Kissing not as bad as Hitler for German pope

That is seriously the premise of McIlheran's column today. Reports McIlheran, when protesters staged a kiss-in along the papal parade route in Barcelona, they would have failed at perturbing Mr. Ratzinger, 83, as he had "endured the rise and fall of the Nazis."

Me too, whenever I hear about gay people, I automatically think of the Third Reich. I mean, who doesn't. Nazi regalia is sexy.

McIlheran was also comforted by the fact that because the kissing "tantrum was overwhelmed by reverence," fewer Spanish nationals will be tortured eternally in McIlheran's contemplated afterlife.

However McIlheran's source (a link he found on the internets) said it wasn't clear if the pope was aware of the kiss-in, as he communed with the faithful sealed in an airtight bulletproof glass box on wheels.

The Beeb takes the Popemobile for a spin: "German, of course."

Would you believe the pope had an F-150.

Fun Pontiffact: Paul VI was one of the last Italian popes, which is why there was always a soccer ball in the trunk of his Popemobile.

Empirical evidence for God mounts

Celibacy joins flowers, stars, and the Bible on growing list of proofs:

The pope acknowledged [sarcastically?] that celibacy was itself "a great scandal" in a world where people have no need for God. But he called it "a great sign of faith, of the presence of God in the world."

That's a new one. Fortunately celibacy's opposite number made it possible for Mr. Ratzinger (b. 1927) to expound this latest claim.

Yet in Reformation theology, God encourages relentless copulation. According to Der Pabst, His presence is simply not made manifest on those fleshly occasions, in spite of the impassioned cries out to Him.

He'll be back when you people quit rutting.

Religion Clause predates Ratzinger papacy

Belated felicitations to the indispensable Prof. Howard Friedman.

Ratzinger's claim of sovereign immunity "risible"

Geoffrey Robertson QC attacks the premise

[T]he papal states were extinguished by invasion in 1870 and the Vatican was created by fascist Italy in 1929 when Mussolini endowed this tiny enclave — 0.17 of a square mile containing 900 Catholic bureaucrats — with "sovereignty in the international field ... in conformity with its traditions and the exigencies of its mission in the world."

The notion that statehood can be created by another country's unilateral declaration is risible ...

Put the pope in the [prisoner's] dock — Grauniad

Earlier: Lover's knots

"The most evil, remorseless sociopath of the lot."

But the priest was skillful with a rope and a true lover's knot

John S. Cummins, the former bishop of Oakland who repeatedly wrote his superiors in Rome urging that the priest be defrocked, said the Vatican in that era, after the Second Vatican Council, was especially reluctant to dismiss priests because so many were abandoning the priesthood.

Optimus contemplor, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Contradiction fails to trigger priest's recollection

Presided over 200-count pederast's "church criminal trial"

[A] letter seemingly written by [former Milwaukee canon law judge Thomas] Brundage to [former Milwaukee archbishop Rembert] Weakland on Aug. 15, 1998, shows Brundage actually drafted Weakland's [Aug. 19, 1998] letter to [then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger lieutenant Tarcisio] Bertone.

So let me get this straight. Brundage achieved celebrity this week denying awareness of the contents of Rembert Weakland's letter to Ratzinger's main man at the former office of the Inquisition, but today it turns out that Brundage himself drafted the very letter.

Is that about right?

Only two days ago, Brundage had said he didn't see Weakland's letter — the one he drafted — until he read about it in the New York Times.

He voiced dismay at the apparent contradiction. "I have no memory of ever being asked to abate the case," Brundage said.

J-S: Weakland never told me what I told him to tell future pope

And: Vatican cited "apparent good conduct" at Boulder Junction, WI

More like, I-got-you-away-from-a-parent bad conduct.

Bonus headline of the week:
Satan: father of lies, publisher of the New York Times

— David Horowitz's NewsRealBlog

Great, there's nothing like dragging that up today.

Happy Passover.

