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Maurizio Brambatti / EPA
Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet is among the non-Europeans who are considered possible papal candidates.
It's been 35 years since an Italian pope has ruled the Catholic Church, and some Vatican watchers believe the conclave that starts Tuesday could be the first to elect a pontiff from outside Europe.
While the Italians control a quarter of the votes, recent scandals suggest that they might be too beset by deep divisions to unite early around one candidate from their home turf.
The church's influence in Europe is on the wane, and its biggest area of growth is in sub-Saharan Africa, leading some to suggest that it might be time to look beyond the traditional countries for a pope with global appeal.
"The Catholic Church has moved far beyond the notion that any one nationality has a peculiar aptitude for the Office of Peter," said NBC News Vatican analyst George Weigel, author of "Evangelical Catholicism."
"The secondary reason why this is a wide-open field from which a non-European candidate may emerge is that the Catholic Church is in serious difficulty throughout western Europe and in parts of central and eastern Europe.
"Even stalwart Poland is beginning to show some troubling signs of the influence of secularism."
Catholic Center for Media via AP
Cardinal Robert Sarah is from Guinea but also has a strong Vatican background.
A number of non-Europeans keep showing up on Vaticanologists' lists of papabili, those cardinals thought to have the right stuff: Marc Ouellet of Canada, Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil, Robert Sarah of Guinea.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, said that when insiders talk about crossing the European borders, the conversation often ends up in Africa, "where the church is growing, where it's dynamic and where it's a success in vocations."
"The church looks good in Africa," he said. "The counter-argument is: The church in Africa is doing fine. We need someone to deal with the church in Europe, North America and Latin America, where it's in trouble."
Reese said he's "not sure that geography is the answer" to the Vatican's problems, but at the same time he sees the appeal of a pope from afar.
"It would certainly send a message that this is a global church, this is not a European church any more," he said.
With just three days to go before the conclave, there is no indication that the cardinals are rallying around any one candidate, including the Italians.
Weigel said many of the top non-European candidates have impressive Roman credentials:
Cardinal Marc Ouellet: The former archbishop of Quebec City, he heads the Congregation for Bishops, has worked in two Vatican departments and has taught at the Lateran University. He also has Latin American experience, having taught there, and has confronted an "aggressively secular environment" in Quebec. But some will question whether the scholarly pastor can reform the curia, the administrative apparatus of the Vatican.
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer: The archbishop of Sao Paolo, Brazil, worked for the conclave's senior cardinal, Giovanni Battista Re, at the Congregation of Bishops under Pope John Paul II. Now he has the top job in the country with the most Catholics. He lacks charisma, though, and many cardinals feel they need someone with personality.
Cardinal Robert Sarah: Appointed archbishop of Conakry, Guinea, when he was just 34, Sarah now heads the pontifical council Cor Unum, which is the Vatican's parallel to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Weigel noted, however, that Rome has often not been as friendly as it could have been to African church leaders.
Franco Origlia / Getty Images
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has lots of energy and charisma but might be seen as too young.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan: The archbishop of New York's personality could be a double-edged sword. "No member of the College of Cardinals lights up a room like [Dolan]," Weigel said, but skeptics could find him too effervescent. Plus, there is a longstanding prejudice against so-called "superpower popes."
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle: The passion and emotion of Manila's top Catholic could be attractive to electors looking beyond Italy for a candidate. His youth -- he's just 56 -- could go against him. "He could be pope for 40 years. If that's the case, he better be a great one," Reese said.
Other geographic outliers who have been mentioned and might get some votes in early balloting include Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka, Thomas Collins of Toronto, Sean O'Malley of Boston and Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires.
An oft-mentioned cardinal, Peter Turkson of Ghana, is favored in the Italian press, which Weigel said historically means his candidacy is over even before voting starts.
Reese said regardless of how many worthy candidates there are, he wouldn't bet on a pontiff from another continent.
"The odds are against it when more than half the College of Cardinals is from Europe," he said. "They always begin by looking at the Italians."
