding and conservative. I heard he said that the church should be prepared to shrink, because its doctrine doesn't jibe well with the modern world. It is refreshing to hear someone suggest their principles are more important than being popular (i.e., not willing to compromise principles to become more popular or retain more members) or that there is some other course than to follow along with the rest of the herd of modernity in adapting new ideas on the assumption they must be better than old ideas.

I guess any talk that the Catholic church would select a pope to reform it to conform more with modern times -- tolerance towards gays, tolerance towards abortion, tolerance of birth control -- didn't find its way into the ears of the voting Cardinals!

Not to be disrespectful, but it seems regrettable Ratzinger is 78 years old. It would be nice if he were about 55 years old, but perhaps you don't rise to the appropriate level of respect, visibility, and experience to ascend to the papacy quickly.

[kevin1]

I find it more interesting that a Cardinal of 70 or older can't vote for a Pope , but the Pope they eventually choose can be older than 70 . Hmmm ...

They'll get what ? About 4 years tops out of him ?

[quiksilver]

Thank goodness this guy's already 78.

I don't know if the Catholic church can stand 30 years of staunch conservatism. JPII made great strides in helping address the sexual abuse in the church, he softened the church's platform on various social issues that helped keep the congregation at its current levels.

Ratz is more of a zealot, who will undoubtedly turn off a lot of the more liberal catholics and will cost the church a lot of money in the long run.

I guess it's a short-term thing, so I won't get too bent up about it.

[tardfarmer]

but it seems regrettable Ratzinger is 78 years old.

I actually thought that this would be the eliminating factor for him. But they did say they wanted an "interim pope"..

for some reason the vatican doesn't want another 20 or 30 year reigning pope. I haven't a clue why.

But to your point of the church not being "hip and trendy"... that has always stuck in my craw when some crazy turd says "the church SHOULD allow married priests, abortion, etc. etc. etc. '..

Like I always tell them, if you don't like it GET OUT, join the episcopalians (who by the way have just fractured in Lousiana, 80% of the church has split off the US episcopal church and formed their own because they were so disgusted with the Gene Robinson crap)