This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
the pope
its chucin it down ere so im just catching up with the gar /world see whos saying what and on the radio i just heard the pope has decided to retire at i think 82 years old becouse he feels hes to old fa-the-job and the vatican are saying nobodies ever retired alive before theve all died on the job, wot a way to go eh,and i thought gardening was hard enough at least it dont kill us,good luck and bless him hope he gets a nice little allotment to do in his older age hes erned it
0
Posts
Well, I doubt this is the forum to discuss politics or religion. If it was I would have to disagree with you very much Alan. He doesn't deserve a good retirement, I hope he never has a peacefull nights sleep for the rest of his life and God will deal with him if he sees him. And the last pope to resign was about 600 years ago.
This isn't really that sort of forum but, discodave I think you are being rather hard. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. He's 85 and he is the first to resign for 600 years, which I think is a sensible decision.
Wow! Such strong feelings! I'm not a Catholic but I have respect for Catholics. The RC church has had its times of terrible corruption and massive mistakes, but it has also preserved learning and cared for the poor when nobody much else was doing so. Catholic liberatiion theology in South America actually caused repressive and cruel right-wing dynasties to fall. If the wealth of the Catholic church were given away, it would certainly do a lot to alleviate poverty, but would be a drop in the ocean compared to the result of governments reallocating money now spent on armaments to social care. This is impossible because of the fallen, warlike nature of humanity and it is just that problem that religion deals with. All churches are human institutions and reflect human weakness and failure, but they also point to the hightest ideals and greatest needs of human beings.
If the world was ruled by gardeners it would be a better place.
In the sticks near Peterborough
The episode of Monty's French Gardens, shown last Friday, came from a monastery. The people there seemed a harmless bunch.
They seemed far more pleasant than the person who wrote a post above, and whose mind seems to be full of hatred and unpleasant thoughts. If anyone thinks that the pope is wicked, just look in a mirror, and you'll see someone who is a lot worse.
Many of the great gardens of Italy were built by cardinals and popes.
Gardening, politics, and religion have deep and intimate connections. These ideas go right back to the story of the garden of Eden, and earlier.