Cardinals impose media blackout

[emad]

BBC


Roman Catholic cardinals preparing to elect a new pope have decided to impose a media blackout until they have chosen a successor to John Paul II.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the cardinals had unanimously decided not to give any more interviews before the conclave meets on 18 April.

St Peter's Basilica has reopened to tourists following the Pope's funeral, but his burial place remains closed.

About 400,000 pilgrims and world leaders attended the funeral on Friday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4428035.stm

[truthisfreedom]

1. pick someone who really cares about humanity, guys.

think about it.

[rodeodance]

2. good for them

[emad]

3. Surprising? given Italian Gov has reopened Pope assassination

attempt security/intelligence file on Ali Agca, who has allegged Vatican insiders - Cardinals, Bishops, priests etc - were part of the conspiracy to get rid of JP2 just before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, bankruptcy of the Vatican Bank and eventual murder of "God's Banker" Roberto Calvi:

Snip:Italy revisits plot to kill Pope
BBC Thursday, 31 March, 2005, 15:03 GMT 16:03 UK

Ali Agca was jailed in Italy until 2000, when a pardon was granted
Italy is to reopen an inquiry into the 1981 attempted murder of Pope John Paul II after Bulgaria pledged to grant it access to classified documents.

According to Italian media reports, they contain evidence that the attack was planned by the Soviet KGB.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4428035.stm

THE conspiracy accusation:
SNIP
Agca, who has repeatedly said he was instructed by God, claimed Vatican officials had helped him plan the attack

"Without the help of priests and cardinals, I would not have been able to carry out the action," La Repubblica website quoted him as saying.

"The devil is within the Vatican," he added.
ENDSNIP

[babylonsister]

4. I welcome this decision! We'll hear speculation but

perhaps the goings-on at the conclave won't be in our faces 24/7. On second thought, I don't see that happening either. x(

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. I'm not hopeful.

I think we need to get used to the idea that the next Pope will be decidedly not on our side with respect to issues of war, peace, and democracy. Obviously, whatever choice is made will be against us on social issues, but I think we can kiss JP2's openness to internationalism, childrens' issues, and war goodbye. This actually sucks quite a lot. It was great fun pointing out that the Pope disagreed with W on Iraq (regardless of Fox's recent revisionist history.)

[xultar]

6. Good, maybe we'll hear some real news for a change. n/t

[emad]

7. See also "The Pope and the CIA" DU discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1714311&mesg_id=1714311

[emad]

8. Vatican's finances sputtering

Vatican's finances sputtering
Next pontiff will be confronted with three straight years of red ink
By GREGORY VISCUSI
Bloomberg News

ROME - Pope John Paul II's successor won't just face falling church attendance and an aging priesthood. He also has to find new revenue to balance the Vatican's budget.

After making a profit for eight years, the Holy See, the central administration for the church, ran deficits in the three years through 2003, the Vatican's financial statements show. The separately run budget for Vatican City, the independent papal state in Rome, was also in the red in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available.

The papacy relies on earnings from roughly $1 billion in stocks, bonds and real estate to top up donations from Catholics around the world. While the Holy See benefited in the 1990s from booming stock markets and a strong dollar, losses on currencies plunged it to a 9.6 million-euro ($12.4 million) loss on revenue of 204 million euros in 2003.

"Vatican administrators, like many people, got accustomed to balancing the budget with great market gains," says Joseph Harris, a Seattle-based accountant who has done financial studies for several U.S. dioceses and writes a yearly analysis of the Vatican's finances. "Well, the market giveth, and the market taketh away."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3125526

DONT'T know how much of this alleged $1billion is set aside for potential bad debts - bankrupcy lawsuits re pedophile priests, lawyers' fees in the Rome "God's Banker" murder trial, etc

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Oh gee, my heart breaks

for these bastards.

Why don't they just sell off a few Michaelangelo's? End of problem. Cutting back on all the pomp and finery might not be a bad idea either?

[emad]

10. All the quoted stuff on Vatican's ownership of artworks is pure crap.

All their art treasures were mortgaged up to the hilt just before the Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in 1982, bringing down the Vatican Bank and its CEO Cardinal Marcinkus (to whom Poppy gave immunity from prosecution) and resulting in the murder of "God's Banker" Roberto Calvi.

All the Vatican assets portfolio is about to be re-examined in public at the imminent Rome resumption of the Calvi murder trial.

Calvi stole a huge portfolio, laundered it via the UK's Midland Bank and then got found out when the loans the Vatican secured on the portfolio assets, collapsed.

The portfolio was subsequently recovered by its rightful owners in the UK who then sued Marcinkus et al.

[MADem]

12. JP the FIRST (aka the Smiling Pope) wanted to do just that

He thought a lot of the holdings of the church were excessive, and that they should get more pastoral in their approach. He thought wealthy parishes should help poorer ones.

He also thought there should be discussion on the issues of priestly celibacy, the role of women in the church, and ...horrors!...birth control!

He got axed after 33 days in the job. The Pope is dead, long live the Pope!

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. All the would have to do

is sell off one square block of NYC property that they own and the funds would probably keep the pope in red shoes for a while.

Heck, they could sell off the new Opus Dei digs? That place must have cost a fortune.

[flordehinojos]

11. They need their POET-DRAMATIST-POPE to guide them through all the media

hooplah.....they are already beginning to miss the soul of the POPE who could speak the Poet's language, loved the cameras, and loved the public!

[TankLV]

13. This is NOT news. This is the way it has been done since the beginning.

If the media whores were ever to expend 2 brain cells investigating and doing a little background research, they'd know that this is the reason for the SMOKE SIGNALS!

God these idiots are certainly clueless!

[Eloriel]

15. ThANK GOD --

that means there may be a chance of something other than ...

ta da!!


....THE POPE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on cable news. Endless, revolting, hour upon hour upon hour, INCLUDING so much of Newsnight with Aaron Brown last night that I finally turned it off. If there's anything that might have convinced me to forego cable news forevermore, it's beent his completely over-the-top, ridiculous, freaking pointless, ENDLESS LOOP of a pope-a-thon.

:grr:

[MADem]

16. You are off the hook till the 18th, anyway

...when the Conclave starts. If they pick on the first day, at least the coverage will be truncated. Otherwise we will get updates and speculation, not too much, just a bit, every day until the smoke is white. Then there will be a spate of coverage for the new guy, once chosen, and if the new guy is a)African or b)Hispanic, it will be a big news dump. If it is Ratzinger or Tettamanza, it will be a quick blip.

You'll see the new guy at the window in the new robes, you'll get to hear the first big speech, and a bunch of talking heads will tell us (like we are too stupid to figure it out for ourselves) what the "difference" between this guy and JP2 is. People who have never heard of the new guy before he was picked will be opining as to whether or not he will be MORE or LESS conservative than his predecessor. You will hear, over and over again, about how "media savvy" JP2 was, how the new guy will have big fisherman shoes to fill, and, if the selectee is a "minority" we'll get some clowns weighing in on that aspect as well. They'll probably drum up a quickie, culled from footage biography of the new guy, that you will see on the cables at the weekend, and on A and E at the darndest times.

In the meantime, enjoy the Charles and Camilla infotainment!

Or turn on the Cartoon channel, if it gets to be too much (works for me). And thank your lucky stars that they aren't televising the courtroom proceedings for the Michael Jackson circus!