Not Exactly News, but...

The Pope is an old kook--literally:

Homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in his newly published book.

You know, it'd be amusing if the Church didn't still have a large flock of folks who literally believe John Clown II is Christ's representative on earth. Gay marriage is the problem? Bullshit. Priests who molest children are a problem. But the pope is silent on THAT topic.

What an asshole.

There's more:

He also reveals that he is convinced the Turkish gunman who shot him in 1981 did not act alone and suggests that the former Communist Bloc may have been behind the plot to kill him.

Ah, yes, the Claire Sterline/Arnaud de Borchgrave wingnuttery. if John Clown believes it, then he belongs in a rubber room, not on the throne of St. Peter.

Finally, there's the de rigeur condemnation of abortion--in this case, the pontiff likens it to The Holocaust, rightly drawing the ire of some Jewish groups--and hopefully the ire of women (and men) everywhere. Abortion is a decision made by a woman in consultation with her doctor. That a doddering old man, and one who took a vow of celibacy to boot, would say something like that is both insulting and patronizing to women. He ought to be ashamed of himself--although I have my doubts as to whether or not he's capable of that level of thought at this point.

John Clown has received remarkably favorable coverage from the press over the years, in spite of the fact that his theology is essentially midieval, and despite his virtual silence on the matter of pedophile priests. When I was still nominally Catholic, occasionally I'd hear folks talk about him as a "living saint." And, to be fair, he did oppose the war in Iraq. But he's no saint--and with his latest book, he's proving that he's incapable of recognizing the modern world. And, he ignores the overwhelming stench within his own organization while tilting at windmills and attacking straw men.

That's pathetic.