Pope Francis brings back the devil

[NobleSavage]

....Largely under the radar, theologians and Vatican insiders say, Francis has not only dwelled far more on Satan in sermons and speeches than his recent predecessors have, but also sought to rekindle the Devil’s image as a supernatural entity with the forces* of evil at his beck and call.

“Pope Francis never stops talking about the Devil; it’s constant,” said one senior bishop in Vatican City who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. “Had Pope Benedict done this, the media would have clobbered him.”

Although it is difficult to measure, Vatican officials talk about a resurgence of mystical rites in the church, including exorcism — or the alleged act of evicting demons from a living host. Cardinals in Milan; Turin, Italy; and Madrid, for instance, recently moved to expand the number of exorcists in their dioceses to cope with what they have categorized as surging demand.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...b93-4662-abbb-d877e49f15ea_story.html?hpid=z3

 

[ideologyhunter]

I find Satan to be a potential tipping point for Christians -- if you talk about "him" enough, you begin to sound like an Ernest Angley-type fruitcake. If you downplay Satan to insignificance or insist that Satan is a metaphor for sinful hearts, you end up with Jesus in the desert tempted by himself.

 

[Thomas II]

“Pope Francis never stops talking about the Devil; it’s constant,” said one senior bishop in Vatican City who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. “Had Pope Benedict done this, the media would have clobbered him.”

Although it is difficult to measure, Vatican officials talk about a resurgence of mystical rites in the church, including exorcism — or the alleged act of evicting demons from a living host. Cardinals in Milan; Turin, Italy; and Madrid, for instance, recently moved to expand the number of exorcists in their dioceses to cope with what they have categorized as surging demand.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...b93-4662-abbb-d877e49f15ea_story.html?hpid=z3

Why is the Pope "bringing back" the devil?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Why is the Pope "bringing back" the devil?

Exorcism is a cash cow for the Church. If you don't have a devil, you don't have anything to exorcise and people will be giving their money to doctors and psychologists instead of to priests.

It's like the line from The Big Bang Theory - "Last year, we both invented and cured Restless Leg Syndrome".

If you're going to hock a fake cure, you need to invest in marketing the fake disease that you're fake curing.

 

[NobleSavage]

Why is the Pope "bringing back" the devil?

Hell if I know.

 

[Thomas II]

Why is the Pope "bringing back" the devil?

Exorcism is a cash cow for the Church. If you don't have a devil, you don't have anything to exorcise and people will be giving their money to doctors and psychologists instead of to priests.

It's like the line from The Big Bang Theory - "Last year, we both invented and cured Restless Leg Syndrome".

If you're going to hock a fake cure, you need to invest in marketing the fake disease that you're fake curing.

Exactly...We're back to scare tactics...

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Exactly...We're back to scare tactics...

Well, the man has a business to run. You don't see the President of Pfizer coming out and saying "You know, most elderly men can actually get it up just fine and this little pill doesn't really help most of the customers who are buying it from us". He has them focus on the fear that limpness might happen and be proactive about dealing with it since that strategy maximizes his company's profits.

In a time when attendance in Catholic churches and the associated tithes are down, the Pope has a fiduciary responsibility to help maximize whatever alternative revenue streams are available.

 

[Thomas II]

Exactly...We're back to scare tactics...

Well, the man has a business to run. You don't see the President of Pfizer coming out and saying "You know, most elderly men can actually get it up just fine and this little pill doesn't really help most of the customers who are buying it from us". He has them focus on the fear that limpness might happen and be proactive about dealing with it since that strategy maximizes his company's profits.

In a time when attendance in Catholic churches and the associated tithes are down, the Pope has a fiduciary responsibility to help maximize whatever alternative revenue streams are available.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

So, at the same time that he's getting people worried about the world, so they'll invest in the security of gold, he's the guy who owns the gold they're going to be buying?

Looks like El Papa is about to find himself on the business end of a patent infringement lawsuit from Glenn Beck.

 

[Clivedurdle]

Read that article! Chocolate is of satan!

