Immaculate My %$#@

The new Pope has some very interesting skeletons. Firstly, there are lingering accusations that he was involved in the kidnapping and torture of 2 Jesuit Priests during the last military dictatorship of Argentina in the 1970s; and their subsequent excommunication for publicly accusing him of this. Secondly, in 2005 he blatantly called for Argentine politics to adopt theocratic laws regarding abortion and homosexuals - an action many in the Church criticized as overstepping his bounds. While these things are difficult to triangulate and quantify, this sounds to me like the equivalent of the US electing a President that believes homosexuals should be forced into therapy and who allegedly participated in race-motivated lynchings in the South as a young man. I'm not a belligerent critic of the Catholic Church, I do believe its activities provide significant benefits around the world - but maybe if they want to be viewed with less suspicion and mistrust, they should join the 21st century and acknowledge their secrecy and attempts to hide corruption and crimes behind the doctrine of being immaculate are obsolete and ineffective. I'm quite positive that Benedict was forced from office by Vatican politics, and yet judging by who they elected in his place - the organization hasn't learned a thing. Their faith will not sustain them through the global political turmoil that is only beginning if they keep this up.

-Toxin