Father Guido Sarducci.

He'll be quickly made into a cardinal then a pope.

I can't find the video for that, from the 70s.

remember his Mr. Tea ad ?

I loved the time he managed to buy the invoice for the "Last Brunch" from a relic peddler.

we both know you don't have a chance, but I want to let you know I think you'd be a dandy Pope! That's kind of nice. Now they get down to the real nitty gritty and start lobbying in between votes.

Good job on the smoke, by the way!

Ain't nobody got time for that

She should get some royalty money.

Using smoke is a symbolic message that, in this case, encourages republican-corporate destruction of the environment. The Catholic Church, in its position as the flagstaff organization of the entity, Christianiaty, which propelled the destruction of the planet through corporate, sexist, classist means, should at least show some sort of pennance by changing the process in which the "masses" know whether a Pope has been chosen without adding to the destruction of the planet. Consider Twitter.

lol

They act like the pope is a god. Don't hear a peep about the child rape cases covered up by the Catholic church.

After all, there are 1.2 billion Catholics so why would the media cover it? And I don't know what media outlets you are paying attention to, but for the last couple of weeks, virtually every story I've heard about the selection of a new pope has discussed the issue of the Church's scandals as a possible factor influencing the deliberations.

They've covered up so much sex abuse that it should sicken the even the most devout of Catholics.

Really? Get over yourself.

At every mention of anything happening they act like my dog does when I get home from work. No insult to dogs intended.

I agree that the church needs to be reminded of it's sins so they never forget.

The next Pope will be an old geezer completely out of touch with the modern world, what are the odds?

Voting were appointed by Pope Benedict who probably picked them because they were like him; they will most likely pick a Pope like them

conservative, and that nothing will change with regard to female clergy, married priests, and gay marriage. These guys would rather see an ever-shrinking church than face up to cultural change.

Paul Ryan wants to be pope but he's too young

It is expanding rapidly in Africa, Asia and South America. It has 1.2 billion members which is an increase of 11.5% in the last 10 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church

Nominating an older man will ensure that they will be picking someone else soon and increase the likelihood that whoever they pick won't rock the boat too much (though I think that logic backfired with Pope John XXIII.

The Roman Catholic church is just a weak shadow of the late Roman Empire with the Pope being the Emperor and the College of Cardinals the Senate. A lot of the symbolism of the church goes back to the last centuries of the Roman Empire.

They've got a shredder in there and are working their way through all their incriminating bank statements and child abuse reports. Might take a while.

It'll be interesting either way.

First, if there are no more Popes - does the Church sell off its assets and close down?

Second, if they do decide on one - will those who believed that story for many years begin to doubt other things, too?

Either case, the Vatican is in the middle of a political sea change in Italy.

They hold four votes a day and it's usually a few days before they work out a consensus. I don't know if a first-ballot election has ever happened.

Benedict's involved four ballots (or possibly three; there's reports that he asked for a fourth to confirm but that's speculation given the secrecy around the conclave) and that was considered a pretty fast one.

John Paul II's involved eight ballots over three days; Pius XI's took fourteen over most of a week. The longest one in the last couple of centuries was Gregory XVI's, which took eighty-three(!) ballots and most of six weeks. Going past the early 1800s they usually dragged on for months, but it's much more streamlined now.

We'll probably have an answer from this conclave well before the end of the week, though I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer than JPII's.

The prophecy of the popes is more or less considered crankery; it's nothing like official church doctrine in any way. I don't know anybody who takes it seriously who isn't well into kookdom or is a sedevacantist or something.

They only say it under their breath, not in church. Just in case it's true. They don't seem terribly concerned one way or the other about who gets the nod - since this is all out of their hands, anyway.

Honestly, most of my 'Catholic' friends are 'Ex-Catholics.' It's only one who still goes to Church that mentioned it, although it's made the rounds with the online crowds. I don't ask many questions as I know so little about Catholicism that I don't want to offend them. It's a big deal to some.

Last edited Wed Mar 13, 2013, 09:35 AM - Edit history (1)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_X#Papal_election

It was the last election where the traditional veto power over who could be elected Pope of Spain, France and Austria was exercised.

Gotta clean up for the new guy, you know...







Laura

I have 2 years experience as assistant night Pope. I closed out at the end of the day every night. I even worked most weekends. Plus I look really good in a tall hat.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o3ta--16gVM/T0FYE23ZuHI/AAAAAAAAAyA/xB-p1NM7qRE/s1600/Supernatural+7x15+%28429%29.jpg

He bought it from this guy.

