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Pope Pope Pope
I was drinking some coffee at the Blue Corn Cafe, reading the front page story of the paper about how a Pope had not yet been chosen (see I’ve been hoping for a cardinal from Africa to be elected). From there I read a subsequent story about the rumors that are flying around the Vatican about the various cardinals up for pope-hood and their pasts. The article has a picture of the German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, with the caption to the effect of ‘part of Hitler Youth, part of the Nazi army, fled in 1944.’ And then I look up at the TV to find the same bloke as pictured in the paper on the screen, except the screen said ‘NEW POPE CHOSEN, BENEDICT THE XVI’
Well there go my hopes for a black pope, anyone want to bet on how long this guy is going to live?
...Wait a minute. The new pope was a NAZI. Let's have this sink in for a bit...
I do understand being part of Hitler Youth wasn’t a choice in Nazi Germany, and indeed this is the line of explanation he gave about all of his service at the time. But guarding a BMW plant isn’t the toughest thing to get out of. And defecting in 1944? If you could defect then, you could have defected in 1940- he did end up as a POW for the rest of the war at an American camp folks.
Mark my words, there will be many bar jokes to follow for many years about all of this.
Speaking of popes, here’s A list of the popes and their names. Actually entertaining in a way. Some highlights of fabulous pope names include ‘Blessed Innocent’ and ‘Urban’, or how about ‘Martin’, ‘Leo’, or ‘Sylvester’? Seriously. At least we’re off the John/Paul kick.
I couldn’t find stats on the average age of popes when elected, or the average life expectancy once they ARE elected. I think they should get hazard pay all in all.
last modified Apr 23, 2005 at 22:09
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