BENEATH a report in The Times today that Ratzinger has again blasted gay marriage and abortion – saying they are “among the most insidious and dangerous challenges” to society – there is this delicious response from a reader, Susie Downer:
We delude ourselves if we think the silly old bloke in the frock and red slippers has a clue what’s going on in 2010. The insidious challenge to our society is out-of-touch, self-serving megalomaniacs who have never been married, in a relationship, become a parent, had to cook their own dinner or polish their own shoes. Go and join the dinosaurs, matey.
And in the body of the Times report, Peter Tatchell, of the gay rights group Outrage, said:
The Pope is fast losing all his sense of moral priorities. Compared to war, poverty and racism, gay marriage is a minor issue. It is not worthy of the Pope’s moral outrage. In a world filled with hate and violence, he should be encouraging love and commitment, not denouncing it.
The pimped-up old fart in papal regalia was speaking during his visit to Portugal, which is preparing to legalise same-sex partnerships. Gay marriage legislation was recently passed by the Portuguese parliament and is due to be signed into law next week by President Anibal Cavaco Silva, a conservative Catholic. Ninety per cent of Portuguese define themselves as Catholic but Portuguese society is increasingly secular, with well under a third saying they attend mass regularly.
Ratzinger also took the opportunity to criticise Catholics who are ashamed of their faith and too willing to “lend a hand to secularism.”
The Pope was speaking after a packed open air mass at the Marian shrine at Fatima, the Portuguese Lourdes, 120 kilometres north of Lisbon. The mass was attended by half a million people.
Meeting Catholic charity workers at the shrine, the Pope called for “defence of life” and “indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman” in response to what he described as the dangerous threats of gay marriage and abortion. He offered his thanks to those who helped people “wounded by the drama of abortion”.
His words will be studied in Britain where Catholics prepare for their own visit by the Pope in September. In the pre-election television debates, David Cameron said he disagreed with the Pope’s teaching on homosexuality. The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg indicated he agreed with Mr Cameron.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, accused Benedict of trying to interfere with the Portugal’s democratic will.
If the President of Portugal approves the law on gay marriage – and there is every indication that she will – it will represent a slap in the face for the Pope’s authority.
Trivia fans may be interested to know that, in 1952, Warner Bros released The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, describing it as 'the motion picture that reaches deep inside you!'
Tony Green, spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, which will be debating gay marriage and civil partnership at its annual conference in London tomorrow, said:
It is one thing to oppose gay marriage from religious convictions and another to make such a claim about it when you look at issues such as teenage pregnancy, sexual disease, drug abuse, world poverty and war. This is an appalling, unfounded and unjust claim. I do not really see on what basis he can say gay marriage is among the most dangerous challenges to society. It ignores real social evils the Church and others should be addressing with far greater urgency.
The mass at the shrine at Fatima marked the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three shepherd children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary as the sun “spun” in the sky.
They claimed the Madonna confided to them three secrets foretelling the Second World War, the conversion of Russia to Christianity and the attempt on the life of John Paul II in 1981.
John Paul believed the Virgin Mary helped save him from the attempted assassination, which took place on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
In his homily at the shrine, Pope Benedict, dressed in white and gold vestments and sounding hoarse, said:
We delude ourselves if we think that the prophetic mission of Fatima has come to an end.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
May 14th, 2010 at 9:30 am
If the Pope had said “We delude ourselves”, I’d agree. A very appropriate motto indeed.
May 14th, 2010 at 9:59 am
The old guy has clearly lost it and is definitely one sandwich short of a picnic. Not only the gay marriage nonsense he spouts but he is well into the Lady Fatima fantasy based on the imaginings of three brainwashed peasant children. I ask you, they see something as the sun “spun” in the sky and the spinning by the Vatican has been going on ever since. Add to that all the bleeding Virgin Mary’s; the Saints’ bones; the lucrative rackets in trashy goods at European Centre for infestation and spread of bugs, Lourdes, and he is well off the wall.
He spreads misery, blocks help to the vulnerable, and relies of the “Statehood” confered by the fascist Mussolini who ended strung up by his heels by the Italian people, to avoid prosecution. If David Cameron and Nick Clegg both, as they must, disagree with Ratzinger’s nasty and cruel policies why is the UK still agreeing to spend £20 million on a State visit? The object of this being to spread the very policies they, I assume, detest.
