Can we talk about the pope?

There's been new ideas that splinter off. Which then become old and unchanged ideas as those new religions become just as beholden to old ideas. The Catholics made something of an effort with Vatican II, but organized religion for the most part doesn't exactly embrace new ideas and individual thought.

I'm part of that flight, dooley. For many reasons, with the priest scandal and the handling of it providing the final excuse, long after I had broken away.

Based on what it says it is, and based on the amount of power and influence it once wielded and still wields to an extent, considering the various Popes' behavior over the centuries, and based on its actual actions compared to its stated image and goals, the Catholic Church might be the most corrupt organization in the history of the Western World. And I'll hear arguments for it being the worst in human history.

But . . . I just think we shouldn't be surprised or especially outraged when a religious group closes ranks and refuses to change in the face of scandal or societal progress. It is what it is, and the best thing we as individuals can do is try to keep our loved ones away from these situations. We're not going to effect change in a powerful religious lobby.

 

I don't know. I think the car rental places that tack on extra insurance and gas charges might have the church beat.

 

Both unavailable for comment.

 

My rant also neglected to include local cable companies and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

 

You need to talk to my mother.

I mentioned the priest-molestation thing last weekend and she got pissed.
My mom would have been a nun had she not gotten married. Luckily for us, her religious fervor has not waned.
If the Church decreed Catholics should eat dirt three times a week, dirt cakes would a household staple for dinner.

 

To the question:
Hell yes, but it will never happen.

There are a shitpile of things of the Church needs to do - let married folks and women serve as priests for staters - but I don't see things changing in my lifetime.
Not with old school Europeans controlling things.

 

I think that riding through an automatic carwash in the Popemobile would be enough to put the fear of God into just about anybody.

 

Perhaps someone should nail a list to the front doors of the Vatican.

 

I'm sure whatever Benedict has done wouldn't even get an honorable mention nod on the list of historical Pope misdeeds.

 

The Cathars approve of this message.

 

At the rate their going, by 2040 you'll be able to hold Christmas Eve mass in Arby's across the country. I spent 11 years in Catholic school, and the amount of friends have that have completely disassociated themselves with the religion far outnumber the ones who are still practicing Catholics.

 

At the risk of tiptoeing into politics, at some point the United States Government is going to have to start using the tools at its disposal: aggressive RICO and conspiracy prosecutions of church officials (as well as sexual-assault prosecutions of the actual perps), overseas extradition of high officials (yes, all the way to the TOP), stripping of tax-free status and seizure of property and real estate used in the commission of crimes, to provide an incentive for the church to do something about it, since hundreds of thousands of Catholics marching out the doors (along with their checkbooks) apparently isn't enough.

Maybe it'll take the Pope being hauled off the altar in cuffs from a Yankee Stadium mass and being taken to a federal courthouse and booked on federal conspiracy charges to get anything done.