Why he fired it up inside the Sistine Chapel is anybody's guess...

How much that is true is debatable, but he was a good man.

I thought that opened up a few things in the history of the church. I'm speaking from an Anglo perspective, and forgive me if I have confused denominations.

For example, he King James version of the Bible is in English. There was a move to conduct services in English in my lifetime, which were previously done in Latin only. That caused some division.

The people I know who are closest to this are Episcopalians and they are liberals. My own upbringing was Protestant but there were many denominations in my family, non-believers and it was not a primary factor in any of our lives.

I remember all my Latin declensions. Doesn't put food on the table.

It's said that the majority did not speak Latin nor did they have the opportunity to become literate. The church was a large part of their social organization and they were being told to repeat and agree with things they didn't have details upon.

In other words, translating it was a form of equality, much as the invention of the printing press to spread information was in its day. I'm going with the notion that the more knowledge, the better it is for all.

Nor am I calling religion the only way to learn of know about he world. Just the expression of the language itself. Reading here at DU doesn't put any food on my table, either. But not everything is about that and it enriches my life some days.

I'd like people to be informed and open minded so we can live together, is all.

the month, just a choice for social reasons. I never felt oppressed by religion, despite other issues growing up.

I know a lot of recovering religious people and they are all liberals but insist on their right to choose if they will be involved in religion. They hold fast to the separation of church and state. Several religions and or philosophies stepped over that boundary for centuries.

IRL, I don't associate with people who have obsessions with religion one way or the other, so I don't have the emotion that some people do about it and don't allow them to force me into anything.

But some are screwing with MY government, and that does fire up my emotions.

Authoritative leaders screw up our lives.

I've been an atheist since I stopped believing in Santa Claus. I knew religion was all a lie. I just didn't understand why until I was older.

on edit:
Even as a child atheist, I was forced to attend church and Catholic school.

forced to attend church.

My Catholic stepmother threatened me with being taken out of public school to go to a Lutheran school to behave. My father told her 'no way.' He would not allow her to take us to her church after she snuck us into an Easter service one year.

I enjoyed the flowers and stained glass that day but was unhappy about having to get up and down all the time. The priest was speaking Latin, so there were no cues on when to sit or get down. Just had to do the monkey see, monkey do routine.

I grew up regarding her as off her rocker. And although I give her credit for being kind to animals, she was never gracious to me as I was not her child. She was adamant she didn't like that part of her marriage. She was good in business and worked alongside my father in his company.

My experience growing up is clearly much different than yours. I never believed in priest or authority figures, but knew one must find a place to work around them, and if necessary, use them for one's own purposes. Many organizations fall into authoritarianism, as are many families who seek a focus or leader.

People seem drawn into authoritarianism, whatever they believe is powerful and strong as a survival tactic. I was taught to find my own way, that no one was coming to rescue me or save me, and that even the best of relationships can wither and fail. I can give my stepmother credit for telling me to never depend on any man, to get my education as she did and be independent. There was good and bad in her as in all people.

Good luck on your journey.

Bad Chinese battery.

nor celibate, and I'm married.

And there are some married RC priests, mostly Episcopal priests who converted and were already married. Letting them remain married probably seemed preferable to requiring a divorce.

It's my understanding that the marriage prohibition is as much financial as anything else since they would need sufficient salary to support a family, especially considering the costs of sending kids to college.

Not really free to do anything but that, and people after you all the time blaming you for one thing or another. And all of the rest wanting you to fix their lives and or save the entire world. It seems far worse than being a politician without rewards most of us would want, never any peace for the individual. But that's just my humble, unchurched opinion.

you know, sex ain't such a bad thing." (Except for my teenage son & daughter)

I went with Jackson because he's also the only one that I know of whose name has been placed in (presidential) nomination of a major party.

And I still don't hate those who have "Free housing, college education for their children, nice long vacations, country club memberships, generous healthcare for the whole family, great pension plans with guaranteed spots in luxury retirement communities when they retire, etc."

I see that you don't want to play the joke you began with, but are just here to bait other members. You are acting in bad faith on this subthread. If you want to make up stories about what you quoted me as saying, where I did not say the word hate, nor showed any disrespect to those those get those perks, fine. It's not true and you're not worth my time. We're at an end, so I'm deleting all of it, not because I said anything hateful, but because you're playing a really nasty game here. You will find someone else to bait and misuse their word with.