This man is a sad, but vicious, dictator in his own fantasy world. Why indulge him, appease him and pander to his already outrageous ego.
That was a terrific letter in The Times.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:05 am
I would say the most insidious and dangerous challenge to society is the rape of children and the subsequent cover up of said rape by those in so called moral authority. Wonder why ratboy doesn’t want to bring that up?
May 14th, 2010 at 10:26 am
One of my favourite quotes from Dawkins was in The God Delusion when he says JP2 attributed his survival of the assassination attempt to intervention by Our Lady of Fatima, saying, ‘A maternal hand guided the bullet.’ Dawkins muses, “One cannot help wondering why she didn’t guide it to miss him altogether.”
May 14th, 2010 at 11:19 am
And on the thank you visit to Fatima in Portugal in 1982, JPII was rushed by a mentally ill priest wielding a bayonet. Doesn’t sound very lucky to me.
I understand the Fatima girl is on the table for sainthood?
http://www.catholicnews.com/da.....800847.htm
Benny sure is desperate to throw some saints up on the board, by any means necessary.
May 14th, 2010 at 11:29 am
If you actually read the so-called prophecies of Fatima, instead of just believing what someone told you they say like ardent catholics do, you find that the third one does not describe a scene even remotely like the attack on JP2 in fact it doesn’t even mention the pope.
But then the second one really can’t be said to be anything more than a prediction of the end of WW1 (no great feat to predict “the war will end” without specifying where, when or how)and general mayhem if Russia does not convert to catholicism……..since no mention is made of any axis nation or of any allied nation other than Russia (incidentally not the USSR as I remember, but I could be wrong there) it can not be described as in any way a prophecy of WW2.
The first “secret” turned out to be nothing more than a vision of hell – something I’m sure pious catholic peasants could envision quite readily – with no predictions at all.
BTW Ratzi himself wrote “A careful reading of the text of the so-called third ‘secret’ of Fatima … will probably prove disappointing or surprising after all the speculation it has stirred. No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled.”
May 14th, 2010 at 11:32 am
correction about that 3rd “prophecy” – “it doesn’t mention the pope” is not strictly accurate, it states “a bishop in white, we had the feeling that it was the pope”
May 14th, 2010 at 11:35 am
And just when he seemd to be saying something sensible at long last!
God is VERY angry about all this homo sex, believe me: better watch out for more earthquakes!!
May 14th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Just look at these images. They turn my stomach!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/8681019.stm
May 14th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
There is a similar photo on wonkette.com but the caption reads “Benedict addressing the victims of sexual abuse”
May 14th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
@chrbol I had a head on car smash some years ago. Both cars mashed up and myself in not the best of shape. Happened to meet a christian type acquaintance a couple of weeks later with my wife with me. Says christian:
“I heard that was a terrible car crash you were involoved in. God must be saving you for something he wants you to do.”
My wife: “You don’t suppose god could have saved him without all the hurt, worry and expense of a car crash?”
Odd way these christians have of thinking, isn’t it.
May 14th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
The more we attack and expose Ratzi’s criminal gang activities the more outrageous are his desperate sounding comments. Let’s keep up the pressure!
May 14th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Broga
That’s bloody amazing I had a head-on also but when somebody phoned the missus she said and I quote “Is the car alright?”
Women eh! You can’t live with em, and you can’t live with em!
May 14th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
chrsbol.
That “Is the car all right” is one I have heard at times. There are variations: “Was there much damage to the car?” with driver on a drip in hospital
“Was it comprehensively insured” is another.
I also like the story of the man who goes to visit his friend in a nearby street. Knocks on the door and asks, “Is Andy in?”
Wife opens the door and says, “I am sorry to tell you that he died a few days ago.”
“Did he mention a pot of paint?” asks the man.
May 14th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I really don’t know why we listen to these evil old men. More to the point why so many fools turn up? I suspect most go for novelty value
May 14th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
When I read the media reports of the “third secret of Fatima”, I made the logical asumption that it had been composed by a Vatican script-writer days before its publication in an attempt to justify its suppression until after Wojtyla’s death on the ground that it would have encouraged potential assassins to make it self-fulfilling.
