A modern catholic tale of horror...

John Paul II: Last victim of Catholic Martyrdom

OK, let me just clarify first that I'm not precisely a big Pope fan, despite the fact of having been raised in a catholic country and with a catholic grandma. This understood, reasons for either posting this pic or writing this note have nothing to do with my preferences regarding the church or the intention to annoy catholics or anyone else's beliefs (...I'll probably try that on future posts...). Quite on the contrary, I just pretend to reflect on some curiosities of catholic believers which have always seemed to me a bit strange, ever since I gained freedom of conciousness and realized than being a good christian had nothing to do with being a good catholic follower - and later, of course, I realized also than being a good person had nothing to do with being a "good christian" or any other "good" religious stereotype.

Not to loose the thread of all this, what I refer to is that incomprehensible mania of many catholics to extend pain or inflict suffering upon others, whenever they face the unpleasent circumstance of their dogmas crumbling and falling. Some may argue that is all the same for all religions of Judeo-Christian inspiration and I will not be the one to disagree. But I'll stick to catholics and the Pope situation, since it's a current affair and I consider it a top class item for illustration (Can anybody think of a bigger religious dogma falling???)

To begin, though I barely believe it is necessary, I'll do a short update on John Paul II situation: He's in a extremely delicate situation, with a tube just being implanted on his throath two days ago to enable him to breathe, and no possibility whatsoever to resign to his extremely demandig job. In other words, here we have a deteriorated octogenary, probably facing his last days on earth, with the responsability of running one of the most complex and powerful institutions of the world, but yet thousands of people, in catholic communities throughout the world, keep praying for him to resist alive and endure as much of this torture as his body can take... Believe me, if he was my grandpa, I'd be wishing for him to g0 as soon as possible, no matter how much I knew I was going to miss him.

I can understand many church followers consider suffering as a way to expiate sins before crossing the gates of death. But if that were so, I'd still be a personal option and nothing we can extend on anybody else's existence just for the sake of personal beliefs - and much less if we consider him/her the beloved and worshiped leader of our own.

On the Pope case, of course, things are a lot more complicated and he is caught on a trap he himself helped a lot to design, I will not dare to say with a free-thinking mind, but undoubtlesslly with accountability. In this crazy display of classical catholic irrationality, we have all the devotees pushing from one side for the Pope to struggle living, either for fear of his absence or a wicked sense of compassion; then we have the vatican establishment pushing his own bit on the fake premise than the Pope can still take more of this punishment, with nothing else on mind than the longer the Pope holds on to life, the longer they will have to set his own pieces on this worthy chess game and keep the reins of this mastodonic institution we call the Roman Catholic Church; and last, but not least, the Pope himself might be absolutely convinced that his destiny is still to keep walking on these earthly paths and sitting to rest on the royal seat of the Vatican empire for as long as he can... An uncertain option which we can agree to on the basis that most human beings hold to life with a desperation close to madness, but which, in this particular case at least, I believe it relates more to either: 1) the belief of truly considering himself the representative of a God on this planet (insane, if you ask me); or 2) the belief that people's destinies and the course of a whole state relies on the single survival of himself (not much of a difference with Fidel Castro way of seeing things)...

"Power wears you out?... Only if you don't have it", answered said Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, decades ago. In his current state, I doubt the Pope can detect clearly the false attraction of this statement and its content.

Even if we don't share his mission or legacy, let us wish John Pope II the shortest possible crucifixion.

Considering Jesus' calvary by his own, however... do not keep hopes high.