April 03, 2010
I knew popes could resign their office, but I wasn't aware that one could be pope so many times.And predictably dead-white-male historians would consider the nadir of the papacy to have been when it was influenced by women. Still, I...
December 07, 2009
WWJD? Really? Jesus would give a flying fuck about assholes with too much money telling everyone which sweatshop-produced t-shirt to buy for Christmas, er, celebration of solstice or Mithras or some pagan hippie asshole? Rather than go all Tim Tebow...
November 29, 2009
It strikes me as a bad idea to put issues tied to religious liberty to a popular vote. But of course some countries use national initiatives to settle a variety of questions, and this weekend Switzerland has voted to ban...
November 11, 2009
So the Mormon Church has come out in favor of legislation banning discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgendered (yes, even the Ts) Americans when it comes to housing and employment, yet our Democratic-led national and state governments have declined to...
October 27, 2009
With his new promotion Ghana's Peter Turkson may have become the most likely cardinal to become the first pope from Africa (not that the current pope is in poor health or that I think it's especially likely his successor will...
October 18, 2009
One of the most outspoken and controversial figures in the Church in the United States, the "chief justice" of the Roman Catholic Church, has joined one of the Church's most important and select bodies. Will there now be a Burke-effect...
April 15, 2009
Via Sullivan, does anyone want to take a leap at explaining what this is supposed to do: Whatever it is supposed to do, it doesn't make me want to go to church....
April 06, 2009
Nicked and posted without comment from Petulant: "Do you need Jesus in your life??" No. "Do you want to burn in hell?" If there are cocktails....
March 07, 2009
It's up to the church to set its own rules, but as a matter of public relations or compassion the Catholic Church's act in Brazil ... ummm, wow....
February 20, 2009
I just got blessed by a telemarketer. A telemarketer working for a charity just called my house, and started the usual "hi this is Angela with XYZ, how are you today Ms. Rasmussen?" My standard response is "I don't make...
February 16, 2009
Hopefully they will go the fuck back to whatever rock they crawled out from under with this nonsense. These are not West Virginia values. More here, here, here and here....
January 12, 2009
This is just too good. Rick Warren's been meddling in the Episcopal Church. He apparently thinks it's too gay-friendly, so he's been doing what he can to break it. Well guess who the president-elect has invited to deliver the invocation...
December 03, 2008
November 17, 2008
This time it's Fort Worth (not a surprise). They will join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone....
October 27, 2008
Assuming all goes as expected (from the polls) Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will be the first Roman Catholic to serve as Vice President in the country's history. It's interesting that that "first" will happen 48 years after the first...
October 21, 2008
By Cafardi, Kaveny, and Kmiec: In part, we endorsed Senator Obama because his tax-reduction plan focuses on the betterment of average families and those living at the margins. Center for Disease Control statistics reveal that prosperity directly affects the abortion...
September 30, 2008
September 26, 2008
I know there will be a lot of pressure not to make them pay taxes, but if they are going to play it that way and break the existing rules, shouldn't they lose their protections?...
September 17, 2008
At least he later received an apology - but a harrowing experience nonetheless....
September 08, 2008
Not that I think this pick was ever about picking up independents and Clinton supporters. This ought to turn out the base though. McGraw says Palin's Pentecostal roots may be being downplayed for a reason: "I think there may be...
September 02, 2008
She is so against it, she even believes that a fourteen year old who was raped shouldn't be able to get an abortion. That makes her the fringiest of the fringe. p.s. Fringity fringe fringe!...
August 31, 2008
You think I'm kidding?: Bentley describes God ordering him to kick an elderly lady in the face: "I am thinking, 'God, why is the power of God not moving?' And He said, 'It is because you haven't kicked that women...
August 04, 2008
More pointedly, he appealed to 'the North American churches' to stick to moratoriums on the ordination of openly gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions, saying their failure to do so would imperil the chances of broad agreement...
June 24, 2008
June 09, 2008
The late Cardinal Lopez Trujillo was one of the Church's most outspoken and controversial (in the United States) figures. Pope Benedict has named the Archbishop of Florence, a quite different cardinal, to succeed him as president of the Pontifical Council...
May 02, 2008
Well, at least according to the Oklahoma Statutes on forcible sodomy, and forcible sodomy being what they have legislated. And given that they have just proposed to "[force] another person to engage in the detestable and abominable crime against nature"...
April 15, 2008
Ah, Florida. Because there are never enough graven images to worship. HT...
