On behalf of a number of humanists, we wish to expressthe following concerns about the visit of the head 'of theCatholic hierarchy, Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul II.

We do not oppose this visit to Australia but feel that thecost of the visit, which is very considerable, should bemore limited in its burden on the taxpayer. The cost shouldbe almost entirely borne by the Vatican itself and theCatholic Church in Australia.

It is recognised that the Pope is a titular head of stateand entitled to diplomatic courtesies but transport costswithin Australia should not be at government expense. Thisapplies particularly to the 'Popemobiles' and the great costsof transporting these vehicles. Security for the Pope is im-portant and should be Australia's responsibility but not atthe overall cost of millions of dollars. Twelve million dollarsat least has been quoted; four million may be raised by theChurch. Where will the rest come from if not from the tax-payer? Why is the government so silent, particularly in pre-sent economic circumstances?

Of the greatest concern however is the expected propaga-tion during the Pope's visit through his speeches, of doctri-naire, intolerant, repressive views which are not even sharedby a great proportion of Catholics. These are the reactionaryviews on divorce, contraception, abortion, censorship andsexual behavior; fertility control and personal freedom andtolerance generally. During the Pope's visit to Africa state-ments were repeatedly made against contraception andeffective family planning. "Be fruitful and multiply" wasthe message in a continent beset by severe economic diffi-culties, by hostilities, by food shortages and starvation, bypopulation pressures in many regions and by high child andmaternal mortality.

There are such high birth rates in a number of Africancountries that economic and- social infrastructures cannotkeep pace. The pressure on the environment has alreadyhad disastrous effects.

The statements were pure hypocrisy based on doctrinaireblindness.

It needs to be pointed out that the Vatican has not beenfree from moral and financial corruption, with recent finan-cial scandals well documented. It has been morally corruptin its dealings with dictatorships, in support of totalitarianregimes, of oppression, of censorship and of intolerance.The Papacy's advocacy for peace and development must beregarded as hypocricy in view of the hierarchy's above divis-ive positions and pronouncements.

This is in marked contrast to the attitudes of a numberof progressive and liberal Catholics who are then condem-ned by the Vatican. We respect some Church leaders such asthose in Central America and the Philippines who are activein social reform, who would wish to influence the Vatican'sregressive stance but who in turn are slated and disparagedby Rome. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peacealso does admirable work .often against hierarchyopposition.

Decent Catholics do not wish to impose their beliefs onothers but the Papacy does. Very many Catholics do notevert share the official intolerance on divorce and fertilityissues. Reform is needed in the hierarchy if there is to beany credibility. There is no sign of reformist attitudes inthis Pope. Perhaps this visit, if all the issues are brought outin the open and constructive criticism is encouraged, may,after all, do some good.

A t-shirt souvenir of this visit, for commercial sale,asks "Is the Pope a Catholic?" Is he, in a real, responsible,human sense? Or is he merely a front man and propagandistfor an oppressive, intolerant and often corrupt Vatican,concerned mainly with wealth, power and opulence.

Many Catholic Church leaders, particularly in the de-veloping world have credibility; social responsibility andcompassion. We believe that the credibility of Pope JohnPaul II and the Vatican in these areas are more than suspect- they are of a very low order.

A group of concerned Australian humanists.

Australians are extremely fortunate this year to have been chosenas hosts to Our Holy Father John Raul II, son of a humble PolishArmy man and now no less than the earthly representative of GodAlmighty, the creator of almost everything.

The importance of the Holy Visitation cannot be underestimated,for it comes at a time . when three quarters of Roman Cathollcs(not to mention others) consider Our Holy Father's attitude onmatters like birth control as out of step with today's world. Organ-isers hope that the event will help Australians to understand that thePapacy is as allve and concerned about its world as it ever was.

Just what are these concerns? HoJJ did the Holy Office becomesuch a colourful institution? How can you personally contribute to arevitalisation of the values that are dear to the heart of Our HolyFather? Is it worth the trouble? Are you a Christian at all?

We hope that this little booklet will help you to open your eyes.

Brother LofusOrder of the Immaculate Contraception

"NOT THE OFFICIAL PAPAL SOUVENIR"was produced by The Holy Ghost Busters, c/o P.O. Box 1555 P, Melbourne 3001in honour of the visit by our Holy Father John Paul II, in November 1986.It was edited by Rolf Heimann. Typesetting was by "Access".

Many thanks to the contributorsPhUlip Adams; Thomas, Richard and Harriett Anon; Lofo; Madalyn O'Hair; Neill Overton;Keith Rex; John Shakespeare; Michael Sharkey; lain Stock; Peter Viska and others whogave encouragement and inspiration, or whose ideas we borrowed when it was impossible to ask permission.

WELCOME TO THE PAPAIl KING Hark! the herald-admen singWelcome to the papal king,Pomp on earth, with manner mild,God and Mammon reconciled.Joyful, mental cripples, rise,Join castrati in the skies;To the media host's refrain,John Paul's on the road again.

Hark! the herald admen singWelcome to the papal king.

Pope, by trinket firms adored,Pope, the eversmiling fraud,Centre-screen behold Him beam,Offspring of a Curia scheme!Veiled in white the Mafia see;Hail the New Right conspiracy!Pleased as man with men to dwell,John Paul, the inscrutable.

Hark! the herald-admen singWelcome to the papal king.

Mild, he lets Marcinkus swankIn the vaults of Vatican Bank;Born,to bless each neo-NaziAnd.delight in paparazzi.Hail the Hun-born prince of Rome!Hail the Sun of Harvest Home:Peter's Pence from all he wrings,Billions to the Church he brings.

Hark! the herald admen singWelcome to the papal king .

. A Lutheran Satireon Papal Reform, 1538.("Ratschlag van den Kirchen ")

The organisers of Pope John Paul II's'Australian visit have asked South Aus-tralians to help find a slogan for thetour.

