Pope To Franciscans -
"I will unscrew your head and s**t down your neck!!


As we all know, things move slowly in Catholicism... glacially slow. And with that, memories are long. As we all have read by now, His Holiness has just given the ecclesiastical version of a bitch slap to the Franciscans. *SMACK!!*

What I find heartening is that Pope Benedict is not only putting the Franciscans in Assissi on a very short leash, but his actions are also keeping garbage like what the Franciscans from happening again. As our little sing-song dirty ditty in The Corps used to go "f*** around, f*** around... soon you won't be around". It took almost 20 years, but it looks as if the other shoe is falling.

Some interesting points to ponder;
The friars were granted autonomy by Pope Paul VI in 1969, and the picturesque shrine of the saint in the Umbrian hills has since become renowned for its annual peace marches, drawing thousands of participants, and for two Assisi peace conferences, in 1986 and 2002, which caused outrage among conservative Catholics.The first conference in particular, which saw the participation of native American and African animists as well as Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist leaders, still rankles with the conservatives. At the time the current Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger and John Paul II's theological adviser, said of the meeting, "this cannot be the model" for ecumenical dialogue.

Vittorio Messori, a conservative Catholic commentator, said: "The Church has a long memory. Joseph Ratzinger has had an account to settle with the friars of Assisi since the inter-religious meeting of 1986. Now he has fixed it."

He went on: "Ratzinger has not forgiven the Franciscan community for the excesses of the first day of prayer of the religious leaders with [Pope John Paul II]. It was a mockery, as many said, that forced the hand of the Pope, and it was the friars who broke the agreement they had made. They went so far as to allow African animists to slaughter chickens on the altar of the basilica of Santa Chiara, and American redskins to dance in the church." http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article328512.ece

Like i've said before... it took forty years to screw things up. It'll take a long time to fix 'em. But I must say, as Catholicism goes, Pope Benedict is moving rather quickly. Now if we can just get The Swiss Guard to start kicking in doors and spraying some rooms in the U.S. Seminaries. But I have a funny feeling that a rather huge s**t bomb is about to hit American (liberal) Catholics right between the eyes... and soon.