March 23, 2008
March 21, 2008
Bitch PhD makes a list of some of the White, and from the Right, nuttiness in order to point out the double standard: Kotsko sums it up: white preachers obviously believe all kinds of crazy things -- for instance, that...
March 16, 2008
Everyone else has heard about Rep. Kern, but we've got ugly in our backyard too. Makes me want to break out the brokeback mountaineer shirts I had ready to go when Fr*d Ph%lps was planning a protest here....
March 12, 2008
Was elected yesterday. The other Muslim member of Congress is Keith Ellison (D-MN). The new one is Andre Carson who won a special election yesterday in the US House district centered on Indianapolis. I actually had no idea he...
March 08, 2008
Including the one up the road in Pittsburgh, according to an Oklahoma politician: More information on her, and Oklahoma politics at Okie Funk. Rep. Kern's page. In addition to freaking out about the gays, looks like she loves her some...
March 07, 2008
January 23, 2008
One of the country's winningest basketball coahes is in a bit of trouble. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said this morning that St. Louis University basketball coach Rick Majerus should be disciplined over his public comments supporting abortion rights and...
January 19, 2008
He doesn't sound like a Benedict XVI type. This is the opening of a profile written about him last year. A conversation is an exchange. It leaves neither participant unchanged. This is something that Jesuits and other Christians working in...
January 11, 2008
Rocco Palmo has this interesting post up on the unusual influence of Cardinal Bertone and the Curia's resistance to his actions....
December 06, 2007
Freedom requires religion... Not that he ever had a snowball's chance in hell to get my vote, but good grief. He might as well spit on the Constitution....
December 04, 2007
There was a story about how US rankings on math and science internationally have dropped yet again. Yeah, Texas, you keep going with that, and drag the rest of us with you....
November 28, 2007
I was reading through this piece on the brouhaha some are making of the filming of The Golden Compass. It's a nice article that addresses the concerns of those who think it's anti-Church, those who fear the books are watered...
October 18, 2007
John Allen notes the obvious points: 1) There is an an appreciation in Rome that the future of the US church lies in the South and Southwest and among the country's Hispanics, and 2) The pope is happy to continue,...
September 26, 2007
No more gay bishops. Any thoughts on why the Episcopal church is trying to keep its rebels inside its walls - whereas under John Paul II and Benedict XVI Roman Catholic Church leaders sharply curtailed the activities of those within...
August 24, 2007
Of course, fark sums it up in one sentence: Like most people, Mother Teresa was an atheist but was too afraid to admit it....
August 19, 2007
Clergy response teams, because the bible helps people be calm in a time of crisis: For the clergy team, one of the biggest tools that they will have in helping calm the public down or to obey the law is...
August 13, 2007
This is old news, but given that I occassionally post on the Catholic hierarchy I figure it seems appropriate to point out. Benedict XVI has scrapped the "reform" of the papal election rules put in place by John Paul II....
July 28, 2007
If you have any religious questions (trying to understand the nature of the universe; what is our role; what is God's role, etc.), you can find all the answers at the Official God FAQ page. Lots of info; this clearly...
June 10, 2007
Via Pharyngula, we get some initial results of the 2006 General Social Survey (GSS). The GSS is done every few years (two? four? I don't remember), and is an attempt to study the general characteristics of the population of the...
May 14, 2007
At least you can if you are the Pope (emphasis mine): Pope Benedict XVI blamed Marxism and unbridled capitalism for Latin America's problems on Sunday, and urged bishops to mold a new generation of Roman Catholic leaders in politics to...
May 02, 2007
Archbishop Burke has blocked the junior senator from Missouri from speaking at the commencement festivities at St. Joseph's Academy. McCaskill's spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh, said that St. Joseph's officials had made the initial invitation after the students had requested the senator....
April 01, 2007
Last week David Plotz took on the Book of Job. His amusing analysis can be found here. Among other things, he addresses why God needs Satan: One day, God's divine beings drop by His house for a visit. Accompanying them...
February 25, 2007
My recent reading (and blogging) of Jan Crawford Greenburg's Supreme Conflict predictably led to me thumbing through Yalof's Pursuit of Justices. While doing so I came across a fascinating tidbit that says volumes about how the place of Roman Catholics...
Headline from the New York Times: Christian Right Labors to Find '08 Candidate [Note: not opening paragraph] Many conservatives have already declared their hostility to Senator John McCain of Arizona, despite his efforts to make amends for having once denounced...
February 19, 2007
A Pentecostal chaplain had a change of heart. And now he's not a military chaplain any more. On July 6, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events....