The South Australian director of thePapal visit, Father Anthony Kain, is"hoping people will come up with a20th century-type phrase which willbe a popular motto".

. .. ow let me run a few ideas up thesteeple to just see who salutes them.

"Why mope? Go POPE!" has possi-bilities. Perhaps this could bebacked with country and western:If you're feeling sad and blueThere's one thing you gotta doTell the Devil that he's throughYou're signing up with John Paul II.

An alternative approach would be:"Out of hope? Choose the Pope!" Orperhaps "Can't Cope? Try Pope!"

Then again" something more collo-quial might go better in Australia, parti-cularly in the western suburbs. Some-thing with a touch of the Paul Hogans,like ... "Don't be a dope, blast off withthe Pope".

I saw a montage here, superimposingHis Holiness over a launch shot at CapeCanaveral. But since the shuttle disasterthat's probably not such a great idea.

But perhaps we could blend all theseapproaches, these different psycho-graphic appeals and demographic targetsinto a great spiritual surge, with MollyMeldrum conducting a sort of Count-down Choral in the biggest musical get-together since Band-Aid:Out of hope?Can't cope?Why mope?Don't be a dopeHERE COME DE POPEl"

It's Timefor

Tarmac Kissing

My eyes brim with tears just imagin-ing the sight as everyone from Jon Eng-lish to Little Patti cavorts to the Meld-rum baton ...

Well, that covers the kids. But giventhe greying of Australia, you'd need amore mature approach for their ageingrellos. So I'd have Khamal cut some-thing more balladic.You burn the candle at both endsIt willnot last the hour'And you're on your way to Hadesto writhe in Satan's power.But it's not too late to graduateto where the saints go marching inAll you need's a change of heartJust turn your back to sin.Swap horrid fates for pearly gates,We pray you hear our call.say, "no, no, no" to Satanand "yes, yes, yes" to John Paul.

And then there's a big finish, a sort ofreprise:If you want to book for heavenFor eternity's long haul,Say "no, no" to temptationand "yes, yes" to John Paul.It's no use waitin', Sa.tan,It's "yes, yes" to John Paul.

Another tack would be to take themulticultural track. Since Solidarity andLech Walensa, Poles nave been verymuch in fashion. And John is, after all,the first Pope of Polack persuasion.Hence the following approach which israther more in your punk rock idiom:If your life is down the gurglerAnd you're on the devil's doleUp a creek withou I' a paddleYou'd better be Up the Pole.

And you'd put Up the Pole on yourbadges, bumper stickers and t-shirts. Ad-mittedly it's a little oblique but with theright sort of promotion, PR and reachand frequency on telly, Up the Polewould soon be the catch phrase of the80s.

Which brings us to the Come onAussie tactic.Got a problem with your sinning?Don't worry - you can lick itlYou can skittle SatanHit his middle wicket.He's on his way back to the stands,You're on your way to heaven.There's real esteem on God's teamIn the Good Lord's First Eleven.Say "Come on Lord, come on, come on ",You don't want to be a sinner.Say, "Come on Lord, come on, come on"Instead of "Come in Spinner".Say, "Come on Lord, come on, come on"Say "no" to bodgie gods,Say: "Come on Lord, come on, come on"The Pope pays full tote odds.'Say "Come on Lord, come on, come on"Yo~ don't know what you're missin '. "Say, "Come on Lord, come on, come onIt's time for tarmac kissin'.

'1"l1i8 is a shortC'lled uersion or PhillipAdarn's collunll frolH The Bulletin,Apf'il 1, 1986, reproduced by pe1'11liSS;OIl.

Brother Lofus gives a brief outline of papal history to help us find the pious timesthat we shouId try to retu rn to

Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul II,has often thundered against the darkforces of humanism and atheism and hasspoken of "The urgency of the task ofevangelizing, or rather re-evangelizingthe old continent" (from a papal letterin L'Osservatore Romano, Jan '86)_ Hemarvelled at "the wonderful blossom-ing" of Christianity before it was splitby (and I quote his choice of words)by "what goes under the name of the'Protestant Reformation' ".

He did not elaborate into what age heplaces the "wonderful blossoming" ofChristianity, so let us search for it byexamining the history of the church.

When Christianity was a new sect, anunderground cult almost, it was under-standably unwelcome with the estab-lished religions. Religions are usuallysupported by the ruling classes, and viceversa, and newcomers tend to upset thestatus quo. Early Christians werelaughed at and even persecuted astrouble makers until emperor Constant-ine gave them legal protection. He istherefore something of a hero in Christ-ian lore.

He saw a fiery cross in the sky, withthe message "with this, conquer", andJesus appeared to him in person to givehim instructions.

But let us not forget that this goodman Constantine kept an army of10 000 spies to ferret out undesirables,and among the people he murdered washis own son who at the age of 17 hadbecome so popular with the people thathis old man couldn't stand it.

In 361 Julian became emperor. Sinceall his family had been murdered by theChristians he was leaning towards "pag-anism"; he was very popular and com-paratively tolerant, he even allowed theJews back into Jerusalem to rebuildtheir temple.

In 379 Theodosius re-establishedChristianity with a vengeance as state re-ligion. Anybody who performed paganrites or Christian rites different fromthose proscribed, risked being putto death. The property of executedheretics fell to the "proper" ChristianChurch. This set the pattern for almosttwo millenia of persecution.

He instituted something like aCultural Revolution, with disaffectedrabble storming the bastions of paganand Jewish learning. Christian mobswent on rampages to stamp out pagan-ism in Egypt; Alexandria's famous lib-rary of 70,000 volumes was destroyedby the Christian mob and Jews wereonce more driven·out. Among the mur-dered was the famous and respectedphilosopher teacher Hypatia who wasstripped naked before the Christians puther to death. Although Christianity wasdefinitely on the up, one can hardlyspeak of a "blossoming" in these times.

