What credentials does THIS guy have to be dictating the rules about sex?

[Liberal_in_LA]

The world's authority on sex, women, gender roles, reproduction,and birth control.. in his own mind

[DainBramaged]

1. He intimately knows Mary Fist and her five sisters?

:shrug:

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. lol

[Ken Burch]

17. And their friends, the Palm Twins?

[DainBramaged]

23. Rimshot

http://www.instantrimshot.com/

[BuyingThyme]

2. He's the king of the world.

[MonteLukast]

4. Those who can't do... teach? (nm)

[Richard Steele]

11. And those who can't teach DICTATE.

Those who can't LEARN, dictate ABSOLUTELY.

[babylonsister]

5. No kidding. He's a tool that doesn't work. IMO nt

[Chan790]

6. His time in the HJ.

Being a Hitler Youth taught him a great deal about imposing his warped worldview within a totalitarian social structure.

[chknltl]

7. Well he does sorta resemble:

(Dr. Ruth Westheimer)

[Chan790]

8. Interesting fact.

Before she returned to school to obtain her Ph.D., Dr. Ruth Westheimer trained to be an IDF Sniper.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/drruth.asp

[chknltl]

15. I didn't know that, thanks.

I also learned from your Snopes link that she nearly died when a cannonball blew through her dormroom killing two other students. What a fascinating life Dr. Ruth has had! Thanks again for the link, it was way cool!

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. His celibacy doctrine has led to billions paid out in molestation law suits.

So at least they put their money where their mouth is.

It's a warped barbaric "faith".

[GA_ArmyVet]

20. I have been trained and worked many many child

molestation investigations. No one molests a child because they are not getting sex from somewhere else. It is a particular deviance that developed during their (the molesters) own sexual development.

That being said, molesters tend to put themselves into positions of being around children, i.e. coaches, scout leaders, priests, and Child Care Providers. Please don't think I am indicting everyone who is one of these professions, but the close proximity to children, and being in an authoritarian position is the ideal situation for a pedophile to meet his needs, and they actively seek situations which place them in that context.

All that being said, the pope has no foot to stand on in the sexual argument other than providing a Catholic Interpretation of the Bible to his followers.

[Goblinmonger]

27. That's just not true.

I know many, many priests. There was a very small percentage of priests that were molesting children. Your outrage should be focused on the hierarchy that covered it up and moved the offending priests to new parishes so they could molest again. The vast, VAST majority of priests are good people.

[Richard Steele]

10. He's a NaziYouth member who claims to be the sole spokesman for GOD. What's not to believe?

Oh, wait...EVERYTHING? Yeah, that's the word for it.

Lord knows, I love the Catholic People..but that FASCIST so-called "church"
that struts around the world acting like it OWNS them all?
BWAHAJA!

FUCK that dogma, and the POPE that rode in on it! :rofl:

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. Yeah! Fuck him AND his dead mother! He's probably been in more boys pants than Levi Strauss!

Since we're piling on I thought I'd throw my two scents in.

And yes, I spelled it "scents". I could have spelled it "sense", but thought I'd throw caution to the wind and see what good religion hating DU'ers could do with the word "scents".

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. .

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Chan790]

16. Okay then...

Would you like my personal insights having met the man when JP II was still alive and he was still just Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (The Inquisition)?

He's the most polite person I've ever met. He's also the coldest and most impersonal, joyless, possessed of a measured demeanor; as if he's weighing every word which passes from your mouth for heresy. I truly felt the temperature in the room drop 10 degrees as soon as he entered, I can tell you the exact second even, though my back was to the door. Possessed of a disarming intellect. He seems to enjoy the sport of his occupation, speaking very little and letting you talk until you confess to things you had no intention of admitting. He has gunslinger eyes, always sharp and probing, steely, yet somewhat kind...in the manner of an executioner, repent and you won't suffer; they twinkle but it's the cold twinkle of (death) the flash of light before he finally speaks...draws...before he fires and puts you irrevocably in your place. So few words, even at that.

