At 84, the Pope is preparing for a gruelling visit to Germany which would exhaust a man 30 years younger. How does he do it? Well, there’s an answer to that…

William – spot on!

Although if I were marketing man at Fanta, I know who I’d be using to front up my next advertising campaign!

God certainly is providing our good Pope with the energy needed to get things done!! We are so fortunate to have Pope Benedict– it is obvious that the Holy Spirit was in favor of him becoming our Pope.

This pope has such a disarming demeanor and placid countenance that all potential opposition to his upcoming visit could be wrong-footed by him.  This effect could be sent in the papal visits to Spain for the WYD and the UK  whose anniversary is shortly coming up.  But Germany still will present a major challenge for the Bavarian Pontiff as historically of course it was the starting point for Luther’s revolt which eventually rent European Catholicism in two and the contemporary Church there has it’s own severe tensions and strains.  But I believe that the wonderful analytical mind of this pope along with his peerless theological brilliance will once again leave behind favorable impressions in the minds and hearts of his listening audiences.

Poor fellow, just wanted to retire to a quiet life, ah the plan of God v. those of mice and men.

What I find funny is how catholics chose to ignore the people who showed up to protest, not the money being spent, but the fact that the catholic church, and its leaders, have been responsible for some of the greatest present and historical injustices and are promoters of misunderstanding and hate. A lot of people want the pope arrested.

I am sure many of you are very nice people, despite your religion. But your leader is responsible for crimes against humanity. He should be locked up.

My, my–if you dislike Catholics so much why is it so important to let us know? Since the time of the Apostles this hatred– if not persecution has been going on. Even today Catholics continue to be martyred, yet Christ’s Church will last until the end of the world and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. So your angry accusations are not going to chase us away or even make us feel any guilt as long as we have those working to remove such people.  Do you think that the problems of abuse is exclusive to just the church? I read often of abuses by police, teachers, politicians, parents–it is horrible , but the Church is working to correct it. 

Actually the Church has been responsible for the greatest good in the world…..founding Western civilisation, hospitals schools and universities….tending to the poor and destitute for no renumeration and producing the finest art and music the world has ever known.

Secularism has nothing in comparison.  In fact….superficial secularism and its ridiculous beliefs are on their last legs.

Long live our great Pope Benedict who has God’s blessing and will never err in pronouncements on Faith and  morals. I stick by him and will continue to praise his good and holy work. So your challenge is empty and fruitless… except that it might make you feel better since you must have nothing better to do.

Riiight, just like those secularists who tried in Holland to legalize pedophilia and those now in the US who are trying to convince the APA to remove pedophilia from the ‘mental disorders’?Or the very secularist and atheist Peter Singer, who teaches at Princeton (not some backwater school then) who cliamed that there is *nothing wrong* with things like necrophilia or infanticide and the like.Or maybe Carl Sagan, a great secularist mind, who says there is nothing wrong with killing babies (no not fetuses, babies!)? Or several secularists’ schools and associations that want to teach sex to 5- yrs old (read the newspapers and not only the scandal page)Hey even Richard Dawkins in his book said that he was sexually abused as a kid and he did not think it was a bad experience. I think the people who spoon-feed you the nonsense you are vomiting up right now (must be some real rotten brain food uh?) are a bunch of hypocrites.
 
Let me tell you: secularists I think do not give a damn about the abuse crisis. They just revel in it because it’s cheap ammo to attack the church.
I 110% am sure that if the really APA pens out pedophilia and it becomes legal at some point (hopefully it will never happen), secularists will be blaming churches for being ‘backward at condemning pedophilia’ just as they are doing now in case of some other issues.
 
How could it not be if morality is a wholly ‘relative issue’ (if you believe that you truly have no right to complain in any case, you’d be ‘intolerant of other people’ ;P )” And your church covers this deplorable behavior up by and large”Actually secular authorities were also involved at largely ignoring sexual abuse and often coveting it up in secular/public institutions. So even if some people in the Church are indeed responsible for these immoral act and deserve to be punished, you have no claim for any moral superiority. Sorry, you are just a misinformed fool.On top of that you are just boring (http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/the-anti-catholics-guide-to-catholic-comboxes/)… your arguments are the usual ignorant cliches.

Well, BB, there you go again with your scatter-gun generalizations and very wide of the mark accusations.  What present injustices are you incensed about?  Would they include the fact that the Catholic Church is directly responsible for at least a quarter of all the health/social care that is dispensed around the world, giving aid to and treating the sick, homeless, hungry and impoverished citizens globally?  Could it be the Catholic educational establishments in practically every country in the world, educating their children from all ethnic/religious and social backgrounds and giving them a sense of their true dignity?  You accuse the Church of being a promoter of misunderstanding and hate, despite organisations like Community of Sant’Egidio(nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2002) based in Rome which has intervened in well-publicized trouble-spots around the world to help bring peace and stability to these places.

Thank you Brian for injecting a grasp of the real world into these discussions for those who have convenient memory lapses and continue to delude themselves when it comes to pervert protecting pontiff.  Chancellor Merkel should arrange to have the German police on hand to greet this war criminal as soon as his plane lands in Berlin.

