730ham

The Good Pope
    by RB Ham

            Pope John Paul II has gained my respect. The unfortunate few that have been subjected to my
satirical skits, parodies and rants would find this odd. Uh, RB, aren’t you like an atheist or something?
What’s up? I mean, you make fun of the very religious issues that JP II has committed his life to.
Please explain this apparent dichotomy. All right, I will, since I’ve been planning to do it for awhile.

            Lately, the Pope has turned his ministry toward the healing of old wounds. He’s become the first
Pope to visit in a mosque and a synagogue. He has called for a Universal forgiveness, and has performed
his own mea culpa to the memories of all the victims of Roman Catholic bigotry. There’s no sense in
dragging up the Crusades and Inquisition. Those were dark times, and evil men had a lot of unchecked power.
But the Holocaust was recent and even the Pope, while doing his mea culpa acknowledged the fact that
the Catholic Church could have done more to oppose the Nazi’s spreading philosophy.

            Even though they are still an archaic, slowly changing Institution, the Vatican has lately, under a
supposedly infirm leader, moved radically to the center. I think this Pope realizes that Pope JP I was right.
For the Church to thrive and prosper, they will have to reject extremism while embracing their faith.

            Just last year the Pope was heard to talk in more Hermetic and Gnostic tones when it comes to
the reality of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, Limbo etc. He talked of Hell as being a state of mind, and
that we had free choice to create it. He steered away from the Dogmatic, counting saints on pinheads
Philosophy, instead preferring to talk ecumenically of reaching out to all faiths.

Go JP II!

Incredible, considering the strain he must put himself under just to keep going.

            As everyone knows, their stance on family planning, prevention and abortion is the Big Rusty
Chain that follows them around. In large Catholic majority countries, there is a rise in unwanted
pregnancies, poor married people often have more children than they can afford to feed and clothe.
Homelessness, prostitution and crime are the inevitable results.

            None of which, however, should take away from the very real accomplishments of John Paul
II. He has a pair of cojones, I’ll tell ya. Ever since he’s been Pope he’s had to walk a minefield
between the old time Fundamentalist sect and the more moderate side who worry about the declining
fannies in the pews. He was one of those that helped the Cold War to fade away relatively harmlessly.
With Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher buying into his vision, there were no cataclysmic wars and/or
genocides while the USSR set out to try and introduce a free market system.

       Sadly, the Black Market simply legitimized themselves and their tentacles were soon reaching
into Legit Biz. And with the International Banking system fully efficient, the Russian banks were soon
laundering drug profits world wide. Now, former KGB criminals are running the show in Russia.

      Enduringly and endearingly, JP II labours on. What drives him? Once he remarked that if a
cataclysm were to occur and wipe out the world (third secret of Fatima?) that it would be best to get
good with God. To any Christian, sound advice.

      After years of study, I finally read the true history of the Roman Catholic church – all their
glories and all their disasters. I grew not a favorable opinion of the Church, and yes, I abhored the
widespread cultural genocide they had inspired in the New World.

      Which is why I admire this Pope. He may not have all the answers, so he keeps asking new
questions. Pushing boundaries. Making a case for a mainstream modern movement that fallen Catholics
like my wife Zsu Zsu Petals may again be able to come back to.

      But that’s another story, A good one, it involves a 30-minute conversation with a Bishop of Saskatoon.
My in-laws were buddies with most of the archdiocese. My father in law was their accountant, did the books.
So one day my wife’s brother and sister in law were to be christened.

Big toodoo….(to be cont.)