February 17, 2007
John Allen has a story on the diminishing power of Opus Dei in Benedict XVI's Vatican. It begins: With the resignation of Cardinal Julian Herranz as President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on Thursday, Opus Dei has now...
February 16, 2007
ABC: Many of those interviewed saw atheists as cultural elitists, amoral materialists, or given to criminal behavior or drugs. She states, "Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the...
February 13, 2007
So now both Shakes and Amanda have resigned their positions. Shakes has been less public about the details of the harassment she has received, but this has gone into the realm of witch hunt. There will be some who clamor...
February 04, 2007
Rejoice, for in the midst of the destruction, God shall grant you a killer fucking photo op:...
January 23, 2007
That's what this article should have been titled. It's a terrible shame that this woman has suffered a life of misery starting with sexual abuse by a sibling and being raped at the age of 14, if that was truly...
January 13, 2007
From Crooks and Liars: HOLY CRAP: Can I get an "Amen"?…A loaded word, loaded with relevance… What does the Christianist Right see when they look at history? OK, how about when they look at a Bible? ...
December 12, 2006
Faith, family, then country. That's the way to approach national defense. Jesus fucking christ....
November 30, 2006
Wouldn't you rather your elected officials take an oath on a book in which they believed? I mean, it totally helped Duke Cunningham to swear on the bible, with that eighth commandment and all....
November 27, 2006
Wow, this is rather fun - a lengthy argument between Greenwald on one side and Althouse and Reynolds on the other, over the use of the term "Christianist". It gets deliciously petty....
November 18, 2006
Ah, Pat Robertson. The one who gave us so much goodness, including the quote about feminists: Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians....
November 14, 2006
I can see the headlines now... oh, wait, I already did. Toys for Tots rejects Jesus dolls!!! Not a setup, no, no, not at all, not when Christmas is coming, Democrats have just retaken Congress, and your company needs to...
November 10, 2006
That was the gist of John Allen's All Things Catholic column last week. As Allen notes, Benedict has now filled four of the ten most important positions in the Vatican with his own appointees, and by his analysis only one...
November 05, 2006
Soldiers of Christ, a long and very detailed Harper's piece about the growth of the Colorado Springs evangelical flock, and the New Life Church. The author could have been over the top snarky - the opportunities are endless - but...
October 24, 2006
GAO report critical of abstinence only sex education. Some addition tidbits: According to Columbia University researchers, virginity pledge programs increase pledge-takers' risk for STIs and pregnancy. The study concluded that 88 percent of pledge-takers initiated sex prior to marriage even...
October 06, 2006
Now we can name names: The next morning, Mr. Luce led the crowd in an exercise in which they wrote on scraps of paper all the negative cultural influences, brand names, products and television shows that they planned to excise...
October 04, 2006
Or, Harry Potter is evil, part 10,376: Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction books are an ''evil'' attempt to indoctrinate children in the...
October 03, 2006
Wait for the last word from Molly Ivins. Found at I Blame the Patriarchy....
October 01, 2006
One of Binky's least favorite bloggers has this post which shows us the multitude of religious symbols that the VA will allow placed on headstones. There is, of course, as of yet no Wiccan symbol allowed. But hey, they've got...
September 24, 2006
It really depresses me sometimes, that with shit like this , I'm really glad that every day brings me closer to menopause. If my mom is any guide to the timeline, unfortunately, I've got about 20 more years of menstruation...
September 23, 2006
The topic of white privilege and male privilege are subjects that most of us have heard about while reading in the left blogosphere. This morning I read an article at CNN about the indignation of the creators of Veggie Tales...
September 01, 2006
Marci Hamilton argues that it is: In April of 2005, the Fourth Circuit held, in Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, that local government can intentionally and publicly discriminate against minority religious denominations. But this month, the Fourth Circuit...
August 29, 2006
One more turn in the on-going debates inside various religions about whether or not gay people can serve as religious leaders. The ordination of gay rabbis and the sanctioning of same-sex marriage within Conservative Judaism is near certain, according to...
August 24, 2006
Sounds kind of scary, huh? Not as scary as the thought that pro-lifers, eager to whisk abortion susceptible women into their clinics for unnecessary (and sometimes repeated) ultrasounds administered by non-medical personnel, might be irreparable harm to the fetuses they...
August 10, 2006
While catching up on (yet more) dissertation defenses and other things put on hold for the last week or so - including a blog post related to this link - I have a little something for you to ponder. Spotted...