The bishop of Rome has it within his power to lay to rest all suspicions by releasing to the world the complete record of Vatican communications with bishops regarding all of the cases brought to its attention.  This should include the communications of the bishops with the Holy See and the sensitive correspondence between the papal legates to Rome and communications between the legate and the bishops . That is the only way Benedict will ever put this matter behind him.

Benedict should announce the release of these records while he’s in Germany, the home of the original Reformation, and where we are seeing there and in Austria the launching of the next great reformation.  Now reaching a fever pitch in northern Europe and soon to be brought to you in your local church. So, stay tuned.

His event planners need to rethink things for the future.
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His “event planners” Irenaeus need to “rethink” the pope’s future. To include a quiet retirement in Sicily, St. Helena, or the island of Mauritius.  Any of these lovely spots should be very nice this time of year.

You are absolutely right. You are angry. You are defined by your anger.
So sad.

I think that the only signs of revolt are from aging revolutionaries who manned the barricades during the so-called “Spirit of Vatican” 2 era that never really existed and expect the Church to adopt  their worldly remedies to make the church more “relevant”.  These steps have been tried in mainline protestant churches, both in the US and Europe with negative results in all fronts.  The demands of the gospel are both radical and rewarding and simply watering them down to suit the agenda of revolting priests, theologians or laity will undermine the Christ-given mission of the Church.

Brian, what you decry was the way the Catholic Church handled reports of abuse in the past, which is the way the rest of society was handling it. Everyone was wrong! There were numerous reasons for the lack of transparency, a few of them “good,” such as the desire to spare potential victims of the fall out of such humiliating exposures of the victims, their families, and associations (e.g. the teaching profession). Another belief was that they could change with counseling, but–again–it is difficult to go on to a new life if the community clings to the previous persona. Of course, when we keep things quiet we fail to realize the significance of the problem. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20.The Church has now recognized the depth of pain felt by the young victims and the fall out of dealing with such a sinful act in such a secular manner; she is attempting now is to deal with all of this in a more honest manner BUT
 the some of the same problems remain–the biggest of these is  not making the intervention more harmful than the cure. Read the Alcoholics Anonymous step of forgiveness and not asking forgiveness of someone to relieve your own pain–see first if this act will cause another more pain. Talk to persons required to do interventions where sexual abuse is suspected and try to understand all the factors involved where emotional reactions (such as your own) only exacerbate–even explode–vs expose–the problem. And sexual abuse is not the only social evil we still mishandle; examine child placement in foster homes, custody disputes. We survive and continue to try, not because we naively believe that we know better nor that we will solve the problem but because we desire to continue to do God’s will, in spite of the fact that we are blind and the fact that (do not see the truth clearly now) and the fact that the tragedies will continue (the poor will be with you always).

I agree that the Pope, if it is practicable, should release the necessary documentation to prove once and for all that there was no world-wide conspiracy to impede justice in relation to child abuse cases across the world. But I would still have doubts if even this would silence the cacophony of criticism coming from the usual suspects.  In relation to a second reformation, while I too am disgusted at the handling of the child sex abuse cases by errant bishops in relation to suspected or proven abusers, I think that the protesters in many cases are building their house upon sand rather than stone and if they have their way the Church would be indistinguishable from any other worldly organization with little overt evidence that it was proposing anything challenging to mankind.

Oh, are you speaking for the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit? When were you put in charge? And do you think that the Catholic Church is going to change it teachings on Faith and morals and policy due to some feeble (you call it great) reformation. Guess again.

Are you suggesting his stamina in old age is proof of God’s blessing?  I can see that with some people, like Jimmy Carter (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/11/jimmy-carter-human-rights) or Nelson Mandela. Then of course there’s Ian Paisley and Robert Mugabe… Hmmm. I’m not sure it quite works for me.

It is amazing how the Pope gets around at his age…not just the traveling but the writing.  He puts me to shame and I am only (!) 54.  God Bless You Papa Bene!

It would do you good, before throwing any stone over anybody to read and inform yourself. Please, if you a a good hearted man read the following: http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_arrieta-20101204_sp.html But, if you don´t remember that your intolerance makes you accuse without information, that it is close to slander.
Try your best if you are honest. I´ll try too! We are all sinners.

Brian… stop the Kool-aid
drinking.  The Catholic Church does more good than any organization in the
world, and most probably, more than all the NATIONS of the world combined.
 I do not contest that there have been priest who have abused, raped, and
tormented children. They deserve EVERY BIT OF YOUR WRATH!   However, for
you to throw the entire church under the bus for the 2% of bad apples is unfair
and irresponsible. Charol Shakeshaft, the researcher of a
little-remembered 2004 study prepared for the U.S. Department of Education,
said, “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more
than 100 times the abuse by priests.” …. I simply ask you
Brian… where is the outrage!  Shakeshaft compared the priest abuse
data with data collected in a national survey for the American Association of
University Women Educational Foundation in 2000. Extrapolating data from the
latter, she estimated roughly 290,000 students experienced some sort of
physical sexual abuse by a school employee from a single decade—1991-2000. That
compares with about five decades of cases of abusive by priests, which totaled 11,000
abuse victims.  AGAIN BRIAN, WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE!???

I’m Sorry BRIAN, but, IN SHORT… SHUT
UP!.