Wednesday 27 February 2013

Pope Emeritus

Pope Benedict  XV! will retire on February 28, 2013. He will be known as Pope Emeritus once he has retired. He will still be entitle to be addressed as "Your Holiness". He will wear a white cassock.

I would have though Dowager Pope would have been a better fit


Read more here:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/16248998/benedict-to-become-pope-emeritus-vatican/ 


Source: Esquire - Style blog
The Pope's New (bespoke) shoes.
The only question the fashion conscious will want to ask is does he keep the bespoke red Stefanelli leather shoes he wore in Sydney?

"But as he departs the Vatican, officials say Benedict will keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico. Artisanal, of course."
See more at:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf

But as he departs the Vatican, officials say Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico. Artisanal, of course. - See more at: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf
But as he departs the Vatican, officials say Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico. Artisanal, of course. - See more at: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpuf
But as he departs the Vatican, officials say Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico. Artisanal, of course. - See more at: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/the-pope-new-shoes#sthash.4ZfVebMK.dpufV
 

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Blinded by the Polls

Dear me, it has come to this.
The media are so fully inside their own vortex of criticism that they cannot see what they are doing.

It seems to me that, like Manfred Mann, they are "Blinded by the Light"
  • Blinded by the light,
    revved up like a deuce,

    another runner in the night
Has nobody yet thought that bad polls do not constitute a democratic process?
The Media are just listening to themselves talking to eachother.

 
The particular SMH article which has prompted my comment states:
"Julia Gillard, it is time for you to make your graceful, dignified, humble, selfless exit from the Prime Ministership.
Stay and it's harder for those who love you to save the furniture and protect your legacy.
Stay and you will hurt more.
Forget Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. This is about you.
Forget the loss of face. Life's too short."

The Media are just listening to themselves talking to eachother.
In fact, the "talking" has reached frenzy pitch.
They are screaming at eachother.


What will be the outcome?
The Media Scrum would have us believe that Julia will walk away.


Perhaps Manfred Mann has it right:
  • She got down but she never got tired
    She's gonna make it through the night

Read more: MANFRED MANN - BLINDED BY THE LIGHT LYRICS


Edit/Update:

T
he SMH is belatedly trying to redress the "Balance" (is there such a thing, these days?).

They gave Eva Cox a right of reply.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/why-julia-gillard-should-stay-20130220-2eqvz.html
 

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Pope Benny resignation - "Bag Out Benny" Day

The news is everywhere - Pope Benedict XVI has announced his intention to resign on 28 February 2013.

When I was a Seminarian in Rome, Cardinal Ratzinger was a figure of loathing within the Vatican Heirarchy. A kind of marauding Evil Angel. My memory of him goes back to 1968. That's a long time.
At last he has gone. 

No wonder I am going a bit "Spas" about his resignation!
I have loathed that man, and everything he stood for, for 45 years.  


Me, in Rome, 1968.
A young Seminarian at Propaganda Fidei College.

There is one other Australian, who has the right to be feeling somewhat satisfied tonight.
Father Paul Collins, a former religious broadcaster on ABC Radio,
He resigned from active ministry as a Priest in March 2001. The reason was: "After thirty three years I have decided to resign as an ‘active' priest to  return to being an ordinary Catholic believer. Many people will justifiably  ask: why? The reason is simple: I can no longer conscientiously subscribe to  the policies and theological emphases coming from the Vatican and other official church sources."
He continues: "I have often been critical of the church's  leadership, perhaps too harshly at times, in books, broadcasts, talks and  articles. I have been concerned with ecclesiastical narrowness and the de  facto denial of catholicity. But I also constantly argued that it was only  by ‘staying in' the priesthood that someone like myself could influence  things and bring about change. But it was always an every-day decision to  continue the struggle through the internal structures of the church. And  there can come a moment when you decide that both conscientiously and  strategically ‘staying in' no longer remains a viable or honest option. You  realise that you can no longer collude in what is happening by remaining in  the official priesthood."

He names his nemesis as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - then Cardinal Ratzinger.

That was Pope Benedict's name, while still working his way up through the Bureaucracy of the Vatican.

I wish Paul Collins all the very best tonight.
No doubt for him it will be a bitter-sweet event.


It has been suggested to me by Rosslyn, on Facebook, that we declare a festive Bag Out Benny Day:

Some jokes doing the rounds:

*** He will be known as the Breakfast Pope, Ex-Benedict. (apologies to James Rolfe)
http://proxy.storify.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBC2EgSpCUAAkXdI.jpg


*** Why is everybody surprised that Pope Benny pulled out early?
He's a Catholic, after all.


*** This last one is a Divine Punch Line
Lightning struck the Dome of St Peters basilica just hours after the Pope announced his resignation.
I am suspicious of this image having been either saved up from a previous event, or simply Photoshopped, but it is presented by the mainstream media  as genuine.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BC2h8wiCcAEuA05.jpg:large

  • RT @AFP: #PHOTO: Lightning strikes St Peter's dome at #Vatican on day the #Pope announced resignation, by Filippo Monteforte http://pic.twitter.com/FehVjFYP

Thursday 7 February 2013

Flushing out the "Loonies"

My colleague Brigid. over at The Network has picked up this gem.

Pastor Danny Nalliah, of Catch the Fire Ministries in Melbourne, is a well known religious zealot. His pal Viscount Christopher Monckton is his secular (political) equivalent.
The two will be working as a double act, in Canberra, at the National Press Club, it seems.
What were the Press Club people thinking?
http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/?p=707

Christopher Walter Monckton,
3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley


I am advised this is a privately booked event, and as such it is not an official National Press Club event, unlike their Lunches, which are regularly televised on the ABC. We can but hope the ABC does not televise this event. But the Media knows the pulling power of Monckton with his eyes reminiscent of the late, great, Marty Feldman.

Late, great Marty Feldman
Famous British comedian
REMEMBER: "IT IS BY BEING QUIET AND POLITE CITIZENS WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE IGNORED"