Related:
'It takes as long as it takes': How the next pope will be chosen, step by secret step
Exposing Vatican secrets a 'dangerous' mission, says Vatileaks journalist
Riots, revenge and royal rigging: A history of controversial conclaves
Will Catholics embrace change? The view from one parish in Rome
The cardinals will fill out ballots in the Sistine Chapel until all 77 ballots -- two-thirds plus one of the cardinal electors -- reach a consensus. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
Leave a Comment:
The secret dossier locked up for the next pope (the one that likely forced Benedict XVI to quit) should be released to the world and any acts of criminality should face secular justice. That would be a meaningful start to real transparency in the Vatican.
And why should Catholics be concerned about the opinion of an Atheist? I would prefer a Pope From the Americas where there are many wounds for the Church to heal.
Keith,
That is a question you'll need to answer for yourself. The humanitarian foundations I support care about the relief of human suffering in the world.
Transparency, as I said, would be a good sign that empathy had finally reached those in power in the Vatican. As a nun recently said, the Church fathers in power have not had their hearts broken over the wreckage the pedophile coverup has wrought upon the planet. When their hearts are truly broken they will begin to do the hard work of reform.
It's still a very "Church First" organization rather than a "Victim First" outlook. Transparency, by releasing the documents, is the moral thing to do.
But seriously, what would happen if the Pope admitted there's no such thing as God? That would be a really progressive Pope. People still go to movies and such, even though they know it's fiction. They would still go to church.
Atheist,
You need to get laid or probably more to the point. You need to get some more vasoline to play with yourself.
My Christ! The only person ever to be a christain atheist. You are not just an idiot. You are also a troll.
As the Vatican is recognized by the world as an independent state, who who prosecute?
That's just wishful thinking by some. The new Pope WILL be European, as usual.
If the current trend of Western democracies is to sanction and celebrate people's choices to abort babies, men sucking cocks and women masterbating each other with dildoes, why can't the independent/sovereign nation of the Vatican City keep dossiers silent?
After all, it was ecumenical Protestants that undermined the slow-moving doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s during the Second Vatican Council. Bastardize the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and it comes crashing down...
Keith Cameron-6401423
My question to you is what have YOU done to put an end to the rapes by your priests and what have you done to make the priests and those who covered up these crimes pay for them? Do YOU protest what YOUR leaders like Pope Benedict XVI, who covered up for the Jesuit Marciel? The worst serial rapist of children by a Jesuit?
Do you demand Cardinals Timothy Dolan, Justin Rigali, Roger Mahony, Bernard Law, and all the Cardinals who covered up mass child rapes in the United States to resign IMMEDIATELY and submit to prosecution?
Do YOU demand a full accounting of these evils committed against children?
As a survivor of priest rape and torture, I DEMAND ALL YOU PARISHIONERS EITHER get off your asses and do what is right by the CHILDREN WHO WERE HARMED instead of cheering these scum. For if YOU and the rest of the Parishioners do NOT, then in the eyes of each and every survivor of this evil and horror equate YOU just as guilty by your NOT demanding they resign and submit to prosecution as if you held down the children YOURSELF while the priest raped us.
The next Pope will be another old white conservative. Please, time for this Church to fold. No moral authority to be found here.
Gimmeabreakoradrink
Gee love your religious bigotry and hate there. Did you not learn what the two greatest commandments Jesus Christ gave you, that is the basis for all things?
That you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands hang all the laws of the prophets.
Then again, because I got raped by a male priest, I guess in your eyes, because he sucked my dick, then forced me to suck his off, then raped me anally, that must make me a faggot worthy of hell? Though from the sounds of your utter and complete garbage, you would probably hoist the Pope on your shoulders and carry him to the Vatican where the both of you, along with the Cardinals and Bishops can all watch kiddie porn while you are the pivot man in their circle jerk.
Jim,
"As the Vatican is recognized by the world as an independent state, who who prosecute?"