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. "I truly felt the temperature in the room drop 10 degrees as soon as he entered"

Hyperbole much?

He's a listener. Seems like that bothered you. Made you nervous it seems. Made you feel like you NEEDED to say something. Did you feel guilty?

I'm not a religious man. Spiritual yes, religious no. I'd like to think that he'd never intimidate me into saying something I didn't want to.

His "disarming intellect" would to me be a challenge. I'd love to have an hour or two alone with him. NOT to question his faith, or ridicule it, but to speak with him on any one of a thousand issues I'm interested in.

I have a lifelong friend who has a masters degree in theology and at one point was on his way to becoming a Catholic priest. He was drummed out of the program for reasons I'm not at liberty to talk about here in deference to my friend. Suffice to say it WASN'T homosexuality, rather a modern notion that the church needs to change.

I've never met someone though who could change the temperature of the room by simply entering it.

[Chan790]

24. I was a seminary student at the time.

It wasn't so much that he's a listener (I'm a listener too.), it's that his job to get people to confess to heresy. To excommunicate themselves as it were. His presence is intimidating. You expect a lot of questions, responses, dialogue...he just lets you talk and talk and talk. Nodding, saying nothing. It wasn't that he literally dropped the temperature, the second he entered though, every conversation stopped for about 5 seconds...no whispers, nothing. (I can only imagine what that's like for him if it happens often...I suspect I'd wonder if I just disrupted yet another conspiracy. Knowing what I know now, that he has a very-dry sense of humor, he probably finds it hilarious.) He wasn't the only cardinal in the room so it wasn't that. It was literally him, the clergy have a natural fear of the position he held...even if you've done nothing wrong. The inquisitor can and does end careers in the church.

I truly wanted nothing more than to not talk to him: I was a liberal seminary student with an interest in Canon Law and after graduate school an interest in that office largely in time to moderate it and the larger faith from a swing to a return to the close-minded conservatism of the Syllabus of Errors period...because I felt that was my calling. I felt a need to both impress him and the impending fear that he'd see through to my intentions. So...I made a point to keep a gap of 10' and 4 people between us. Of course, it took less than 5 minutes for one of my professors to say "Joseph (they were clearly old friends), I want you to meet one of my students, he's one of the brightest young thinkers on doctrinal issues I've ever met. I think you'd enjoy picking each other's minds. Jamie...this is Cardinal Ratzinger..."

I later lost my faith, personal reasons unrelated to this. I'd love to meet him now...I no longer have anything to fear from him. At the time though, it was like a post-hire review (you know, we want to really make sure you're who we want.) with a firm with a monopoly in the field I'd studied my entire life for and discovering that I was interviewing with the VP of compliance.

[cherokeeprogressive]

25. Thanks for the context. You sound much like the friend of mine who was called to the priesthood.

I apologize for the hyperbole comment.

[Chovexani]

19. Are you sure that was Pope Sidious and not this guy instead?

(Okay nerds, someone has to get this reference or I'll be very put out with you lot.)

[rollingrock]

14. He can't hold a candle to John Paul II

John Paul II seemed to be respected and loved by all, even by agnostics like myself. But this Ratzinger guy? He just gives me the creeps for some reason. Me no likey the new pope at all.

[mikeytherat]

21. Since he keeps his libido in a garment bag in the attic, I'd say no authority whatsoever.

Sorry, padre. Before I listen to you on this subject I've got to see proof of purchase.

mikey_the_rat

[ejpoeta]

22. he's a man. and he wears a pointy hat. it says so right in the bible!!

white men with pointy hats get to tell us what to do and how to do. it's right in BS 21:14. :sarcasm: Boy, those catholics sure have come a long way since their cult hid in the catacombs under rome, huh.

[robertpaulsen]

26. Didn't he write the encyclical: Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers?

I think that makes him some kind of authority. :)