Pope

The Pope  is essentially the head of the Roman Catholic Church and Leader of the Vatican. In some restricted conditions the Pope is considered infallible. The Church says that in some very rare cases what the Pope teaches can't possibly be wrong. That means that if he's proven wrong, we imagine the universe is uncreated. In most situations the Pope is clearly a very fallible human being, and the universe remains very much intact. In all situations if you don’t believe the irrational and unfounded religious teachings the Pope’s liable to make mistakes. In advanced countries even ordinary Roman Catholics are more and more dissatisfied with the Pope.

A problem with AIDS
It looks very much as if the Pope would rather people die through AIDS than allow them to use condoms or any other form of birth control. The Lancet suspects that. Protestants, especially protestant Fundamentalists, also sometimes prefer if people die from preventable diseases; this includes innocents like babies born to infected mothers, and it's unlikely that the Pope is the only Roman Catholic who cares more about restricting condom use than about preventing disease and death. See:-
 * AIDS
 * STD
 * Christianity and the Commandment not to Murder

A problem with Nazism
The current Pope used to be Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and is German. It’s not his fault he used to be in the Hitler Youth as he was forced to join and was only 14 at the time. Ratzinger was forced to join the Nazi Luftwaffe later. 

We can’t reasonably hold either of these issues against Ratzinger or Pope Benedict XVI. None the less there is a problem when Benedict XVI reinstated a Bishop guilty of Holocaust denial without bothering to check information that was readily available.

"The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Williamson will not be allowed to perform priestly functions if he does not recant. He said the pope was unaware of the comments when he rehabilitated Williamson and three other members of the Society of Saint Pius X."

Has the Nazi indoctrination the unfortunate Ratzinger suffered in his youth influenced him more than is comfortable? The World War II Disney cartoon below shows how boys during Ratzinger's youth were indoctrinated to become good Nazi soldiers. In the film a Nazi teacher picks on a boy named Hans because his name isn't something more Nazi like Kurt or Werner. Young Joseph Ratzinger may have suffered similarly.

It should be noted that there were members of the Hitler Youth who strongly disagreed with Nazi ideologies and belonged to the Resistance movement, practicing non-violent, passive resistance. Ratzinger wasn't a member of the resistance, passive or otherwise...


 * Walt Disney - Anti Nazi Cartoon - Good Quality

A problem with Paedophilia
There are strong allegations that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is now the pope was more interested in covering up child abuse allegations and in protecting abusive priests than in protecting children. Anybody consider Ratzinger a rat? 

Rev. Stephen Kiesle
Rev. Stephen Kiesle had been found guilty in court of messing inappropriately with children but Ratzinger personally signed a letter that delayed getting that paedophile out of the priesthood. We certainly think Ratzinger is a rat? 
 * AP EXCLUSIVE: Future pope stalled pedophile case

Fr Lawrence Murphy
There is evidence this priest abused over 200 boys and picked on vulnerable deaf boys. Murphey abused repeatedly over several decades and was not denied access to children during this time. Ratzinger helped to cover it all up, as a head of State Ratzinger is immune from prosecution over this. 
 * Pope accused of failing to act on sex abuse case
 * Pope Joseph Ratzinger ignored inquiries from concerned church officials about ongoing sexual molestations by priests.
 * Thomas: Uncovering the cover-up by the Catholic Church
 * For Years, Deaf Boys Tried to Tell of Priest’s Abuse
 * Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys

Fr Peter Hullermann
Fr Peter Hullermann, a vicious sexual predator on children was allowed to continue as a priest. Unusually for the Roman Catholic Church they tried to restrict his access to minors but he flouted bans.
 * German sex abuser priest suspended for breaching ban
 * Peter Hullermann News

German abuse generally

 * Vatican accused over German sex abuse allegations

Out of touch
The pope is over 80 and in most companies they would think a man that age is too old to do the job properly. The Pope is out of touch with the modern world.

Medical opinion
The Pope is out of touch with medical opinion. The respected British medical journal, The Lancet accused the Pope of distorting science over his claim that condoms shouldn’t be used to combat AIDS.

"'Whether the Pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear, (....) When any influential person, be it a religious or political figure, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record,'"

Doctors fear the Popes comments could increase AIDS disastrously and urge the Pople to admit he was wrong. 

French Catholics
The Pope is out of touch with French Catholics. 80% of French Roman Catholics think their church is wrong over abortion, divorce and homosexuality and over 40% even want the Pope to resign. The majority also disagree with the church over remarriage after divorce. Just under half thinks the Pope defends the Roman Catholic Church badly. 

Resignation
The pope can resign but probably won't.

Death?
Well when Pope Benedict XVI was first elected he predicted a short reign, i.e. an early death. Will Benedict die conveniently as John Paul I did? Will embarrassment surrounding Benedict XVI end with his death?

John Paul I died, why?
Something went wrong with former Pope John Paul I who lasted barely a month and rumours abound. Was John Paul I murdered? Did John Paul I take his own life? Did he accidentally or intentionally overdose on his medication? Did the former Pope refuse treatment for a life threatening heart condition because he wanted to die? This would be marginally different from suicide or euthanasia according to convoluted ethical teaching and perhaps according to Roman Catholic teachings as well, see  Declaration on Euthanasia. Alternatively was the Pope in good health after all? 

Popes with dementia seem to die, why?
One would expect the elderly men who become Pope to develop Alzheimer or other types of dementia from time to time but somehow that doesn’t happen. Alternatively when Popes develop dementia they die conveniently before anything is obvious.

Don't ask us how The Vatican tries to justify what looks close to suicide or murder, we're not Vatican insiders and don't know.

Pope Benedict XVI looks set to survive
Pope Benedict XVI probably won’t die conveniently as too many people remember John Paul I and the Roman Catholic Church won’t want yet another set of rumours. Ratzinger and the Roman Catholic Church don't have that easy way out of their difficulties any more. Pope Benedict XVI will probably stay alive and will try and find some way or other to deal with the various mistakes he’s made and the problems he’s caused.

Ratzinger hasn't spoken recently about suicide except to condem assisted suicide in February 2010. Now what happens to Popes with dementia? From his opposition to suicide we can assume, he wasn't tempted then, he was firmly resisting temptation then.

Videos

 * Proving that the pope has never read the Bible Video