I know you meant to ask a meaningful question there, but I can't make out what it is you are trying to ask. Could you reformulate that question in a more comprehensible format?
Already said this..next Pope will be from a country in South America. What ever cardinal in South America has a possible high degree in business will be next pope..aka like a MBA style pope!
$100 bet I'm correct!
The Italians are done..foolish and stupid..let outside the European countries try!
Yes I know last pope was Polish..that's why he quit!
Second to god is hard to replace.
Be like Romney beating Obama in last election..impossible!
YUP NO religion should have secret documents of any kind open up the entire archives of the vatican until then I will not trust one word from any Catholic priest and will assume they are lying with every word.
What does it matter, who the pope is and all the mumbo jumbo, asking people to will over all their worldly goods....truly disgusting. They could be trying to make a better world but they only want your money, pathetic, it still goes on in the 21st century! Do they stop wars...feed the world...help science instead of promoting anti-science...the time has come, give the trillions hidden away to the people of this planet...NOW!
toxicity..not all are Jewish!
I just want to smell the smoke. Just so you know I was raised Catholic.
LOL..with a dick up your AZZ..but who's dick a priest or rabbi or Monk?
Surely not yours. Have a good night.
;)
Mary no doubt your're not a Saint..a whore possible!
But they said same as the Virgin Mary..thousands of years ago of course without proof!
In 2013 there is proof!
The only continent left where the catholic leaders haven't covered up child rape in order to protect their religion is Antarctica. Do they have any "cardinals" from there?
The religion of catholicism, like all other religions, including all the other christianists ones, are nothing but cesspools of evil. That's what happens when someone believes in gods - cesspools and evil.
I'm an evangelical Atheist. I bring to all believers in gods the good news of freethought, rationalism and reason. I want you all to become born again in reason and truth. Your god doesn't exist. Your life built upon that is built upon sand. Come to the rock and foundation of religion-free thought. Please don't wait. When you die, you will die knowing you wasted your life on nonsense if you don't come to the enlightenment of Atheistic freethought. Atheism saves - religion enslaves.
Jerry Lewis died a few years ago..good -bye :)
Jerry, there is a chapel in Antarctica. Believers will likely have a chapel on Mars if they have the chance to do it.
The continent of Antarctica is governed by treaty of 58 or so nations. The Treaty lays out the objective: Antarctica shall be a continent for science and peace.
Note: not faith & peace but SCIENCE and peace. It is the only rational place left on earth.
Jerry, you are delusional as dick dawkins for thinking you're moral person when you're not. The Word "evangelical Atheist" is an oxymoron and hardly true for anyone believe atheism save think again. Atheism enslave you from truth and facts that not only atheism is a religion but lied about evolution being the source of life yet Scientists already proves that we evolve from the shaved apeman is false for there is not a evidence stating we came from them. Everyone with an open mind knows this facts. Refute all you want because facts is facts.
Just so all you internet babblers know what the issue is:
We, said America's most famous Catholic, have been De-Popinated!
Now to the issue: Will we be Re-Popenated?
Or will we have to endure this endless Pope-a-Dope?
Jerry,
"I'm an evangelical Atheist."
That's a contradiction in terms. Evangelical means pertaining to the good news. What is the good news you want to bring us all, that we are all going to die without hope for anything beyond this world? That doesn't sound like very good news to me. Religion does not rule out reason. Saint Thomas Aquinas was a great logician. Read his Summa Theologica, and you will see for yourself. He was a follower of Aristotle, a very rational man indeed.
In my book you can believe in any god you want ..who ever it might be..a saint..an mountain god..a stupid Wall. a fat belly guy..I really don't give a F**K..So Don't preach this chit on others.
God to me is the SOB who signs my pay checks!
"Atheist" is just an obsessed person with an inflated ego. He has a dossier of talking points that he re-words, and posts ad nausea. A zealot, akin to the Westboro Church members.
Spike..like most dogs are named.
To believe is in the eyes of the beholder..not to believe is in the eyes of evil in any religion!
mike277,
If you think you have ESP, you are wrong. My nick is in reference to a ship I served on.
