Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

OT: "New Pope? I've Given Up Hope"

34 views
Skip to first unread message

leno...@yahoo.com

unread,
Feb 14, 2013, 10:00:46 AM2/14/13
to
NY Times op-ed by Garry Wills.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/new-pope-ive-given-up-hope.html?_r=0

Excerpts:

THERE is a poignant air, almost wistful, to electing a pope in the modern world. In a time of discredited monarchies, can this monarchy survive and be relevant? There is nostalgia for the assurances of the past, quaint in their charm, but trepidation over their survivability. In monarchies, change is supposed to come from the top, if it is to come at all. So people who want to alter things in Catholic life are told to wait for a new pope. Only he has the authority to make the changeless church change, but it is his authority that stands in the way of change.

Of course, the pope is no longer a worldly monarch. For centuries he was such a ruler, with all the resources of a medieval or Renaissance prince — realms, armies, prisons, spies, torturers. But in the 19th century, when his worldly territories were wrested away by Italy, Pope Pius IX lunged toward a compensatory moral monarchy......

.....Will the new conclave vote for a man who goes against the teachings of his predecessors? Even if they do, can the man chosen buck the structure through which he rose without kicking the structure down? These considerations have given the election of new popes the air of watching Charlie Brown keep trying to kick the football, hoping that Lucy will cooperate......


Lenona.


R H Draney

unread,
Feb 14, 2013, 2:16:26 PM2/14/13
to
leno...@yahoo.com filted:
>
>NY Times op-ed by Garry Wills.=20
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/new-pope-ive-given-up-hope.html?_=
>r=3D0
>
>Excerpts:
>
>THERE is a poignant air, almost wistful, to electing a pope in the modern w=
>orld. In a time of discredited monarchies, can this monarchy survive and be=
> relevant? There is nostalgia for the assurances of the past, quaint in the=
>ir charm, but trepidation over their survivability. In monarchies, change i=
>s supposed to come from the top, if it is to come at all. So people who wan=
>t to alter things in Catholic life are told to wait for a new pope. Only he=
> has the authority to make the changeless church change, but it is his auth=
>ority that stands in the way of change.=20
>
>Of course, the pope is no longer a worldly monarch. For centuries he was su=
>ch a ruler, with all the resources of a medieval or Renaissance prince =97 =
>realms, armies, prisons, spies, torturers. But in the 19th century, when hi=
>s worldly territories were wrested away by Italy, Pope Pius IX lunged towar=
>d a compensatory moral monarchy......
>
>.....Will the new conclave vote for a man who goes against the teachings of=
> his predecessors? Even if they do, can the man chosen buck the structure t=
>hrough which he rose without kicking the structure down? These consideratio=
>ns have given the election of new popes the air of watching Charlie Brown k=
>eep trying to kick the football, hoping that Lucy will cooperate......

I'm not in regular contact with the world of gambling, but how are the odds
running that the new one they select will be under the age of eighty?...r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

cathyc...@aol.com

unread,
Feb 14, 2013, 2:30:23 PM2/14/13
to
It's been centuries since they chose anyone over 80.

Louis Epstein

unread,
Feb 14, 2013, 5:53:56 PM2/14/13
to
leno...@yahoo.com wrote:
> NY Times op-ed by Garry Wills.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/new-pope-ive-given-up-hope.html?_r=0
>
> Excerpts:
>
> THERE is a poignant air, almost wistful, to electing a pope in the
> modern world. In a time of discredited monarchies, can this monarchy
> survive and be relevant? There is nostalgia for the assurances of the
> past, quaint in their charm, but trepidation over their survivability.
> In monarchies, change is supposed to come from the top, if it is to
> come at all. So people who want to alter things in Catholic life are
> told to wait for a new pope. Only he has the authority to make the
> changeless church change, but it is his authority that stands in the way
> of change.

A religion must be either changeless or worthless...
its entire purpose is to represent the inalterable.

> Of course, the pope is no longer a worldly monarch. For centuries he
> was such a ruler, with all the resources of a medieval or Renaissance
> prince ? realms, armies, prisons, spies, torturers. But in the 19th
> century, when his worldly territories were wrested away by Italy, Pope
> Pius IX lunged toward a compensatory moral monarchy......
>
> .....Will the new conclave vote for a man who goes against the
> teachings of his predecessors?

That he not do so is the primary qualification for the job.

> Even if they do, can the man chosen buck
> the structure through which he rose without kicking the structure down?
> These considerations have given the election of new popes the air of
> watching Charlie Brown keep trying to kick the football, hoping that
> Lucy will cooperate......
>
>
> Lenona.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

Louis Epstein

unread,
Feb 14, 2013, 5:55:20 PM2/14/13
to
cathyc...@aol.com wrote:
> It's been centuries since they chose anyone over 80.

And decades since those over 80 were allowed to vote in the election.

(Contrast the LDS Church,where a Church President over 80 is basically
no longer possible).
Message has been deleted

Meteorite Debris

unread,
Feb 17, 2013, 9:32:49 AM2/17/13
to
Last time that great scribe Louis Epstein <l...@main.put.com> chipped away
at his/her stone these gems of wisdom for posterity ...
But of course the Catholic Church has never been unalterable. It has
always been changing. One infallible pope persecuted Galileo for
believing what was wrong and latter on another infallible pope realises
that the first pope was wrong. Dito for the Inquisition and witch hunts.
Limbo use to exist. Now it doesn't. One pope locks up the Jews and
another does not. One pope says that 4 miracles are needed for sainthood
and another pope decides only 2 miracles are needed. Sainthood is very
political and is not at all unchangable. When the church is in crisis as
it has been with child abuse the church puts on a dog and pony show with
miracles and saints to take everyone's attention away from the real
issues of the church. The unchangeable is always changing.

And of course the Catholic Church is worthless. That's pretty well the
definition of a religion. Worthless and imaginary. As worthless and
imaginary as Mother Goose.

--

Remove both YOUR_SHOES before replying
apatriot #1, atheist #1417,
Chief EAC prophet
Jason Gastrich prayed for me on 8 January 2009 and nothing happened.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make
you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

duke

unread,
Feb 17, 2013, 5:03:11 PM2/17/13
to
And neither involves an infallible statement. The only 2 statements in history
both involved the BVM.

The dukester, American - American

********************************************
Repeal Obama
You simply can't fix stupid.
********************************************
0 new messages