Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Pope Francis has been getting a lot of press for his concern about the environment, while turning a blind eye to one of the largest contributors to that situation, world over-population, with his ideology of banning birth control and abortion. He has some nerve in warning Cubans to “serve one another and not an ideology.” (During his trip to Cuba, yet)
I don’t think the Pope has any right to tell anyone what to do, what to think, or what to worship, after all the harm that the Vatican has done over the centuries
Over the centuries the Vatican encouraged parents to have their young sons castrated in order to keep their high voices to be able to remain singing in their holy choirs, which was considered to be an honour and bringing prestige to a family. Over the same number of centuries and still happening in the modern age is the raping of young boys.
The current Pope seems to be popular because people are hanging on to every word he says without really analyzing what it is that he is saying. For Pope Francis to state that the priests who covered up the sexual crimes are guilty as well is a no-brainer, not an apology and what is their punishment for having done so?
His compassion for the poor may be somewhat genuine but there surely is more that he could do than wash the feet of poor people or mingle among them. It’s a tad ironic that he does so from one of the richest, most gold-covered mansion in the world, the wealth of which could feed millions of starving people.
My own disgust for the Pope comes from his telling of lies, such as there is a god, there is a heaven, and the fact that he stated that “even atheists could get to heaven.” This was not only insulting to atheists but downright silly. Who is he to say where atheists go? Like a friend of mine who likes to tell the joke about the poor atheist, laying in his grave, all dressed up and no place to go…my retort is, “well, all the others in surrounding graves have no place to go either.” This is usually met with a perplexed grin.
People hang on to every word Pope Francis says but if they would only truly listen they would see him, more or less, like the Dalai Lama or a modern day Forrest Gump…not really saying anything of value.
There may be some things about the Castro regime that need changing , and surely that will come about once the American sanctions are lifted, but before you start preaching to another ideology, better to look to you own first and clean that up.
Dorothy Hays,
The Perennial Atheist,
A moniker given to me by an irate reader of my letters to the editor at The Chronicle Journal in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and which I wear with pride.