saab wrote:Benedict XVI is wearing the red papal shoes. He has gone back to the tradition of wearing them. They have been worn by popes since the times of the Roman empire.
So it has nothing to do with gay men or old women. It is a tradition - just like the red hat he is wearing.
Making fun of it shows your ignorance and not his bad taste.
So, you are calling Margo ignorant and making fun of his taste for her saying he was wearing Prada? (not Prado by the way).
I don't know what is footware has to do with gay men or old women....but as long as we are discussing tradition, let's talk about the long tradition of priests sexually abusing children. That too has been going on for centuries.
While driving to work, I was listening, as usual, to NPR. Today the big stories are about the Popes visit.
I was angered by the following statement he made....a direct quote....in red below. I pasted the paragraphs before it, so it cannot be claimed this was taken out of context.
One of larger questions hanging over Benedict's first U.S. trip as pontiff was whether and how he would address the clergy sex abuse scandal, which has claimed thousands of victims, cost the church more than $2 billion in court costs and settlements and led six dioceses to declare bankruptcy.
The answer: he's talked about it early, often and with conviction, although not to the satisfaction of many victims and their advocates.
In an address to U.S. bishops Wednesday night at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Benedict called the scandal a "deep shame." He decried the "enormous pain" that communities have suffered from such "gravely immoral behavior."
He also said the problem needs to be viewed in the wider context of secularism and the over-sexualization of America, and called for "a determined, collective response."
For those who would like to read the entire article, here's the
LINK.
So.
The lawsuits have cost the RC church billions?
So what?
The RC church is deeply shamed?
Is that why it's reaction to it's shame has been to brush it all under the carpet like nothing was happening? Is it because of it's shame that pedaphiles were routinely shuffled to other parishes when there were talk of children being raped, giving these men, literally, fresh meat for their appetites?
Then, after knowing this has been going on for years and years (not just in America), suddenly it must be looked at in the wider context of us sex crazed, immoral Americans? Sure, how could priests help but rape little boys and girls, when they were living in the cesspit of America?
I'm certainly glad that Pope Benedict has pointed out to us that we must look at his sins in the larger context of all of ours.
