I just got a breaking-news announcement that doctors are performing an operation on the Pope.

last I heard, the Pope had “the flu” two weeks ago and was readmitted to the hospital this morning because he’d had a relapse.

So they’re going to perform a surgical operation on … what? His “flu”?!

I
had never made the connection between totalitarian regimes and The
Vatican, but there it is!! Didn’t Chernenko and Andropov both die of
“The Flu”? In governments constructed around a single personality the
state is obligated to tell whatever fictions are necessary to ensure
the stability and continuity of the state. To let people know the truth
would be to introduce doubt about the infallibility of the leader. This
was true in Soviet Russia and is true today in North Korea.

Apparently its true in the Catholic church today as well!!

I
feel sympathy for Catholics everywhere because they have no control
over their organization. They never have. Back when the priests
performed their services in Latin the mystery of the Bible was enforced
because it was essentially encrypted in an other language. The peasants
depended on the priests to decipher the word of God and hand it down. I
won’t go near tithing, because I’m more on a tear about the
availability of information and how that lends itself to control of the
people.

In any case, right now the arch diocese of Boston is in
the process of shutting down 80 parishes. 80 is a hell of a lot! But
the local leaders have said that financial reasons dictate that they
must consolidate the parishes. What’s interesting about it to me is
that its not parishes that are in dire fiscal straits that are being
closed. Some are. But otherwise fiscally sound parishes are being
closed. Why? Clearly so they can reduce their expenditures. Why pay for
two well attended healthy communities when you could get the same
revenue without having to pay for one priest and one building?

I’m
wandering again. That’s beside my point. My point is that The Holy See
is just one more cult of personality. Its clearly one more
closed/opaque totalitarian regime. Fortunatley, they don’t lock anybody
up and can’t execute anyone so they’re hands down much less dangerous
than those with guns and tanks and nuclear weapons.

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