Your second sentence is incomprehensible.
"Evil in any religion" HA! You believe that atheism holds the keys a paradise where good and evil of humanity belief doesn't exist yet you preach such hypocrisy that you would excluded your religion from other because you condemn "religion" (aka Christianity) while condoning atheism for deeds nowhere in this good earth had ever been newsworthy because it is FALSE. Face it, you believe that secular religion is on the rise while they fail to tell you this; Atheism is dwindling because of new discovery of God existence OUTSIDE of the bible and evolution, the four "horsemen", new atheist movement fail to produce an answer if atheism morality is greater then Christianity. NO!! Stop this delusional agenda and smell the coffee; christians are getting smarter and wiser with their answer. In other words, mike, GROW UP.
Nobody cares who will be the next Prince Of Pedophiles Everywhere.
We only care about who will be the last one.
The church is pure evil...always has been. This ain't rocket science folks.
Hello folks,
When it comes to bull@!$%#, big-time, major league bull@!$%#, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bull@!$%# story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bull@!$%# story. Holy @!$%#!
But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is @!$%#ed up.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of @!$%# you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.
No woman could or would ever @!$%# things up like this. So, if there is a God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a @!$%#. Doesn't give a @!$%#, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad results.
So rather than be just another mindless religious robot, mindlessly and aimlessly and blindly believing that all of this is in the hands of some spooky incompetent father figure who doesn't give a @!$%#, I decided to look around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on.
And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can't see the sun at night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper. Several reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know? So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we're not setting people on fire simply because they don't agree with us.
Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don't pray to the sun. Know why? I wouldn't presume on our friendship. It's not polite.
I've often thought people treat God rather rudely, don't you? Asking trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better job. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday His day off. It's not nice. And it's no way to treat a friend.
But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of different things, you know, your sister needs an operation on her crotch, your brother was arrested for defecating in a mall. But most of all, you'd really like to @!$%# that hot little redhead down at the convenience store. You know, the one with the eyepatch and the clubfoot? Can you pray for that? I think you'd have to. And I say, fine. Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about the Divine Plan?
Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan. Gave it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just fine. Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing you want isn't in God's Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a Divine Plan. What's the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar prayerbook can come along and @!$%# up Your Plan?
And here's something else, another problem you might have: Suppose your prayers aren't answered. What do you say? "Well, it's God's will." "Thy Will Be Done." Fine, but if it's God's will, and He's going to do what He wants to anyway, why the @!$%# bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big waste of time to me! Couldn't you just skip the praying part and go right to His Will? It's all very confusing.
So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't @!$%# around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was having trouble with.
For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that @!$%# out with one visit. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.
So I've been praying to Joe for about a year now. And I noticed something. I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles, it's all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.
And for those of you who look to The Bible for moral lessons and literary qualities, I might suggest a couple of other stories for you. You might want to look at the Three Little Pigs, that's a good one. Has a nice happy ending, I'm sure you'll like that. Then there's Little Red Riding Hood, although it does have that X-rated part where the Big Bad Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn't care for, by the way. And finally, I've always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I like the best? "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again." That's because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no God. None, not one, no God, never was.
In fact, I'm gonna put it this way. If there is a God, may he strike this audience dead! See? Nothing happened. Nothing happened? Everybody's okay? All right, tell you what, I'll raise the stakes a little bit. If there is a God, may he strike me dead. See? Nothing happened, oh, wait, I've got a little cramp in my leg. And my balls hurt. Plus, I'm blind. I'm blind, oh, now I'm okay again, must have been Joe Pesci, huh? God Bless Joe Pesci. Thank you all very much. Joe Bless You!
Compliments of Mr. George Carlin. RIP
Atheist-6939529, is a criminal and a liar. Benedict was not forced to quit.
