Pope Rails Against the Internet and Transparency 840
tcd004 writes "At a conference on digital media at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI attacked the idea of transparency in the Internet age, warning that digital transparency exacerbates tensions between nations and within nations themselves and increases the 'dangers of ... intellectual and moral relativism,' which can lead to 'multiple forms of degradation and humiliation' of the essence of a person, and to the 'pollution of the spirit.' All in all, it seemed a pretty grim view of the wide-open communication environment being demanded by the Internet age."
An oldie but a goodie... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, and don't even get him started on Twitter (Score:5, Funny)
That 140 character limit drives him up the wall.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, in all fairness, the article did leave out the Pope mentioning how the Internet will sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids...
Re:Riiight (Score:4, Funny)
The pope is either an idiot, or a budding tyrant with ambitions of bringing the world back to the dark ages under dominion of the vatican.
I thought that was supposed to go without saying (*ducks*).
Re:wagging the dog (Score:4, Funny)
I'm glad we heard this important and highly relevant message... though the internet.
Re:where religion goes to die (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously, the only way for the church to continue to exist in our modern era is to stop children from going online.
Well, also, there's all those pedophiles in chat rooms and on myspace, and the church doesn't appreciate the competition.
Re:Yeah, because absolutes work so well.. (for ped (Score:3, Funny)
They're working quite energetically on ending THAT particular problem ... no more innocent children - they're all guilty of being priest-tempters.
An airplane is going down with a Boy Scout troop, their leader, a lawyer, and the Pope. There are only 3 parachutes.
"What about the children?" says the troop leader.
"Screw the children!" says the lawyer.
"Do we have time?" says the Pope?
Re:Riiight (Score:4, Funny)
No, I think he's trying to say that he's made of wood.
Re:wagging the dog (Score:3, Funny)
Pedo-Pope thinks the Internet is bad? Meh.
We have BoobQuakes to worry about.
Re:wagging the dog (Score:1, Funny)
If?
Yes one would have assumed they did. However the recent frequent outbreaks of foot-in-mouth disease among "Vatican spokesmen," Cardinals and Archbishops would lead one to question that presumption.
It is at least certain they don't have an effective PR department.
Re:It's not the abuses... it's the coverups. (Score:1, Funny)
It's not the abuses anyone is complaining about
What??!??
Re:It's not the abuses... it's the coverups. (Score:2, Funny)
It's not the abuses anyone is complaining about, it's the cover ups.
*cough* To be accurate, I'm sure we're at least a little pissed about the abuses themselves eh? I know what you're trying to say, but let's not forget the horrors the children had to go through just because they had faith that so-called "men of god" would not be perverted old goats. I guess the sentiment is (or should be) that the crime was vicious and deserves harsh punishment. The fly on the pile was the way their godless leaders protected these animals instead of (if they were even remotely serious about their own faith) going all Torquemada on their asses.
To my mind, the far greater sin is the original abuse and the unanswered question of why in Beelzebub's name these irredeemable sinners are not rotting in a prison for life? Has a SINGLE priest spent a single day in a jail cell over this? Is pedophilia an acceptable perk of being a clergyman these days? Are we still living in medieval times where the rule of law was nonexistent and morality defined at the whim of theocratic tyrants?
In fact, I grieve that this whole discussion of the responsibility of the Vatican is beginning to take the focus away from the actual criminals (the PRIESTS) and making the issue more abstract and vague than it is. I fear that this vagueness will ultimately result in nothing being done since the big guys are sitting all comfy on their thrones in their own little joke of a toy nation. Who gives a bunny's wedding whether some guy in a funny hat takes some metaphorical responsibility for these concrete crimes? I would be a lot more impressed by that rhetoric if the authorities in - let's take a real example - the USA (why not?) actually prosecuted and punished these miserable excuses for human beings for crimes committed in the USA instead of being all "respectful" and stuff. *retch* THEN you can go after the leaders if you want.
But why is everyone just forgetting the animals who actually did the crimes? Where are the criminal trials for this criminal issue? The saddest part of this whole debacle is that common catholics and even victims appear to be closing ranks and showing a tendency to want to treat this as "an internal matter" because their leaders have brainwashed them to believe in a global anti-catholic conspiracy that will try to use this issue to destroy their church.
Lastly, WHY in the name of satan's spawn would this institution EVER be granted the right to treat this as an internal matter? Isn't that why we have laws? Or have I mistakenly read the last few hundred years of world history from a novel and foolishly thought that the holy roman empire never actually dissolved and democratic government never arose in the western world?
Re:wagging the dog (Score:2, Funny)
Agreed. Churches offer the opportunity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with community-wide neighbours whilst receiving nonsensical programming/suggestion from your lunatic of choice.
Re:wagging the dog (Score:3, Funny)
I have/had a book written in the 1880's describing the failures of the priests
You got someone to write a book in the 1880s? Jesus Crap, you're old.
No he's The Doctor. Not sure who his ex is, but the latest episode seems to hint at it.