Comments on: On Christmas, Pope Decries Selfishness

Benedict XVI Addresses Economic Turmoil And Conflicts Around The World In Annual Papal Message

[o_nolan1]

Let''s not forget that the Vatican is a country. A country can not survive without an element of wealth. The wealth of the Catholic Church is far more evident because they consist of works of art on display. It is not Fort Knox, guarded and tucked away from prying eyes. Many disagree with this wealth, but let us remember that most of the riches were donated for the world to enjoy, not to be raffled off to the highest bidder. World poverty would be none the better off if the Vatican sold everything it had right now. Only the governments of western democracies can fix this problem. The Vatican is not one of these. Would you sell off all of the artefacts of the Smithsonian to eliminate poverty? I think not.

[slinginrich]

Greed is a Sin", said the Pope,....wearing his Golden Hat, sitting on his Golden Throne, at the Vatican, where $Trillions$ in Jewels, Art, and Cash are housed"......"Some of you Sinners need to help out the Poor", said the Pope.....(while ignoring calls to liquidate just a portion of the Church''s wealth to help out)......I''m sure Jebus is proud of all that''s being done in his name.....LMMFAO

[nothappyatall]

In any case, these figures are widely suspected to be grossly underestimated. For example, the late Fr. Tom Economus, former President of the Linkup, a national survivors'' advocacy group, said back in the mid-90s that he knew of 1,400 insurance claims on the books and that the Church has paid out over $1 billion in liability with an estimated $500 million pending.

He also said that over 800 priests had been removed from ministry and that there might be as many as 5,000 with allegations against them, which is not that far off. He often claimed that by far the most calls he received from all victims of any kind of clergy abuse were those from males who suffered abuse in their youth in the Catholic Church. Certainly these figures, which show that the highest number of victims were 12 year old boys and that 80% of the abuse was homosexual in nature, validate that anecodotal evidence, too.

Also, Fr. Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer with more experience than any in these cases, has raised many questions over the validity and methodology of the study. He has said that he thought many cases were still hidden, pointing out the low numbers for the 1950s.

Its not over with, Doyle said. "The heart of the matter is: Why was there this massive betrayal? Why did they move [abusers] around for years, when they knew what they were doing? Why have they continued to re-victimize the victims by stonewalling, and why they have never turned in any of these known pedophiles?

[nothappyatall]

"The Catholic Church at least has repented of the wrong doing of a few priests (out of tens of thousands)"

Here''s your ''few''

US clerics accused of abuse from 1950-2002: 4,392.
About 4% of the 109,694 serving during those 52 years.
Individuals making accusations: 10,667.
Victims'' ages: 5.8% under 7; 16% ages 8-10; 50.9% ages 11-14; 27.3% ages 15-17.
Victims'' gender: 81% male, 19% female
Duration of abuse: Among victims, 38.4% said all incidents occurred within one year; 21.8% said one to two years; 28%, two to four years; 11.8% longer.
Victims per priest: 55.7% with one victim; 26.9% with two or three; 13.9% with four to nine; 3.5% with 10 or more (these 149 priests caused 27% of allegations).
Abuse locations: 40.9% at priest''s residence; 16.3% in church; 42.8% elsewhere.
Known cost to dioceses and religious orders: $572,507,094 (does not include the $85 million Boston settlement and other expenses after research was concluded). (Hartford Courant, 2/27/04)


In any case, these figures are widely suspected to be grossly underestimated. For example, the late Fr. Tom Economus, former President of the Linkup, a national survivors'' advocacy group, said back in the mid-90s that he knew of "1,400 insurance claims on the books and that the Church has paid out over $1 billion in liability with an estimated $500 million pending."

[nothappyatall]

The Catholic Church at least has repented of the wrong doing of a few priests (out of tens of thousands), weeded out as many bad ones as possible, and paid billions in restitution to unfortunate victims. That all demonstrates the moral superiority of the Christian faith.
gctomajtom "

ONLY BECAUSE THEY WERE FORCED BY LAWSUITS!!!!!!!!!!! are you frigging daft? they dodged this for decades and simly shifted offenders to new parishs!
The ONLY reason they even acted in recent years was due to the mounting HUGE lawsuits and bad press- the church was FORCED into every action it has done, including that empty ''apology'' for the benefir of themedia.


Most of the killers were good Christians--Lutherans by in large.

Then the Catholics helped them escape justice.

The Catholics condemned the execution by Nazis of mentally retarded children and adults.

But they were silent as little church rats on the mass murder of Jews, Gypsies, and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Yes, Christians have all that blood on their hands.

Not to mention the millions killed in African slavery by Christians.

The millions of Native Americans murdered by Christians.

Yes, if someone doesn''''t love Jesus enough, the Christians will be real happy to beat it into them.

If Jesus came back he''''d puke on you.

[nothappyatall]

Religion is responsible for 1000 times more violence and death than every other known cause of death combined in the history of the world.


Posted by notfooled

That''''s not true, you are either repeating the lie or making it up yourself. Try 90 percent of people killed in wars were killed by Stalin, Hitler and Mao in the 20th centruy, none of these were religious.

