BREAKING NEWS: POPE FRANCIS I - Jorge Mario Bergoglio - Argentina

[DC Al Fine]

How long till the new Pope emerges?

[DC Al Fine]

Is it a surprise that the Pope is 79?

He's 76.

[DC Al Fine]

Stomach in knots. This may affect the rest of my life.

How so? He's just a creepy old man in a cape.

As disgusted as I am with this comment, memphis' provincial sentiment is sadly common. 

Still, this is really exciting.

How do you think this pope will "affect te rest of your life?"  He's not going to cure cancer or anything. I stand by my comments.

Harry identifies with the religious group of which this gentleman is the earthly leader, you see.

Obviously. However, it has yet to be explained how it will effect his life. Perhaps this new pope will innovate. Maybe he'll declare that one should say prayers while standing on one's head or whatever. And we'll have a few Mel Gibsons who refuse to do so. There's still no impact on real life.

Religious people's religious beliefs (and, especially, practices) are part of their real lives, you see.

Indeed, Pope John XXIII certainly affected plenty of Catholic lives.

[DC Al Fine]

I'm ok with everything but the Jesuit part.

He doesn't sound like the crazy Jesuit kind though. He's "doctrinally conservative."

Which I do like.

Stomach in knots. This may affect the rest of my life.

How so? He's just a creepy old man in a cape.

As disgusted as I am with this comment, memphis' provincial sentiment is sadly common. 

Still, this is really exciting.

How do you think this pope will "affect te rest of your life?"  He's not going to cure cancer or anything. I stand by my comments.

Harry identifies with the religious group of which this gentleman is the earthly leader, you see.

Obviously. However, it has yet to be explained how it will effect his life. Perhaps this new pope will innovate. Maybe he'll declare that one should say prayers while standing on one's head or whatever. And we'll have a few Mel Gibsons who refuse to do so. There's still no impact on real life.

Religious people's religious beliefs (and, especially, practices) are part of their real lives, you see.

Indeed, Pope John XXIII certainly affected plenty of Catholic lives.

By giving up the crown and having the priest turn around while saying the mass? Doesn't impress me much. If we could find a Pope who could effectively purge the child rapists, that would be something. Not be molested would be meaningful. I'll give you that one. I won't hold my breath on that though. He also seems to be a troll per wikipedia:

"He strongly opposed legislation introduced in 2010 by the Argentine Government to allow same-sex marriage, calling it a "real and dire anthropological throwback".[14] In a letter to the monasteries of Buenos Aires, he wrote: "Let's not be naive, we're not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."[15] He has also insisted that adoption by gay and lesbian people is a form of discrimination against children."

Which I agree with Francis I on totally.

His Holiness is probably going to disappoint you, JCL, for very different reasons than why he's going to disappoint a bunch of other people.

His criticism of free market economics does dissapoint me. Plus I'm not a big fan of Jesuits. I like his message of humility and compassion to the poor which are just as central to the Gospel as are the moral teachings. I do have good hopes regarding his pontificate. I do believe his run will be short.

That`s equivalent to the lefties who wouldn't be satsified unless a Pope publicly endorses SSM & infanticide. The Catholic Church hierarchy doesn't really exist on our political spectrum, so we non-Catholics just hope for who's relatively close to us.

[DC Al Fine]

The first Pope not from Europe.

Nope, there were African/Middle Eastern Popes way way back in the day.

[DC Al Fine]

Wow, that was rude...I'm right here. I didn't see whatever that was about the Argentine priests and don't particularly care. Things like contraception, abortion, and gay marriage are the chief issues I care about. There's not much in my life affected by the Pope, so the broad issues surrounding perpetuated bigotry at the cost of lives take precedence for me. Not all of us drink the Kool-Aid, so the bottom line is much appreciated.

As for abortion, gay marriage, and contraception, obviously whoever the new pope was would be against those.  The contraception ban will almost certainly fall in the next 30 years or so, but it won't be on a pope's first day, and it will probably be from a pope who had previously fallen in line on the issue.
Gay marriage will probably never come, but I would expect to see Episcopal-style gay blessings by the time we have a pope born in the 1980s or so. Regardless, we all knew what the new pope would think.
And the Church will probably oppose abortion 500 years from now, so it's not worth even wondering what any potential pope would think about it.

As a non-Catholic, could you help me out here? Why do you believe the hierarchy is moving slowly towards SSM and contraception, but not abortion?

[DC Al Fine]

Wait, they elected a catholic to be the next pope? My god, I guess we all knew the church was rotten, but this,...

I was really hoping for a Calvinist pope... Oh well