The Pope, lovely fella (allegedly), a man with a hotline to god, a man whose word can influence millions of catholics, a man I really don't want in this country with his antiquated values and morals.
Where do I start with this blog? Well lets have a look at popes from the past first.
"If my own father was a heretic, I would personally gather the wood to burn him" Pope Paul IV
"Mussolini is a wonderful man. Do you hear me, a wonderful man" Pope Pius XI
"One Galileo in two thousand years is enough" Pope Pius XII (more about him later).
And lastly the current pope Benedict XVI
"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is more or less strong tendancy ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder"
Back in the middle ages the pope was the real power in Europe, having influence over most of it, his word was treated as the word of god and what he said - went. So we had crusades that cause division and animosity to this day, inquisitions, burnings, invasions, papal bulls, edicts - they all happened. It seems to me that even though society has moved on and developed, the papacy hasn't. I say the papacy because there's much more to it than just the pope, and all past popes cannot be culpable.
Let's go back to pope Pius XII. Though there is quite a lot said in favour of this pope but you don't have to dig deep to find that this pope, the pope during the second world war and after could have made a difference but chose not to. This pope had favourable relations with the Nazi regime, but during the invasion of Poland he decided to keep silent, tens of thousands of Polish catholics died and catholic monks, 2,500 (aprox) were detained in concentration camps. Pope Pius's refusal to censure the invasion of Poland still strikes a raw nerve with some Polish catholics today but it gets worse, much worse. Ante Pavelic, the new leader of the Nazi puppet state in Croatia formed during the war went on, with Vatican approval to forcibly torture, convert and kill on a mass scale the jews and orthodox christian Serbs in their territory. So large and cruel a concentration camp that was set up by Pavelic and his Ustashe party henchmen in the town of Jasenovacs that even the Nazi were reviled by their actions. Of course later in history Yugoslavia erupted again with the Serbs seeking revenge in what was called 'ethnic cleansing' which was really 'religious cleansing'.
In 1942 when there was evidence of mass killing and concentration camps Pius turned a blind eye to it, even when his own people such as Monsignor Montini (the future pope Paul VI) told him that 'massacres of the jews reach frightening proportions'.
In 1944 on meeting Winston Churchill it was pope Pius who tried to get Italian war criminals off the hook by saying they shouldn't stand for trials as they were victims of the Nazi regime.
In fairness the catholic church did save many Jews during the war, some had to convert to christianity, some were kept safe in religious establishments throughout Europe.
In closing this bit, Pope Benedict now wants to make Pope Pius XII a saint, madness!
Back to the middle ages, fortunately this Isle managed to shake off catholic yolk and control from Rome but not without a few hiccups. After Henry VIII died his daughter Mary came to the throne, married Phillip II of Spain and began reversing her fathers work and embracing catholicism again. Come 1554 England had a Spanish king and was subject to Rome once more, then it was time for the burnings of protestants to begin, Bishops, poor people et al. Just before being burnt at Oxford, Bishop Latimer turned to Bishop Ridley and said "We shall on this day light such a candle by god's grace as, I trust, shall never be put out". The burnings in Smithfield where most suffered horrible deaths was actually a turning point, and eventually led to the return of England to a protestant nation. Catholic horrors were still being perpetrated abroad though, the Spanish inquisition, catholic purges in the Spanish occupied Netherlands and atrocities in the New World.
Today in Edinburgh as the pope made his opening speech or should I say gambit of the tour it wasn't long before he was having a pop at the rise of secular states. If old fools like this were in charge we'd soon be back to the middle age values and the thinking back then. I wouldn't be able to type blogs such as this because of the fear of persecution or even death. An example of how far the catholic church hasn't come is this, in 1996 the Irish republic held a referendum on whether its state constitution should still prohibit divorce. Fortunately Ireland has increasingly moved towards sensible secularism and most political parties urged people to approve of a change in the law. They did so, for several reasons, they no longer thought it right for the roman catholic church to legislate the people on their morality. There was also thought that there would be no reunification in Ireland if the mainly prostestant north were repelled by the thought of clerical interference and rule. But one of the main reason was nobody should be trapped in an unhappy marriage, especially if it was a woman with a continually drunk husband that would beat or rape her - I'm sure you get the picture. Despite people having common sense on the vote the catholic church flew in such big names such as mother Theresa to campaign for a 'no' vote.
