As long as I'm still here... Nobody took the end times threat of Niribu or the Mayan calender too seriously but if this next Pope is named Peter, it might be time to head for the hills. Many mock the Vatican but I think they got something going on.

http://www.infowars.com/apocalypse-now-the-final-pope/

Funny, he doesn't look like the Roman. Isn't he the Cardinal from Ghana?

I thought the popes choose their own name anyway and with this prophesy thing I don't think he'll choose Peter, who then being in Rome, could be considered Peter the Roman. It's like when they had generation X and then generation Y and I asked, "what comes after generation Z? So instead of Z they call them generation New Millennium!

I think the purpose of this piece was to suggest the media will make stories out of this in the near future. Since the public mostly mocks the Vatican, it'll be fluff pieces. I tend to think the Vatican is deeply tied into a six thousand year old agenda based in Luciferianism that seems to be following a script, but that's just me.

Luciferianism....yes, I think that's just you, but OK.

The made a big deal about Benedict with the olive business, but that was a name he chose. All this stuff is hooey. The Vatican is like pre-bankruptcy GM...ossified and inflexible.

There's a certain logic to it and over the last several hundred years, tradition has narrowed the list to Benedict, Gregory, John, John Paul, Leo, Paul, and Pius. Have to go back to the 1700s for a different name.

how about "pope ringo"? :P

I've always been partial to Pope Shecky, myself.

The pope formerly known as cardinal.

nice! a "pope shemp" would be sweet!

Yeah, I just read somewhere a pope can't even be named Peter in honor of St. Peter. So for this prophesy to gain more interest, it'll have to be somebody named Peter before he assumes his pope name. Lot of people think we're headed for a nuclear WWIII anyway, prophesy of the popes or not.

*** a "pope shemp" would be sweet! ***

YES!

WWIII will be nothing compared to WWIV.

Why does the role of Pope be made fun of?

" The pope formerly known as cardinal."

I laughed out loud until I saw you were the one who wrote that. I now hate myself a little bit more.

So you're getting to be like the rest of us.,.hating you.

WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones. I think Einstein said that.

Maybe a fast is in order.

or a hiatus??? I think it is abundantly clear the final Pope will be Mort!

***Why does the role of Pope be made fun of?***

Because he's a criminal. He shouldn't be made fun of, he should be prosecuted. But a story released today by Reuter's says he'll remain living in the Vatican for the duration of his life so that he won't be subject to prosecution. As a Vatican source say in the story, if he left the Vatican he might be exposed to all the lawsuits being filed by these "crazies". According to the Vatican, people trying to seek justice and reparation for decades of abuse perpetrated by the Catholic Church on children are just "crazies".

Come on out, Ratzinger. What are you hiding from?

If Ratzinger did not commit a any criminal acts, himself, he won't be tried on criminal charges. If anything, remaining as Pope might technically give him diplomatic immunity as a head of state. As Pope Emeritus, who knows. If he stays in the Vatican, I don't know the extradition rules.

The clergy who committed the molestations are criminals. The clergy who protected them were grossly misguided whose actions were against the tenets of Catholicism. Surely such action is a slam dunk civil case. Did Ratzinger send a memo or directive to say, Cardinal Mahoney in LA to protect these deviant priests, I don't know. Ratzinger, prior to being elected Pope, did head the Church committee dealing with these cases. I get the feeling he was the Church fixer. The GUARDIAN article you refer to reports the victims group is blaming Ratzinger, but that is not much different from the story 2 years ago in the NYT.

Framed in this context, I think Ratzinger is taking the fall and the responsibility for the abuse, just as Mahoney is taking the fall. He may well be guilty of a cover up. The Church will pay. The next Pope is going to have to be squeaky clean and untouched by any of this. More heads will roll.

Now, about making fun of the role of Pope. I think it's disrespectful and I am not a Catholic. You would demand similar respect for your beliefs, religious, or if an agnostic, your political beliefs, which are quite strong. The mockery undercuts any intellectual or moral high road your other arguments may have.