In 410 the Gothic King Alaric attackedRome. As a Christian (of sorts) he wasdevout enough to protect the churchesand church property while his troops

. pillaged the city for fully 5 days. Bythe way, when Alaric died, his tomb wasmade in the bed of a diverted river, andthe entire army of slaves who workedon this massive task were put to death,lest they'd reveal the locality of the richtomb. We may admire the stark majesticsplendour of Gothic Christianity, but asit involved such deeds we can hardly beexpected to wish back those times.

In these early centuries the seat ofempire and centre of Christianity was ofcourse not Rome, but the distant Con-stantinople. Inevitably, differences ofopinion developed. These came to ahead when Leo II was on the throne inConstantinople. He decreed that accord-ing to the Holy Scriptures it was not

4

right to -worship images; he orderedchurch pictures destroyed and decora-ted walls white-washed. Many Christianswere very fond of their eXPensive pict-ures and they rebelled. The Western,Roman branch of the church, refused tocomply, and this was the start of the"Iconoclastic War". People felt sostrongly about the matter that theywere willing to kill and be killed. WhenLeo IV died in 780, he was succeeded byhis wife Irene who happened to favourthe worshipping of pictures. As shecould not agree with her own son aboutthe whole thing she ordered his eyes putout. Such measures were not isolated inthe pious East; when Basil II, a strongchampion of Christianity and belovedby the clergy, successfully fought theBulgarians, he had the eyes of his pris-oners of war hacked out - of all 15 000men. Not the sort of blossoming ofChristianity one would wish for.

Under Pope Gregory most WesternChristians, including the "Aryan"

. churches of the Goths, consolidated asthe "Catholic" Church, with the bishopof Rome pre-eminent. When the Patri-arch of Constantinople demanded to re-main recognised as head of Christianity,Rome was slow in agreeing, and a fleetwas sent from Constantinople to bringthe Romans back into the fold. Thisfleet was wrecked in a storm, and thehitherto inferior bishopry of Rome grewstronger and self-assertive. Roman bish-ops assumed temporal powers, as didother bishopries; like kings they amass-ed territory, played politics, raisedarmies and established military affilia-tions. They ruled over an exploitedpeasantry who lived in abject poverty oreven slavery. They demanded the helpof kings in return for bestowing uponthem divine sanction, or, in effect, pro-vided moral justification for any of theirdeeds.

Pepin, King of the Franks, was thefirst major King to serve the Pope (754)and his son Charlemagne becamefamous for enlarging the Christian em-pire.

He did so by giving the conqueredbarbarians the choice: become Christ-ians or die. To show he meant businesshe put 4,500 captured Saxons to death.

Pope Leo III was so hated that he hadto flee Rome into Charlemagne's arms,and the latter put him back onto thepapal seat. A successor, pope Leo IVmade the Vatican a military fortress andcalled it after himself: the "LeonineCity".The following centuries saw a bloss-

oming of Christian power, militarily andeconomically. But if our present popeplans a return to these times, he'd betterlay by a supply of condoms; most of thepopes were fornicators and gluttons,many died of syphilis, others of poisonadministered by their "friends" andrelatives. Many kept mistresses, and onoccasions the mistresses ruled. Suspi-cious circumstances surrounded manydeaths: Benedict XI died after eatingfrom a basket of figs offered to him bya nun. Pope Alexander VI died whendrinking of wine which his son had pre-pared to kill one of the cardinals (Car-dinal of Cometo). On occasions the suc-cession of Popes was a matter for violentdispute between rival supporters, and solucrative was the papacy that arms weretaken up to fight for it. Once there wereeven three popes, at other times, rivalpopes ruled from different cities.

A "blossoming"? Hardly.If the Holy Crusades seem a romantic

era today we should recall the immensecruelties perpetrated, not only byknights engaged in valiant battle; therewas wholesale slaughter of innocents.Although the object of the exercise was toliberate the Holy Land from Non-Christ-ians, the knights did by no means al-ways fight shoulder to shoulder; theirrivalry was often so that they formedalliances with the saracens to fight rivalChristians. In the "Children's Crusades"which began with small children singingalong the road, 15 000 youngstersperished before they reached the 'Holy'Land. Many were sold into slavery.

The Church takes pride in having con-trolled scholastic and juridical lifein these centuries. But the monasteries,which were the seats of learning andwhere monks· laboured over the copiesof manuscripts; stifled all enquiringminds. It was the kind of learning whichdid not tolerate new ideas. And extrememeans were employed to keep it thatway. When scholars started to find outthe true nature of the universe, theywere burnt for their troubles.

Justice was administered mainly forthe purpose of maintaining the' statusquo which was beneficial to papalpower.

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ALEXANDER VI (Roderigo Borgia): He bought his election at thecollege ot cardinals and used his otl"ice to advance the schemes at hischildren Caesar and Lucretia Borgia. Kept a harem at the Vatican and

had nude courtesans dancing tor him at (easts. Invited sultan Bajazet toenter Europe to fight his rivals. Died in 1503 when his son attemptrd to

poison a cardinal, but the cook had been bribrd and the Holy Fatherhimself tell victim to thr scheme.

