Pope Benedict XVI Says He Will Retire

[Jack Brickman]

Does anyone have a link to where I can apply to become the next pope? I am willing to relocate.

Have sex with a dozen boys and call the Vatican in the morning.

[DJTJ]

Does anyone have a link to where I can apply to become the next pope? I am willing to relocate.

You couldn't even fucking show up to a Sunday Interview on time.

[Funny Man Rocco]

I hear hes already doing job interviews.

[JMcCurry08]

Do popes even do anything?

They wear sweet ass hats

[Richard Dawkins]

Do popes even do anything?

They lead an evil organization and encourage immorality through preaching and instruction.

Most importantly, they protect child molesters from prosecution and con people out of their paychecks.

He is a relic of an ignorant past.

[Tlyons]

I hear they are fast tracking pope John Paul II miracle confirmation process. Supposedly he suppressed a shitload of criminal cases involving priests and child molestation. I believe they have to have two confirmed miracles to earn sainthood. So the thinking here is make him a saint and its like a get out of jail free card in regards to allowing sex with young boys on his watch.

So the only REAL thing here is that children were molested on a huge scale. Everything else is a fairy tale in magic land. I mean fuck, miracle confirmation process?!?!?

[McIntyre]

I figured that he was stepping down due to some molestation cases. When that initially broke, I pretty much lost all respect. for the Catholic church. I was raised catholic, went to catholic grade school and high school.

[BigErieCavsFan]

Who gives a fuck. I was raised catholic and as many of you might know already, was sexually abused by a priest.

Actually I don't personally hold it against the catholic religion, just like I don't hold all of penn state liable. Just goes to show that there are fucked up people everywhere...

[Zombie dmhtfld]

Why doesn't he just pray for better health?

[southernflyer]

The things he decides have an impact on millions of people worldwide and he has access to vaults of information that any historian would kill for. He also controls probably the richest organization in the world, an organization that millions give 10% of their income to for questionable returns.

I'd say he's pretty fucking powerful.

If you ever looked at the books of a local parish, most Catholics give well under a 10% tithe to the church. Many just drop a $20 in their envelope or loose bills at mass. Then you have a few silent donors who are overly generous who never have their name on a building or would know what they give. Overall, we are well behind other churches, especially non-denomitional individual churches in giving per member or family. The Catholic church I grew up by in a good suburb might break $30k a weekend with over 1500 families. Averaging $40k a year per family, a 10% tithe would be over $115k a week. A poor church on the east side I went to for a few years only got $3k a week from its 750 families, where if the family made $25k a year and only gave 5%, they still should been over $18k a week.

The non-denominational church I went to in Daytona (in a less affluent neighborhood) easily hits the $55k mark per week with a lesser amount of families, plus they individually fund dozens of ministries, missions and seedling churches around the world. They are also building a new church at a cost of over $5 million that is separate from their weekly offerings.

Now there are other organizations like Catholic Charities, Salvation Army or weekly second collections that don't get counted in that percentage, but the churches I knew the priests and church councils, percentages were more around 2-3%.

[Jack Brickman]

Who gives a fuck. I was raised catholic and as many of you might know already, was sexually abused by a priest.

Actually I don't personally hold it against the catholic religion, just like I don't hold all of penn state liable. Just goes to show that there are fucked up people everywhere...

I think the issue is when the organization goes out of their way to cover shit like that up, which Penn State did and the Catholic church continues to do.

[Lee]

He should retire. His jumper isnt falling anymore, he lost 3 or 4 steps, and he spends more time on the DL than not.

[Stephen Docking]

Wow, I don't remember the last time I thanked that many posts so quick

[ArchieBunker7]

I figured that he was stepping down due to some molestation cases. When that initially broke, I pretty much lost all respect. for the Catholic church. I was raised catholic, went to catholic grade school and high school.

My name could have very easily been inserted into your post. Word for word. They even denied me being the God parent of my best friend's kid because I was unable to finish my Confirmation. They didn't like it after a half hour in Church argument ended with me telling them that the hundreds upon hundreds of pedophile priests who have all been confirmed and ordained were afforded much greater opportunity within the Church after they were caught than I was afforded after years of paying their "donations" and tuitions accounting for more than $50k. How ironic that all of my confessions combined didn't equate to one nasty act that a former priest was condemned for.

I need to just stop now.

[Bill Walton.]

Seems like everyone has an opinion about the Catholic Church. Obviously some people's prorogatives are in the wrong place, but the church is a playground for these sexual acts. I'd rather not simply turn this into a sexual assault thread, when this is such a big story for the Catholic Church. I think people expect better things from Catholic's because they feel they are arrogant or should be viewed as better. That's the sense I've gotten from people's opinion on Catholics. The entire idea of religion is a good thing and people should really stop being so insensitive towards it. It doesn't matter if you're Jewish, Catholic, or Muslim, all people have bad apples and good apples. The idea of religion is stronger than stereotypes and in my opinion should be treated that way.