July 27, 2006
This one right here, should be fired for incompetence: "This is an issue I've struggled with for years," Gish said. "My current feeling is life begins at conception, and I feel that anything that interferes with that" causes an abortion....
July 22, 2006
In the Is Sam Brownback an odious liar? thread, the discussion turned to the realities of IVF, and the survival rate of embryos necessary to a successful pregnancy. Bioethicist Arthur Caplan describes why adopting the surplus is a bad idea,...
July 20, 2006
Oy vey - the US House is working hard of late, doing their best to keep the American Taliban happy.In a different post Steve Benen notes that the president, talking to the NAACP, was again extolling the virtues of ending...
July 14, 2006
Sometimes the White House's opposition to accountability stems from simple negligence - and sometimes it is enforced with impassioned, heedless zeal. Numerous disagreements ensued, but Jakes and Gray said the last straw was the fund's decision to cut checks to...
July 04, 2006
The other day, I read a discussion about the definition of blasphemy. Well, I think this little number clarifies it a bit....
July 03, 2006
Several Episcopal dioceses are rejecting the authority of the newly elected presiding bishop - including Pittsburgh and central Florida....
June 29, 2006
Fidel Castro's niece (Raul's daughter) is campaigning for an end to homophobia in Cuba. To that end, she championed a telenovela with a bisexual storyline, and is now advocating for free surgery and hormone therapy for transsexuals. Castro said many...
Emphasis mine: Warren Buffett's new philanthropic alliance with fellow billionaire Bill Gates won widespread praise this week, but anti-abortion activists did not join in, instead assailing the two donors for their longtime support of Planned Parenthood and international birth-control programs....
June 26, 2006
...last week when I was visiting my parents I saw tons of these: Ladies in pants need not apply, I guess....
June 25, 2006
...about the Bible? I got about half. Remember, I grew up with Hippie Jesus, and the quiz draws from Old Testament ferocity. And I'll warn you, there are a couple of trick questions on there. Via The Goddess....
June 19, 2006
Wow. In several parts of the Anglican Communion women can't even be priests, and in only three of its thirty-eight provinces are there any female bishops. But over the weekend the US Episcopal Convention elected a female bishop (Katharine Jefferts...
June 17, 2006
I read this hours ago and didn't expect to link to it - but more than anything else I read this morning I can't get it out of my head. I'm annoyed. Really annoyed. For as much as the president...
June 02, 2006
Way to defend your church, Cardinal Pell. You said, "Considered on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion." What did you mean? I'd been thinking about the general historical and political record of Islam. Now you might say...
May 16, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the retirement of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick as Archbishop of the Washington Archdiocese and appointed Pittsburgh Bishop Donald W. Wuerl as his successor, the Vatican announced this morning. I hope our friend Stalin is lurking...
May 09, 2006
Jacflash and I were talking, in the comments, about the supposed and much balleyhooed (no bedbugs) persecution of Christians. I suggested that rather than persecution, what is unnerving to certain members of the faith - and is a flame being...
May 07, 2006
No, I am not "shitting you." "I cannot imagine any development in human history, after the Fall, that has had a greater impact on human beings than the pill," Mohler continued. " So, remember when I was telling you about...
Republican representative forces scientific panel on the failure of abstinence programs to include pro-abstinence speakers and bumps a panelist who was to present on how abstinence campaigns cause STDs to increase: Researchers organizing a federal panel on sexually transmitted diseases...
May 06, 2006
Via Digby, comes this story in today's WaPo (that I missed): The Air Force is investigating whether a two-star general violated military regulations by urging fellow Air Force Academy graduates to make campaign contributions to a Republican candidate for Congress...
April 22, 2006
Suffering apartheid? The Green Knight says no. With pictures....
April 21, 2006
... as if it has anything to do with actual Church policy? He's old, nearing a point where he could be called "long-retired", and has fewer and fewer allies in the Curia or among the cardinals (as most people with...
April 13, 2006
Interesting.Ever wondered where in the US Jews are concentrated? Methodists? Muslims? Quakers? Take a look and learn that and more....
April 10, 2006
"The most significant ancient, nonbiblical text to be found in the past 60 years."Kevin thinks it makes perfect sense that Judas and Jesus conspired to bring about the death of Jesus and the salvation of his followers....
March 22, 2006
Pat Robertson, of course. ROBERTSON: Ladies and gentleman this is a fascinating book. If you want to, you'd better take your blood pressure medicine before you read it, but it's "The Professors: The 101 most dangerous academics in America" and...