It was important to maintain the The fight against heresy became ansuperstition and ignorance of the masses. all-consuming passion and obsessionThen as now it was desirable to keep with some churchmen. Ignatius Loyola,them in mortal fear of offending God a young Spanish soldier wounded by theand risking eternal damnation. Popular French, decided to devote his life tofiction paints churches of the time as stamping out heresy. As soon as he gotsanctuaries, and the clergy as men of better, he founded the Society of Jesus,peace. Yet it is impossible to think of an Order that swore absolute obedienceany war where the church did not ren- to the Pope. Members voluntarily ab-der active encouragement, and churches rogated their right to make any judge-were never places of sanctuary. ment or to maintain their own con-Enemies, and be they women and small science. They obeyed, unhesitatingly,children, were dragged from under the blindly, uninquiring. The Jesuits ("Thevery altars to be killed, for civilised rules Lord's Rednecks") "set about to undodid not apply to heretics. the work of the Reformation, not only

Heretics were pursued mercilessly, killing anybody critical of Holy Rome,nothing could protect them. Not even but torturing them, believing that thethe solemn .promises of men of God. more horrible the torture, the 'more'Jan Huss, the early church reformer, God would be pleased with them. Thiswas invited to Constance to talk it over; band of criminals was outlawed in manyand having been given a promise that he countries, and for a time even by thewould not be harmep, he turned up. His Pope himself. They later surfaced againtrust into Papal ethics cost him dearly: to continue their activities in a morehe was burnt. cerebral manner. They are still legal in

Up to 12 million people were burnt most countries.or otherwise tortured to death during Prior to the Reformation the Churchthe blossoming of the Church in the had devised a variety of ingeniousDark Ages. At no other time was the schemes to part fools with their money.power of the church so supreme, and The pope's agents travelled through thethe suffering of the people so great. land selling "indulgences". For this

scheme to work it was necessary forpeople to believe in sin and in hell -Catholic education paid off. Viith everybit of money one gave to the Pope onecould buy a little respite from theflames of hell. The sale of relics was an-other thriving business. Virtually hund-reds of tons of the true cross were sold,as well as hundreds of Saint Magdalene'sgenuine gall stones. All these thingsworked miracles, and the belief in thisbric-a-brac is encouraged even today,where the shroud of Tourin is stilltouted as having covered Jesus.

The reformation took place becausethe church was so corrupt that it hadlost any semblance to what it claimed tobe. "If only the pope knew", peoplesaid (even Martin Luther said it), "hewould Pl;l t a stop to it. .. "

The pope was of course utterly unre-sponsive to the demands of reformers.He was on to a good thing. When the Re-formation took place, the church struckback hard, with massacres and a revivalof the notorious inquisition.

The Peace of Augsburg, which endedthe Reformation in Germany, allowedKings and Princes to chose between Pro-testantism and Catholicism, unfortuna-tely in included the proviso that once aPrince had chosen, all his subject had tochose the same. And no other religionswere allowed either.

At least there was, for a while, relig-ious peace.

This was broken some sixty yearslater when Rudolph II succeeded hismore tolerant father to the throne. Ru-dolph had been brought up in Spain,and when he returned to Germany hedecided to do the right thing and stampout protestantism, beginning with Bo-hemia. This started the Thirty YearsWar which devastated Central Europe.Each side claimed to have God on theirside and believed that any of their ownatrocities was therefore excusable.

The stifling atmosphere of religiousdogmatism had never completely ex-tinguished man',s curiosity about theuniverse. Christopher Columbus hadreached the West Indies in 1492, believ-ing he was circumnavigating a globularearth. Magellan sailed around "theworld" in 1519. Although the pope wasready to divide the globe (by "'ThePope's Line") to share the heathens be-tween the rival colonising powers, hewas not ready to endorse - or even toconsider - newly -discovered evidenceabout the nature of the world. The biblehad the answers, nothing else wasneeded. Even a hundred years after Mag-ellan, Galileos's writings were banned asheretical and the astronomer was forced- by pain of death - to recant.

ordered that no book whatsoever couldbe printed without papal permission.He rightly feared the light of reason.Books produced abroad were danger-ous contraband, drawing severe punish.ment to anyone found reading them.Even touching them was declated a sin.Such books did not only include all Rro-testant works, but even (at th_e time)any translation of the New Testament,since it was sacrilege to remove it fromthe Latin language. The books of Eras-mus were banned as well ! The list ofdangerous books was enlarged throughthe centuries until modern times, andincluded some of the greatest authors.To become banned by the Pope be-came a sign of quality.

The "New World" being conqueredby Spain and Portugal was seen, firstly,as potential source of wealth, secondlyas souls to be converted to Catholicism.

In 1543 the murderous InquisitorGeneral Caraffa (later Pope Paul IV)

GUARDIANANG EL.

There was no mercyfor those who did not toethe Catholic line.Uncounted millionswere cruelly murderedin the name of God.

South America, even now a stronghold Jews were systematically exterminatedof Catholicism, was converted by the the Church did more than stand idly by,force of the sword. The natives were they considered it a welcome bonus toasked to convert voluntarily, or be put Christianity and God's work. America'sto death. ative kings were executed to war in Vietnam ("Cardinal Spellman'smake an example and to show which War") enjoyed the wholehearted sup·side God was on. Religion became a tool port of the established Churches,to keep the masses superstitious, ignor- Catholic and Protestant alike, who sawant and exploitable by the land owners it as a confrontation between the goodwho were the natural patrons of this Christian West and the evil Atheist East.type of religion. Similar conditions were Active dissenters, although vocal, were acreated, or attempted, in African minority.colonies, the Philippines and Pacific Is· The papacy believes in nuclear arms.lands. While speaking, as usual, for a need for

The power of the church waned in peace, it has not supported disarma-modern times, but it has not been ment. Far from "turning the otherbroken. There has been no war where cheek", the Pope says we need nuclearthe official churches have not partici- arms as deterrent*. The Pope criticisespated in some way. German Christians Catholic dissenters who preach non-were made to pray for a German vic- cooperation with the nuclear.-aJms race,tory and told that God was on their and who preach freedom for Centralside, while French and English Christ· America.ians believed God was with them. The The great Catholic statesmen ofCatholic Church identified with today can be found in the poorestFranco's fight against the legal Spanish countries. Ferdinand Marcos and Gen.government, and the Christian parties in eral Pinochet spring to mind, thoughGermany supported Hitler. When the both are about to follow Somoza and* The Pope in a speech 10 the UN, June 1982.-"In current conditions, deterrence ... may still be judged morally acceptable. "

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Franco and all the other tyrants intodiscredit.