Posted by jowand

BULLCHIT read about HITLER and his writing, and his public SPEACHES- all full of references to the lord, god and church, he was PALS with the church leaders, he ws an altar boy even- it''s all in the history on him READ the dam stuff.
the xtians killed millions during the crusades, reformation, witch hunts, trials, burnings, hangings, more death and destruction, slavery and subversion perpetrated by it and that book of death than anything else. WARS have been started over religious ideology.

[trapbreaker]

Actually, the message was directed to the UAW.

.

[troutfisher4]

Hey Pope,

Give up your lavish accommodations and lifestyle at the Vatican. Then get back to us...

[erb0087]

"You"re a big Elton John fan ? I never would have guessed."

Whoops.

David Bowie.

[erb0087]

Posted by gctomajtom at 04:01 PM : Dec 25, 2008

I get it.

"Ground Control to Major Tom"

You"re a big Elton John fan ? I never would have guessed.

[jowand]

The least the Pope could have done was to take off one of his shoes and symbolically throw it in George Bush"s general direction.

It would bring a whole new meaning to "Shoes of the Fisherman."

Posted by erb0087 at 04:33 PM : Dec 25, 2008

You have deranged Bush syndrome, ''bout 4 years you''ll have deranged Obama syndrome.

[hypnotoad72]

Religion is responsible for 1000 times more violence and death than every other known cause of death combined in the history of the world.

And since the Vatican is sitting on an enormous pile of wealth that could end world hunger overnight if they chose to do so, I have zero respect for religion and mountains of contempt.

Posted by notfooled at 05:33 PM : Dec 25, 2008
---


Please try and think. It is not the religion but the one warping it.

Even Charlie Manson, AN ATHEIST, convinced a bunch of people of loooooove and peeeeace and went and killed them.

Also, read up on John Lennon''s diaries and a book or two released about the man. While preaching love and tolerance, he was beating women, being an adulterer, and rather more. At least, according to his son, he tried to neaten up his act before (his murder).

[jowand]

Religion is responsible for 1000 times more violence and death than every other known cause of death combined in the history of the world.

And since the Vatican is sitting on an enormous pile of wealth that could end world hunger overnight if they chose to do so, I have zero respect for religion and mountains of contempt.

Posted by notfooled at 05:33 PM : Dec 25, 2008

That''s not true, you are either repeating the lie or making it up yourself. Try 90 percent of people killed in wars were killed by Stalin, Hitler and Mao in the 20th centruy, none of these were religious.

[notfooled]

The Godless Atheists, Secularist and Abortionist are directly responsible for over 100,000,000 deaths in the last 100 years. Even misguided Christians have not been responsible for even 1% of that number of over the last 2,008 years.

Posted by gctomajtom at 04:15 PM : Dec 25, 2008

Wishfull thinking by a gullible wisher.

Religion is responsible for 1000 times more violence and death than every other known cause of death combined in the history of the world.

And since the Vatican is sitting on an enormous pile of wealth that could end world hunger overnight if they chose to do so, I have zero respect for religion and mountains of contempt.

[erb0087]

"Christians want the Pope to have those robes...The president has Air Force One to display authority, the popes have the robes."
- Posted by gctomajtom at 04:01 PM : Dec 25, 2008
=========================

What a savings for the American taxpayers if they switched.

Let the Pope have Air Force One.

George W. Bush would look very dignified in those Papal Robes.

By the way, I believe only Catholic Christians value the Pope"s robes. They"re a bit of a joke to Southern Baptists.

[caldwellptr]

Apparently, I really need to learn about s * x some place other than these comment boards also.

[erb0087]

The least the Pope could have done was to take off one of his shoes and symbolically throw it in George Bush"s general direction.

It would bring a whole new meaning to "Shoes of the Fisherman."

[hermitdave]

Did the pope say anything about born more than one time George the crusader and his slaughter of innocent little boys and girls in his bring it on SHOCK & AWE Iraq campaign?

[erb0087]

"And the Buddhist monks? I say live and let live, but when I see their saffron robes, I am reminded they are the leeches in Asian society. They do not work, do not have daily responsibilities, but live off their poor countrymen while they site and contemplate to the benefit to no one but their selfish selves (if that). This is just the opposite of Christians who have an ethic and long history of giving to the poor."
- Posted by gctomajtom at 04:01 PM : Dec 25, 2008
========================

All the major religions, including Buddhism, support charitable work.

The Buddhists manage to do it without a heavy emphasis on eternal torture for those who don"t adopt their set of beliefs.

Any Google search on Buddhist Charities turns up results like this:

"Buddha Memorial Children''s Home - help a principal keep his boarding school open for destitute children in Nepal. Buddha Academy is a charitable institution managed by All Nepal Himalayan Buddhist Association (ANHBA), where Dorje Namgyal Lama has been the principal for 12 years. At present, the school has more than 500 children between the ages of 4 and 18 from many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds of Nepal, who share a common origin of destitute and poor circumstances and would otherwise have no access to proper education."

[erb0087]

The Bible doesn"t regard abortion as murder.

Murderers are stoned to death in the Bible.

People who caused abortions only had to pay a fine.

Jesus Christ was so concerned about abortion He forgot to say anything about it.