This Week'sBacksideOf TheBell CurveWinner!

Karol Wojtyla

(AKA Pope John Paul II)

Pope Concerned About U.S. Priest Shortage


VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II expressed concern Friday over the decline in priestly vocations in the United States, telling visiting American bishops that the drop presents a "stark challenge" that cannot be ignored. LINK

Gee! Ya think, JP2?

Before you start hoping that this dying pope might change the world by condemning all abusing priests to the eternal flames of woe and ordaining some devout women...

In 1994, John Paul startlingly revealed, and not for the first time, a misogynistic side to his character when he met Dr Nafis Sadik, the Pakistani head of the UN Fund for Population Activities. The pontiff had invited her to the Vatican to talk about family planning. Dr Sadik, then in her early forties and dressed in a sari, attempted to make their meeting a discussion rather than a one-sided papal lecture.

"In many societies, and not just in the developing world, women don't have equal status with men," she told the Pope. "There's a lot of sexual violence within the family." Suddenly, as Sadik recalled, "John Paul burst out angrily, "'Don't you think that the irresponsible behaviour of men is caused by women?'" This was long before his Parkinson's disease could explain such intemperance. In fact, Sadik thought he appeared "taut as a spring". She has said: "I found myself thinking: why is he so hard-hearted, so dogmatic, so lacking in kindness?" LINK ($ subscription)

Whatever you do, don't blame the priests.

Blame Eve and Pandora...

and try to keep everyone too stupid to know better.

Typical. A happy man becomes pope, sheds the humanity of his youth, and comes to embody the historical trappings of the church...

I'm beginning to change my mind about Becket's murder, too.