Papal Conclave - Place Your Bets!

Obliq

John Waters (Craggier Island)

Jimoslimos wrote: »

*Ahem*

Maths would like a word outside if you please....

Eh....yeah.

I'm thinking there's a teensy case of not giving credit where it's due sometimes.

Y'know, I've just shamelessly stolen this from a wall belonging to someone who may even be a regular here, but stick this in yer cake hole! :P

http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html

There are many natural scientists, and especially physicists, who continue to reject the notion that the disciplines concerned with social and cultural criticism can have anything to contribute, except perhaps peripherally, to their research. Still less are they receptive to the idea that the very foundations of their worldview must be revised or rebuilt in the light of such criticism. Rather, they cling to the dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook, which can be summarized briefly as follows: that there exists an external world, whose properties are independent of any individual human being and indeed of humanity as a whole; that these properties are encoded in ``eternal'' physical laws; and that human beings can obtain reliable, albeit imperfect and tentative, knowledge of these laws by hewing to the ``objective'' procedures and epistemological strictures prescribed by the (so-called) scientific method.

Links234

He's a shady one this pope: http://newint.org/blog/2013/03/14/pope-francis-argentina-dictators/

MrPudding

Frankie Boyle, of all people, has somehow found out the composition of the smoke:

Frankie Boyle wrote:

When it comes, the smoke from the papal conclave is created by a unique blend of fivers, witness statements and DNA evidence.

MrP

Knasher

Cardinal Sean O'Malley (United States)

Peregrinus wrote: »

I think this does illustrate how readily we turn off our bull**** dectectors when we read something that we find congenial. Bergoglio is noted for the comparative simplicity of his life - he rejects the archbishop’s palace in favour of a small apartment heated by a single oil-heater, he cooks his own meals, he takes the bus instead of a chauffeur driven-car, etc. We’ve heard about this ad nauseam since his election. But to take this story seriously you have to accept that, before he became archbishop, he kept a holiday home on an island in the River Plate - a home large enough, moreover, to function as a prison; to accommodate a bunch of political prisoners and their guards.

I mean, it’s not impossible that that would be the case. But the suggestion should raise your sceptical faculties to alert status - unless you’ve turned them off.

So what your saying is that he had a "palace" while he was an archbishop. If he decided to leave his palace empty is besides the point, it is still his by virtue of holding the office of archbishop. Similarly it is possible that he held a holiday home on an island by virtue of his previous office, the fact that he lives too frugally to use it as a holiday home, doesn't really make the claim any less plausible. Though darjeeling was absolutely correct when he pointed out the claim was unfounded and that the article was since edited to say as much.

Nodin

John Waters (Craggier Island)

An interesting article on Fran the 1st. Well worth a read.

I suppose my assessment of the new pope is probably similar to those who have been reading the mainstream news since Wednesday night's historic election.
I have been touched by Francis' clear love of the poor and the images of his bathing the feet of sick children and AIDS patients. I am troubled by his alleged failure stand up with Argentine dictators during the "Dirty War" and his harmful words about LGBT families. I am worried by reports that he was unpopular among his brother Jesuits because of his unfavorable views of base communities and liberation theology.
But what most piqued my interest about Pope Francis is his strong tie to a movement called Comunione e Liberazione, or Communion and Liberation (CL).

Much like evangelical Protestantism, CL understands the central, saving event of one's life begins with a graced encounter with Christ. But unlike the Protestants, CL understands the saving agent to be the Roman Catholic church.

Obedience to the authority of the church seems as crucial to Pope Francis as it did to his predecessor and as it does to CL. In a 2005 profile of Cardinal Bergoglio, Jose Maria Poirier, editor of the Argentinean Catholic magazine Criterio, wrote, "He exercised his authority as provincial with an iron fist, calmly demanding strict obedience and clamping down on critical voices. Many Jesuits complained that he considered himself the sole interpreter of St Ignatius of Loyola, and to this day speak of him warily."

http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/one-pope-francis-allegiances-might-tell-us-something-about-churchs-future#.UUOPvjcFCzc.facebook

Dades

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (Italy)

^^ to be fair, who doesn't have people in their history who would speak ill of you if you "did good". Detractors waiting in the wings.

The jury's still out for me as to whether this guy is better or worse than than the last lad... only time will tell.

Not hopeful, but open minded.

Bannasidhe

Cardinal Marc Ouellet (Canada)

Dades wrote: »

^^ to be fair, who doesn't have people in their history who would speak ill of you if you "did good". Detractors waiting in the wings.

The jury's still out for me as to whether this guy is better or worse than than the last lad... only time will tell.

Not hopeful, but open minded.

Two Lesbian mates of mine adopted a child - in fact they were the couple chosen by the biological parents-
They were there for the birth, they nursed the child 24/7 for 3 years as she was very very ill, they were constantly visited by social workers etc etc to check all was ok.

For three years the legal situation was precarious - technically only one of them was a 'foster' parent and the child could have been taken away at any time.

They had a hell of a legal battle on their hands going all the way to the Old Bailey to get the adoption formalised. The judge ruled that the 'foster' parent - and the foster parent alone - could legally adopt but only because he could find no legal reason to prevent this.

This child is now 14 - she still legally has only one parent.

This man stated that this couple are, in his opinion, child abusers. :mad:

My mind is made up.

Kivaro

From here: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-bishops-thank-god-wrong-pope-122444174.html

Italian bishops were so convinced that one of their own would become pope that they sent a congratulatory message to the media thanking God for the election of a prelate from Milan.
The trouble was, the new pope had already been named as Argentinian cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

Now, that's funny.

Sarky

Cardinal Atari Jaguar (Yore Ma)

Man, that Holy Spirit is such a dick. :pac: