Ratzinger Elected Pope

[mactombs]

I know it's awfully juvenile of me, but that headline ...  

Also, from all this coverage of late, the Vatican strikes me as obsessively traditionalist. Frighteningly so. It's a perfect example of stagnancy.

"Rat" in German = advice, for those who don't know. But it's still funny in English (if you're the wicked sort).  

[Rodentmouse7]

by the look of his eyes he doesnt really seem like he is  connected to the supreme. compare his to the dalai lamas.

[jilola]

Apparently he's suffered a brain haemorrhage in the past so a remaining partial paralysis in the face would give him the odd look people seem to pick up from him.

I wouldn't want his job but still hope he does a good job of it.

2cents & L&L
Jouni

[Gandalf]

{PopeDope's post has been deleted}.

Its a cheap shot to throw out the old 'Hitler Youth' point.. as anyone who knows their German history will know that at that point at the end of the war, all kids of his age were conscripted into the Hitler Youth as a desperate last resort.. he later was sent to man anti-aircraft guns but managed to escape and hand himself over to the allies.

I'm not a Catholic myself so I have no particular axe to grind but I do find it a bit sad how often the 'hitler youth' thing is brought out as a means of discreditng the guy.
As for the link to the store selling the crud t-shirts etc I noticed it is a US website.. While mildly amusing, it is also obviously sectarian and it is felt to be 'safely amusing' as it is meant to appeal to a US protestant majority, many of whom are guilty of 'the pot calling the kettle black' in any case, as many evangelical protestant sects in the US are far nuttier than anything out of the Vatican... 'Rapture-ready' bumper stickers anyone? Hell-fire and damnation 24/7? No thanks.

Would they think it so amusing if I sold the same t-shirts but with jesus on the front in the same gear? probably not..

I'm not protestant either, or any kind of christian for that matter.. but i detest sectarianism wherever I see it.. and i see plenty of it here!

Doug

[Frank]

Hi:

I know nothing about it, but to me it does seem a bit weird a German person being Pope. I always thought the Pope was Italian for some reason. I only learned just recently, because of all the hoo-haa over his impending demise, that old JP was actually Polish. Not that there is anything wrong with being Polish, or German for that matter. But I just had the idea that Popes were Italian. Just shows you how much I know, lol.

Ha ha, I just thought (for those of us who are English) could you imagine the mockery the Monty Python team would have made of a German Pope? That would have been a laugh. And Spitting Image too, lol, they'd have made ever such a sweet parody of Queenie and the Pope.

Yours,
Frank

[CaCoDeMoN]

{PopeDope's post has been deleted}.

popedope should be deleted too....

Ha ha, I just thought (for those of us who are English) could you imagine the mockery the Monty Python team would have made of a German Pope?

I'd love to see such thing...