Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
The Catholic Cardinals elected a "new" 76 year old Pope, hereafter known as Pope Francis. Early indications are the "new" Pope will carry on the outdated doctrines of past religious dogma and bigotry. One would think sooner, rather than later, the Church, and by Church I mean the congregations of the faithful, would demand real ethical/moral change in the Church hierarchy.
However, when all is said and done, the Catholic Church is as close to a dictatorship as any statist nation ever was. I'm certainly not a Catholic, or even a "believer" in the conventional sense, but I feel safe in stating that unless the Catholic Church changes its dogma to reflect modern science and 21st century thinking it will, like the rEpublican party in America find itself becoming less relevant.
GAWKER - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now to be known forever as Pope Francis, sounds likeable enough, to people who are disposed to like high-ranking men of the cloth. The 76-year-old Argentine is reportedly marked by a devotion to the poor and a cultivated humility—he doesn't like limos or fancy palaces, you see, favoring public transportation and sparse apartments over luxury.
But anyone who was looking for a liberal reformer in the Vatican is probably going to keep waiting. The vast majority of American Catholics now find birth control morally acceptable, and 54 percent of American Catholics now support same-sex marriage. Optimists thought this might signal that the next supreme leader of Catholicism would himself—but certainly not herself! ha ha! that would be crazy—reflect the forward momentum of his adherents. Yesterday, Pope Francis looked down upon thousands of people gathered beneath his Vatican City balcony, and millions watching around the world, and effectively said, "Nope."
In honor of all of the papacy's cloak-and-dagger skullduggery, let's start with the rumors: Though he was never directly charged with aiding and abetting Argentina's murderous dictatorial regime during the country's infamous "Dirty War," years later a journalist would accuse Bergoglio of hiding imprisoned victims from human-rights workers. These allegations were detailed by Hugh O'Shaughnessy in the Guardian in 2011 (emphasis ours):
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If it's any consolation—and if you're gay it's probably not—the Guardian reports that, despite his many conservative stances (and possible war crimes), Pope Francis believes condoms "can be permissible" to prevent the passage of infection. It only took thousands of years, but there you have it: Condoms might possibly be OK in order to help prevent scores and scores of people from constantly dying of AIDS. Welcome to progress, Catholic style.
Via: Memeorandum
