The pope really makes it too easy. Candy from a baby is arduous in comparison.
In his homily [at Christmas eve mass the pope] said: “Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem.”
Oh yes? See through the superficial glitter is it?
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! …umm…In front of the curtain! …err…Wearing the curtain!
It’s supposed to be about a baby in a manger, but who is the centre of attention?
Imagine, if you can, the absolute fabulousness of the Papal Closets.
(The ones where he keeps his wardrobe, not those for skeletons and, um, other people.)
Caption for that last pic should read “Throw yo hands in the air if you is a true playa!”
…I’ll see myself out.
But … but you have to understand that this is a simple problem with Papal self awareness.
You see, they don’t allow mirrors anywhere near the Pope. There are complicated technical reasons for this but it boils down to the Catholic church collecting most of its money from poor people and how people are categorized when they live by draining the less fortunate.
You will also note that ‘stake’ is never on the Papal menu.
The late Christopher Hitchens said it all in a minute about all the ill-gotten gold behind the superficial glitter in this clip.
Ophelia wins the interwebs for today!
Even if they did have mirrors in the papal apartments it wouldn’t do any good – he has no reflection anyway. Probably no shadow neither
You people just don’t understand. There are times when a guy has just got to look pretty. Sure, blue pinstripe makes a statement but it isn’t glamorous as miters and embroidered stoles. A guy needs to dress up occasionally, especially when he’s in front of his homeboys.
I just find it interesting that the Pope has eyes only for the little boy.
We understand, and we laugh.
According to the BBC article,
“Celebrations culminated in Midnight Mass at the 1,700-year-old Church of the Nativity, built on the spot where it is *believed* Jesus was born.”
The word is not “believed” but “decreed” by Constantine’s mother, Helena: “She showed the spot where Jesus was born, the field where the shepherds saw the star, inn where the Good Samaritan took care of the beaten man. . . .Helena’s guided tour lent a great deal of legitimacy to the original traditions; no one was arguing with the mother of the emperor of Rome.”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/christianrule.html
Aha. They decree, and then over time, people believe. Neat trick.
Wasn’t it Plato who first suggested that trick, in the Republic?
Ah, yes, the “noble lie.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_lie
He may not have actually been the first, but it’s certainly an old idea.
A man dressed to the nines, living in opulent surroundings, warning people about “superficial glitter.” My irony meter just broke.
Look at it this way: if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, right? (Any politician will tell you that.) And if you dress a pontiff in ordinary clothes, you get – an ordinary man.
So the finery is to mask the ordinary punter underneath.
Works. Sort of.
You just don’t understand. He’s talking specifically about his own superficial glitter. You have to learn to see through it, is what they’re saying. The Catholic church isn’t rich because it LIKES riches, it only takes on the burden of wealth so that the truly faithful can prove themselves as such by paying no heed to it.
It’s a test, don’t you get it? Kinda like the fossils.
What stable? Nowhere in the bible does it say that Jesus was born in a stable – and Matthew says the wise men went into a HOUSE to see him.
Look, the Vatican is engaged in the life-affirming mission to remove all the wealth from the world, one tithe at a time, to rescue us from temptation. It isn’t the Pope’s fault that money is evil, and he’s doing his best to save our souls with his gold-trimmed dresses and fancy hats.
Dahling, he looks so FABULOUS —
There’s no drag like Vatican drag!
Well his clothes look fabulous – he himself looks like that scary guy that Charles Addams used to draw.
Dear Pope
Regarding your message on Xmas Eve. 2011.
I feel I have to let you know how deeply your words “help us see through the superficial glitter of this season” affected me.
Seeing you, and your circumstances, on the Beeb whilst you enunciated your message surrounded, as you were, by so many humble, emaciated, simple folk all gathered in that tiny shack, desperately attempting to hide the stark nakednesses of yourselves and that dilapidated ancient building with hurried applications of imitation brass paint, scraps of threadbare tat and cast-off hand-me-downs…. well it fair brought tears to my eyes.
It is a long time since this cynical atheist was reduced to a state of such intensity that he was compelled to cry. The emotion generated by your homily will long be remembered.
If anyone understands the results of unrestrained consumerism it seems obvious that you do – I’m sure that when the rest of the world realises the degree of self-deprivation with which you conduct yourself and the organisation you head they too will be rendered speechless.
PS Did someone lend you the toy soldiers and do you know if they are available for bar mitzvahs and product launches (attractive young females dressed as Beefeaters do so lack that certain something don’t they)?
The immense level of denial and lack of self insight required to be a part of the patriarchy of the Catholic Church is just astonishing …
It is also highly entertaining.
When it doesn’t ruin people’s lives that is …