Catholic countries in the Americasare groaning under the weight of thenewly added millions each year:millions who are born to be landless

peasants or jobless city dwellers - andstill the Pope calls for more children. Heknows that without such populationgrowth in Catholic countries, Catholi-cism would be in the decline. Preachingagainst family planning in over-crowdedcountries is not exactly a blossoming ofChristian wisdom.

In years to come it will be seen as acrime equalling those commited in theMiddle Ages.

In retrospect there can be only one€ra where the Christian spirit"blossomed": the early days ofChristianity, when it was a minority reoligion, withou t multi· billion assets,without the power of arms at their beckand call, without a powerful caste ofpriests. Yes, these are the days theCatholic church should return to ...

The world would breath a sigh of relief.

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HOEY SINNERSTHE PAPACY TODAY OWES MUCH TO THE COLOURFUL CHARACTER OF PREVIOUSPOPES WHO HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO MAKE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH INTO WHATIT IS TODAY.

St.DAMASUS (reigning pope between366-84), murdered 160 of his oppon-ents (who had objected to his com-mittingadultery) in a church wherethey had taken refuge. Catholic claimsthat this was only a "faction fight"cannot explain why not a single one ofDamasus' party was killed. This "saint"is still invoked by believers in cases of

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~<SIXTUS III (432-40) Accused of "de-bauching a virgin" he was acquitted, bya council not because of innocence,but "because the judge of all ought tobe judged by none. "

BONIFACE II (530-32),; bought hisoffice, accused his rival of having triedto do the same. He solemnly excom-municated this rival (Dioscorus) andpersecuted his supporters. A later poperemoved the excommunication.VIGILUS (537-55); killed his own sec-retary in a rage, had his sister's sonwhipped to death. When banished bythe emperor, he repented to save hisskin.

Ididn't knowfhe whip

/ wen loaded ...

PELAGiV::," (555-60); accused of hav-ing poisoned his predecessor. "St.GREGORY (the Great, 590-604); anenemy of education, forbade the studyof classic authors, said to have burnedthe Palatine Library founded by Aug-ustus Caesar; promoted a belief insuperstitions and miracles.SABINIAN (604-6); accused St. Greg-ory of having bought his office, andaccording to church history the latterappeared to him in four separate vis-ions. After the forth apparition theghostly saint had enough of trying toconvince Sabinian of his innocence andhit him over the head so that he diedsoon after!

THEODORUS (642-49), commencedthe custom of dipping his pen intoconsecrated wine (the "blood ofChrist") when signing death orders.St.SERGIUS I (687-701); like so manypopes was accused of adultery. But inthis case, according to church history,his innocence was proved. The child hewas accused of fathering~ when it wasonly 8 days old, cried out: "The pon-tiff Sergius is not my father!" (Thebaby not only talked at a rather earlyage but could even remember whosesperm he started with!)

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CONSTANTINE (708-15) , to pleasehim, they cut out the tongue and eyesof the Archbishop of Ravenna forheresy.

STEPHEN III (768-72); upon his elect-ion, he punished his predecessor andhis supporters by blinding their eyes.EUGENIUS II (824-27); pioneeredmany sadistic practices:, such as the"ordeal by cold water" to help confes-sions along.

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JOHN VIII (872-82); ordered thebishop of Naples to bring him thechief men of the Sarazens, and whenthey were delivered, had their throatscut. Died ot poison administered by arelative of a married lady he had "se-duced".STEPHEN VI (869-7); had the bodyof a former pope disinterred, dressedin episcopal robes and placed on thepontificial chair; he then asked him:"Why didst thou, being bishop ofPorto prompted by ambition, usurpthe universal see of Rome?" When thedead ex-pope did not offer a satisfact-ory explanation, he was stripped of hisvestments, and three fingers (thoseused in blessing) were cut off.

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JOHN XI (931-36); son of pope SergiusIII and Marozia who was the concub-ine "of several popes. "Elected" as popeat the agf! of 18. A half brother by thesame mother expelled him and impris-oned their mother.JOHN XIII (956-64); nominated him-self pope when he was 17; cohabitedwith his father's concubines, guilty ofnumerous sexual perversions; cruel inpunishing objectors to his debauchery:deprived one deacon of his ritJht handsand his balls, put out the eyes of an-other, cut otf the nose of the keeperof archives etc. etc. Died from a blowon the head while in bed with amarried woman.BONIFACE VII (974); murdered hispredecessor, robbed the Basilica andfled with the plunder, but returnedlater to murder John XIV, then on thepapal throne.

GREGORY V (996-99); punished hisopponent by depriving him or hissight, cutting off his nose and tearinghis tongue out; then had the victim pa-raded through the streets sitting back-wards on a donkey.BENEDICT VIII (1012-24); whenRome was being damaged by a stormhe saved it - by having the Jews arres-ted and execu ted!!!

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~

E"O? fht~:r~or~lfJ\ ( '5" a{\o V<,.

~ ~JijBENEDICT'IX (1033-46); a nephewof previous popes; grasped the chair atage of 12 or 18 (depending on whichrecords are correct); committed adult-ery, murder etc.. Lusting after thebody and the goods of a female cousinhe sold the papacy to a certain JohnGratianus, whom he consecrated asGregory VI. Receiving a golden hand-shake, he retired from his career ofmurder and mayhem to live in his ownterritories.ADRIAN IV (1154-59); only English-man who ever became pope. gave qwayIreland to Henry n "receiving· anannual tribute for it. "Had his oppon-ents burned at the stake.INNOCENT III (1198-1216); claimeda universal empire and used the inqui-sition to enforce that claim, Butcheredtens of thousands of his opponents.GREGORY IX (1227-41); built hispower on the inquisition, raised taxeseverywhere, excommunicated kingsand incited nations to revolt. Was fin-ally ignominiously driven from Rome.

