Will there ever be a female pope?

[Philosoraptor]

And how would you adress her holiness? Madame Pope? The Popess? Popette?

[Posteritatis]

1. Sooner or later

Given the church I'd think generations more than years for that one, though.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. You first have to ordain women priests

and in the current environment of the Church, that ain't gonna happen.

By the way, the term would be Pope... just like President.

[Retrograde]

53. Don't have to be a priest to be pope

In theory, any male Catholic can be elected pope: it's happened at least once, a long time ago.

Since the selection of the pope is supposed to be divinely inspired, according to what I was taught, I suppose God could decide to inspire the College of Cardinals to elect a woman. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting, though.

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. There you go

and in reality this is a fraternity, no pun.

[Tailormyst]

2. The church would dissolve first.

[jgraz]

41. Works for me.

[rurallib]

3. 2 maybe 3 thousand years.

incremental change.

[Echo In Light]

9. Humanity, in my estimation, hasn't anywhere close to that ahead of them

[rurallib]

15. I agree. ergo my time estimation.

[struggle4progress]

30. I'll bet a case of beer it happens within the next five hundred years

First, conservative but married Anglican priests will continue to convert to Roman Catholicism. Eventually, the insistence on celibacy as a requirement, rather than as a gift, will be seen as archaic, and in the spirit of ecumenism the Roman and Eastern rites will be consolidated. At that point, priests will be allowed to marry -- and married priests, having wives and daughters they love, will gradually force the church to rethink its notions regarding the ordination of women. Two or three generations after Roman Catholic priests are allowed to marry, ordination of women will be allowed, and in another two or three generations, there will be a number of women in the priesthood. At that point, a female Pope will become inevitable

[Philosoraptor]

33. Make it a good brown stout and I'll take that bet

[struggle4progress]

35. A man with good taste in beer! I'll bookmark the thread, and we can PM each other

in mid-April 2510 to settle up! :toast:

[ZeitgeistObserver]

36. True, the church won't be around in 500 years,

so I'd say your beer is a given. :)

[struggle4progress]

43. I'll bet a case of beer on that one, too

[leftstreet]

4. Religion and gender stuff all in one thread

sWeEt!

:popcorn:

[Brickbat]

5. No. Or if there is, there would be a schism.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. there already has been one, several centuries ago.

she pretended to be male for her entire life.

[Warpy]

14. Pope Joan

who very likely did exist at some point, although the church and its adherents have worked very hard to discredit the whole thing as Mediaeval satire.

Whether she was a drag pope or an actual female pope before Christianity became ossified into becoming the vestiges of the Roman Empire, suppressing anything female within the church, is up for debate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan

[TorchTheWitch]

22. legend

All the popes have been accounted for and they were all male. The story first emerged during the 13th century, which coincidentally was also a time of uphevel in the church as there were two periods during that time where for two or three years there was no pope because the cardinals were deadlocked on the vote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan
Pope Joan is a legendary female Pope who supposedly reigned for a few years some time during the Middle Ages. The story first appeared in the writings of 13th-century chroniclers, and subsequently spread through Europe. It was widely believed for centuries, though modern historians and religious scholars consider it fictitious, perhaps deriving from historicized folklore regarding Roman monuments or from anti-papal satire.

The first mention of the female pope appears in the chronicle of Jean de Mailly, but the most popular and influential version was that interpolated into Martin of Troppau's Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum somewhat later in the 13th century. Most versions say that she was a talented and learned woman who disguised herself as a man, often at the behest of a lover. Due to her abilities she rises through the church hierarchy, eventually being chosen as pope. While riding on horseback one day, however, she gives birth to a child, thus revealing her gender. In most versions she dies shortly after, either by being killed by an angry mob, or from natural causes, and her memory is shunned by her successors.

[scheming daemons]

7. There would have to be female priests first.... not likely to happen anytime soon

..

[madamesilverspurs]

26. The early church, most certainly first century churches,

had no shortage of female clergy. Male exclusivity seems to have been a later development.


