Just “Benny”

The smell of Pope off ya!

Eau de humanity!

That should have been rich men and getting into heaven.. Spot the person who’s brain isn’t firing on all cylinders today..

Give me strength!! All the report says is that he has a fur-lined cape, a nice pair of shades and shoes. You’ve got a computer and an internet connection, you will be the first to burn in hell. ;)

They didn’t mention the gold throne, jewels, riches, etc..
I reckon the Vatican is the modern day equivalent of the Pharisees Jesus is meant to have had a problem with.. If only he existed he could come back and rip Popey and his Vatican buddies a new one

Shanti will never see “the fires of hell” 1. because they don’t exist and 2. because she’s a angel ;)

Aw, shucks Reada, would you stop that you’ll give me an undeserved big head ;)

Who was it who said the church preaches about a kingdom not of this world, yet surrounds itsself with all the riches and luxuries and riches of this one?

unfortunatly, youve missed the entire point of what was meant in the camel/needle idea.

Please, enlighten us..

http://www.aaanything.net/wp-content/gallery/demotivate-october-2011/thumbs/thumbs_go_sell_everything_you_have_and_give_to_the_poor_mark_10_21_pope_on_golden_chair.jpg

“The eye of the Needle” was a gate in the old Jerusalem wall popular with traders in Jesus time. As the gate was narrow however getting their camels through it entailed removing all their goods first and then bringing the camel through before putting their goods back on again. So Jesus was not saying it was impossible for a rich man to get to heaven just that he would have to lighten his load first.

@ Shanti. I was working on a photographic project about twenty years ago, that was remarkably similar to the picture that you posted. It was being funded by FAS and the “church”. My intention was to expose the hypocrisy of the elites in Western society, and to visually expose the contradictions inherent within those societies. To get the funding, I had to submit an outline of my proposal. In my innocence, I had presumed that the Catholic church would be right behind me. Shortly after I submitted my proposal, not only was my project cancelled, but I and eighteen other employees were fired. Cardinal Desmond o’ Connell shut the whole enterprise down on the basis that Jesus would not have tolerated people hawking their wares outside a church. We were told that the church had to rent the building to a Greek orthodox church and that was why we had to go. Several months later, it became clear that this was simply a ruse. Seems familiar though, doesn’t it ?.

Do you think it would be fair to say the pope has a light load? That gold throne and all the gems and jewels suggest not..
I don’t think accruing wealth and creating a hierarchy of control (that has covered up horrific acts of abuse) was exactly in Jesus’ plan, but I could easily be wrong.. I mean, we hear so much about this charitable peace and love Jesus, but that’s not entirely true either..

@James Those who believe will be decieved. For those who have a little sense there’s always aftershave.
My point was that the pope is nothing more than any other huckster, selling mysteries potions and lotions wrapped up in faith. You have to take his word for it, to doubt is to damn your soul. Its a sham. Have I proof? Well, you’ll just have to take it on faith.

the journal is a fucking disgrace that it allows comments like the above. impartial? my shite it is!

Diego, if you read the comments policy it states that the comments aren’t moderated. If you find something offensive there is a report comment option. The moderation appears to be as a result of user reports and not constant monitoring.

The Journal writes the articles. The public comments on the articles. The Journal states quite clearly that the comments are not moderated. Are you suggesting that the public should also remain impartial in their comments? That aside, the comment was clearly in jest, so catch yourself on, you big baby.

if it was any other group but catholics something like that will be gone within minutes. also there is a constant flow of articles compared to other groups that paint catholics in a bad way and sets them up for ridicule. for example there is never an article that has a negative thing that gay people have done (before you start calling a homophob i’m not, a couple of my gay friends will tell you different. i’m just using this an example). where was the article about the gay guy that killed himself by taking poppers while on the phone to a sex line a couple of weeks ago? it was only on the front page of a few papers because he was supposedly somewhat famous.

I think the pope set himself up for ridicule in this instance by deciding to release his own fragrance.

Diego, again, that would be most likely down to how many people reported said comments. The fact that less people on the site would be outraged by someone taking a pot shot at the pope (in the Daily Edge section, which is generally the lighter side of the Journal) than someone making a derogatory comment about another poster or perhaps another scenario simply speaks for how the users feel about the comments – this is not really the journals fault – they are working with a majority readership that appears to have no great love for the church. Really they are just playing to their majority readership.
Again I would say, if a comment about the Pope offends you then report it. You have every right to do so, same way everyone else has the right to express their opinion in the comments section.

