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Hitchens: I'm sorry that I probably won't live to see the death of 'elderly criminal' Benedict XVI
Telegraph ^ | August 4, 2010 | Damian Thompson

Posted on 08/04/2010 10:48:12 AM PDT by NYer

Vanity Fair have sent me a preview of Christopher Hitchens’s very unpleasant piece about his cancer – unpleasant not just because Hitchens describes in detail the invasion of his body by a monstrous tumour, but also because it contains a despicable slur against the Pope. (And Henry Kissinger, but I don’t care about that.)

He writes: “Will I really not live long enough … to read – if not indeed write – the obituaries of elderly criminals like Henry Kissinger and Joseph Ratzinger?”

This should scarcely need saying, but Pope Benedict XVI is not a criminal: neither Hitchens nor anyone else has produced evidence that he covered up the crimes of paedophile priests. On the contrary, he sought to tighten up canonical procedures against sex abusers. There were plenty of cover-ups; it’s just that the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith didn’t organise them and, indeed, fought battles with some of those prelates who did.

So this is a nasty piece of character assassination, sadly typical of a brilliant journalist who, once he’s made up his mind about somebody, shuts out information that might force him to tone down the savagery of his rhetoric. And it’s not rendered any less nasty by the fact that “Hitch” is – by his own account – probably dying. But it does make the whole thing desperately sad.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: atheism; hitchens; homosexualagenda; pope
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Christopher Hitchens describes the Pope as an 'elderly criminal'
1 posted on 08/04/2010 10:48:14 AM PDT by NYer
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To: NYer

I’ve had wildly differing feelings about Hitchens. Couldn’t stand him in his Edward Said period, but now and then he’d aim his intellect at Clinton, admit he liked Thatcher, and a few other things. Sorry to see he’s being consumed with hate as he’s being consumed by cancer.


2 posted on 08/04/2010 10:50:06 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 ("Fanaticism is described as redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim."-G. Santayana)
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; markomalley; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; ...
Let's continue to pray for the conversion of his heart and soul.

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


3 posted on 08/04/2010 10:50:07 AM PDT by NYer ("God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar." St. Maximilian Kolbe)
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To: NYer

OK, Mr. Hitchens is a putz. But, as a Catholic, I still need to pray for him.

I am sorry for his trouble.


4 posted on 08/04/2010 10:52:05 AM PDT by RexBeach ("Duty is ours; consequences are God's." Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson)
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To: NYer

Why should you even worry about the writings of a man who has been bitter and hateful all of his life, and has tried to disguise his state of mind in his very self-serving biography? Christopher Hitchens is obviously miserable. And God says Hitchens is a fool, anyway.


5 posted on 08/04/2010 10:52:39 AM PDT by righttackle44 (I may not be much, but I raised a United States Marine.)
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To: NYer

Well, you’re wrong Christopher. I hope it’s just the cancer talking. God bless you, and may you be healed in mind and body.


6 posted on 08/04/2010 10:53:44 AM PDT by agere_contra (...what if we won't eat the dog food?)
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To: NYer
"God is dead" : Hitchens

"Hitchens is dead" : God

7 posted on 08/04/2010 10:55:29 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (''I don't regret setting bombs,I feel we didn't do enough.'' ->Bill Ayers,Hussein's mentor,9/11/01)
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To: NYer

I’m getting tired of the casual hyperbole that is used by sensationalist writers. Rather than think out their sentences and their implications they use a shorthand and hyperbole that is indefinite at best, typically misleading, and an outright lie at worst. “Elderly criminal” to Hitchens may mean something different than “elderly criminal” . . . and if pressed on it he’d throw out some explanation of what he meant rather than “elderly criminal.” Annoying, sloppy thinking and very mean spirited at this stage in his life. Hope the poor bastard opens up his mind before he is gone for good.


8 posted on 08/04/2010 10:56:17 AM PDT by Mere Survival (The time to fight was yesterday but now will have to do.)
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To: agere_contra
God bless you, and may you be healed in mind and body.

Amen

9 posted on 08/04/2010 10:56:19 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: righttackle44

Hitchens is the perfect example that a person, ANY PERSON, is not either all bad or all good......HOWEVER, he does seem just a TAD anti-Catholic, hating Mother Teresa and Pope Benedict......two VERY GOOD PEOPLE.


10 posted on 08/04/2010 10:56:30 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion......the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: NYer

Prayers up for him.


11 posted on 08/04/2010 10:57:01 AM PDT by AliVeritas (Pray, Pray, Pray. Stop Barrystroika.)
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To: NYer

Seriously, if I were Hitch, and I believed this life were all there was, I’d leave off the hunt for Henry and Pope Benedict (and the quest to urinate on Mother Teresa’s grave, pardon the vulgarity), and spend more time with booze, coke and hookers.


12 posted on 08/04/2010 10:57:32 AM PDT by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: NYer
Let's continue to pray for the conversion of his heart and soul.

Good point.While there's breath in his body he can still find Truth.

13 posted on 08/04/2010 10:58:08 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (''I don't regret setting bombs,I feel we didn't do enough.'' ->Bill Ayers,Hussein's mentor,9/11/01)
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To: NYer

I like Hitch, but, man, he makes it hard sometimes.


14 posted on 08/04/2010 10:59:42 AM PDT by MikeGranby
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To: RichInOC
(and the quest to urinate on Mother Teresa’s grave, pardon the vulgarity)...

Did he *really* say that????

15 posted on 08/04/2010 11:00:06 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (''I don't regret setting bombs,I feel we didn't do enough.'' ->Bill Ayers,Hussein's mentor,9/11/01)
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To: NYer
Dear Mr. Hitchens,

Please know that we are praying for you.

And I'm sure His Holiness prays for you as well.

Antoninus
16 posted on 08/04/2010 11:00:17 AM PDT by Antoninus (It's a degenerate society where dogs have more legal rights than unborn babies.)
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To: RichInOC

Ten Bucks on a Death Bed conversion!


17 posted on 08/04/2010 11:00:23 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: NYer
typical of a brilliant journalist

So, what exactly makes him a "brilliant" journalist ?

18 posted on 08/04/2010 11:01:22 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: NYer
I pray for Mr. Hitchens that he receives true salvation in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth and I AGREE wholeheartedly with his assessments of Kissinger and the Pope. Sorry boys.

I also think the Lord God on high also agrees with Hitchens about Kissinger and Popery. Especially Popery that has enslaved so many through sexual abuse for the last seventy years at the hands of pedophile priests.

Lord God, I ask for a miracle in your name. I ask that Christopher Hitchens would see that You are the one who loves him and that You write his name in your lamb's book of life. Thank for for the gift of who Christopher Hitchens has been to us as a brilliant thinker and truth teller. Lord I also ask that all liars hypocrites and the rich men and ruling men of the earth whom commit abomination in Your sight would be exposed, discredited, and cut off from harming any more people. Thank you for hearing my prayer Lord God.

19 posted on 08/04/2010 11:02:02 AM PDT by TwoLegsGood ("...my sin is ever before me" - King David)
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To: RichInOC

Yeah, if Atheism is true why fuss with the crazy Christians when you could be living it up with booze coke and hookers.

I just don’t get this guy at all.


20 posted on 08/04/2010 11:02:17 AM PDT by HerrBlucher (In the White House the mighty White House the Liar sleeps tonight.............)
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