The Vatican Reality Show

It's impossible not to be a Vatican-watcher these days. Just as it's impossible to surf past Dance Moms without stopping to check out the latest loathsome behavior of stage mothers and fat dance divas, it's impossible to ignore the dithering, backing and filling, and desperate coverups overspreading the Roman Catholic Church

The most recent juicy item to emanate from the Holy See in Rome came out yesterday, February 25th, when Britain's top Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned midst accusations that he had made homosexual advances on four younger priests. Cardinal O'Brien was born in Ireland but raised in Scotland and will reach the age of 75 on March 17th. He has been the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland since 1985.

Just last week Cardinal O'Brien made news by claiming the Roman Catholic Church should stop requiring priests to be celibate.

There is so much startling information in this story.

1) Cardinal O'Brien will not be attending the conclave to elect a new Pope even though Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, the secretary for the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts said that a cardinal remains eligible to vote for the next Pope under any circumstances, even if he has been excommunicated. Why was the Pope so quick to accept O'Brien's resignation? O'Brien had told the Pope months ago that he would retire after his 75th birthday…no date had been set…why the rush to kick him out?

2) The allegations of Cardinal O'Brien making unwanted homosexual advances have not been investigated and the men making the accusations have not been named. Only recently (but not in the past), O'Brien has made unforgiving and nasty comments about homosexuals and homosexuality.

3) Cardinal O'Brien says no one can be celibate. He says celibacy is an unnatural state and cannot be maintained.

As Frank Bruni pointed out in his New York Times editorial today, Cardinal O'Brien is not accused of pedophilia, nor has he been accused of protecting pedophile priests. O'Brien has been accused of being gay.

The can of worms here is that O'Brien wants the Roman Catholic Church to cease requiring its priests to be celibate. If that actually happens, will ending the celibacy requirement apply only to heterosexual priests and will the church still require its gay priests to be celibate? And if the Church cannot rescind its longtime claim that homosexuality is a sin, how will rescinding its celibacy requirement remove the problem of homosexual sex in the Vatican?

Benedict XVI Does Not Deserve Kudos

This is so ridiculous…even the Anglican Church via its new Archbishop Justin Welby, has come out with an encomium worthy of a saint with regard to Pope Ratz.

That's insane.

Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, is a disgrace to any religion and to the entire homo sapiens race.

He singlehandedly encouraged pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church by choosing to protect pedophiles over protecting vulnerable children.

How more egregious a crime can a human person commit?

And yet, now that he is retiring for God only knows what reason, the world has gone mad and has decided to write glowing reports of the wonderful things this criminal has done as Pope. 

Not only has he done nothing wonderful as Pope, his notorious crimes against humanity date back to when he was Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 to 2005.

Not only does he not care about children, not only does he protect pedophile priests over children, not only does he think first about the reputation of the Vatican before considering the harm pedophiles do to children, he also depises homosexuals and women and has abased both groups in every way possible during his tenure as pope.

B16 is stepping down…that is a good thing. B16 has hand-picked his successor…that is a bad thing. B16 will be gone by Easter…that is a good thing. B16 has set back the Roman Catholic Church and its mission to do good, or at least to do no harm by 1000 years and that is a very bad thing.

Pope B16 Resigns

So…it's been 600 years since a Pope has resigned. The last pope to resign, Gregory XII, ended a "church schism" in 1415 by resigning.

The Vatican's PR department says B16 decided to resign many months ago.

Why don't I believe that?

Because, leopards don't change their spots; because megalomaniacs don't quit; because control freaks don't go gentle into the night. Because Pope Benedict XVI, aka Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger--the previous pope's "enforcer"--would never resign unless forced to do so.

What are the possibles here?

It's possible Pope Ratz has Alzheimer's which has become so severe that he cannot continue his duties.

It's possible that Pope Ratz has an incurable and fatal disease, and will be dead before Easter.

It's possible the Vatican's mafia, aka The Curia, is so fed up with their insanely malevolent and inept leader that it has issued a death threat to B16: resign or die and reminding him of the fate of Pope John Paul I in 1978.

But the real likelihood is that some information about the Roman Catholic Church is going to erupt that Ratz would not be able to handle because of his age and infirmities. Ergo, the Curia has forced B16's hand.

Lots of luck to the new guy, who, the Vatican says, will be elected by Easter. If the Curia is so powerful, and it is, that it can force Joseph Ratzinger to resign, the new guy is a sitting duck. One assumes the new Pope believes in God's mercy. He's going to need it.