Papal quote of the day

"[Former Milwaukee archbishop Timothy] Dolan has been comparing the Pope to Jesus, but as far as I know, Jesus never presided over an institution that allowed pedophiles to operate freely." — Daniel Maguire

Marquette professor calls for Ratzinger's resignation

Jesus has been largely absent from the latest controversies.

Some might argue he was exonerated during the Enlightenment, when one of the nation's founders, Thomas Jefferson, stripped him of his supernatural powers and therefore his responsibilities.

The Catholic League's Wild Bill Donohue says because victims were "post-pubescent," the problem is with homosexuals, not child predators. Last night on Larry King, Wild Bill defined post-pubescent as 12 or 13 years old. Evidently Wild Bill Donohue is as deliberately ignorant of civil and criminal law as some in the Church hierarchy.

"Canon law" having worked so effectively.

On teh web: This grisly little man.

Incidentally, John V. Doe v. Holy See (.pdf; 59 pgs.) — which concerns more priestly child sexual assault in Oregon and Chicago plus the question of whether Vatican City, despite its alleged sovereign state immunity, is liable for the tortious acts of its corporate "employees" in America — is working its way into the U.S. Supreme Court.

And then there's this one, seeking to depose* the pontiff.

* Initially, at least, only in the civil procedural sense.

McIlheran indicts another Milwaukee archbishop

Call it a cover-up or the naivete of the era, but either way, a lot of that blame seems to belong to then-Archbishop William Cousins, who decided to send Murphy off to live in what amounts to exile at his mother's house ...

Neither are particularly desirable options.

And given that former MKE archbishop Rembert Weakland's 'We knew molesting children was wrong but we didn't know it was illegal' line elicited guffaws even from the faithful, I guess that leaves cover-up.

This is supposed to be a defense to allegations of conspiracy.

The award-winning right-wing guy: Anybody but Mr. Ratzinger.

Flashback: McIlheran connects education adviser with NAMBLA.

Yes, isn't it just awful what these people are trying to do to the pope.

Aren't there any honest conservative columnists?

Pederasts roamed, but Ratzinger was on the case

In 1981, the now-Vicar of Christ on Earth punished a priest for holding a Mass at a peace demonstration, leading the man to ultimately leave the priesthood.

The man was said to have eventually discovered Jesus.

Pontiff's annus more horribilis by the day

Too big to fail

An initial statement on the matter issued earlier this month by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising placed full responsibility for the decision to allow the [child molesting] priest to resume his duties on Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy, the Rev. Gerhard Gruber. But the memo, whose existence was confirmed by two church officials, shows that the future pope not only led a meeting on Jan. 15, 1980, approving the transfer of the priest, but was also kept informed about the [child molesting] priest’s reassignment.

The subtext is clear.

The Vatican described the matter as routine,* which is likely not the best choice of words. If nothing else these revelations are a PR disaster, and I doubt playing the victim is going to improve things.

Wonder if he has one of those buck subsisto hic signs on his desk.

* More like poutine: "a mess."

Pope's broham was Bobby Knight of the bishopric

Boy soprano recounts undentured servitude

"Ratzinger was extremely choleric and quick-tempered during choir practice," says Thomas Mayer, who was a student at the choir boarding school from 1988 to 1992. "On a number of occasions, I saw him get so angry that he threw a chair into our group of singers." Once Ratzinger flew into such a rage during choir practice "that even his false teeth fell out."

— Der Spiegel

Nonresponsible infallibleness

Ratzinger found a loophole. "H" went on to molest another child.

A priest accused of molesting boys was given therapy in 1980 and later allowed to resume pastoral duties, before committing further abuses and being prosecuted. Pope Benedict, who at the time headed the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, approved the priest's transfer for therapy. A Vatican spokesman said he had no comment beyond the statement by the Archdiocese, which he said showed the "nonresponsibility" of the pope in the matter.

