Breadwatch
The Catholic Church does a lot of things that are bad, but it also does some good. One of those things is that, particularly since the new Crazy Pope took over, it provides a never-ending stream of examples of all the bad things religion does. Here’s the latest one, and it might be the stupidest yet. This is what the Pope intends to do about the paedophilia scandals in the church (from the Guardian):
The Vatican has called on Catholics to atone for the sex abuse scandals that have engulfed their church in recent years by taking part in what may be the largest global prayer initiative ever seen. Cardinal Cláudio Hummes told the Vatican's official daily, L'Osservatore Romano, that every diocese in the world should name a priest to work full-time on the arrangements for the "perpetual adoration" of the eucharist. This would involve parishioners taking turns to keep a round-the-clock vigil in front of a consecrated host representing the body of Jesus. The initiative has all the hallmarks of the thinking [sic] of Pope Benedict, and would certainly not have been launched in this way without his full support.Hummes, the head of the Vatican ministry for the clergy, said a letter had gone to "dioceses, parishes, rectories, chapels, monasteries, convents and seminaries" calling on them to organise groups of "adorers". The aim was "to make amends before God for the evil that has been done and hail once more the dignity of the victims", who had suffered from the "moral and sexual conduct of a very small part of the clergy". He did not indicate how long he saw the adoration continuing.
Cardinal Hummes said that the aim was to put a definitive stop to a scandal that ... [he said] was exceptionally serious, although it was probably caused by ‘no more than 1 per cent’ of the 400,000 Catholic priests around the world.
So that’s okay, then. Thousands of children have been abused, but the Pope has a plan. He’s going to have “a round-the-clock vigil in front of a consecrated host representing the body of Jesus*”. He’s going to ask people to watch bread. I can see that helping a lot, presuming it was the bread that was abusing all those children.
Partly I object to this because it’s moronic, but to be honest, that doesn’t matter. This represents a huge number of people who are, in all probability, going to do as he asks and keep a close eye on baked goods and think they’re helping. Not only is that time that could be better spent actually doing something, but by creating the (not very realistic) illusion of action it will discourage those people from really taking any in their remaining free time.
And to a point you have to respect it, because if the Pope really does believe that looking at food will solve the problem then he’s doing exactly the right thing, but then, if the Pope really does believe that looking at food will solve the problem, then he’s an idiot, so don’t feel you have to respect him more than you would a cucumber. That would mean he thinks that an all-merciful and all-powerful God will refuse to do anything about a spate of paedophiles in his own organisation unless enough people sit around “adoring” him for long enough. How many high-ranking Catholic officials have failed to point out how absurd that is?
It’s hardly worth sitting here trying to make the Pope look stupid. It’s like trying to make fire look warm.
He even has a silly hat.
*…or as the Pope would have it, a consecrated host which is the body of Jesus.