Personally I find catholicism regressive, self serving, self indulgent and fundamentally backward in its values (sorry catholics, as I know you aren't all bad and I have catholic friends) but that is my view. This is a faith that lets you give your wife a beating but you can atone for it with a confessional. Forget confessionals, just make sincere apologies for the bad things you've done or to the people concerned, see... easy, and the human thing to do. This is a pope and faith that advise people in the third world not to use condoms, in fact that condoms are a weapon. More people die of aids in Africa and many other catholic countries and its alright by the pope, common sense doesn't come into it. When you look at Ireland both main factions prefer sectarianism as this divides communities and fuels old hatreds but the catholic hierarchy there like this, as it can influence children in clerical schools and continue fuelling religious hatred. In such a divided society the populace are easily monitored and its easier for the church to extend its controlling hand.
It always intrigues me why catholics make a big deal of the virgin Mary, revere her in such a sycophantic way. The virgin birth is clear proof that man is capable of creating a legend, a legend not to dissimilar from other eastern faiths, Horus of the Egyptians being born unto a virgin to mention one past figure. There's no recorded birth of Mary in the bible but later of course she is singled out for special treatment and visited by the archangel Gabriel and told of things to come. How ironic later in the bible that she seemingly has no memory of this or angels telling her she is the mother of god. Later after Jesus is born according to biblical accounts she seems surprised at everything her son does, why is he talking to priest's in the temple? You'd think a Mary would have a memory of why Jesus is important.
More interestingly, later in the new testament Matthew tells us in 13:55-57 that Mary had several kids, that there were 4 brothers and some sisters too, hhmm not very virginal. Later we have James telling us in his gospel that Jesus had a brother by the same name (what!?) who mixed in religious circles ... would the real Jesus please stand up?!
Amazingly the doctrine of the immaculate conception didn't come to being until it was announced in Rome in 1852, and later the dogma of the assumption in 1951.
Back to the pope Benedicts visit. There seems to be fluctuating statistics on the cost of it all but the general figures seems to be 12 million of taxpayers money which is shocking really, the Vatican is so rich that it could easily afford to fund the pope's visits but I guess as we're the hosts we have to foot the bill, large thanks go to Mr Tony Blair who I believe had something to do with inviting him to some degree. You can argue as a nation we do pay for other dignitaries to visit but most of these are diplomatic figures and I would assume trade talks are always on the cards, so this is of benefit. It's fair to say though the papal hierarchy and the vatican aren't short of money, papal personalities such as the popes private secretary, the smooth Georg Ganswein dubbed 'gorgeous Georg' by the Italian press likes to play tennis and fly planes in his spare time.
British catholics are paying £25 to see the pope at various venues in the UK, if the catholic church was so benevolent why isn't it paying for the facilities and hosting it free?
Getting back to Pope Benedict, this is a pope that doesn't want progress, doesn't want to release details of child abuse within his church thinking his own people are above secular law. This is a pope that fears secularism and practical thinking, this is a pope that knows there are prominent clergy within the catholic regime who deny the holocaust.
I think it's warming to know that so many great people within British society, celebrities, scientists, authors and philosophers are speaking out against the papal visit. This is the great thing about secular democratic societies, we have the freedom to think and speak openly without fear of theological recrimination. Personalities such as Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, AC Grayling, Polly Toynbee, Peter Tatchell (his documentary on the pope was brilliant) and veteran author Claire Rayner have all spoke of their dislike of Benedict.
For me though it was Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British humanist society that phrased things so well, that the papacy 'use their powers to make peoples life worse'. People such as the woman from Manilla that Peter Tatchell interviewed with a large family, and getting larger as she was pregnant again. She said she didn't want to have more kids because she was struggling to feed her existing ones but because of her faith she couldn't use condoms and the local priest said she should have more children, shocking.
In closing, the pope isn't a kindly old fluffy man, he's a man that could make a difference to millions, especially in Africa but chooses not to. In fact he chooses not to do a lot of things like hand details of thousands of cases of child abuse over to secular states.
I want to end with a quote from Thomas Paine, English born American author and revolutionary.
