Catholicism

[stylofone]

It looks like the Papal succession circus will be back in town soon. We will see a lot of reporting about the political shenanigans involved. Much of it will be based on struggles between "reformers" and "conservatives". This is illusory. The pope is always a conservative, even the current one whose health is in such peril right now. He is a showman, and every "progressive" soundbite he has thrown out has been a carefully calculated bait, couched in long and brutal reaffirmations of the cruelty and prejudice at the core of Catholic doctrine.

The political jockeying is as cynical and dirty as political games everywhere. Then you have the parallel reporting of the faithful, getting all emotional and praying for the dying pope. It's very dissonant, this credulous spiritual passion next to the harshly secular business of electing a successor.

As an ex-Catholic atheist, it makes me reflect on my own childhood abandonment of the religion. It was firstly a logical rejection of unbelievable, intellectually demeaning supernatural claims which the religion imposed on its adherents. But there was also a strong feeling of anti-clericalism in my rebellious 14-year-old brain. At that stage, Catholic gender apartheid had kicked in. Primary school had featured 100% nuns. In high school it was strictly men only. The many priests and brothers I knew were such an unimpressive lot. They were a bunch of mediocre, insecure weirdos and bullies, many of whom displayed threatening sexual behaviour which was later confirmed to be the surface of institutionally-entrenched systemic criminal sexual abuse. The pope is at the top of that pyramid.

We were taught that the Church is not the building, it is the people, the broad community who call themselves "Catholic". That's partly true, and I feel a lot of affection for the unruly, multicultural, working class mob of "cultural" Catholics which I am still bonded to. But the clerical leadership with its misogynistic hierarchy doesn't respect the people, they act as if THEY, the clerics, are the church. They are also the enemy in my opinion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0x3p1kglo

[The Saint]

It's very dissonant

Stewart Lee did a skit on this topic.

[stylofone]

It took a bit longer than I thought.

I just heard a Catholic commentator on the radio agreeing in part with me that Francis' reputation as a reformer was illusory. He said there was the "width of a cigarette paper" between him and his two predecessors, and that it's pretty much impossible to change the hierarchy and the entrenched conservatism of the church, even for the pope.

Then another commentator started blathering about how Francis hasn't entered oblivion, really his life has JUST BEGUN and he's still with us, just in a different way.

[Hambone]

Dead Pope? Meh, there'll be another along soon enough.
Trust me.

[I mean it's not like he's immortal like the Phantom]

[pipbarber]

This is the Shovel's take on the matter

https://theshovel.com.au/2025/04/22/sco ... aker-pope/

[stylofone]

Slightly annoyed at media bullshit about the Pope. The SMH described his decision to be buried in a different church to the usual choice as a "final act of rebellion". FFS. They always mention the "simple wooden coffin". I recalled JP2 and his "simple wooden coffin", which was mean to express his humility. I had a look and saw that Benedict and Paul 6 also had "simple wooden coffins". They all expressed their humility in exactly the same way. What rebels they all are! John 23 had no coffin at all, his body was paraded through the streets in his own "final act of rebellion".

Rebel rebel, how could they know?