(Younger folk may not know that "Godfrey Daniels" was an expression associated with W.C. Fields. I hope I don't have to explain who Fields was...)
By Catholic standards, the Belgian cardinal is a liberal -- which, times being what they are, may explain why the odds in his favor are worsening. Too bad, because this is a guy who might carry the church into the 21st century -- well, maybe the 20th century -- well, maybe the late 19th century -- on issues of sexuality.
Believe it or not, Danneels has come out in favor of using condoms to fight AIDS. DUUUDE!!
He even has a (fan-made) web page, which features this slogan:
The Fight for the Papacy is ON! Let's get ready to RUM-BLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!People say he's got a good sense of humor, although I haven't yet discovered any witty quotes attributable to him.
If Danneels gets the nod...well. I won't rejoin the church of my birth, but I promise not to make fun of it quite so often. On the other hand, if Dionigi Tettamanzi dons the big hat, watch out. (He's the Opus DIE candidate.)
4 comments:
The present Pope made sure that all the Archbishops who were made Cardinals, who might remotely be considered as the next Pope were clones of himself. It doesn't really matter who becomes Pope now, because whoever it is will have the same views and the same antipathy toward change as this Pope.
God forbid that it's an Opus Dei candidate, but it well may be. This Pope Canonized Jose Maria Escriba de Balaguer who founded Opus Dei. Balaguer instituted ritual flagellation and other humiliations in his little Opus Dei club. He forced his followers to call him "Father" and to substitute the idea of himself as God when they prayed "Our Father who art in heaven". He was a real piece of work...changed his name to Escriva because it had more class. And this is a guy this Pope and this Pope's successors believe is a Saint. A pox on the whole lot.
Ratfuck Diary (http://ratfuckdiary.blogspot.com)
One of Danneels's better recent lines was the "Ik ben geen paard!" (I'm not a horse!) during the press conference he gave on thursday before the papal funeral, in respons to the question of a Dutch journalist who asked what he held from the fact that he was in the shortlist of some bookmakers.
That press conference in itself was an amazing move to say the least. Dean and Curia-man Cardinal Ratzinger had "urged" his fellow-cardinals to abstain from contact with the press; Danneels's reaction was to call for a press conference, stating gently that the freedom of expression is a basic human right; while deciding the day after the funeral without giving a blink during the congregation together with his collegues that a press silence should be kept from that moment on... "collegiality" - Vaticanese for more internal democracy within the Church institutions - being one of his favourite topics. When a journalist shortly before that asked him whether such a press conference was not to be interpreted as a signal for his NOT being a candidate, he answered that there are many more good candidates exept from him, citing the adagium: "those who enter the Vatican as a pope, leave it as a cardinal".
Vatican politics...
Joy Tomme: Balaguer really is a sissy compared to other canonisations effectuated dring this papacy. Take a look at archbishop Stepinac from Zagreb; he was the "spiritual leader" of the Croat puppet state installed by the Germans during WWII, and under whose reign 800.000 orthodox Serbs have been massacered (a fact that throws some different light on the origins of the 'Balcan wars' in Europe at the beginning of the nineties, immediately after the recognition of the independence of Slovenia and Croatia by... Germany and the Vatican (I swear you that this is the truth. I must admit, however, that I do not understand the reasons behind this papal decision, given the pope's personal history - the Holocaust, which in Poland wiped out jews and non-jews alike, John-Paul's repeatedly expressed denunciation of anti-semitism and war in general... There is someting other behind it, but I do not see what).
Markiezin
as a belgian catholic i was pleased to see that our cardinal is quiet popular ... he's a liberal and a very tolerant person. In your site i noticed you think he is frenchspeaking, that is not so. Cardinal Danneels is Flemish and so his mothertongue is (the Flemish variant of) Dutch. Like most Belgian 'officials' he is fluent in the 3 official languages of our tiny little country (Dutch, French & German)...
Although I would like to see a more liberal Pope and Danneels is certainly first place on my list I know there isn't much hope of him ever being Pope. I wouldn't wish it on the man either. He has often said that the papacy is something no-one would ever long for and that he was perfectly happy teaching before he became a cardinal. He said that "the water was a little too cold" and he's rather "remain watching by the side of the pool".
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