Pope on a Rope - The ongoing Vatican saga

April 18, 11:58 AMAtheism ExaminerTrina Hoaks

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The Vatican has decided to blame everyone but the pope for the backlash that has come after the pope's latest espousal of nonsense. Yes, I'm talking about the AIDS - condom statement he made. How can they discount the fact that the pope is responsible for continually publicly hanging himself? And he does it so often, so well, I feel like I should send him a "thank you" note. He is turning out to be one of the greatest allies that those of us who are ant-religion have ever had. It seems he is single-handedly ripping Catholicism apart. Three cheers for the pope... pope, pope, hooray... and so on.

According to an Associated Press report, the Vatican thinks that the pope is being intimidated into silence by critics. Honestly, if you call speaking out about lunacy a tactic of intimidation, then so be it. But that contention leads me to believe that the Vatican and certain Catholics are just as deluded and out of touch as the pope as illustrated in the following comment by the Rev. John Wauck, professor of literature at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome. He said:

Sending a package of prophylactics signifies a lot less in terms of self-giving in comparison to someone who has left their country and dedicates their lives to caring for people sick with AIDS.

Wait! What? Did he really say that? So to hell with prevention because how can we boost our image and sense of self worth if we don't have sick people to take care of? It is better for our image to let people get sick and die thereby giving us the opportunity to show how compassionate we are by caring for them as they suffer? How we look while caring for the dieing is far more significant than preventing disease?

Do you think I'm reading too much into what Wauck said?

According to the AP report, Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that they "...are making it clear that the pope and the church won't be intimidated by these criticisms or by media campaigns and will continue to staunchly support Catholic positions on moral issues." So be it, Federico. But you should know that as long as the pope continues to spew uninformed, banal babble, there will be a backlash suffered. And I will "staunchly support," and be a part of, any media campaign that sets out to expose how unrealistic and antiquated the opinions of the pope and the Vatican are.

And one more thing, Federico... this is a not a matter of Catholic morality, it's a matter of life and death. Can't you step out from behind those papal-clouded glasses of yours for one moment to see that?