Apparently the Pope is abdicating... - by Thirith
SubJeff on 11/2/2013 at 11:16
Not "in recent years" according to that BBC report.
I do wonder what the do is here. Perhaps he's realised that there is no God. That would be awesome.
i wish i wish i wish i wish
Thirith on 11/2/2013 at 11:29
No criticism of you, SubjEff, just a puzzled huh on my part: for some reason I always get annoyed when people state as a fact that there is no god. I have no issue at all with "Most likely there is no god" or "Whether there is a god or not is irrelevant, not least because there's no proof either way - what matters is how we lead our lives", or pulling an Ockham's Razor. I wonder whether it's some residual conditioning from when I was a kid, or a case of part of me wanting to go, "I *do* believe in fairies, I *do* believe in fairies!"
For me, the more awesome option would be a pissed-off Metatron, looking uncannily like Alan Rickman, appearing in the Pope's bedroom and telling him to pack his bags because, boy, have he and the Catholic Church fucked up royally.
demagogue on 11/2/2013 at 11:52
The guy is 85, and if his stamina really has been deteriorating over the last few months, the explanation he gave is not really that much of a stretch. And I can imagine stressful stuff going on in the background that turned the screws, the sex scandal & constant attacks on the faith just being just two... Of course it'd be epic drama if there were bona fide machinations or even a crisis of conscience at work and the true story got leaked, but I'm not sure.
What's odd to think about is the role of an "ex-Pope". Is it like an ex-president? He gets to keep the title and appears at events and give lectures and does charities & whatnot. Just a somewhat odd position. But I imagine from his explanation he just wants to quietly retire & retreat from public view.
SubJeff on 11/2/2013 at 12:00
Quote Posted by Thirith
No criticism of you, SubjEff, just a puzzled huh on my part: for some reason I always get annoyed when people state as a fact that there is no god.
Ah, you take things too much on face value. Firstly, I said it would be awesome if HE realised, or if you prefer - "realised", that there was no God.
As a somewhat of a scientists I cannot say God does not exist because I cannot prove it. I happen to believe that God does not exist though, certainly not in the Catholic sense (or in any other religious sense, though one can never discount the existence of a cosmic progenitor).
It would just be great if he came out and said "I just woke up and realised that God has never answered one of my prayers, that the world is too messed up, and that the idea of the Biblical God is clearly nonsense."
Chimpy Chompy on 11/2/2013 at 12:32
We're all hoping for some sort of drama or scandal (resigning ahead of time before news of a secret SEX ROMP is leaked) but I'm inclined to take his statement at face value, he just decided he's too old for the job.
Le MAlin 76 on 11/2/2013 at 13:05
The last abdication was those of Gregory XII, during the Great Schism of the Catholic Church, between Roma and the Frenchs Pope of Avignon.
I am surprising of that, i believed, like the Frenchs King, that the Crown of Vatican was "unavailable", i mean that the sovereign cannot choose his successor and he cannot decied to abdicate, but in fact there is no rule for the pope "ending".
Le MAlin 76 on 11/2/2013 at 13:09
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Ah, you take things too much on face value. Firstly, I said it would be awesome if HE realised, or if you prefer - "realised", that there was no God.
As a somewhat of a scientists I cannot say God does not exist because I cannot prove it. I happen to believe that God does not exist though, certainly not in the Catholic sense (or in any other religious sense, though one can never discount the existence of a cosmic progenitor).
It would just be great if he came out and said "I just woke up and realised that God has never answered one of my prayers, that the world is too messed up, and that the idea of the Biblical God is clearly nonsense."
I am catholic, but i think that the man who say "God is existing, there is no doubt" is the same that who say " There is no doubt, there is no God": there are both fanatics, one religious fanatic, the second atheist fanatic.
DDL on 11/2/2013 at 13:37
It's more of a case of
"there is absolutely zero evidence for a god"
though. Not a blind statement of belief as much as a conscious acknowledgement that introducing additional, wholly-unsupported variables is generally a poor strategy.
Anyway, more popesmoke time, eh? Funz.
SubJeff on 11/2/2013 at 14:58
Yeah, what DDL said. I never said there is no God.
The only way you could say for sure that there is no God is if God arrived and said he was going to destroy himself.
But realistically there is no Catholic God because all that Bible stuff makes no sense at all.