During the conference, the Rev. Cesar Truqui, an exorcist based in Switzerland, recounted one experience he had aboard a Swissair flight. “Two lesbians,” he said, had sat behind him on the plane. Soon afterward, he said, he felt Satan’s presence. As he silently sought to repel the evil spirit through prayer, one of the women, he said, began growling demonically and threw chocolates at his head.

Asked how he knew the woman was possessed, he said that “once you hear a Satanic growl, you never forget it. It’s like smelling Margherita pizza for the first time. It’s something you never forget.”

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Either that, or the growl means you're pissed off at the comments being made by the bigotted asshole who's sitting infront of you so you throw chocolate at his head.

Assume, however, that the priest is correct. This would mean that the power of Satan, the devil, the source of all evil in the world, basically amounts to the ability to throw little pieces of chocolate at people. That doesn't sound like an adversary worth worrying about all that much.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Yes. Exactly what would YOU do if you were Satan and two of your Lesbians were next to an exorcist?

I'd have them make out. Flight attendants screaming 'put your clothes back on PLEASE!' would draw far more attention, and get the image spread farther, than throwing the in-flight snack at an old bigot.

Or crash the plane. If this guy's really a threat to me, and i've detected him on something as fragile as a jet liner, why not ruin it? Cripple the systems at take-off or landing, so the survival of my lesbians isn't that big of a miracle, but make sure that my lesbians' luggage cuts him in half during the crash.

Hmm. Anyone looked to see if there was an exorcist on the Malaysian flight manifest?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Wait... exorcist? A church desperate to move in to the 21st century is still performing these things?

And a convention for exorcism? Man, curious what those display tables look like.

Unlike in the movies, he said, the process of driving demons out typically takes multiple sessions over many years.

Hollywood can't get anything right!

 

[Perspicuo]

Read that article! Chocolate is of satan!

During the conference, the Rev. Cesar Truqui, an exorcist based in Switzerland, recounted one experience he had aboard a Swissair flight. “Two lesbians,” he said, had sat behind him on the plane. Soon afterward, he said, he felt Satan’s presence. As he silently sought to repel the evil spirit through prayer, one of the women, he said, began growling demonically and threw chocolates at his head.

Asked how he knew the woman was possessed, he said that “once you hear a Satanic growl, you never forget it. It’s like smelling Margherita pizza for the first time. It’s something you never forget.”

Signore Truqui calls his bobbing erect penis when seeing lesbians, "the devil". I know a guy who calls his peter "Little Joe"!

 

[Potoooooooo]

Either that, or the growl means you're pissed off at the comments being made by the bigotted asshole who's sitting infront of you so you throw chocolate at his head.

Assume, however, that the priest is correct. This would mean that the power of Satan, the devil, the source of all evil in the world, basically amounts to the ability to throw little pieces of chocolate at people. That doesn't sound like an adversary worth worrying about all that much.

What a ridiculous story, no lesbian I know would waste chocolate like that

 

[Tom Sawyer]

What a ridiculous story, no lesbian I know would waste chocolate like that

Wow. So, you're saying that all lesbians are a bunch of fatties? That just because they like women, they don't care about their figures or their health or anything like that?

How about dialing down the bigotry to a seven or so, dude?

 

[Potoooooooo]

What a ridiculous story, no lesbian I know would waste chocolate like that

Wow. So, you're saying that all lesbians are a bunch of fatties? That just because they like women, they don't care about their figures or their health or anything like that?

How about dialing down the bigotry to a seven or so, dude?

 

[Angry Floof]

Religious sexual repression ftw:

 

[Thomas II]

What a ridiculous story, no lesbian I know would waste chocolate like that

Wow. So, you're saying that all lesbians are a bunch of fatties? That just because they like women, they don't care about their figures or their health or anything like that?

How about dialing down the bigotry to a seven or so, dude?

 

[Observer]

Really? The guy is the fracking "Pope", complete with a funny hat and a magic wand. He is claiming to be the successor of God incarnate on Earth, who died for our sins. Is it not until he brings up the "devil" that his credibility is in doubt and our eyebrows are raised in disbelief? All the other garbage he claims and stands for is otherwise reasonable?