Pope (then Cardinal) chides, slaps reporter

[DaveinJapan]

This guy is one nasty piece of work (I'm wondering if the question posed had to do with child abuse).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhEUwxadh7U&feature=related

[ck4829]

1. It was a question about child abuse

"Ratzinger went as far as to slap the wrist of a reporter who dared to ask him about the Maciel investigations. 'One can't put on trial such a close friend of the Pope as Marcial Maciel,' Ratzinger said on another occasion."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection1

[Skidmore]

3. Amazing how putting on a robe and collar suddenly confers divinity

on a human being, isn't it? You just aren't subject to the laws of men any more. Religious leaders have gotten away with this for centuries. Time to expose the clay feet of the idol.

[Kolesar]

4. Is the little loop on his beanie for us to hang him from a Christmas tree?

:nod to your subject line:

[MineralMan]

7. No, but you can hang Benedict on your tree:

[Stevenmarc]

8. Slaps on the wrist are his forte

[DaveinJapan]

9. +1000000000000000

[olegramps]

13. John Paul II will be proclaimed as the Patron Saint of Pedophiles for his protection of Maciel.

He absolutely protected Marcial Maciel who was a notorious sexual abusers of both young boys and girls. He was such a nasty vicious bastard that Ratzinger had to remove him as head of the Legions of Christ and forbid him from performing any public rites. John Paul's enabling of this bastard of bastards has not gained the publicity that it is warranted. People have to wakeup to the fact that the Catholic Church is rotten to its very core and is led by psychotic misfits. How damn sick is it that John Paul II beat himself daily with a whip? It is totally beyond my comprehension why people would continue to be members of such a dysfunctional shit hole.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. He IS nasty....

I hope he is charged with crimes and rots in hell for his role in all this horror.

I also wish people would quit donating to the Catholic Church; continue your faith, but donate directly to a local food bank or shelter instead of giving to such a corrupt organization, until -- or if -- they admit fault and start to heal from within.

:puke:

[Birthmark]

5. You'd never guess that just looking at him.

...oh, wait.

[DaveinJapan]

6. I know, right?

Watching this video a few times, I noticed how testy he really was (and how quickly he escalated).

As a Catholic by birth, I knew some Priests like him. Always hated them.

Some Priests were kind, and approachable. Others were just like this (and that smack on the hand reminded me of what I thought I might receive from those like Ratzinger, every time I encountered them...pretty sure he's got some experience with the quick smack just like his brother obviously did!).

Ugh.

I just hate human beings like these! Sanctimonious pricks.

[Joanne98]

10. Opus Dei

[DaveinJapan]

11. Is he actually a confirmed member? I've heard rumors but haven't seen any backup yet. nt

[Gin]

12. he is treated like a god...but the commandments say don't have false

gods before me...so....Catholics who find him above human law are breaking their own commandment (IMO)

[olegramps]

14. you can thank John Paul II for that god forsaken misogynistic hell hole.