The Vatican's chief exorcist says a growing child sexual abuse scandal inching ever closer to Pope Benedict XVI is the work of the Devil - as opposed to, say, the inevitable result of a deeply repressive world view and the irrational tradition of celibacy that stems from it. Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who over 25 years of exorcism says he has confronted 70,000 cases of demonic possession by "the smoke of Satan," says the Devil is "pure spirit" who "at times makes fun of me," though we can't imagine why.

"He manifests himself with blasphemies and afflictions in the person he possesses. He can remain hidden, or speak in different languages, transform himself or appear to be agreeable."

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2010/03/11

I dont know about possession, I dont doubt it occurs , but why is celibacy irrational?

Celibacy as a policy is a result of the Church's desire to not have to share the material possessions or wealth of a married priesthood with the surviving FAMILY of said priesthood at their death. It's much easier to make celibacy a 'condition of employment' (so to speak) than it is to try proving their case they they're 'entitled' to a portion of the dead priest's estate. Priests in the Catholic Church were, at one time, allowed to be married - that, however, proved too problematic for 'holy mutha the church' when it was cut out of the inheritance at their death. And, at one time, the HRCC ALSO ordained WOMEN to be priests ... see how much has changed so they can maintain control of everything ... ? Looked at in its historical context, it's all quite predictable and logical - well, from the church's point of view, anyway ...

As for the 'possession' thing ... naaaaaaaaah.

The Catholic Church bases its doctrine of celibacy on the writings of St. Augustine, who chose celibacy due to the fact that sperm and urine come out of the same organ and therefore they are both unclean.

Also, it was St. Augustine who postulated the concept of Original Sin, which prior did not exist, has it does not exist in Jewish theology.

The devil made me do it... Sorry thought you were going to praise the brilliant Rory Gallagher... Oops

I guess there are many potential 'reasons' ( i thought it was a mere conflict of interest thing,, serving the lord in a leadership role while serving a family as well must be difficult).

Whatever the reason though,,,I still dont see what makes celibacy itself irrational.

thanks for the info I didnt know that

satan is my baby daddy

VATICAN CITY – Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese disclosed that while he was archbishop a suspected pedophile priest was transferred to a job where he later abused children.

The pontiff is also under increasing fire for a 2001 Vatican document he later penned instructing bishops to keep such cases secret.

The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes — a position he held until his 2005 election as pope.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_church_abuse

Yours too...Satan cheated on me!!

he played both of us

Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Jesus?
Posted by Amy Sullivan Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 4:40 am 279 Comments
When Glenn Beck told listeners of his radio show on March 2 that they should "run as fast as you can" from any church that preached "social or economic justice" because those were code words for Communism and Nazism, he probably thought he was tweaking a few crunchy religious liberals who didn't listen to the show anyway. Instead he managed to outrage Christians in most mainline Protestant denominations, African-American congregations, Hispanic churches, and Catholics--who first heard the term "social justice" in papal encyclicals and have a little something in their tradition called "Catholic social teaching." (Not to mention the teaching of a certain fellow from Nazareth who was always blathering on about justice...)

He also managed to bring the National Council of Churches--once a powerful umbrella organization for Christian churches--out from hibernation, in the form of a withering response from leader Peg Chemberlin. Progressive evangelical leader Jim Wallis, taking a page from his conservative counterparts, is calling for Christians to boycott Beck's shows. And Beck has given the folks who come up with slogans every week for church signs plenty of material to work with.After initially doubling-down on his statements, Beck is now trying to walk them back somewhat, making a distinction between religious injunctions for individuals to help the poor and the broader notion that society has an obligation to care for the "least of these." But as religious scholar and blogger Mark Silk points out, that's not what Beck's own tradition--the Latter-Day Saints--believes:

"Not to belabor the point, but the Judeo-Christian tradition from which Beck's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints springs expects the poor to be provided for as a matter of public law. And indeed, in the days when the LDS Church ran its corner of North America as a theocracy, that's just what it did."

And Philip Barlow, a professor of Mormon history at Utah State University, told the New York Times that, "One way to read the Book of Mormon is that it's a vast tract on social justice," adding, "A lot of Latter-Day Saints would think that Beck was asking them to leave their own church."

The term "Social Gospel" has been considered a dirty phrase by conservatives for a while now. But if that's what Beck meant, he has quickly learned the consequences of sloppy language. And in any event, he has certainly discovered the dangers of publicly practicing theology without a license.

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/03/14/why-does-glenn-beck-hate-jesus/?xid=huffpo-direct

Devil can NOT forcebly "make" anyone do anything. Only thing Satan has power to do is tempt you to do things of which you're not suppose to do. That is where we'll be judged, on weather we fell into Satan's temptation or stayed strong to God and did not do as such.

People like to use this as an excuse so they won't have to be held responsible for there actions. Devil has no real power on earth.

Everything is up to us, we "CHOOSE" weather we go to heaven or go to hell. We "CHOOSE" to do right or do wrong. Nothing can forcably make you do anything other then what you truely want to do.

Reason i said we choose weather we go to heaven or hell is simple. Yes Jesus will be the judge of us, but nevertheless we choose to do the actions of which we will be judged on.

Look at it this way, "You beat the holy crap out of someone", right there you are worshipping satan and "CHOOSING" to go to hell.

"You help someone in need for one thing or other" You are worshipping God and "CHOOSING" to go to heaven.

Of course simple things like this will not be the exact facter of what sends us to heaven or hell. But we are judged on our entire lives as a whole.

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This is what free will is. If God was to control someone and "force" them to do as such, that would be God interveing and taking away your free will. Same with the devil doing as such. WE ALL have free will, suck it up and take responsibility for your actions and quit trying to find a scapegoat and or something else to put the blame on.

Well said. Subconscious habits of mind which are ultimately contrary to our own best interest, and the best interest of our loved ones and community, don't *make* us do anything - they only tempt us.

Celibacy is not a normal human condition. It is irrational because of the harm it does. And it does do a great deal of harm. Study after study shows that where sexual repression occurs, sexuality comes out in goofyass and harmful ways.
Take Oklahoma, for example. Sexual topics are, by and large, at least scorned and at most forbidden nearly everywhere. And Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of rape and teen pregnancy in the country.
In the case of catholic priests, surveys have shown that a great many of them became priests because their religion declared their homosexual tendencies were an abomination unto God. And so they became priests to "help" them repress those desires. I'm sure sometimes it works. And sometimes it doesn't---with horrible results.
It is completely irrational to believe that after 1500 yrs or so of these kinds of sex scandals among priests, they would continue their policy of celebacy. Obviously, it doesn't work.

I've heard the Pope is now saying the current sex abuse scandal is a "test from God". This in response to calls for the pontif to step down as pope.
If the sexual abuse of young boys is the kind of tests God hands out, I'm so glad I'm not in that school...

God does not test or tempt anyone to do evil. Only the devil does as such. God only tries to sway you way from evil actions, tis what your conscence is. And is why generally people that try to follow God's will best they can do not usually do evil action such as this.

so the pope lied? seeing as he is the one that claimed it is a test from God...

Satan is king of manipulations to make people believe what Satan wants them to, no matter what level he has to go to.