Reading what the prophecy actually said satisfies me that Lucia dos Santos probably did write it in 1945, and the pope she expected to be shot down by the invading allies was Hitler’s full partner in the Holocaust, Pius XII.
As insane as Ratzinazi is, he cannot possibly believe that the Turin shroud and the Fatima hoax are what he pretends they are. The man is an unmitigated liar.
May 14th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular is built on a huge inverted pyramid of lies. The first thing in the New Testament, the title “The Gospel According To Matthew” is a lie. It is the Gospel according to no one knows who and I am sure that Dr. Harwood needs no lessons from me about how many other of the NT books are forgeries or have been modified beyond recognition by copyists.
May 14th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Peter Tatchell said that Ratzinger has lost all his sense of moral priorities. Correction. That deluded drag queen in red Gucci shoes never had any to begin with. The ivory tower these bastards live in has many cracks and it can’t last forever. Pictures of him being worshipped like an oriental potentate in a white silk dress made me puke. According to him, Gay marriage will destroy civilization. If it has withstood 2000 years of Vatican crap it can withstand anything.
May 14th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
@BROGA
true story, some twenty five odd years ago my friend had a crash on his m/bike. he’s lying there in the road when this bloke comes up and said “have an accident?” my friend, even though injured (there ain’t no way i could have done this) replied “no thanks, i’ve just had one”.
May 14th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
@ Broga, Chrsbol & Graham: If we’re gonna swap accident stories here, let me tell you what happened to me about 20 years ago in the Wembley area. I was motorcycling home one evening with a takeaway tub of stir-fried noodles tucked inside my bikers jacket when I was hit by a motorist who pulled out of a side street.
As I lay in the road, I became aware of a burning sensation across my chest. It was, of course, my hot takeaway dinner. The driver rushed up and asked if I was OK. “Yes, just help me get my fucking jacket unzipped” I snarled. He did so immediately, but when the noodles burst forth in a scene reminiscent of Alien, he fainted clean away, and hit the back of his head on the tarmac.
I was completely uninjured, but he had to be taken away in an ambulance. The coppers who arrived to take my statement had ever such a hard time keeping a straight face.
May 14th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
OK Barry you win mate I can’t blackcat that!
May 14th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
@Barry Duke you have just had me cracking up.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Barry Duke – you crack me up. I wonder what Ratzinger would have done? Declared a miracle? Or denounced you for the evil take-away-eater that you must have been?
Saint Barry Duke. Hmm. It has a ring…
May 14th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Accident Stories.
OK guys and thanks. I promise this is the last and it may even be true. I got it from a good source. Phone call for ambulance. Man with some kind of “personal and private injury” according to his wife. Man lying in bed upstairs and bleeding. Unable to walk. They get him on a stretcher and start to carry him downstairs. He is bleeding from the genitals. Half way down one of the ambulance men asked, “So what happened?” This was before the days of para medics.
Man says I thought I heard a burglar so I went downstairs in the dark. Stumbled and stepped on the cat. The cat jumped and grabbed me though my pyjamos and bit me.
The front ambulance man starts to laugh so much he drops the stretcher and the guy falls out and breaks his wrist.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
I’ll never be able to start eating a bowl of fried noodles and keep a straight face because I’ll break out laughing every time, Barry.
May 15th, 2010 at 2:16 am
I am waiting for the final miracle. The one that awakens mankind from it’s psychosis. When they no longer have to kill or die for a delusion. Living their lives for the day, realizing that they WILL die, and that is the end. No praying their souls into the afterlife. Just respecting them while they live, not gathering to repect them after they’re dead.
I’m working on how to fry that message into a piece of toast, so I can sell it on Ebay, but it’s not working.
NeoWolfe
June 11th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Very flattered to see my comment quoted on here. Having read this article and some very funny comments, it crossed my mind to wonder if His Holiness’s belief in vague visions by children with heatstroke extends to prophecies in general – if so he needs to check out Nostradamus, who predicted the second fall of the Holy Roman Empire. Not difficult to imagine he could have been talking about the Vatican’s putrid empire.