-

[Oregone]

8. Depends on if a woman is ever compelled to cover up scandals and win votes

[YOY]

10. Is she any better at covering up pedophilia?

n/t

[Canuckistanian]

11. As in "Head of the Catholic Church"? No.

A woman may lead that faith someday, but it will NOT be the same institution that it is today.

[Tesha]

12. There wasn't? Google "Pope Joan".

It caused the instituting of some rather ballsy
policy changes in the selection of subsequent
popes.

Tesha

[TorchTheWitch]

23. it was legend

That coincidentally first appeared during the 13th century when there was a time of uphevel in the church. There were two periods during the 13th century where there was no pope for 2 or 3 years because the cardinals were deadlocked on the vote.

[Mojeoux]

40. Don't forget St Gemma the Jesuit Yentl

She dressed as a Jesuit priest and did holy works and the requisite amount of miracles and was deemed

an official Catholic saint.

She was never a pope, but how many popes became saints?

[TorchTheWitch]

42. all of them from the 1st-6th centuries except for a handful actually

An extraordinary amount of previous popes were sainted.

Kind of makes it clear how they think about how great their own leaders are, huh?

[Mojeoux]

46. They've tightened up the holy criteria since then.

The good old days for popes i guess.

[TorchTheWitch]

59. the "holy criteria"... hahahahaha!

I don't know why but that just struck me as unbelievably hysterical! Thanks... I really needed a good laugh today!

[Toasterlad]

57. I Read That As "St Gemma the Jesuit Yeti"

Which would make an AWESOME movie.

[TexasObserver]

13. No. Not a chance.

The men who run the RCC do not like women, much less respect them.

[seabeyond]

16. no. next question. nt

[Xithras]

17. Ever? Yes. In our lifetimes? Not a chance. As for the title..

It probably wouldn't be Pope at all. Pope is simply the modern form of the latin word for "Father", and the title is used for the same reason that Catholic priests are called "Father".

If there was ever a female pope, she would probably be called Mater (pronounced like "water").

[truebrit71]

18. Not ever.

The church would rather burn first..

[ZeitgeistObserver]

19. Here's your answer:

An Italian editor with whom I worked was on a train in Italy and was joined in the dining room by a Monsignor from the Vatican. The editor found the Monsignor very urbane, knowledgeable and sophisticated. He felt prompted to broach some delicate issues of church reform.

He asked: “The Church would be greatly helped if there were reform on issues such as birth control and priestly celibacy.”

The mood changed. The Monsignor stiffened and blurted out: “We may die but we will not change!” The Monsignor might have uttered an all too accurate prophecy.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/032810e.html

[AngryOldDem]

25. That's how they view it --a true bunker mentality.

They'd rather kill off the institution than reform it. And I've never seen a group of people more hellbent on ensuring their own extinction.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

28. They came to believe their own publicity,

and instead of thinking they served God, they long ago decided they WERE God.

[damntexdem]

20. As I understand it, there already was: Pope Joan.

But they took her off the list once they found out.

Or it may have only been a myth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan;
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/pope.htm.

[mdmc]

21. Yes

and she will be called POPE..

[AngryOldDem]

24. Hell will freeze over first.

It will take at least a couple millenia to convince them to have women priests, let alone a Pope.

The wishful thinking I've been reading around here concerning the Church makes me want to cry. All of these questions/ideas/solutions make so much sense, and would take just a word to implement. But they ain't gonna do it. To their mind, it's the rest of the world that's out of step with **them.** How can one easily change that way of narcissistic thinking?

[Bobbie Jo]

27. Nope to the Madame Pope.

Not gonna happen. ever.

[dorkulon]

29. Nope.

By the time that happens, it won't be called the Catholic Church anymore. It'll be, like, "the Holy Space-Church of Grebulon Six" or something.

[SoCalDem]

31. Poperella, of course

:rofl:

[Hekate]

32. Will Hell ever freeze over? In choosing this Pope, the Cardinals voted for a giant step backwards

The Holy Roman Catholic Church (tm) is not going to change its positions on women any time in the foreseeable future. They are short of nuns, but have recently decided to "investigate" and harass US nuns. They are short of parish priests, but refuse to allow women to even become deacons.

