The Pope: Enough Already

I appreciate all the thoughtful comments on my own comments. I do have two more comments. First, the doctrine of papal infallibility does not pertain to the Pope’s every utterance. It pertains only to those very rare occasions in which he speaks ex cathedra, and in a fundamental way, about doctrines of faith or morals. So that’s good. But (second) what the Pope is doing now is insisting that Western governments provide more tax money to the welfare state, make more regulations and provide more tax money to prevent alleged global warming, and not only allow immigrants to come to their countries but pay them welfare benefits for coming. He is not just exhorting people to love and charity; he is inciting governments to increased coercion. This is nothing new for religious leaders who lack any clue about the separation of church and state, or any conception of their own intellectual limits.

You seem to think the Pope an ignoramus in matters other than Catholic Theology. You are a professor, you have a PhD. This Pope is a Jesuit. He went through nine years of post-graduate education. This Pope is trained as a chemist, in addition to his studies of Philosophy and Theology. Hardly an ignorant man, incapable of comprehending economics or science. He also has access to some of the greatest minds in the world should he wish to ask for information on which to base a pronouncement of some sort. The Catholic church is a rather complex machine...the Pope doesn't just make stuff up, it has to be justified and others must be consulted.

In his personal life and interpersonal relations, Pope Francis is reputed to be "humble." That is, he eschews luxury, doesn't run around puffed up yelling "I'm the Pope, dammit," and so forth.

In his public speaking, he is not speaking for, or as, himself. He is speaking for God, as the keeper of apostolic authority handed down from Peter, according to the church's dogma. In that role, he isn't SUPPOSED to be "humble."

I disagree with him on a number of things (starting with the fact that I'm not a Catholic), but contesting the claims of "humility" on his part seems like a bad argument against what he's doing. It's like criticizing McClellan not because he couldn't seem to bring himself to fight the Confederates, but because his living room rug was gaudy. Even if true, that would be irrelevant.

Or what about he lecturing us on helping the poor and then visiting a NYC cathedral that just had $150 MILLION DOLLARS invested into its renovation. What?! Are you kidding me?! Shut the Hell up, Holy Hypocrite!

Instead, hold church services in tents on private land, sell all your churches, and give the money raised from their sale to well-run non-profit organizations that actually help the needy. Not to your own organization which uses the money mainly to recruit new members. Oh, and give a papal order that NO priest or nun can con ... I mean solicit donations from widows on fixed incomes. Yeah, I know, your shaky financial house of cards will then collapse but at least you won't be a parasite anymore.

Here's another suggestion: Give a lie detector test to ALL your priests and nuns and ask one simple question: Have you ever sexually abused a child? If they tell the truth and say they have or they lie and get caught, excommunicate them and publicly DAMN them to an eternal life in Hell. Not that I think there is a Hell but if they truly believe in such bullshit, maybe some of them will do humanity a favor and drop dead of a heart attack.

Dear Mr. Hunter,

I understand your frustration with the huge amount of news coverage that the Pope has gotten. When he was speaking at the joint session of Congress, I did think that next we need to have the Dalai Lama, Louis Farrakhan, the Ayatollah for Shiites, and an Imam for Sunnis. And many others. Don't forget the head of Scientology and the antiChrist of Satanism. In this case, the Congress can say that the Pope is actually head of his country, Vatican City. However, I don't think that we are about to see Xi Jinping give an address to a joint session of Congress talking about all of the wonders his people are going to do to save the Earth from global warming/climate change/other. It is a problem when we the people to give one religion a listen in Congress without giving every other religion a listen of their own. Then again, I don't think that the leader of Dagestan is going to be invited to come here and talk to this country.
About the Pope being humble, I think that he has shown TRUE interest in the people of the world. He has given up the Popemobile because his safety is not a big consideration of his, it is more important for him to be accessible to all people who want to see him. You might not call it humble that he doesn't sleep in his castle, that was built before him, but I think that he is at least SHOWING that he cares. Not to only sing his praises, I did hear him call for the abolition of the death penalty which disagree with and he also called for getting rid of nuclear weapons which I contend is fool's action. My being a Catholic means that you can flush my opinions down the toilet, but I charge that your opinions are just as biased by your values and beliefs. A good hymn I heard today when the Pope was at the Our Lady of Angels school had the lyrics, "To console, than be consoled. To give than to receive." What this means is that it is better, for our souls, to do service than to be served. I believe that this is the message that the Pope is trying to convey to us, and in contrast to the "public servants", you will not be forced to give anything to the Pope (This article you wrote was your choice not his).

Best Wishes,
Scott