"The world is my country, all mankind is my brethren, and to do good is my religion"
The fact being you don't need religion to do good.
Where do I start with this blog? Well lets have a look at popes from the past first.
"If my own father was a heretic, I would personally gather the wood to burn him" Pope Paul IV
"Mussolini is a wonderful man. Do you hear me, a wonderful man" Pope Pius XI
"One Galileo in two thousand years is enough" Pope Pius XII (more about him later).
And lastly the current pope Benedict XVI
"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is more or less strong tendancy ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder"
Back in the middle ages the pope was the real power in Europe, having influence over most of it, his word was treated as the word of god and what he said - went. So we had crusades that cause division and animosity to this day, inquisitions, burnings, invasions, papal bulls, edicts - they all happened. It seems to me that even though society has moved on and developed, the papacy hasn't. I say the papacy because there's much more to it than just the pope, and all past popes cannot be culpable.
Let's go back to pope Pius XII. Though there is quite a lot said in favour of this pope but you don't have to dig deep to find that this pope, the pope during the second world war and after could have made a difference but chose not to. This pope had favourable relations with the Nazi regime, but during the invasion of Poland he decided to keep silent, tens of thousands of Polish catholics died and catholic monks, 2,500 (aprox) were detained in concentration camps. Pope Pius's refusal to censure the invasion of Poland still strikes a raw nerve with some Polish catholics today but it gets worse, much worse. Ante Pavelic, the new leader of the Nazi puppet state in Croatia formed during the war went on, with Vatican approval to forcibly torture, convert and kill on a mass scale the jews and orthodox christian Serbs in their territory. So large and cruel a concentration camp that was set up by Pavelic and his Ustashe party henchmen in the town of Jasenovacs that even the Nazi were reviled by their actions. Of course later in history Yugoslavia erupted again with the Serbs seeking revenge in what was called 'ethnic cleansing' which was really 'religious cleansing'.
In 1942 when there was evidence of mass killing and concentration camps Pius turned a blind eye to it, even when his own people such as Monsignor Montini (the future pope Paul VI) told him that 'massacres of the jews reach frightening proportions'.
In 1944 on meeting Winston Churchill it was pope Pius who tried to get Italian war criminals off the hook by saying they shouldn't stand for trials as they were victims of the Nazi regime.
In fairness the catholic church did save many Jews during the war, some had to convert to christianity, some were kept safe in religious establishments throughout Europe.
In closing this bit, Pope Benedict now wants to make Pope Pius XII a saint, madness!
Back to the middle ages, fortunately this Isle managed to shake off catholic yolk and control from Rome but not without a few hiccups. After Henry VIII died his daughter Mary came to the throne, married Phillip II of Spain and began reversing her fathers work and embracing catholicism again. Come 1554 England had a Spanish king and was subject to Rome once more, then it was time for the burnings of protestants to begin, Bishops, poor people et al. Just before being burnt at Oxford, Bishop Latimer turned to Bishop Ridley and said "We shall on this day light such a candle by god's grace as, I trust, shall never be put out". The burnings in Smithfield where most suffered horrible deaths was actually a turning point, and eventually led to the return of England to a protestant nation. Catholic horrors were still being perpetrated abroad though, the Spanish inquisition, catholic purges in the Spanish occupied Netherlands and atrocities in the New World.
Today in Edinburgh as the pope made his opening speech or should I say gambit of the tour it wasn't long before he was having a pop at the rise of secular states. If old fools like this were in charge we'd soon be back to the middle age values and the thinking back then. I wouldn't be able to type blogs such as this because of the fear of persecution or even death. An example of how far the catholic church hasn't come is this, in 1996 the Irish republic held a referendum on whether its state constitution should still prohibit divorce. Fortunately Ireland has increasingly moved towards sensible secularism and most political parties urged people to approve of a change in the law. They did so, for several reasons, they no longer thought it right for the roman catholic church to legislate the people on their morality. There was also thought that there would be no reunification in Ireland if the mainly prostestant north were repelled by the thought of clerical interference and rule. But one of the main reason was nobody should be trapped in an unhappy marriage, especially if it was a woman with a continually drunk husband that would beat or rape her - I'm sure you get the picture. Despite people having common sense on the vote the catholic church flew in such big names such as mother Theresa to campaign for a 'no' vote.