March 20, 2006
I was recently reading a book on Michelangelo and was surprised when I saw the facade of the church in Florence where he is buried. Isn't it odd to have a large Catholic church decorated with a big Star of...
March 19, 2006
Our neighboring state - I'm talking to you Ohio - harbors extremists who would prevent the free movement of citizens of the United States, and would give property rights over women's reproductive organs to third parties. No, I am not...
March 05, 2006
No, I don't think I'm better than you. However, I also don't think you are better than me....
February 25, 2006
This time it's Christians looking to establish "constitutionally limited government founded upon Christian principles" in South Carolina. We are violated in our right to Life: Unborn babies are subject to slaughter by abortionists and their own mothers under any pretext...
February 10, 2006
I realize Binky has already covered this story, but I did want to point out one additional major-grade idiocy in ex-NASA PR idiot Deutsch's NYTimesstory: In an e-mail message, Mr. Deutsch said that remarks about religious views on the creation...
February 06, 2006
Francis Fukuyama is short-sighted and the Vatican gets a key point about liberty completely wrong - what's next? The sun rising in the East?...
February 05, 2006
Liz has a musing on religion, science and trolls. She links to this story about Susan Wood, who quit the FDA in protest over the anti-science shutdown of Plan B. I'm not going to say much, because I know Baltar...
February 01, 2006
Lawmakers in Indiana are trying to pass a bill establishing that life begins at conception. I wonder if the sponsor, a political science major, has ever heard of ectopic pregnancy? Appreciative nod to Pandagon....
January 30, 2006
Discriminating against a patient on the basis of his or her religious beliefs is religious persecution. The problem is not that health care providers practice a religion that interferes with their profession. The problem is that their patients have a...
January 29, 2006
As efforts to reduce women's access to basic reproductive healthcare, contraception, and abortion continue, it pays to remember the consequences. The efforts of those who think they and their god have more to say about your body than you do...
January 24, 2006
...they threw in "kitchen" too. Still have any doubts about the rest of the agenda? Finder's fee to Pandagon....
January 14, 2006
As people who were reading this blog back in the spring of 2005 likely remember (since I posted on the decline of John Paul II and the process of electing his successor many times - see here, here, here, here...
But, you know, since it's an elective, no one should be upset, right? (note: I'm linking to the story, because I can't get the javascript video link to work). When asked if his teacher had tried to persuade the students,...
January 05, 2006
It's a small post, so I'll violate a couple of copyright laws and just reproduce the entire post: So McDonald's now has Chronicles of Narnia Happy Meals. Each comes with one of several plastic Narnia figurines -- Tumnus, Lucy, Edmund....
December 18, 2005
Well, while they were passing resolutions to protect Christmas, they made it abundantly clear that their interest wasn't to respect all people of faith or religious traditions - in fact they explicitly refused to protect Chanukah in the say way...
December 08, 2005
Watch it at Crooks and Liars....
December 07, 2005
Isn't there something a bit insulting about a man who talks constantly about his respect for religion observing Hanukkah weeks before it actually begins?...
November 23, 2005
Maybe if Target just put up signs saying "Hey, we picked you Christians over the sluts! Where ya' goin' now?" In case you missed it, Falwell is policing the schools and shopping centers across the country to flush out the...
November 17, 2005
As has been mentioned, Pat Robertson just about called down the (literal) wrath of God on Dover, PA, for unelecting some whackos to the school board who wanted to teach religion in science class, rather than science in science class....
November 14, 2005
...here's more good news (pdf) on how the public sector is contravening its own procedures to affect your health care. I've added some bold/italics to help elevate your blood pressure: November 2005 FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION Decision Process to Deny...
From Steve Gilliard, more on the contortions of Target (and yes, that's his graphic and tag line. Nice, eh?). Do your fucking job and hand out the pills Here at Target we offer stylish, low cost goodsand vagina control I've...
November 10, 2005
What would we do without Pat Robertson? “I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover. If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don’t wonder why...
November 06, 2005
...and the Christian Right wants to prevent its legalization. It's been covered here and there over the last month or so, but via Pharyngula a link to this thoughtful post by Brent Rasmussen (no relation to yours truly, despite the...
October 27, 2005
As if there were any doubts about this: You fit in with:Atheism Your ideals mostly resemble those of an Atheist. You have very little faith and you are very focused on intellectual endeavors. You value objective proof over intuition or...
October 25, 2005
Let's start with a definition: Emergency contraception is a backup method for preventing pregnancy and is not for routine use. Plan B® can reduce your chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex. For example, if you were using a condom and...
