Greg Epstein for Pope??

[zacherystaylor]

OK this is what I'm thinking; the Catholic Church has obtained power by convincing their followers that miracles and prophesies are real and when they're fulfilled it proves that they have the support of God. One of the most famous is the prophesies of Malachi. The fact that they were published a few hundred years after Malachi died is inconvenient so I'll ignore it. The fact that they're vague and can be interpreted anyway I want to is quite convenient so I'll pretend to ignore it.

If I remember correctly the next pope is supposed to be the last and we want this to come true because we don't like the Catholic Church; they want this to be true because it fulfills their prophesies and gives them credibility according to them.

It's a win win situation!!

Then he can usher in the Apocalypse and if anyone asks if the pope is Catholic again we can say nope not anymore he's a secularist!

Any votes for Greg Epstein for Pope??

[Paradox]

My vote is for Stephen Colbert or John Stewart.

[St Giordano Bruno]

I would love to see any of those cardinals get in and do a total backflip on his beliefs, such as priest can now marry (even same sex marriage), ordination of women priests, condoms are permissable, no such thing as miracles,  Jesus was not divine and did not rise from the dead  and there is no God after all, and therefore no heaven or hell.

[leo]

Bill Mayer should be the next pope .

[BarkAtTheMoon]

I would love to see any of those cardinals get in and do a total backflip on his beliefs, such as priest can now marry (even same sex marriage), ordination of women priests, condoms are permissable, no such thing as miracles,  Jesus was not divine and did not rise from the dead  and there is no God after all, and therefore no heaven or hell.

They're pretty much going to have to flip on at least the first few of those if they have any hope of regaining a little legitimacy, particularly amongst the youth, and crawling out of the shadow of all their scandals. If they just pick another hardliner like Palpatine, particularly one that's not super old and will be around for 10-20 years or more, I definitely see the RCC losing active members at an incredibly fast rate over the next 10 years to the point of almost being gone across 1st world nations. That might (hopefully) be inevitable either way.

If the pope tried to switch on those last ones, a. I don't think the other powers that be at the Vatican would let him, and b. if he persisted I wouldn't put it past someone within the church or at the direction of someone within the church to *ahem* remove him one way or another.

[SGOS]

There was black smoke from the Vatican yesterday, and we can expect more smoke today.

[Colanth]

There was black smoke from the Vatican yesterday, and we can expect more smoke today.

And at least a few mirrors before they're done.

[zacherystaylor]

My vote is for Stephen Colbert or John Stewart.

That would be better than anything the Cardinals would or did come up with.

Perhaps we should create a pope in exile that actually ackowledges inconventient facts and doesn't support the same old cult beliefs.

Instead we now have a supporter of the "dirty wars."

"Regaining a little legitimacy" doesn't seem to be an option.