But, Atheist-6939529, God does hate you.
why is it when someone or anybody get caught in a tragic event, the first thing that comes out of their mouth is GOD help me. these criminal priests must be prosecuted, their crimes proven beyond reasonable doubt must pay for their crimes. these atheists, non roman catholic people to say the roman catholic religion is evil, shows nothing but a total ignorance. sadly, the same ignorance are true for those who are claiming to belong to the roman catholic church do speak of hate of the religion. catholicism, in particular the roman catholic church is a non contentious, spiritual religion. the 1.2 billion roman catholic are not force, coerce to be roman catholics and are free to leave at their own will.
"mike277,If you think you have ESP, you are wrong. My nick is in reference to a ship I served on.Your second sentence is incomprehensible"
I'm sure you're a dog looking at your avatar (spike) LOL.
Behave or I'll call the SPCA!
Or mothers for MUTTS!
This last pope wasn't Polish he was German, hence the name "Panzer Pope" The last Polish pope died.
Atheist, start your own g.d. church and you can run it however you f'ing well please.
This blog is ridiculously annoying! I'm seriously sitting here cringing both sides of this argument are ridiculous! You believers sound like stubborn mules and you atheists sound like freakin cry babies! Haven' t you all ever thought tha maybe aliens made us and set us here and that is our "god." or maybe that many different kinds of aliens have ALREADY settled here among us? Our "god" may be just an alien... regardless i don't believe a bunch of gases swirled arond, collided and grew over billions of years to make us. Someone put us here and the many churches have expoited this for financial gain. DUh. After all, scientists argue alien life forms have been here and also argue it is extremely unlikely that we are alone in this universe. Scientists say this and don't all you atheists LOVE to quote science?
I think that we would be better off with the Flying Green Spaghetti Monster.
The new Pope will be a half black, half white man for political correctness. Will be a lawyer so he knows how to circumvent the law and have the background manipulating skills to further his agenda. Most important will he/she will be gay as to set a new precedent and try to accommodate the 1% percent of the population that owns and is in the media. In other words they will choose a Pope that totally removes any integrity the church has left as most politicians in the world have from their office.
In other words WHO CARES!!!!
This is an article about the selection of the next pope. Comments should relate to that subject. I respect Athiest's opinion in that regard. At least his comment is relevant. The volume of off-subject vitriol directed against the Catholic Church on these forums tends to give credence to St Malachy: "In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedibit Petrus Romanus qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus, quibus transactis civitas septicolis diruetur, & judex tremedus judicabit populum suum. Finis.
You will never transcend these tribulations you will all burn in hell.
Danny Boy,
I hope you burn in a car crash!
jeffrey erwin Funny isn't it? We survivors of priest abuse and torture, want nothing more than true justice, we want all perpetrators of this evil, from your Pope Benedict XVI, your Cardinals Timothy Dolan, Justin Rigali, Bernard Law, Roger Mahoney, Richard Cushing, Anthony Bevilacqua, George Pell, Dominick Duka, Keith O'Brien, William Leveda, and all the Bishops, priests and nuns, who harmed us as children, who covered up these crimes of rape against children, to be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows and upon conviction, be sentenced to LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE. Most of them actually deserve the DEATH PENALTY, for what they did to us as children in fact is murder, it murdered our hearts, our minds, our souls and even our bodies.
When we victims, hear you @!$%#s of the Unholy Roman Catholic Church of Pedophile Pimps, Priests and the Parishioners who cheer, love, defend and protect them, cheer for your pope, it is a slap in the face to each and every child who was raped. When you all praise Cardinals who had a hand in covering this evil up, you are raping us all over again. When YOU STAND AND DEFEND ANY OF THESE PEOPLE, YOU ARE JUST AS GUILTY AS THEY ARE.
