Comments on The Pensive Quill: What The Pope Knew

The Case of the Pope by Geoffrey Robertson is one ...

2010-11-07T10:07:12.647Z

The Case of the Pope by Geoffrey Robertson is one worth the reading. He deals with these issues forensically and in a very readable fashion

Saintmaryhedgehog, if you are still watching I am...

2010-10-24T09:08:21.331+01:00

Saintmaryhedgehog,

if you are still watching I am sure you found the Mary MacKillop business interesting. Once ex-communicated she ends up canonised.

Michaelhenry, I doubt if you will be on the Pope...

2010-09-29T22:57:16.216+01:00

Michaelhenry,

I doubt if you will be on the Pope's Christmas card list

Fionnchú, I think it is inevitable that clerics a...

2010-09-24T22:03:46.945+01:00

Fionnchú,

I think it is inevitable that clerics are on the decline. I guess they don't relish the thought of toughing it out as throwbacks.

Michaelhenry,

although you are a believer you don't seem to think much of organised religion.

Unless they import priests from Nigeria & Indi...

2010-09-22T22:18:13.293+01:00

Unless they import priests from Nigeria & India (as the few Anglican crossovers won't do much considering their own decline), Catholic institutions soon will have nearly no clerics anyway. The typical parish that my family attended staffed by four regularly over the decades now has one, with another on call. The P.P. hopes married deacons and lay ministers can step up, as the few priests will be reduced to sacerdotal functions and rotate between parishes. The situation for vocations is so dire that scandals may wind down by sheer attrition. There may not be enough bad priests around to sin anymore.

As MH says, Rome will have to give in to married and women priests. It's a staffing need and a ritual function that the sacraments need. If Eastern-rite Catholic priests can marry, and Anglicans can switch to Rome as married priests, precedents old and new are here.

What happened in Britain is now happening in Ireland. As societies prosper and secularise, they rely on human imports (yet again) from Third World markets where vocations are the ticket out of poverty, or they sell sanctuaries for garages or lofts. Or sell them to evangelicals, another problem.

i believe that a lot of people went to greet the p...

2010-09-21T21:10:01.373+01:00

i believe that a lot of people went to greet the pope in scotland last week because of the way the media was anti-reporting the visit,
panorama was left embarrassed by the crowds who wanted to see the pope the head of the catholic faith on this earth, hundreds of school children were also there with small vatican flags do not think that this was a good idea,

i agree that this pope as well as the last few knew what was going on and tried to contain it, but it was to big to keep quiet and a lot more is still to be made public,
the sex sins were crimes against the worlds children,
i do not see what is wrong with women priests or married priests
indeed the first pope was married but then he left his wife to carry
out gods work, what message does this send out to family life- now the just men policy does not work.