If you read the article you would see that it’s not even going to be for sale. To perfectly honest with you the main problem i have with it all is the constant flux of articles that reflect badly on the church and never a mention of all the good they do too. I put a comment up on an article about a year ago saying that the vast majority of priests are good human beings and the part that one of them played in raising a vast amount of money for the RNLI after one of my friends went missing of a fishing boat in Skerries and it was removed. I’m not religious at all (i don’t go to church but i do believe there is something after we die) but I still have respect for them because I have still to meet one of them that wasn’t nice person and just wanted to help people.
Of course I accept that there are some animals that deserve to burn for the things they’ve done but to tar them all with the same brush and mock normal people that believe in an afterlife is just pure ignorance and no different to saying something like all Nigerians are bad.

Diego, I can appreciate where you are coming from, obviously to tar the entire papacy with the same brush is nonsense – there are of course those within the church with good intention – although one would wonder why they do not distance themselves from what the church has become, or fight for reform (I realise they’re not meant to question the Pope – but that to me would be more reason to branch away from the Vatican, veer toward christianity if that’s what floats your boat perhaps?)

But you seem to feel that the church is being singled out for persecution – many would say they are merely getting their karma. The scandals could have been handled far better, and people are rightfully angered, the jokes are in a sense the irish way of laughing off hardship..
The Journal reports on the Catholic church presumably because it is relevant to a nation that was under its spell for so long, this is perhaps less persecution and more relevance.
Of course – if you identify with those being criticised, it is easy to jump to persecution before thinking about it in a broader context.

In reality, the whole business of “News” is a very negative one. How often do you read / see / hear positive stories in general news media? The negative stories generate more interest, more readers / viewers / listeners, than the positive ones.. Again – that’s not down to the Journal, that’s down to the audience. You can’t blame the Journal for shaping their delivery around what it is perceived the readership is interested in.

With regards the comment you posted without having seen it I cannot comment on why it may have been removed – there are a few thing in the comments policy such as the use of ad hominems, red herrings or mentioning third parties or companies by name – perhaps this last one was the reason for its removal? But as for how it was brought to their attention – that would be your fellow commenters.

@ Diego. I was going to post ‘pope on a rope anyone?’ but thought some might misconstrue it as advocating hanging somebody, instead of a wordplay on ‘soap on a rope’. Incidentally ‘pope on a rope’ was an idea i came up with as a little kid just before JP2s visit to Ireland, which everybody thought was cute at the time. My dad had some of that Brut soap on a rope stuff. So, please, untwist the ol’ undercrackers.

I agree with you shanti. I said on a few articles that I think it would be a good idea for the good priests to break away from Rome to prove that there are priests that find the whole mess unacceptable.

@too – There was another comment there that was saying hang the pope. I got your joke

Exactly Diego, the Vatican may as well be in space for how well they are connected to the people.. There’s some decent priests but they are trapped on a rotting, sinking ship.. The Pope I do not feel any sympathy for, if he was truly a decent man he would have made much larger waves in his clearing up the faith, as it stands he’s more concerned with dragging the church back into the dark ages of bigotry and not even seeking forgiveness for their own sins (and the luxurious perks evidently). I can’t respect that no matter how anyone dresses it up. The Vatican needs to go. By all means – I support anyone’s right to believe whatever they want, but that hierarchy is rotten to the core and completely unnecessary.

He will need it when he has a toasting with old nick.

A good name Deirdre or perhaps they could take a more biblical title like “Suffer Little Children” although “Tears of a Clown” would be my first choice!

I was living in Rome when JP2 died and Benedict was made pope. There were all sorts of rumours about Benedict and his assistant or secretary who’d been with him for 25 years.

The last Pope wore Prada shoes as well tho, not sure about the Gucci shades tho :)

It’ probably going to be sold to the mass market :0))

Line of clothing, shoes, jewellery, the world is his oyster. Next of all we’ll see him showing off his crib on MTV.!!

What, an 85year old German Virgin?

This story really stinks !

Don’t talk shite like that without showing the facts.

Smells like chocolate I’m told.

Here you go, John. He’s a Bishop, not a Cardinal but it hardly matters. You can read here what he said: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2008/jan/08011410#

So now, don’t accuse me of talking shite without knowing the facts yourself.

soverign- disgusting, low remark. Shame on you. Journal, seriously, moderate these comment better, in the end, irresponsible people like soverign here can write irresponsible, throwaway remarks, but its on your site and is your responsibility. Some comments here are harmless, some funny, but to list/allow to display comments like this is a reflection on you too. Please, do something about the sickening culture of this site!!!
i will not have anything to do with this site from now on.

- account deleted -

James, I gave a link relating to what I said. If you can’t handle facts then be off with you.

An account can be deleted?
I didn’t even know one could get an account here! What have I been missing out on?
Mind the door doesn’t hit you on the way out!

Does he expect us to believe that he deleted his Twitter account because a comment on The Journal made him rage?

Would that not be rather ungrateful?

If this goon kept to himself it would be absolutely no ones business but when such an idiot has control of around 90% of schools and an influence in our govt then not only is it appropriate to criticise him but it is also essential.