Habemus Papam!

Cool.
Now he should admit that catholicism - and christianity - is a fraud and dismantle the church or convert it into an ONG.

Free cat stop with the derailling of the Pope. Go to the God section if you want to talk shit about the Church.

Well sure he has Italian origins, but was neither born nor raised there. Considering that he is a SA pope the fact that he has some Italian roots might have made it an easier sell to consider him, but it has paved the way for future non-Europeans to get to the papacy.

Thank god the Filipino guy didn't get it.

loool why

Jack Daniels wrote:Thank god the Filipino guy didn't get it.

Pope Pacquiao?

not an atypical pope as far as his views go, although he believes contraception is permissible for preventing disease, which is a plus. he's got a lot of work to do, strange that they selected an older pope.

RealGunner wrote:loool why

The Church has too much power in my country. They really hinder our progress as an up and coming nation.

Imagine if they had a pope as a representative. lol

Breaking: Backward organization held by less backward 76 year old white man

Yuri Yukuv wrote:Breaking: Backward organization held by less backward 76 year old white man

Brilliant.

Jack Daniels wrote:Thank god the Filipino guy didn't get it.

AMEN!

Alfredo Di Stefano "Pope Francis and I went to the same school and it's probable that we played a pick up game together"

This week in the Catholic church: the Pope washed a woman's feet, praise be to God!!!

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Alfredo Di Stefano "Pope Francis and I went to the same school and it's probable that we played a pick up game together"

bazinga wrote:This week in the Catholic church: the Pope washed a woman's feet, praise be to God!!!

This week in the Catholic Church: Millions of dollars continue to be donated to shelters, hospitals, schools and directly help feed and care for millions.

juveman17 wrote:

bazinga wrote:This week in the Catholic church: the Pope washed a woman's feet, praise be to God!!!

This week in the Catholic Church: Millions of dollars continue to be donated to shelters, hospitals, schools and directly help feed and care for millions.

Oh wait no, won't they just spend the millions on decorating their ceilings instead?

bazinga wrote:

juveman17 wrote:

bazinga wrote:This week in the Catholic church: the Pope washed a woman's feet, praise be to God!!!

This week in the Catholic Church: Millions of dollars continue to be donated to shelters, hospitals, schools and directly help feed and care for millions.

Oh wait no, won't they just spend the millions on decorating their ceilings instead?

Oh no, all of this artwork that inspired a whole century of work that lead to a Renaissance of understanding and philosophical thought all sponsored by the Church........

And you still have not eliminated the fact that the Church donates millions upon millions each day to keep shelters, hospitals, schools, and the poor alive......

I'm curious to see some documented evidence of these daily donations to the tune of millions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jesuit_institutions#United_States_2

Thousands of colleges and schools around the globe that are run by the Church.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/mar/19/frank-keating/does-catholic-church-provide-half-social-services-/

"We should start by noting that Catholic charity work is extensive and widely considered a crucial part of the nation’s social safety net. By itself, Catholic Charities USA, has more than 2,500 local agencies that serve 10 million people annually, said Mary L. Gautier, a senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, an institute at Georgetown University that studies the church."

"Then if you suppose that the 18,000 Catholic parishes spent an average of $200,000 on the needy every year beyond what they contribute to any of these charitable organizations, a number also considered plausible by our experts, that would add another $3.6 billion to the total.

All told, this would equal about $30 billion. "

30 billion?

Meh, easy to do so when they earn a total of close to 80 billion in tax breaks alone every year.

Well, obviously the church finds it more difficult to pay compensation to all the people who were abused as kids by pedophile Catholic priests and nuns in Germany (and who knows where else)...

(More info: http://www.spiegel.de/thema/sexueller_missbrauch_in_der_katholischen_kirche/ (Language: German, sorry)

Once again, I am not trying to defend the Catholic Church on the pedophile accusations. I'm trying to show that the Church has a strong positive impact currently on the world by teaching countless numbers of students, and feeding countless numbers of poor people across the globe, especially in third world countries.

Well, in third world countries it might be far more beneficial if the Church would tell people to use condoms to avoid HIV and other infections and to curb the ever growing overpopulation. They wouldn't have to use as much money to feed starving children and to care for AIDS victims etc if they would tackle the problems at the root.

That is a good point but it still does not take away from the point that the Catholic Church has a positive impact in the world today.