EllemyshShade said:

You know, I pretty much feel about the pope's death like I do any other man's death.  I don't feel he is more special for dying then anyone else.

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kadakuda said:

man this whole thing is as stupid and annoying as 911.

hopefully it will be off the air soon. or at least limited to a catholic channel.

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EllemyshShade said:

You know, I pretty much feel about the pope's death like I do any other man's death. I don't feel he is more special for dying then anyone else.

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Freeker said:

It does seem like people are insulting things which are completely different from their own lifestyles. What the Pope did and symbolized is something totally different from who i am, and that's why I won't talk about him, I would be out of my element.

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Do people actually talk about what the pope did during his life on american TV? does the american media mention any of that?

Quote:

Despite the fact that in 2000 he forced himself through a public confession of the church's historical transgressions, John Paul II has drawn almost no practical consequences from it.

The baroque and bombastic confession of the church's transgressions, staged with cardinals in St. Peter's Cathedral, remained vague, non-specific and ambiguous. The pope only asked for forgiveness for the transgressions of the "sons and daughters" of the church, but not for those of the "Holy Fathers," those of the "church itself" and those of the hierarchies present at the event.

The pope never commented on the Curia's dealings with the Mafia, and in fact contributed more to covering up than uncovering scandals and criminal behavior. The Vatican has also been extremely slow to prosecute pedophilia scandals involving Catholic clergy.

Consequences: The half-hearted papal confession remained without consequences, producing neither reversals nor action, only words.

For the Catholic church, this pontificate, despite its positive aspects, has on the whole proven to be a great disappointment and, ultimately, a disaster. As a result of his contradictions, this pope has deeply polarized the church, alienated it from countless people and plunged it into an epochal crisis -- a structural crisis that, after a quarter century, is now revealing fatal deficits in terms of development and a tremendous need for reform.

Contrary to all intentions conveyed in the Second Vatican Council, the medieval Roman system, a power apparatus with totalitarian features, was restored through clever and ruthless personnel and academic policies. Bishops were brought into line, pastors overloaded, theologians muzzled, the laity deprived of their rights, women discriminated against, national synods and churchgoers' requests ignored, along with sex scandals, prohibitions on discussion, liturgical spoon-feeding, a ban on sermons by lay theologians, incitement to denunciation, prevention of Holy Communion -- "the world" can hardly be blamed for all of this!!

The upshot is that the Catholic church has completely lost the enormous credibility it once enjoyed under the papacy of John XXIII and in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

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Morrowind said:

PS. are you one of those people who treat funerals as parties?

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