I go to Saint Pedophilia!! Should I worry that I might get rape there?
frank-you are as silly a troll as the atheist.where is the priest that abused you?Did a vatican helicopter fly in and swoop him away?Your giant charade of painting every catholic as a molester is growing old.Some fact checking might enlighten you to the fact that the former pope exposed abusers,and had a large part in the recent reforms currently in place.If you have anything other than your bitter vitriol and conjecture to add then throw it out there.Your incessant whining and conspiracy theories are as ignorant as your knowledge of catholicism.If crimes happened(and nobody doubts atrocities have)there should be somebody to hold accountable,a tangible person,not an organization of a billion or so folks.Maybe you should call SNAP because they're running out of 30 yr. old cases since the govt's own study into the abuse clearly shows it ebbed in the 1980's.(john jay college report) The fact that there has been an avg. of only 8 accusations a year since 2006 against some 40,000 priests and religious in north america further makes you look like a self pitying idiot who ought to crawl back under your rock.Major reforms,including transparency,have been implemented and more are yet to come.So get off your soap box until you pull your head out of the sand.
Frank LaFerriere........why are you making a blanket accusations. the crime committed by the priest against you must pay for his crime in the court of law, if proven beyond reasonable doubt. i hope you were served the justice you deserved, but to go around accusing other clerics of the roman catholic church with your vile talks make your claims invalid, zero credibility to the point like its made up, false story.
I'm still trying to figure out why this pope thing keeps making the top story on news sites. I just want to read actual news.
Veronafoamer...you obviously are on the of the pedophiles he is talking about and you don't understand how it affects someone. Go get your ass SODOMIZED and see how it affects you...you A$$HOLE. You are the problem with the world today and you have something too hide you freaking pedophile. He is talking about how powerless you feel of have been a victim. You need to have yourself sodomized so you can feel how defenseless, how powerless, how you still are victimized by seeing no justice happen to the perpetrator. You are a SICK PHUCK WHINER!!!!
Jeffrey - comment #2 - You should direct your comment at all the anti-abortionists who bring THAT into every other conversation!
The food is good, the housing luxurious (love the art work), and it would be hard to find a more interesting wardrobe in the developed world (nice selection of hats) but its hard to imagine any sane person wanting the job. Horrible PR problems, rampant corruption internally, declining membership and doctrines that challenge even scientology in their sheer looniness.
lock up all these perverts and throw away the key.
perverts are human found in any segment of societies, churches, etc.
The US has a huge Catholic population (and a huge amount of money). An American Pope might help to arrest the decline of the church in the US. If the African cardinals are anything like Anglican bishops, they may be too conservative to effectively lead Catholics in the developed world. Of course, their conservatism might be appealing to other cardinals.
"The US has a huge Catholic population (and a huge amount of money). An American Pope might help to arrest the decline of the church in the US"
RIGHT....and I've got a bridge for sale.
An American Pope will never occur before the Church folds. It will be another old white guy in any scenario, and he will be a conservative criminal. All about power, money and ego.
O I see its all about the money.
Maybe a lot of money, but the US is only 6% of Catholics and it's definitely not where the growth is. Except for immigration from predominantly Catholic countries, the church would still be losing 400,000 Catholics in the US every year.
http://theweek.com/article/index/202388/catholics-in-crisis
Not bloody likely since most American Catholics are no longer buying what their church is selling.
If the guy from Canada get elected he could name himself Pope Doug the First, eh. Smokes and brews all around!
This is the guy who said "women are secondary". Yes, smokes and brews all around.
show your evidence.
It will probably be just another European pope again, old habits die hard.
Good old Catholic Church.
Out of touch and out of date......
It's like the GOP of the whole world.
Grumpy old white guys telling everyone how to live, while shielding the criminals in their midst.
And the sheeple bleat in anticipation......
No, No, NO...God no. Not an American, please, not an American. We'll be really bad off if that happens. Think we have problems now ? Watch what happens if an American gets it. USA has done NOTHING to deserve a pope in Rome. This nation is very corrupt and quite wicked in thought and deed. No American Pope, don't even think about it.
If the new pope ends up being 'Peter the Roman' that'll narrow things down a little
How about Pope Johnny Wadd.
