General Chat

Particularly thorny subject here in Wales, Sylvia.

First, we are very proud of a Welsh colony (Y Gwladfa) who settled in Patagonia 150 years ago. Many are bilingual (Spanish/Welsh) and are fiercely Argentinian and no doubt would have fought to gain the Malvinas in 1980's.

Second, we have the most visual reminder of the bravery of our boys in defeating the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in Simon Weston, a boy from Nelson in Caerphilly area.

It will have to be resolved one day, and I wonder if a long term approach (like Hong Kong) might provide the answer. And Pope could help that process.

Probably not in top of Pope Francis's in-tray this morning. :-)

GeordieIN

One of the very first things that was said in our online media was ............. the Pope presents a delicate diplomatic problem for the Brits


He is on record, within the last couple of years, as having said that the Falklands belonged to Argentina.


In other words, he is just like ALL other Argentinians who believe the same thing

Well they did,nt ask me Island. :-D :-D :-D ;-)

God decides Merlin ;-)

With the Cardinals being over a certain age,I wonder if they choose the one who they deem will be the easiest to Control? Just a thought. Its a possibility. :-S

l'm really not bothered about a new pope, religion is becoming a farce!!

jude :-( :-(

Wonder how he stands on Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands?

Being raised as an RC I was led to believe - and I was by no means alone in this - that god itself decided the colour of the smoke.
I hope RC adults aren't still lying to children about this.

wondered how long it would take - new pope incriminated in alleged genocide and "lost children" in Argentina

How I agree with you both, particularly the BBC.

Julia in Derbyshire

without wishing to ruffle too many feathers here, I feel the RC church, along with many other organisations, has more than enough experience in child abuse

The New Pope thinks gay adoption is like child abuse.
Since when did the Catholic Church
become such experts in child abuse....

Oh wait never mind :-( :-(


shakes head in disbelief

I doubt 4 years is enough ........


and you would probably find that "obstructionism" would creep in ................ those in the heirarchy, whether it be the religious or the Curia bureaucracy, who are not in agreement with whatever "improvements" or "advancements" the Pope wishes to achieve, will just put obstruction after obstruction in place.


Plus, I have no doubt that if Pope A does something, and Pope B doesn't agree ............ then it will be changed by Pope B



It would be like a revolving door!




and then what do you do with all the "retired" popes?




Retirement at age 70 does work well with the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Head of the Anglican Church ................. but he is not in charge of ALL the Anglican churches around the world. He has moral authority, but NOT legislative authority ............. thus The Anglican Church of Canada has its own Primate, Synods, etc

It probably takes 4 years to get through the paperwork....... :-D

might it not be a good idea to say have a tenure of four years per pope - long enough to make a mark, but not long enough to become a pain

well, most of them do not become Cardinals until into their 50s or 60s ....... the youngest one currently is the Cardinal of the Philippines who is 54 or 55


Thye have to work their their way up the system, just as in any other "job".

Then, I guess, they have to prove themselves capable in the Cardinal position over a number of years

The opportunity to elect only comes along every few years


........ and there is no means of the Cardinals of getting rid of a Pope who becomes incapacitated because of ill health, or does not otherwise fulfill the demands of his job ................


The former can be a problem with a Pope of any age, but ...........


............. the latter could become a particular problem if you have a Pope elected around age 60 who lives to 90 or older, and who is changing in some way the organization of the church that is against the tenets of the church


Plus the cronyism that could well develop with a very long-serving Pope.




Just my initial thoughts ........... that you really do not want a very long serving Head of any organization in most cases.

birth control - gasps ;-)

I wondered if it was because many if not most of those voting are also getting on a bit and they are entrencehed in their ways. maybe they are scared that a younger pope would have lots of new modern ideas (birth control etc.).

Merlin - I wondered that too, but have heard it said that if they elect a Pope who is reasonably 'young', they could be stuck with him for a long time!! If his policies weren't popular, then I guess there could be even more problems than they have now :-)

TessAkaBridgetTheFidget, he's holding two little birds in his hands, he looks nice against the dark conifer behind him and has violets and mini daffodils at his feet ( he's not very tall but looks in scale with the plants lol). Not stone just resin but he's weathered to a nice stone look :-)