October 22, 2005
I try to avoid telling people, with respect to religion, that their beliefs are wrong or right. It's religion: it's supposed to be between you, God, and your pastor (if you so choose to have one). However: You will get...
October 21, 2005
There are many things that James Dobson says that I find infuriating. But there are also the occasional comments that I simply find odd. I was reading one of his columns (in Q&A form) a few weeks ago, and he...
October 10, 2005
A fair number of Roman Catholics might be asking themselves that question given the cover story in the latest issue of the National Catholic Reporter: A grand jury that investigated the Philadelphia archdiocese for more than three years has concluded...
October 04, 2005
When the ladies get a little upset about political control over and restrictions on women's autonomy over their own bodies, they always get painted as hysterical. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY....
September 26, 2005
The stories on the recently released cardinal's diary have mostly focused on the fact that Pope Benedict's main competitor in the election was Cardinal Bergoglio, a man who it appears desperately didn't want the job. I guess this makes me...
September 25, 2005
An article from CNN has been bugging me for a couple of days. In it, the FBI claims to have thwarted "jihad" in California. After reading the article a few times, it does seem they have thwarted something but that...
August 15, 2005
There is a lot of time and energy spent arguing about the right of women to control their own bodies, generally focused on abortion. Most people assume that the right to privacy to access safe birth control is "off the...
May 23, 2005
In John Allen's latest The Word From Rome we see two things. If you want to get a sweet appointment as a US Ambassador (say in France, Switzerland, or Rome) it helps to give the president several hundred thousand dollars....
May 11, 2005
The ouster of Rev. Thomas Reese as the editor of the Jesuit magazine America is likely to be just the first in a long line actions that the new leadership in the Vatican will take against anything resembling dissent. And...
April 24, 2005
Time has the deepest story I've seen yet on exactly where the votes were going in the Sistine Chapel. Ratzinger led throughout, with strong backing from both Italians and Latin Americans. After Martini faded the "liberals" moved toward Bergoglio, though...
April 20, 2005
Some of the most succinct criticisms of the election of Benedict XVI are coming from Andrew Sullivan. He's been writing on nothing else for the last 24 hours. The posts here and here get to the heart of his reaction....
April 19, 2005
Huh - I wonder how the new pope's name will be interpreted in light of St. Malachy's prophecies. Scroll down to the next to last pope. With the new pope being Ratzinger it looks like John Allen will be in...
I'm being called upon to make a final prediction about who the new pope is given how short the conclave was. I'm EXTREMELY reluctant to do this ... watch it be one of the Portugese men I don't know much...
Well that was fast - the white smoke and the bells appeared around noon today, EST....
Given that so far we've only seen black smoke, here's a little more on some names that might come up in dicussions inside the Sistine Chapel. None of them are necessarily favorites, though all the Italians have been mentioned by...
April 18, 2005
A few thoughts to keep in mind over the next few days about the election of the successor to John Paul II. First, this conclave is different than its predecessors in some key respects. There are fewer Italians, more cardinals...
April 14, 2005
John Allen reports that the campaign to name Cardinal Ratzinger the next pope is for real and has a lot of support. Nonetheless the situation is "still quite fluid"....
April 10, 2005
OK, here's your papal conclave post for today. I've noticed that John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter has a list of 20 top possibilities for the next pope posted on that organization's website. The only names that are new...
April 09, 2005
OK, I don't take this to mean ANYTHING. But hey, we are going to keep hearing stories about who's likely to be elected for at least another 9 days - so why not continue to follow the silly side of...
April 06, 2005
Since Binky has expressed an interest in seeing a Latin American elected pope, here are profiles - one and two - run in The Washington Post describing two of the leading candidates from Central and South America. Personally, there are...
April 03, 2005
I'm going to give this to MSNBC - the first news outlet I've seen that in its desperate desire to push square cardinals into round categorizations that American readers can supposedly understand not only reverts to the tried and truly...
April 02, 2005
Christopher Hitchens has a history of bluntly stating his views that certain prominent figures in the Roman Catholic Church receive too much praise. His criticisms of Mother Teresa are probably the most well known instances of this trait. But just...
Given news reports, it appears that later this month we will have a new pope for the first time since 1978. The conclave that will choose the successor to John Paul II will meet approximately 15 days after his death,...
April 01, 2005
This is not exactly a new development, but it appears that the pope's health has taken a severe turn for the worse recently. During his last prolonged health scare I created this post which includes links to a variety of...