I wanna see a balanced federal budget. I wanna see Pope Benjamin Netanyahu conducting Wagner's opera Parsifal at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem on Good Friday at sundown. Finally, I wanna see the Cowboys win another Super Bowl. Which do you think is most likely?
Pope Poopen Heimer
I guess every country has a pedophile-pool to choose from, so who cares? Europe is just as good as any other.
Its past time for a black pope, come on what a better way to get Africa in shape and end all the wars there, than a black Pope to lead the way.
And what a way to steal the spot light away from the Obama guy,so do it already!
Disgustingly racist comment, if not simply stinking of hubris.
Hey Joey, I'll second that idea. Black pope, black prez - what could be better?
Oh, wait....
Sick comment.
No Pope has ever stopped a war therefore it would not help Africa!
We could call him Pope Long Dong.
Maybe all of the black Muslims will convert...Ya think
Pope Tyrone I from Detroit. That will shake things up. Expect a radical update of nun's wardrobe and religious music.
Here is a list of 174 accused clerics
--- http://mnsnap.wordpress.com/villainous-mn-clerics/
This is the database of priests in the United States by Bishops Accountability. All total, just for the United States, there are 3,763 priests and nuns accused of raping or abusing children. Many of these jerks have been convicted. The ones who were not able to be convicted was not due to lack of evidence, it was due to the statue of limitations running out. Oh as an aside, any time a state legislature seeks to end the sol on child rape, the RCC comes out in droves, their Bishops and Cardinals and fight it tooth and nail.
bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-A.html
Hey, the Catholic Church stands rigidly erect behind their altar boys, and keep pushing for salvation.
Celtic, thank you, I haven't laughed so hard since I heard the last Nancy Pelosi speech.
Enough of this white smoke/black smoke BS. Let's decide this with a MMA tournament for the pope contenders!
Oh yeah. Bare-knuckle cage match. Last man standing gets the keys to the Popemobile.
How about just have the cardinals raise their right hand if they haven't molested any boys in the the last week. There will only be a few hands that remain down. It'd make the process much quicker. Ahhh for get it, they probably couldn't care less....
And why is someone who does not believe in any big universe leader called anything? like atheist? I deal in Atoms and Molecules, and never in Psychology unless someone is "defective" (then Science), I do agree that a few can believe in one of the 10,000 registered religions in NY State alone (mostly for tax write offs), so they have something to hold onto unlike holding on to soon to be third word USA--That is why few care in northern EU, they have a real system in the government that they pay for, but some of that is also failing, like southern EU, Spain and Greece, so some will probably come back to some type of religion., when they no longer like here can trust the government.
Is the new Pope will look like Charlie Carter and Bernie Jackson ???
after nearly 30 years of non-Italian popes, I don't really think that the largest block of cardinals, the Italians, will sit back and let yet another non-Italian, let alone a non-European, sit in the chair of Peter.
If he was Italian we can call him the Pope Italian Stallion!!!!!!
"sit in the chair of Peter"
Lie number one...How dare you call it Peter's chair. It might be the chair of the "abomination of desolation" however it is not the chair of Peter. Sorry to bust your bubble but Peter would not be caught dead in that chair.
Get this BS off the news
on this page im viewing concerning the papal possibilities is a girl asking a man if he wonders if he needs testosterone and she is sitting in a "provocative" manner.............my question is, "how and who allowed this advertisement to be associated with this event"?????????
that 'low-T' thing is the big scam going right now, gotta milk it while they can
Barry, are you sure it wasn't an altar boy dressed like a girl?
I've been wondering why any guy would take something for low-t after they run through all the side effects. Man boobs, puberty symptoms, psa count is screwed up, but hey my t level's up, alright!
Back to the article, I do think it's kind of arrogant that Americans think there should be an American pope though. Aren't American catholics outnumbered? We can't always get our way by stomping our feet.
Worthless advertising, worthless & ineffective product. There is so much trash advertiseng now, what is this world coming to. Whenever I listen to the radio these advertisers throughout their ad repeat their phone numbers up to 4 times with that ad running several times during each break. Crazy.
