Sunday, March 22, 2009

Vatican Insiders Declare the Pope a 'Disaster'

The caption of this post is the headline of an article in the Daily Telegraph that looks at the apparent concern of some within the Vatican over the idiocy of the Nazi Pope's reign to date. One cannot feel much pity for the Vatican bureaucrats since it's the Church's own warped system that allows senile, utterly out of touch cardinals (who I might add feel an entitlement to treat rank and file Catholics like mindless serfs or worse) select the Pope in the first place. When a system has no accountability and is controlled by a small circle of bitter old men who have never lived in the real world no one should be surprised when disastrous selections are made. The Church leadership is increasingly out of step with modern medical and mental health knowledge not to mention society in general and it is clearly becoming increasingly difficult for rational, thinking Catholics to remain in the Church. Yes, many Catholics in the past have simply ignored much of what the Vatican purports to teach, but this Pope and the reactionary bishops that he and his predecessor have appointed make that approach more and more difficult. I continue to believe that unless the Church adjusts to modern society, it's future in developed nations is bleak, leaving it to become increasingly a third world religion without the monetary resources it once had from western world Catholics. To me the irony is that the ultraconservatives got precisely what they wanted in Benedict XVI and it is now embarrassing the Church as a whole and driving away many rank and file Catholics. Here are a few story highlights:
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The Pope's remarks about condoms, and a recent furore over his lifting of the 20-year excommunication of a British bishop who has questioned the Holocaust, has left him looking isolated and out of touch, prompting calls for a radical shake-up of the way the Holy See delivers its message.
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Another Vatican insider described Pope Benedict's four-year-old papacy as "a disaster", recalling the pontiff's previous inflammatory remarks on Islam and homosexuality. "He's out of touch with the real world," the Italian insider said. "On the condom issue, for example, there are priests and bishops in Africa who accept that condoms are a key part of the fight against Aids, and yet the pope adheres to this very conservative line that they encourage promiscuity. The Vatican is far removed from the reality on the ground."

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