[Alex D]

Originally Posted by CoMaToSe

imwithstupid:

The pope's passing is very sad, but we need not lose sight of the real issue here. Catholics have a habit of deifying most of their figures. They refer to the pope as the "holy father". Now, unless my protestant upbringings have been misaken, the hoky father is God. There is one God, and one Savior. Treating the pontiff like a devine source is a mockery of God. He is not devine, but he is possessed of the most devine power a mortal man can have: the power to spread God's word and love. Stop thinking he's a hokly individual deigned by God or whatever, that's very medievel thinking. The Catholic church needs to learn to live in it's own time.

I believe the term "holy father" is not really mean to be taken literally. It is "holy" because of the position investment as God's top wordkeeper, but it is not an automatic step to saint-ness - that's clear. And "father" is because of the position of priest, as every priest is being called "Father". Indeed the Church needs to keep moving forward, but without loosing the trail.

It's sad but I only want him to stop suffering and to embrace his next journey. He had already done many crucial things in his long papacy. I wonder who's going to succeed him.