[Conservative til I die]

Bring on all "The Pope is an idiot in a funny hat who walks funny" posts on this Christmas Eve.

[weikel]

Well he is. The Papacy has had a few periods in history where it has been on the side of good the Fall of Rome and Early Dark Ages. The period when Italy was occupied by France and Spain( Julius II was the man most responsible for driving them out). And the cold war. Its been on the side of evil through the rest of its history.

[Ancesthntr]

No disrespect for either the Vatican in particular, or Christians in general, but...

What I fail to understand is why the Vatican chooses to stand for the "right" of an obvious terrorist mastermind with lots of blood on his hands, who is not even Christian, to go to Bethlehem for an obvious publicity stunt. I would think that the Vatican would want to be perceived as being above or apart from the politics of the area, similar to how the US Supreme Court seeks to remain above internal politics here. It is a matter of credibility - you lose it as a "neutral party" if you become part of the fight on either side. I thought that the Vatican was smarter than that.

[a_witness]

The Pope is an old man and cannot bring himself to lead Christians against Islamic terrorism. He doesn't want to offend the Moslems because Islam is a religion of peace.

[Capt. Tom]

Bring on all "The Pope is an idiot in a funny hat who walks funny" posts on this Christmas Eve.

Relax. When the Pope speaks on matters of faith and morals ex cathedra to the members of the church he is infallible.When he expresses his opinins about other matters he is fair game, and may be an idiot in a funny hat depending on your opinion of the matter being commented on by the pope outside of faith and morals. - Tom