Not Catholic, but this is interesting. I wonder how the Church would change if a pope was elected outside Europe.
No at all. trust me, money, power and ego are all this old male conclave has left.
The US Supreme Court's Citizens United decision will allow the Koch brothers to spend as much money as they wish to have the Republican Dolan elected Pope.
I sure hope they don't find a Pope outside of Europe. I mean, they've been doing such a great job. Don't muck with success.
Pope Mobutu
I don't give a rat's patoot where the next freaking pope comes from any more than I care where the next Ayatollah hails from. Stop shoving this sick, twisted cult down people's throats. We should be seeing headlines about prosecuting pedophile priests instead of this stupid pope pageant.
Hey! Did everyone hear that the pope quit?
Humans are smart.
Bush 2016
This article states the church influence is waning in Europe but on the rise in Africa. But look at the money flow: Europeans donate money; Africans receive money. Of course the church will be influential in Africa This works like U.S. government food stamp program: the rich hate it because they have to pay; the poor love it because it's a freebie. If Africa ever moves from moocher continent to producer continent, the Catholic Church is going to wane in popularity there also.
NBC's obsession with the pope must really annoy the atheist liberals that dwell here. I suppose it is to rile you all up but it could backfire as people seek "religion-free" news.
Not all liberals are atheists, but most are anti-cult, especially a cult whose main function is to protect the pedophiles among them.
Hey Joe, read this and weep....these are the people YOU defend:
This is the database of priests in the United States by Bishops Accountability. All total, just for the United States, there are 3,763 priests and nuns accused of raping or abusing children. Many of these jerks have been convicted. The ones who were not able to be convicted was not due to lack of evidence, it was due to the statue of limitations running out. Oh as an aside, any time a state legislature seeks to end the sol on child rape, the RCC comes out in droves, their Bishops and Cardinals and fight it tooth and nail.
bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-A.html
You do know, the ONE Catholic President we ever have was also a liberal right? On top of that, news flash... Jesus was pretty liberal, that's kind of why he got executed.
Let's see. The one catholic president wasn't liberal as he was a fervent anti-Communist and by all accounts late to the civil rights movement.
And Jesus, anti-premarital sex, anti-adultery, anti-homosexuality, anti-homosexual marriage, strict adherer of moral & ethical values. What got him executed was people like you, Michael. L. Castleberry.
Also Jesus death was a death he freely accepted.
Jesus loved people ( and therefore women). He died for us all but lives within many of us.
Hey Snoopy, give us one single passage in the good 'ol book where Jesus talked against pre-marital sex, against homosexuality, homosexual mariage. Just one, please?
Michael, Christ was crucified for not going along with the current policy of the Jews at the time. Was he a liberal? It depends on where in history you are. Back then his ideas were new but he still followed Jewish celebrations. Today if he was a leader in this country he may be thought of as a conservative considering what runs the current U.S. Government. Just a thought.
Jesus never said ANYTHING about homosexual sex, etc, and when an adulteress was being stoned to death, he stepped in, stopped it and said "let he that is without sin cast the first stone" The man was more than anything, pretty accepting of everyone and his one commandment was to love thy neighbor. Oh, another big saying of his "Judge not, lest ye be judged"
Michael, nor did I. He taught the World how to live with each other. I don't think that is either liberal or conservative.
Michael L. Castleberry,
"Jesus never said ANYTHING about homosexual sex, etc, and when an adulteress was being stoned to death, he stepped in, stopped it and said "let he that is without sin cast the first stone"
The part about homosexuality is quite true. Jesus said nothing about it. In the part about the adulteress being about to be stoned, you are also correct except you left out the part where he said to the adulteress, "Go! and sin no more!" That's an important part because it shows that he disapproved of adultery and considered it a sin. If you leave it out, you give the incorrect impression that Jesus was some kind of liberal who taught the "anything goes" philosophy, which is not the case. Overall, though, I think you are right. He was more forgiving and tolerant of sinners than your average preacher is.