BONIFACE VIII (1294-1303); calledhimself King of Kings, enriched hisestate by instituting the sale of indul-gences; excommunicated all who dis-puted his claim of being supreme rulerof the universe. Lived in concubinagewith his two nieces, guilty of severaltreacherous assassinations.CLEME '1 V (1305-1314); burnt alivethe granc. master of the Templars andhis supporters under false charges. Ur-ged new crusades, announcing thatevery crusader gained the right to freefour souls of his choice from purgat-ory.URBA_ VI (1378-89); a vicious des-pot, he ordered 6 cardinals brutallytortured. He and a rival pope excom-municated each other, and the schismbetween the two papacies cost thous-ands of lives. His rival John XXII wasfound guilty of murder and incest, hadalso been accused of having seduced200 nuns. (

'< . L1 ca~"i be p6pe. (o ~muV\iCqfed yol./ . 1

\ ~c.O ) ({\vnlcqled

1e~L!~~1~yOU I t.r,( . Cfi' ~ " .~ ,

{" "!~\

MARTIN V (1417-31); under his ruleJan Huss was burnt alive after havingbeen promised safe conduct if he cameto discuss his grievances.EUGENIUS IV (1431-47); his first actwas yo put to torture the treasurer ofhis predecessor and hanging 200friends of the previous pope. Was de-posed by the Council of Basle, butwaged a civil war.PAUL II (1464-71); corrupt and mer-ciless, amassed immense treasures; tor-tured the chief members of the RomanAcademy on the rack, tearing some ofthem to pieces.

SIXTUS IV (1471-84); claimed that hefound the papal treasury empty whenhe ascended the chair, but neverthelesslavished immense wealth (rom it on hisrelatives. By seizing grain'.and selling itabroad he created famineswhich he exploited to enrich himself.INNOCENT VII (1484-92); establish-ed a bank in Rome for the sale of par-dons. Each sin had a price. Neededenormous sums to maintain a lifestyleof vice and waste. Once pledged thepapal tiara as security.ALEXANDER VI (1492-1503); one ofthe most brutal and criminal of popes,died accidentally by poison which hadbeen intended for a disliked cardinal.

PAUL III (1534-49); he acknowledgedan illegitimate son and daughter. Whenthe emperor criticised him for promo-ting two of his young grandchildren ascardinals, the pope pointed out thatthis was his right - predecessors hadeven made infants in the cradle intocardinals. I',.,0'" ey) Y Ol,(rt preJJrrs /

0'" \..e* me Qepoinf hiw,a curdll1Q! ((ri9ht qwo.y . .(

The crimes of the popes did not ceasesuddenly , bu t certainly became lessspectacular after the Reformation.While the papacy today embracessome humanist ideas it is still so blin-ded by self-interest that it opposesmeasures (like birth control) that arenow vital for the continuation ofcivilisation and indeed life on thisplanet. It is incredible that there isstill a number of Catholics .who placeunquestioning trust into a leadershipwhich history shows to have been con-sistently opposed to universal humanideals and so-called "Christian" ones.

POPERIPPED OFF BYIRELAND

From the Papal Tour 1979:Left: from an article by James Reston,(New York Times), reprinted in "The

r Age", (4/10/79)-- _ hunge , " he Below: About the same Papal tour,

auses litY, 'n depend, "on described by Hugh Mulligan, whoinequa yth1ng vn NatlOns, nd accompanied the Pope on his plane.

"E'1e~e Dnitedd:fferences at' e (AAP, "The Age", 5/10/79)told these 1 re of t\ '1iE'whet 'her t. n the sphe \l\ be sys- .t. e, Pope.~contras~s 1of goods % throUgh. fap"tam QUigleY'hI

osse~Slon reduce anS, on 0 stee~age.is f~ernatlca\lY'ecti'1e rn~f bung~r, fter his 2~-da re.sh . as '.trulY eft'the belts derde'1eloPl-l e"t.and eating Ywfihsh P~gIJi~.whether. ' un. cy Wl pe lte. a ll~earty

alnutntlon, and Uhtera nomic cCordin '~ent, disea~~om t~e eco .ss relea~est~ha~h~ faIlout, otdisapPfa~he world. . the turn- ng Wordsmiths i::nmerse therna? eOdid not ~:R~~~f srnr::k~dH~l~~1inesshas ~fu:~o~

of, the ," lObster therrni3 and eel, caviar,'" r Of, veal ~callo or. and. a choice

chIcken a 1aPI~ plet JllJ8l10n andkby two kinds 0: ~~¥eh' preceded

apustniak ""''''de f IS soup_and :k ' ••~ rom 'saue 'k. broth~ sausages COOkedr. .tauth marrow bone In a

bsc t of roast duck . ,-an~ 'a bor-roth. In a neh.All of this Is .

hIS favorite desstOPPed. Off wlthofIe. a specialit ertt~IInY' kart-Cracow. Y of Jus belOved.After lunch th .

flIght- deck and e Pope VisIts the ..,_ !n faC',.J- - spends some t'

b· th to a ante"" . ~.gave IT •••

. 6 JUNE a young w.o~ in a buildi.ngonfON .d t want hig h capital 0child sh~ d~ ~~reet in Valletta, t ~din a stateSt Patf\~k~alie pisani, 24 y~ars ~ir ' took herMalta. Na imagine what ~s~ w'on to the

: of who can it from a wm 0 trial for" child and thr~~w 0 NoW she stang~monstrate.

pavement be Nothing could h desperatelaughWr. \0 ht of t e h r. mans icaUy the pig. hich denies :

. more trag an in a sOCietyw { rtility and in ., pregnan~~~: control her ~w~v:mment pl~ns, .the. mea tly announce. g. llnics are b

which recen family plannmg;c . hurchto introdUceh by the catholiC C. Melbourne Heraldbitterly {oug t, 22 Sept. 1978

\ . itsau ~'-_.~ Fri., AAp· AImposed suspended se - court. today

, jail on two Cathol' nte.nces of six monthshose daughter died'~h~t'ebst~ .and a. couple

I e emg exorcIsed.