The RCC seems to be trying to make itself irrelevant in the modern era, if not actually extinct except as a small cult with a fabulously rich headquarters in Rome.

Hekate

[Stevenmarc]

34. In a couple of millennium and then she will promptly forgive Yoko Ono

[Toasterlad]

56. Now THAT Was Funny.

[deaniac21]

37. There already is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Pope

[Arugula Latte]

38. No. That fucking church is living in medieval times.

[lunatica]

39. Is Pope a masculine noun?

President, Prime Minister, Senator are all gender neutral. Maybe she's be called Pontif and/or Pope. But in Spanish the word means Father (Papa) so who knows what they'll call her in the Spanish speaking countries.

[Hekate]

44. Pope = Il Papa = Father. Yeah, it's a masculine noun. nt

[MiniMe]

45. Ask again if they ever have a female priest

Until that happens, there will be no female pope.

[mrmpa]

47. I don't know-ask Dan Brown

[AnArmyVeteran]

49. If the Pope is a young spanish girl he/she could be called the Poporita,,, I love 'popette' too!!!

Are the people who follow the Pope taking pictures called the Poperatzzi?

[Retrograde]

52. not "La Papa"?

which means potato in Mexican Spanish

[AnArmyVeteran]

54. LOL, and if she was a young, hot looking Pope she would a Muy Caliente La Papa (caliente=hot)

"Me casa es su casa"... or "My house is your house"...

I guess we're starting a Spanish lesson thread... ;)

BTW, 'caliente' also means 'horny' in Spanish... So that seems to apply in this situation as well.

[old mark]

50. No---It's a guy thing....nt

[Hannah Bell]

51. there already was -- supposedly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan


on edit: i see i'm late on this one.

[Toasterlad]

55. God Willing, the Catholic Church Will Have Died a Long-Overdue Misogynistic Death By Then.

[Minnesota Raindog]

58. Address her like all other popes--"Child Molester" n/t

[kestrel91316]

61. No. The Catholic church will cease to exist in time, in part because they are

so backward and fossilized.

[Gman2]

62. According to history, one was a woman, hidden, till she gave birth during mass.

[LibertyLover]

63. Maybe in a couple of hundred years if the RC Church survives that long

Currently the criteria a candidate for pope must meet are, first and foremost, to be an unmarried male. He actually doesn't have to be Roman Catholic at the time of his selection. However, because the pope is also the Bishop of Rome, the candidate must be capable of being ordained a priest and currently the Roman Catholic priesthood is open only to males. Technically, a layman could be chosen pope, even a non-Roman Catholic layman, who was willing to convert, be baptized and ordained. Of course in the real world, popes are elected from the College of Cardinals and that means they are probably bishops already. I honestly don't see the Roman Catholic church ordaining women for a while. And it will take a couple of hundred years for ordained women to work their way up into the hierarchy of the Church.

She would of course be addressed as Her Holiness. I think in English the title would probably remain the Pope. As for Italian and other gendered languages, I'm not sure since Pope is derived from Papa or father. Perhaps La Mama or the Mope? :)

[bamacrat]

64. No,they can't even be priests. If they ever are allowed to become priests then...

maybe 100 years after that.

[AnArmyVeteran]

65. If the Pope went barefoot and wore a hemp cloth I might believe him

Look at the extravagant lifestyle the Pope lives. He's surrounded by massive amounts of solid gold figures, he lives in a garish multi-million dollar building, and just one of his hats could feed an entire village of poor people in Africa for a year. The Catholic Church seems to me to be a racket with the mob bosses wearing expensive robes instead of suits. The CC has the power to extract the last penny from the poorest in the world by saying giving to the church is what jesus would want.

If the Pope and everyone in their church actually acted like Jesus they would go worship under a tree and bulldoze all of the gaudy palaces. They must not have very much faith to feel the need to surround themselves with billions or trillions of dollars of wealth.