NYT — New accusations surfacing almost daily

Slappy Ratzinger

Builds character, improves technique

The pope's brother said a slap in the face was the easiest reaction to a failure to perform or a poor performance after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. How hard it was varied greatly, depending on who administered it.

Please, Father, my voice is changing, I can't contr ... *thwack*

Sometimes I wonder: Is the clergy an effective intermediary between other humans and their God, or are they more of a hindrance?

Regarding pedophile priests and corrupt bishops — AP
Sexual lust, naked beatings, red wine, suicide — Der Spiegel

Papal encyclical may be "naïve or dumb"

Says this guy, bemoaning all that Catholic "peace and justice" crap.

h/t Former Marquette law school "alum blogger of the month" Daniel Suhr, who is concerned that some actual teachings of Jesus Christ might have inadvertently contaminated Herr Ratzinger's otherwise infallible commitment to free market capitalism and union busting.

Told you so, say conservatives

Sotomayor tries to keep the government from killing a guy.

But, no such luck. Nobody bothered to ask Justice Scalia whether the guy was innocent or not, because Justice Scalia just doesn't care.*

Anyway, if you really need to kill somebody, don't do it in Ohio.

* He won't even listen to Joe Ratzinger, either.

Pope warns against supernaturalism

Continuing his 2009 Tour of Africa, Joseph Ratzinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI) admonished Angolans to abandon their unusual beliefs in witchcraft and sorcery.

Earlier, performing an ancient and mysterious incantation, Mr. Ratzinger purported to transform a slice of bread and a goblet of wine into the body and blood of a legendary 1st century Rabbi.

Der Papa is traveling the sub-Sahara in an armored, glass-enclosed Mercedes Benz, into which His Holiness is elevated by hydraulic lift.

Two of the faithful met an untimely despatch Heavenward after they were trampled outside a soccer stadium, the scene of Mr. Ratzinger's latest engagement. Eight others were reported hospitalized for undisclosed afflictions. Which doctors were assigned is also unknown.

Closer to home, a Madison Bishop fired a beloved member of the Catholic laity for the crime of being much too intellectually honest.

Avignon remains home to antipope

France Chastises Pope on Condoms

HIV/Aids was, [Ratzinger] argued [sic], "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem."

I guess, if you believe that distributing condoms will encourage people to have intercourse they wouldn't otherwise be having.

But I think the point is that — most humans being simply humans and not celibate male religious leaders — because folks are more likely to be having intercourse anyway, they stand a better chance of not communicating or contracting STDs by introducing a latex barrier.

Just one of the many reasons why I'm not the pope.

It's too cold to harass topless women

So Ralph Ovadal is subsidizing Madison public transit. Personally, I'd take being called a fool by Ralph Ovadal as a compliment. But how old Joseph Ratzinger takes to being called the Antichrist, I cannot say.

It's nice to see Ralph back in the news. He's always good for a laugh.

Ratzinger faces infallibility challenge

Re-excommunicate Holocaust denier, say German bishops:

Williamson, a Briton who now lives in Argentina ...

Cor blimey, what a dead giveaway!

Donohue's homo bookmarking

Wild Bill Donohue, the irascible fruitcake head of something called the Catholic League, is upset that a website "with homosexual tendencies" has been awarded media credentials to report from next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

So he's demanding that Leah Daughtry, who's running the convention, dump the blogger.

Why? Because the site's proprietor wrote a blog post citing a report in the Manchester Guardian that Joseph Ratzinger is the first pope in 40 years to dress himself up in ermine-trimmed robes and hats, complete with what seems to me some entirely fair commentary comparing Ratzinger's fur bearing proclivities with several of his other infallible policy positions.

Also, because it "shows men in jockstraps and underwear" (although, mercifully, Joseph Ratzinger is not among those, ermine-trimmed or otherwise). But so do store catalogs, don't they?

What the heck is Wild Bill Donohue doing trolling around on gay websites, is what I'd like to know. Shopping for underwear?

Here it is.