"The church was totally ripped offwhen the Pope visited Ireland" com.plained papal representative Mo~signorRalph Brown (quoted in "The Age, 25/6/81). He was determined that such athing should not happen again, and aspecialist was hired to prevent any rip.off, or rather have the profits go theright people. Mark McCormack whosefirm was chosen to handle the' Englishtour of the Pope, had successfullyorganised the tours of Mohammed Ali,Rod Steward, Michael Parkinson, BjornBorg, Chris Lloyd and many others, alsothe Royal Wedding. Usually he charges~O% of the take, for the Pope he madeIt a mere 20%, which he estimated to beabout 2 million dollars. The take of thePapal tour was expected to be $12 mill.ion. "If anyone tries to use the officiallogo without the firm's agreement, alawsuit is more than likely", McCor.mack said, And Monsignor Brown ad.dedi ". . , for us, money is as much areality as the Holy Trinity Itself."

Faith, hope and vandalismARMED with scissors and razors,

Philadelphian Catholics ran rampantfor papal souvenirs. Durin~ a High'Mass. they cut and hacked away atwhatever they could snatch. .

As the. Pope left St P.etec's Chul'ch,and while Mass continued, the con-~re~ation went berserk. .'

Withih minutes a white aisle ru~"was demolished - cut into pieces and,stowed. in handbags and pockets -

satin ribbons were ripped from postsand prayer books "souvenired", whilepriests fou~ht to keep order.

But the faithful were umishatned."Maybe he'll be a saint some day andI'll have a relic;" said Mrs JoanneLogan, who, like 'many others, camearmed with scissors. .

Theresa Schultz felt the same. "ThePope walked on it," she said, as shetore a huge chunk out of the carpet.

'Lookingwith Sat wife a sin"The pope ~aY oo,se1ves on ,hi

. ::.,.,:..•':f' 4 Cl, 'ill)Of l e",,1.0 /01", \low

oo.flS' ber Joe' ••1•••••

01 {F·n ",.OS1i; , t."io" ••d"'" ,,0' .PPC.' •• _t b'" hnnd,.d °n "0 '" ,Cie."d f~,t,-f.'" tl>o",.."d ",ithf"I' ohO"ly .fter b~eek:n in ~ kiJ!'.~Of the CI'-t,",Might 00 ~'''''. 6 ",.t ib ,••• '" ,.y ••k"l,,;; pc,;!e"ed

dt·ideftt'hb is' 15 tfaith b h

,io"S' boso,1 on tho 1\,t.lo, ,.u" bo '0•••••· hJs ected "e he .st he r Y",• .',,, I\,",~ on Lo~J.alond .~ •• l'eligi fco", "'0Uid"'.n "I/ons' .ikin .. ~or s !'-Irs OUsfaithharl11bbe t1}.at ~ rea~len.,g thrOUO"I-.~p' .'dt 4u . Y f'''' °d Y b •••Z.cko he deirust. e • i t.frotn

"'hOU1d

elieTlray f OUt R "'c .d", C. nOU " • Pc ed. . or "'.8 0"'an42, ",:n, p~ino lino. irh." ~ '. s ';;' iFtect

P. c b.hiC.th·· d tec . Mc Z Old M

tcohMrecr . rles t .Y tes~~~Whh~',~%:p:"~"iC '" 1'Sc;;l

UItIs e w s On. er Of as wS or gry 1J~skille~s bo~eligigar.else lls. bYt;'hhe~S

i~;NN~~~ Tc~epr~iishop p~~~~ i~atgf~iCa ::menw'l'lydney h athoHc pals 01 denomination. ny -other

1 be d' a.ve bee school will be

t

ahgreeWithlSmls~edunnltoldthey' extea 2 well. I ••• 'Yat a b h ess th .mediate5jpnests incould pIa From "Phonem pupil. IS op'S d ey wooid Y. aod OU,re"" " .an "tid. by T Coli, fmm Hdl"bo~'J men ,g,a

yeach /m

andI . not be 1 ye, 'he .>on. 'm· dom,,"'''' Low"n" on ,on

.' en'er Ibe ay: for ",,"::hop

. MUldoifilled." demand 26/7/198~)"~~"(Mdb. H"obl •.""hop" pnest- th" ;'P?mt ,.oon "" d,nominolion o'h" "I,giou,

.assistant bThomas M . The le/glOnfoPranof pread for a domestic strl'''esauftCers so m.uch

region .lshop f o!.doo pam ye ' ' , o'h I.aid . 01 the S 0' the n, the tha< n in" Ore r' i- 0 ,,,.

that ~~a 'ette;~ney are~J.'the," in 'hPUPH

,in odes th:o,atio""of graVechurch 0 parish p,"'ose. a dec~3orthe';V:ry pad'hdem

w"t Vi""n,aman ,tonn

ed

out ofble "i, • was "i nost, "fo, th e 01 th, ~g,on will,c hou" witb a p~tol aod,hOth~ ne",h'ci:r'becaus~ ao'f.tate cation, e explicit. osa,y eo~' h'" th,ou,b a f,ont window. H' hadT .. the to the p,.'n'enlion c . bOenl~ten,n, to a reli,io", b,oad",t

h. Ag•• NOD. 1980 • '""hoo" ,'- on tel",i"on and bad felt in,!,i,ed to

T"e pope "as'orn01ed Italy by on-"Duneing that it is aS1" for ",an to "look""t'" lust" at his wife.