Personally I find catholicism regressive, self serving, self indulgent and fundamentally backward in its values (sorry catholics, as I know you aren't all bad and I have catholic friends) but that is my view. This is a faith that lets you give your wife a beating but you can atone for it with a confessional. Forget confessionals, just make sincere apologies for the bad things you've done or to the people concerned, see... easy, and the human thing to do. This is a pope and faith that advise people in the third world not to use condoms, in fact that condoms are a weapon. More people die of aids in Africa and many other catholic countries and its alright by the pope, common sense doesn't come into it. When you look at Ireland both main factions prefer sectarianism as this divides communities and fuels old hatreds but the catholic hierarchy there like this, as it can influence children in clerical schools and continue fuelling religious hatred. In such a divided society the populace are easily monitored and its easier for the church to extend its controlling hand.
It always intrigues me why catholics make a big deal of the virgin Mary, revere her in such a sycophantic way. The virgin birth is clear proof that man is capable of creating a legend, a legend not to dissimilar from other eastern faiths, Horus of the Egyptians being born unto a virgin to mention one past figure. There's no recorded birth of Mary in the bible but later of course she is singled out for special treatment and visited by the archangel Gabriel and told of things to come. How ironic later in the bible that she seemingly has no memory of this or angels telling her she is the mother of god. Later after Jesus is born according to biblical accounts she seems surprised at everything her son does, why is he talking to priest's in the temple? You'd think a Mary would have a memory of why Jesus is important.
More interestingly, later in the new testament Matthew tells us in 13:55-57 that Mary had several kids, that there were 4 brothers and some sisters too, hhmm not very virginal. Later we have James telling us in his gospel that Jesus had a brother by the same name (what!?) who mixed in religious circles ... would the real Jesus please stand up?!
Amazingly the doctrine of the immaculate conception didn't come to being until it was announced in Rome in 1852, and later the dogma of the assumption in 1951.
Back to the pope Benedicts visit. There seems to be fluctuating statistics on the cost of it all but the general figures seems to be 12 million of taxpayers money which is shocking really, the Vatican is so rich that it could easily afford to fund the pope's visits but I guess as we're the hosts we have to foot the bill, large thanks go to Mr Tony Blair who I believe had something to do with inviting him to some degree. You can argue as a nation we do pay for other dignitaries to visit but most of these are diplomatic figures and I would assume trade talks are always on the cards, so this is of benefit. It's fair to say though the papal hierarchy and the vatican aren't short of money, papal personalities such as the popes private secretary, the smooth Georg Ganswein dubbed 'gorgeous Georg' by the Italian press likes to play tennis and fly planes in his spare time.
British catholics are paying £25 to see the pope at various venues in the UK, if the catholic church was so benevolent why isn't it paying for the facilities and hosting it free?
Getting back to Pope Benedict, this is a pope that doesn't want progress, doesn't want to release details of child abuse within his church thinking his own people are above secular law. This is a pope that fears secularism and practical thinking, this is a pope that knows there are prominent clergy within the catholic regime who deny the holocaust.
I think it's warming to know that so many great people within British society, celebrities, scientists, authors and philosophers are speaking out against the papal visit. This is the great thing about secular democratic societies, we have the freedom to think and speak openly without fear of theological recrimination. Personalities such as Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, AC Grayling, Polly Toynbee, Peter Tatchell (his documentary on the pope was brilliant) and veteran author Claire Rayner have all spoke of their dislike of Benedict.
For me though it was Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British humanist society that phrased things so well, that the papacy 'use their powers to make peoples life worse'. People such as the woman from Manilla that Peter Tatchell interviewed with a large family, and getting larger as she was pregnant again. She said she didn't want to have more kids because she was struggling to feed her existing ones but because of her faith she couldn't use condoms and the local priest said she should have more children, shocking.
In closing, the pope isn't a kindly old fluffy man, he's a man that could make a difference to millions, especially in Africa but chooses not to. In fact he chooses not to do a lot of things like hand details of thousands of cases of child abuse over to secular states.
I want to end with a quote from Thomas Paine, English born American author and revolutionary.
"The world is my country, all mankind is my brethren, and to do good is my religion"
The fact being you don't need religion to do good.
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