October 28, 2004
Holy hypocrites, Batman!
Posted by pete at October 28, 2004 1:34 AMThat's right, old chum; the leader of the wealthiest church on the planet is telling us we spend too much time trying to get paid:
Pope John Paul II urged listeners to think more about the inevitability of death than on becoming richer, more successful or more powerful.
The 84-year-old pontiff, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, denounced "the constant tendency of mankind to cling to money," thinking of it as a force capable even of overcoming death.
He told an audience of about 20,000 people huddling in the rain in St. Peter's Square that many people "seek at all costs to ignore the reality of death, casting it to the horizon of their thoughts," rather than seeing it as the "fundamental point of arrival of human existence that cannot be avoided."
Or maybe, realizing the inevitability of death is what makes us grab for all that stuff to begin with. I don't think money can prevent death (not yet, anyway), but it sure makes the ride easier.
Still, it's hard not to ponder the omnipresence of the Grim Reaper when you see stuff like this:
Dude, you know how many Oriental massages and Vicodin you could buy with the Catholic Church's money? At least three refills, I bet.
(Via Pete the Cromulent) AFP: Pope tells faithful to think more about death, less about wealth He told an audience of about 20,000 people huddling in the rain in St. Peter's Square that many people "seek at all costs to......
| --Posted to The Dead Pool on Oct 28, 2004 8:54 AM:. |
Sound's like the Pope may have been reading Sogyal Rinpoche's 'The Tibetian Book of Living and Dying.'
"Don't think about money as a way to relieve your suffering at the hands of the any wayward priests, either..." --Pope Guilty XXIII