The Pope Rocks

[Mr. Kotter]

Interesting.

Pope's Comments on Gay marriage


ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in his newly published book.

In "Memory and Identity," the Pope also calls abortion a "legal extermination" comparable to attempts to wipe out Jews and other groups in the 20th century.

He also reveals that he is convinced the Turkish gunman who shot him in 1981 did not act alone and suggests that the former Communist Bloc may have been behind the plot to kill him.

The 84-year-old Pontiff's book, a highly philosophical and intricate work on the nature of good and evil, is based on conversations with philosopher friends in 1993 and later with some of his aides.

In one section about the role of lawmakers, the Pope takes another swipe at gay marriages when he refers to "pressures" on the European Parliament to allow them.

"It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man," he writes.

The Pope's fifth book for mass circulation, issued by Italian publisher Rizzoli, sparked controversy in Germany and elsewhere after Jewish groups protested against leaked excerpts comparing the Holocaust to abortion.

In at least two sections of the book, the Pope talks about the Nazi attempt to exterminate Jews and the wholesale slaughter of political opponents by Communist regimes after World War Two.

'Legal extermination'
In following paragraphs he says that legally elected parliaments in formerly totalitarian countries were today allowing what he called new forms of evil and new exterminations.

"There is still, however a legal extermination of human beings who have been conceived but not yet born," he writes.

"And this time we are talking about an extermination which has been allowed by nothing less than democratically elected parliaments where one normally hears appeals for the civil progress of society and all humanity," he writes.

In Germany, a leader of the country's Central Council of Jews called the comparison unacceptable.

At a news conference presenting the book, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's top doctrinal official, dismissed the Jewish charges.

Ratzinger said the Pope "was not trying to put the Holocaust and abortion on the same plane" but only warning that evil lurked everywhere, "even in liberal political systems."

In another section, the Pope describes at length the assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, when Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot and nearly killed him in St Peter's Square.

Of Agca, the Pope writes the assassination attempt was "not his initiative, someone else masterminded it and someone else commissioned it."

Two trials in the early 1980s failed to prove prosecutors' suspicions that Bulgaria's secret services had masterminded a plot to kill the Pope on behalf of the Soviet Union.

At the time the Polish Pope was a strong supporter of the Solidarity trade union in his native Poland and the Soviet Union saw Solidarity as a threat to the stability of the communist bloc.

The Pope says the assassination attempt against him was perhaps "the last convulsion" of the ideologies of the 20th century -- a clear reference to the Communist bloc.



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[siberian khatru]

I heard if you eat Pope Rocks and drink Pepsi at the same time, your stomach will explode.

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

I heard if you eat Pope Rocks and drink Pepsi at the same time, your stomach will explode.

That would be way cool.

gochiefs? wanna volunteer to try it?

[Duck Dog]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

I heard if you eat Pope Rocks and drink Pepsi at the same time, your stomach will explode.

Wasn't that myth busted?

[Saulbadguy]

Newly published book? Yeah right. He can barely put a sentence together anymore, and he writes a book?

[Duck Dog]

"It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man," he writes.

I wonder what he thinks about grown men raping little boys? I suppose that's OK.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Duck Dog

Wasn't that myth busted?

No, man, that's how Mikey from the Life cereal commercials died.

[Duck Dog]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

No, man, that's how Mikey from the Life cereal commercials died.

Seriously? I thought the Myth Busters busted that?

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Duck Dog

Seriously? I thought the Myth Busters busted that?

Seriously, are you being serious? I can't believe you're taking me seriously.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Duck Dog

Seriously? I thought the Myth Busters busted that?

[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Newly published book? Yeah right. He can barely put a sentence together anymore, and he writes a book?

I'm sure both will make sense to some people...

[picasso]

Homophobes talking about the Popes rocks?
He does have infinite wisdom ya know. I mean the priests in the catholic church are about as much in the closet as the Bush administration.

[Baby Lee]

Ha ha!! The Pope says you need to think of gays as EVIL!!

[whoman69]

This book could not have been written by the Pope. It was most likely put together by the group that has been running the church since he has been essentially an invalid. The catholic church wipes its hands of priests who sexually abuse boys, believes that any form of birth control besides the rhythm method is immoral, believes that a woman cannot give advice on the same level a man can, is against capital punishment, and is generally in the 19th century still. The catholic church also took a neutral approach to naziism despite the holocaust. Forgive me if I say the church is out of touch.
While I cannot approve of a religious ceremony to consecrate a gay marriage, they should have the option to have a legal equivelent.

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by whoman69

This book could not have been written by the Pope. It was most likely put together by the group that has been running the church since he has been essentially an invalid. The catholic church wipes its hands of priests who sexually abuse boys, believes that any form of birth control besides the rhythm method is immoral, believes that a woman cannot give advice on the same level a man can, is against capital punishment, and is generally in the 19th century still. The catholic church also took a neutral approach to naziism despite the holocaust. Forgive me if I say the church is out of touch.
While I cannot approve of a religious ceremony to consecrate a gay marriage, they should have the option to have a legal equivelent.

You and a few others apparently have difficulty grasping the changes in the church over the past couple of decades. It's understandable. Religious bigotry is the only acceptable bigotry anymore. FTR, I'm with you on the "civil union" idea.