The Pope has passed away

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

I hope this isn't tasteless, as I just mean it as an observation, but I found it so odd that whenever they showed the Pope on TV he was surrounded by gold and silk and jewels and ornate lavishness. It seems so against everything Jesus stood for. I wonder how the Pope felt about it.

I know that seems odd, Trac. I am a Catholic (quasi-practicing, of the sort known as 'cafeteria Catholic': take the good message and drown out the rest) and have some trouble with that too. Knowing the history of gifts accepted (as passages into heaven, yes, buy your way in!) by the church, it doesn't seem contrary to expectation.

My favorite bishop, Ken Untner, had such trouble with such things that he sold the palacial bishop's rectory in Michigan and rotated from parish to parish throughout his time in the position. He also was the first bishop to grant little girls the position of altar server (I was part of the early years of that!) and deemed that the Saginaw song of blessing have two verses. They begin:

May God bless you and keep you, may he let his face shine upon you
and
May God bless you and keep you, may she let her face shine upon you

He'd have made such a great pope. Too bad he was blacklisted from becoming a cardinal. He passed away last year-- and his replacement promptly bought another palacial bishop's rectory. And did away with the second verse of the blessing.

As for John Paul II, he did some good things (aid for poverty, among them.) He did some things long-in-coming (acknowledging that the church should not have supported the Nazi party.) And he did some bad things (proclaiming that gay marriage is evidence of the evil in our world.) I don't begrudge him his flaws; he was only a man.