Cardinal sins

I apologise in advance to people who consider themselves to be members of the Roman Catholic Church. You might not like what I am about to say. However I would ask that before you brand me as some kind of ‘spawn of the devil’ or a ‘heathen’ or any one (or combination of pejorative names, that you try to consider calmly and logically what I am about to say.

There; now that I have got you either worried or interested all that remains is to ask if you are all sitting comfortably and then like Stanley Unwin, I shall begin.

I find myself both horrified and amused in almost equal measures by the developments that have followed the recent announcement by the former Nazi youth member and kiddie fiddler protector Pope Benedict that he is resigning from his position as the infallible to the gullible. His choice of papal name should have given us a clue he had no intention of looking after his flock. (How did that ovine reference get in there?). Those familiar with American history will know of another famous Benedict; Benedict Arnold. Benedict Arnold, for those who don’t know of him was an American General during the civil war who was put in command of the American fort at West Point (now the site of a famous US military academy) and then plotted to sell his mates out to the British Colonial forces. When his dastardly plan was uncovered he skedaddled across the lines and joined the Brits. In other words he was one of the most famous traitors of the time.

It can quite easily be argued that the parallels between this Benedict and the shambling old German feller are pretty obvious. The former Cardinal Ratzinger, or just Cardinal Rat, for short, managed throughout his papacy to look the other way while his gang mates committed acts of sexual abuse among their parishioners. However it was always going to be the way, because prior to taking on that position of infallibility he had spent the previous 25 years or so in charge of church priorities and directions. See if you can guess what wasn’t considered a priority during that 25 year span. Yep, that’s right it was the sexual misconduct of priests that was actively hidden with extensive measures taken to protect the guilty.

In other words Benedict the XVI was a way bigger traitor than Benedict Arnold who only betrayed a few hundred thousand Americans. This Benedict betrayed millions of Catholics all over the world.

So the old duffer ha0073decided to throw in the towel, and I don’t think any of us want to go anywhere near that towel, just quietly. And thus the pantomime begins as to who will be the next ‘paragon of perfection’. If you actually care about this stuff, and I have to admit that I don’t, you must be able to see the obvious inconsistency in somebody who preaches love and peace and caring for all mankind and yet feels it is okay for some of his henchmen to pleasure themselves among the most vulnerable members of his church.

I have to admit I can’t say I have read the entire bible from go to whoa, but I think I’m on pretty safe ground in saying there is nowhere in that document that condones such behaviour. Rather the opposite, if I recall correctly.

But the problem is that this nonsense doesn’t end when this old man shuffles off the robes of office. His church is still riddled with these scumbags. Take for instance Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric. He has been accused by some of his own priests of ‘approaching them in an inappropriate way’ as the newspaper rather delicately puts it. However despite these allegations and a lot of protest from members of the church in Britain he will still attend the big shindig at the Vatican and cast his vote for the new pretender to the throne of infallibility. Isn’t that a stupid concept? How can any human be infallible? Only a gullible person would believe that, but that is still no excuse for taking advantage of that gullibility by ‘a person in a position of trust’, which is what these people are.

Then of course there is the famous California Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has already been stripped of his parish duties over there for deliberately shielding paedophile priests. A large petition has been drawn up by American Catholics demanding that he doesn’t go to Rome and vote either, but the arrogant old bastard has said he will go anyway and has asked ‘forgiveness’ for his detractors. It really does beggar belief that people of this ilk will choose the next pope. How can this be, you might ask? Well, my friends (and those I might have alienated), it is because he is a Cardinal and he is welcome at the bunfight at the Vatican and allowed to vote no matter what he has done.

Hoo boy. They say Jesus chucked the moneylenders out of the temple when he was around. I reckon if he came back today it would be the priests he’d be chucking out.