Pope tells married couples to get to work

[Groundhog]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23106622-2,00.html



<lots snipped>
Attacking the "frantic pursuit of material wealth'' and "the reduction in birth rates'', he lamented a shrinking of religious congregations along with a "marked'' decline among those entering the priesthood and other religious vocations.


Is this guy as stupid as he sounds, or are we a hell of a lot closer to dying out as a species than I realised?? I eagerly await the massive fall in property prices over the next generation as people pass on leaving empty houses with not enough people to fill them all.

Maybe it's just me, but comments like this probably do a lot to explain those shrinking numbers that he's lamenting.

[Galaxy]

This pope seems so out of touch to me.

[molson]

I'm sure birth rates are declining in Italy, and among Catholics as a whole. And many that are Catholics are marrying into other religions and either not having kids or having kids that aren't Catholic.

Not saying any of that is a bad thing, but I think that's what he's getting at.

[finkenst]

or raising kids that are catholic but going into a devotion like priest hood or religious life.

[Toddzilla]

Yeah, the Pope has really been an icon of forward-thinking, logic, and reason the last, oh, 400 years. :rolleyes:

[path12]

Yeah, the Pope has really been an icon of forward-thinking, logic, and reason the last, oh, 400 years. :rolleyes:

Wow. I knew he was old, but damn.

[Greyroofoo]

Well Europe does have a negative growth rate

[Buccaneer]

esp. Italy and Spain.

[Warhammer]

Yep. His point is that we are pursuing too many material things. We should start popping out babies to match the birthrates of the Muslims and then we can get back to Crusading once we have our own population of disaffected and impoverished youth.

[Buccaneer]

Obviously, since he probably doesn't realize that the New World has been discovered yet.

[Mota]

With the dwindling number of people going to church these days, who will continue to fund their magical castle in Rome?

I mean, considering they supposedly don't get paid for the jobs they do, their "house" looks a lot nicer than mine.

[Subby]

With the dwindling number of people going to church these days, who will continue to fund their magical castle in Rome?

I mean, considering they supposedly don't get paid for the jobs they do, their "house" looks a lot nicer than mine.
Yes, but you get to have sex. Totally fair trade-off.

[SteveMax58]

Yep. His point is that we are pursuing too many material things. We should start popping out babies to match the birthrates of the Muslims and then we can get back to Crusading once we have our own population of disaffected and impoverished youth.

Thats kinda the underlying tone I got from it. I thought maybe it was just me.

[Passacaglia]

Ha. You guys should see the birth rates for priests. Crazy.

[Groundhog]

Hey, it's not the Pope's fault that the bible says priests aren't allowed to have sex.

Oh, wait...

[IMetTrentGreen]

The earth is already supporting twice the number of people of which it's capable.

F$%# the pope, f$%# Touchdown Jesus, and f$%# Jesus.

[sterlingice]

Wow. I knew he was old, but damn.

You don't know the power of the dark side!

SI

[sterlingice]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23106622-2,00.html



Is this guy as stupid as he sounds, or are we a hell of a lot closer to dying out as a species than I realised?? I eagerly await the massive fall in property prices over the next generation as people pass on leaving empty houses with not enough people to fill them all.

Maybe it's just me, but comments like this probably do a lot to explain those shrinking numbers that he's lamenting.

This just seems like a political thread where someone goes after a political candidate on a random quote just to snipe. Is this one that hard to figure out: {Catholic church = shrinking, thus Pope says "have more kids"}

SI

[Logan]

It would've been cooler and more effective if he told unmarried couples to get to work.

[Anthony]

Pope's pimp hand is strong.


"you there - drop your trousers and inseminate that fine piece of Catholic ass so I can get more people to drops some dolla dolla bills in the coin basket."

[Groundhog]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23458217-2,00.html


Muslims outnumber Roman Catholics for first time - Vatican

ISLAM has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said today.

Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican's newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 per cent of the world's population and Catholics 17.4 per cent.

"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top - the Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, saying the data referred to 2006.

He said that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 per cent of the world's population - or about two billion people.

The Vatican recently put the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people. It did not provide a figure for Muslims, generally estimated at around 1.3 billion.

Monsignor Formenti said that while the number of Catholics as a proportion of the world's population was fairly stable, the percentage of Muslims was growing because of higher birth rates.

He said the data on Muslim populations had been compiled by individual countries and then released by the United Nations, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own statistics


I wonder how they get these statistics.

[Chief Rum]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23458217-2,00.html



I wonder how they get these statistics.

God.

[sterlingice]

God.

:D

SI

[larrymcg421]

So he wants more people to have kids and more people to enter the priesthood. Am I the only one that sees the easy solution here?

[Groundhog]

So he wants more people to have kids and more people to enter the priesthood. Am I the only one that sees the easy solution here?

Church enforced baby quotas and compulsory priest orders for non-firstborns?

[mckerney]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23458217-2,00.html



I wonder how they get these statistics.

I'm more curious where they're getting their history from that Catholicism has always been the largest religious group. Could Catholics belive the world is even younger than the evangelicals do?

[Groundhog]

Are you claiming that Catholicism wasn't the dominant religion prior to the beginning of Catholicism???

[mckerney]

Are you claiming that Catholicism wasn't the dominant religion prior to the beginning of Catholicism???

Well, with my understanding of things that would be difficult...

[Raiders Army]

You don't know the power of the dark side!

SI

A couple months late with my comment, but nicely played.

[Passacaglia]

So will the hospitals go crazy, as we see a spike in births on October 24?