'Silence in the House of God'

The film explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.

Cat-walk Pope.

Jesus tweets the pope . . . .

http://www.jesusandmo.net/

The Crisis of Secularism

A nicely argued case from Pat Condell.

The Case of the Pope - Epilogue

"This book was completed in August 2010, and published in time for the Pope’s visit to Britain the following month. En route, he made his most grovelling apology yet for the damage caused by clerical sex abuse, expressing “deep sorrow” for these “unspeakable crimes”. He made a similar apology at the outset of his visit to Germany in September 2011. But he does not have the moral integrity to take the action that is necessary to cleanse the Catholic church of its stigmata, namely to abjure any role for canon law in dealing with allegations of molestation, and to require bishops and church officials to report them to the police. In truth, Benedict is incapable of understanding the nature of the problem – he is too old, too academic, and too ready to blame anything but Catholic practices for the explosion of sexual abuse within the church. His last Christmas message was to blame it all on pornography, sex tourism and the ‘moral relativism’ of the 70’s: “In the 1970’s, paedophilia was seen as a natural thing for men and children” he said - a preposterous statement, except to the unworldly Cardinals he was addressing(1). For all his fine words about feeling the pain of victims, he still does not get it: the church, by delivering trusting boys from the age of seven to untrustworthy priests who believe – with good reason – that they can get away with abusing them, is guilty of negligence when they do abuse them. By blaming pornography and sex tourism, Benedict excuses their crimes. He lacks the gumption to tell his paedophile priests – as Christ surely did – that they will burn in hell, if they are not first drowned in the depths of the sea." Read complete article.

Pope in Spain

The highspot of the visit so far  . . .

If I was one of the faithful I would surely interpret this as god's message to stfu . . . . . .

Blood taken from John Paul to be used as relic

Fox News. Published April 26, 2011. 

VATICAN CITY –  Blood taken from Pope John Paul II during his final hospitalization will be used as the official relic for veneration after he is beatified.

The Vatican made the announcement Tuesday, putting to rest questions about what relic would be presented during Sunday's beatification.

In a statement, the Vatican said four small vials of blood had been taken from John Paul during his final days for a possible transfusion, but were never used. Two of the vials were given to John Paul's private secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, and another two remained at the Vatican's Bambin Gesu hospital in the care of nuns.

One of the hospital vials will be placed in a reliquary and presented Sunday; the other will remain with the nuns.

John Paul died April 2, 2005.

Is there no limit to the gruesome lengths these sick minds will not go to?

Pope charged with crimes against humanity

From "IRISHTIMES.COM":

By PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity.

Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel, based at Marktheidenfeld in the Pope’s home state of Bavaria, last week submitted a 16,500-word document to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Dr Luis Moreno Ocampo. 

Read more.

International Aid wasted on bullshit

Payments of nearly £2 million towards the cost of the Pope’s state visit to the UK have been made by the Department for International Development (DfID). The British Humanist Association (BHA) has described the payments as illegitimate use of government funds. In October 2010, it was reported that £3.7 million had been paid towards the spiralling costs of the Papal visit from environmental funds, by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The payment came to light following an investigation into the accounts of DfID, by the International Development Select Committee, which considered the transfer of funds as surprising, and has asked the government for further explanation. A spokesperson for DfID claimed that the £1.85 million contribution ‘Recognised the Catholic Church's role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries’. The BHA has described this reasoning as ‘irrational and wrong’. Read more.

Britain now a majority non-religious nation

From the Guardian editorial for Friday 24th December 2010:-

"In the latest 2010 BSA report, published earlier this month, only 42% said they were Christians while 51% now say they have no religion. Admittedly, some other surveys – including the last census – have produced different findings on these issues, usually to the advantage of the religious option. There is also a margin of error in all such exercises. All the same, and particularly since the trends in opinion over time seem well set, it is hard not to feel that this latest finding marks a cultural watershed.

This Christmas, for perhaps the first time ever, Britain is a majority non-religious nation. Most of us have probably seen this moment coming, but it is a substantial event nonetheless. It is undoubtedly a development that would have astonished our ancestors who built a Britain on the basis that we were and would remain a predominantly Protestant people. The victory of secularism would have flabbergasted them almost as much as the pope appearing on the BBC with his Thought for the Day.

The change ought certainly to inspire some national reflection, though there is no need for national breast-beating. After all, in most eyes, the BSA survey finding simply underscores things that have already become obvious. Today, our three political parties are led by two open atheists, and a prime minister who admits his faith comes and goes, a development impossible to imagine in other parts of a world, in which the loss of religion is not a uniform trend. The Britain of 50 years ago, in which religion was a far larger part of the social fabric and the national way of life, is a country we have lost."

US judge asks Vatican to serve court paper to pope.

"MILWAUKEE — A federal U.S. judge is asking the Vatican to cooperate in serving the pope and two other top officials with court papers that stem from decades-old allegations of priest sexual abuse in Wisconsin.

The request is an incremental step in a lawsuit that accuses the officials of conspiring to keep the allegations against a Milwaukee priest quiet."

Read more:- US judge asks Vatican to serve court paper to pope - chicagotribune.com

The Religious Believer

The religious believer is a mental slave to an insubstantial idea, a phantom presence inculcated in a youthful developing mind with the object of control and obedience. It develops with the mind to become a source of mental refuge and comfort, and consequently becomes near impossible to expel. 

To claim to be in communication with this phantom does not provide the claimant any special authority for the issuing of moral and ethical diktats which can deleteriously affect peoples' lives. 

If a cloistered, life-long celibate, 83 year old man, with no experience of sex, marriage, children or grandchildren professes to give advice on such matters as contraception, abortion, sexual relations, we are  entitled to ask for back-up evidence. We are aware of the shortcomings of our own minds, so we are unlikely to be impressed simply with what is going on in his (or his advisors). If he has sincerely-held opinions on these matters, let him set up and fund appropriate research projects in all the relevant disciplines, physiological, psychological, statistical, and, when they are completed, re-present his advice backed-up with credible evidence.

Richard Dawkins at the "Protest the Pope" march

The full speech in Downing Street at the end of the march.
Photos of the march can be seen on this Page.

Stephen Fry on the Catholic Church

A wonderful, impassioned speech. Surely Stephen's best on this subject. How any catholic possessed of the smallest trace of moral conscience can listen to this and remain in their church is a complete mystery.

God Delusion - Markella Hatziano

A Look at Papal Kitsch

More Features - Pope Culture: A Look at Papal Kitsch- Beliefnet.com


Pope-on-a-rope soap.

The Pope Song by Tim Minchin

The Pope blames secularism

Extract from the Pope's letter to Irish Catholics:-

"In recent decades, however, the Church in your country has had to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularization of Irish society. Fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people's traditional adherence to Catholic teaching and values. All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant too was the tendency during this period, also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel. The programme of renewal proposed by the Second Vatican Council was sometimes misinterpreted and indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, it was far from easy to know how best to implement it. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings."


We secularists really must stop getting Catholic priests into these 'canonically irregular situations'. Most inconsiderate of us.

Sell the Vatican - Feed the World!