The Pope

[rozk]

What are we all going to do about the Papal visit to express our utter disgust at the man?

There needs to be intelligent, witty disruptive demonstrating and a lot of hard analysis of why he should never have been asked.

Later Petition to have the Catholic Church pay for its own damn Papal visit here.

Comments

[gmh.livejournal.com]

Posters with 'Down with this sort of thing!' and 'Careful now!' might be fun.

On a more fundamental note, isn't the Pope explicitly demanding that Caesar's dues be rendered unto the Church?

Insofar as we're talking things like employment law and public services, we're talking about things that the Catholic Church has no damned business trying to regulate or control; temporal concerns rather than spiritual ones.

Give 'em the choice of either:

a) adhering to their legal responsibilities as employers

or

b) not being allowed to hire paid employees; force the entire UK organisation to be run by priests and unpaid volunteers; and then let's see how long the edifice would take to fall apart.

Not Original

[dmsherwood53.livejournal.com]

Can't think of anything more original than a lot of Gay Guys giving him a full frontal flash as he promenareds past Buck palace; Crude but to the point.

'Turned out Nazi again'

[lovingboth]

Fair dos, the Apartheid South African government was never asked to pay the costs of having its leaders come here. Why single out this *ist bigot?

Still, it would be fun to have a group of people with ukulele's singing something like - with apologies to composer George Gay - "I'm leaning on my bishops in this corner of the world / In case a certain queer group gets rights..."

Re: 'Turned out Nazi again'

[redbird]

Is this a brief diplomatic visit from one head of state/government to another, or is he traveling as a bishop? If he's just flying in from Rome to London for a meeting with the prime minister and/or one with the queen, and then home again, then it's parallel to inviting other autocratic leaders. If he's visiting Britain to inspire British Catholics and lead them in prayer, it's more like inviting Sun Myung Moon or Pat Robertson.

Re: 'Turned out Nazi again'

[dmsherwood53.livejournal.com]

well the whole point is that its a bit of both. Any chance of having him sectoned for delutions of Grandure?

[actionreplay.livejournal.com]

I am going to get around to being counted out: www.countmeout.ie

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

My comments over on my own blog are certainly not witty although I hope they're at least intelligent. At present I'm simply too incandescently angry to think very straight! When I'm that angry, I turn to history for examples as a good historian should. My blog is f-locked but if anyone wants in, let me know.

[(Anonymous)]

I immediately thought of some particularly snotty old cartoons about the pope and the clergy which would make for clear simple imagery to wave at the old bigot, but I’m afraid my mastery of livejournal is nil, so please forgive me for saying I ended up posting them on my blog here:

http://ukjarry.blogspot.com/2010/02/377-thoughts-on-announcement-of-popes.html

More substantial might be if someone could put on a production of Disch’s short play “The Cardinal Detoxes”. It’s nothing but a sustained takedown of the Catholic Church’s hypocrisy and its confirmation of prejudices to enforce its own secular power. Just the fact of putting it on would draw attention to the play’s history of censorship by the Catholic Church. If some suitably well-known out actor could be found that would probably make for even more publicity of its themes. Possibly he who is vocal about ripping pages out of the Gideon whenever he stays in hotels, and is beloved by sf/fantasy film goers, if he had the spot in his undoubtedly crammed schedule.

- matthew davis

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I suppose it wouldn't work to make a citizen's arrest for accessory after the fact to much child molesting. Pity.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

You couldn't actually make the arrest, but you could carry signs recommending it.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, he's also a head of state - arresting him would be tantamount to declaring war on the Vatican. And they have plenty of allies!

[lovingboth]

But how many divisions?

[redbird]

And how effective would pikes be against the RAF?

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

You can still recommend it without actually going to war.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

Why not? He's already declared war against me and mine.

[earth-prime.livejournal.com]

In accordance with the old Christian traditions of England, I suggest we elect a Boy Band of Bishops to lead the protests.

I'll happily form a mob of apostate Catholics in V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks.

(The treatment of the Czech bishops by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - under Benedict's watch - was one of the main reasons I left the Church...)

[julieisfree.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking posters.. with witty things on them:

"Jesus called, he wants his church back"

"God called, reminding you that YOU are the Pope, HE'S God. Do try to keep that in mind."

"How to you tell if someone is Catholic? They're the ones holding their heads in anquish"

"Hey.. weren't you elected Pope because you were supposed to die quickly?... Well?!?"

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Brilliant!

Do you mind if I boost these? :o)

[julieisfree.livejournal.com]

Most certainly! Glad they gave you a smile :-)