I heard this on the Cable news in Toronto today. I couldn’t find a link but apparently the new Pope prayed that he wouldn’t be elected Pope. But for some reason, God didn’t listen to him.
First of all, if God doesn’t listen to a Pope’s prayers, what chance do the rest of us have?
But dude! A billion people are looking to you for spiritual guidance. Some even expect you to save mankind from evil. You’re not exactly exuding confidence with an attitude like that. You’re supposed to be a direct link to the big man in the sky! You were dropped on earth for this specific reason. And now you’re trying to tell us that you never wanted the job in the first place?
Josef Ratziger, now Benedict XVI, can be called a number of things, some good and some bad. But this is the first (along with his request for prayer when first elected) that I’ve seen of him displaying some humility.
He ain’t supposed to have a “Hot Line to God”; you’re confusing him with the fundamentalist and evangelical Protestant televangelists who seem to think they do. What he’s got, according to Catholic dogma, is the ability to take doctrinal and teaching recommendations from his Curia and after prayer pronounce formally what Catholics should believe, being guided by the Holy Spirit to speak with certainty of accuracy. I don’t myself necessarily believe that, but it’s a far cry from “God said to tell you that the gays are responsible for 9/11” or similar BS.
He isn’t supposed to be confident. It’s not his job to be right himself; it’s his job to listen to God, and teach what God guides him to. Or so Catholics claim. Significant difference, anyway.
My guess is that Uncle Joe was perhaps consciously, perhaps unconsciously, echoing Jesus, who went deep into the Garden of Gethsemane to ask his father to take his cup away from him: ‘And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will”.’ (Mark 16:33-13)
Of course not. He needed the kids for his forced-labor camps.
As for Pope Benedict, I can sympathize with his situation. I’m not the type of person who seeks out the spotlight. I don’t wan’t to be famous. But obviously, God has other plans for Ratzinger. God’s plans don’t always correspond to our own, even if you’re a cardinal.
What the FUCK kind of person would display humility on the world stage in the face of God and over a billion of the faithful?
What a fucking douchebag, admitting that he was nervous.
If he had said, “I prayed for guidance and now believe that I am prepared for this office,” this thread would still have existed, except words like “hubris” would be replaced with “overconfident wanker” or somesuch.
The positions in the Vatican are all about power and noone can convince me that a man does not become Cardinal without a fairly good notion that he wields a helluva lot of clout, one way or another.
For him to say that he prayed to not have that, after years of being the force behind JPII is disingenous at best and conceited to boot.
In other words, I don’t believe for a second that this is Father O’Malley come into glory: simple man, a humble man…my aunt Fanny. He is pleased as punch to be able to solidify his positions on the direction of the Church. I would have had more respect for him if he had come out with both barrels blazing, frankly-there would have been some honesty there.
No, I would not have criticized him for being overzealous or confident–I would have expressed the dismay I already feel with his appointment. But now it is tempered with cynicism and sardonicism.
Whatever. It’s about as difficult these days to become Pope without wanting it badly as it is to become President without wanting it badly. Just because you can’t overtly campaing for it, doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton of behind-the-scenes campainging.
Although, it’s nice that you buy this whole humility trip. In a pollyanna-ish kind of way.
You do know that he attained the rank and power of cardianl a lo-o-o-o-ong time ago, right? And that, having passed the normal age for retirement for Europe and North America many years ago, he had asked JP II for permission to retire on several occasions?
I don’t like the guy very much for several reasons, but assuming that no one changes their aims and goals in life as they age is silly. Clearly, he did want power when he was younger. He also was successful in achieving that power and wielded it firmly for many years. (I believe that the 24 years in which he held the position of head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Inquisition, if you will) is one of the longest tenures on record.) Why is it so difficult to believe that after spending 24 years in a job that he only acquired at age 54, he would want to sit back for a while?
In fact, this whole thread is pretty silly. Happy Scrappy Hero Pup is right. Had it been reported that he had prayed to do a good job, the same people who are now blasting him for simply saying he wished he could retire would then be blasting him for being too conceited in accepting the position.
