Arianna Huffington: A Cornucopia of Death (Pope, "Culture of Life," etc.)

[Hissyspit]

From AlterNet. She does not note the oppression specifically of women by church policy, nor John Paul's association of homosexuality with 'evil,' but still a good, fair, but impassioned and non-blinking commentary. This is what the Library of Congress should archive (no offense to anyone who posted to the Famed DU Pope Thread!):

A Cornucopia of Death
By Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
Posted on April 12, 2005, Printed on April 13, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/21738/

Paint the last month black. It's been an orgy of mourning; a cornucopia of death...

- snip -

Over 11,000 children were sexually abused and close to $1 billion in settlement money has been paid out, but the pope did not go much beyond decrying "the sins of some of our brothers." He never met with any victims, he never offered practical solutions to dealing with the problem, he never addressed the decades-long cover-up of the abuse. He even rejected a "zero tolerance" policy calling for the immediate removal of molester-priests, concerned that it was too harsh.

Too harsh?! This is a man who wouldn't allow a priest to become a bishop unless he was unequivocally opposed to masturbation, premarital sex and condoms. So, in his perversion pecking order, you had to be dead-set against "self-love" but when it came to buggering little kids, there was some wiggle room.

- snip -

The other stain on the pope's legacy is his tireless opposition to the use of condoms--even in places like Africa, where AIDS killed 2.3 million people last year alone, and where the disease has driven life expectancy below 40 years in many countries.

But even in the face of that kind of suffering, he fought tooth and nail against condoms. Any time a church official even suggested that people infected with HIV should use condoms, they were either removed from office or censured by the Vatican. We were told again and again last week about how committed John Paul was to promoting a culture of life. I guess the 20 million people who have died from AIDS are the exception that proves the rule.

On the other hand, the pope's passing might have saved the political skin of one of his culture-of-life cohorts, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay...

MORE AT LINK

[Dhalgren]

1. Whoa!

Great editorial by Huffington! That lady can write - and she is spot on in her analysis! Thanks for posting...

[Warpy]

2. Condoms would have prevented the births

of those thousands of babies born HIV positive or later infected by their mother's milk only to die in misery before reaching the age of five. Or they can be born healthy and remain so, only to be orphaned before the age of four or five and raised by older siblings (if they're lucky) or left to fend for themselves on the street (if they're not).

The church wants them born so they can be baptized. Anything else is irrelevant.

[Tux]

3. Wrong

Church wants them baptised and tithe 10% each Sunday.

They might be poor and sick but they do generate wealth so the Pope can have a $3000 suit.