pope John Paul l\uac'f:.-ed lust within marriage athis week\Y general aU-dience last WednesdaY,and provoked a storm. ofcriticism in the Itaha.

o

pres.';.·Under headlines like"1oe Sin of LoOKing"and "00 l'olol pesireYour .• the 'P~l'e

qu

u G00910 SUfft\\,S,,~S\\\S\\O\'

-~~---------_.AN lDQ'URGATBD BIBLE

, CHICAGO.Mr. Frank R. Chandler recen1ly cele-

brated .llis 9O\hbirthdaY,and took the op-portun1ty to . comment. upon the .. 20tbcentury Bible" whicb he has iust

pUb-

lished.•. In it:' he said, •. I have exPurgated allimmoralities, indelicacies, and irrele-vancies. I ha.ve left. stars to denote thP-deletions. For instance, in the Bible 1\says that Noah Kot drunk. Why do ""eneed to 5ay thatt ASthe Bible stands now1 'Wouldnot. want a daughter of mine toread it, but expurgated, as 1 have mt.de it,U, i5 fine literature.4'-Reuter

. "Only Go ... <:-" .."':'.."--";"...::;';""..hfe. But GOdd .glves and takand We're ISbusy else es

undertake th ~he ones wh where(Torturer. IS task in At 0 lllust

s, as qUoted b gentina."Y J. Ttinennan)

• ..;";:Ii-;:. ;:i: .. ~.~

from an Italian post cardshowing that the virgin and Saintsw('rc with the soldiet's

1 hall alwa~shappens, sHim,

"WhateveGr d and pra~ tlOt the1 e 0 'thlU 0 "Ovd remain fal d defend it ...an rch an

Catholic Chu , . h RimmLerLJ innc. Boss rJeNazI

cm~[IDAND THE SWORD OF THE RIGHTEOUS"My text today is Luke XII, 49 (I cometo send fire on the earth; and what will 1if it be already kindled?).

How righteously may we, indeed, themost peaceful pe9ple under the sun, reopeat those other words of the Prince ofPeace: 'Do not believe that 1have cometo bring peace to the world, 1 havecome not to bring peace, but thesword.' Just as the Almighty caused Hisson to be crucified for redemption, sowe are to crucify humanity for the reonewed salvation of mankind. Humanitymust be redeemed by blood, by fire,and by the sword. Our warriors do notwillingly shed the blood of other'nations, but they do it as a sacred duty,which they dare not neglect without

committing a sin. Above all, our adoredEmperor abhors the horrors of war. Formany long years he laboured incessantlyto maintain the peace of the world. Wehave never used our strength to menacethe independence of any other nation.Just for this reason, on account of ourclean record, we have been chosen asthe Almighty's instrument to punishthe envious, to chastise the evil·doers,to bring the sword to the sinfulpeoples of the world. Our divine mis-sion is to crucify humanity. It is there-fore the duty of our soldiers to strikeblows of merciless violence; they mustkill, they must burn, they mu~ workwholesale destruction. Half·measureswould be impious; there must be thoro

12

ough war without compassion. Thewicked, the friends and allies of Satan,must be wiped .out of eXIstence. Satanhimself, who has come to the world inthe shape of a great power, must becrushed, and to us has been entrustedthe intensely holy duty of accomplish·ing the destruction of the embodimentof Evil. When that work is done, fireand the sword will not have come invain; humanity will be redeemed; thereign of righteousness will be estab-lished on the earth, with us as its creatorand its armed protector."

(Shortened version of a serlnon givenby the Rev. Philippi ill Ber/ill, 1915,

(looln a newspaper article collecteabyGeorJ!e lues; "Man Bites Man ", Penl!uin)

I'll alw~ys rememberthe kind face of the Padre.

"\Var has supernatural.use.we have in the end to love it

. as the religious manloves his disciples."

Jose Maria Escriva De Ba/aguer .y A/bas·(Founder of Opus Dei)

Opus Dei is papa Wojtyla's favouritecharity, and he has exulted the quasi-secret organisation to unprecedentedstatus. The aim of the organisation is toinfiltrate banks, universities etc., to re-establish the medieval power of Catholi-cism. It claims to have 80.000 membersin 80 countries. There are three divi-sions: priests, men and women. Thewomen as well as the men are obliged toscourge themselves at least once a week.The spokesman of Opus Dei, Father An-drew Byrne , admits: "It is true that we

"When we dropped bombs on thevillages I knew that many inno-cent women and children woulddie a terrible death; they would beburned alive by napalm, maimed,or buried alive. I come from a veryreligious family, and I oftenthought of my own wife and chil-dren back in Massachusetts. I won-dered how I would manage to livewith the guilt for the rest of mylife. The knowledge that God waswith me and that our kind padrehad done everything for my soul's

- salvation was a constant comfortin these terrible times. Even todayI could not survive without thecertainty my faith gives me. "

issue whips for self flagellation. Mem-bers are also encouraged to wear spikedchains round their thighs. Their use isnot obligatory but many members findthem beneficial". He did not elaboratein what way they are felt as beneficial.One of Opus Dei's main activities atpresent is the recruitement of newmembers. The age for joining is now14 years. Father Byrne says: "It is truewe run clubs for youngsters ... Priestsare there to talk to those who are inter-ested. In some cases when a youngsterwants to join we do advise them not totell their paren ts ... "

When Mister Wojtyla was archbishopof Cracow he frequently visited theOpus Dei headquarters in Rome, andone of his first acts upon becomingPope was to pray at the tomb of itsfounder Escriva. He supports all theaims of Opus Dei.

withloveFROM THE BODY OF CHRIST

~~One of America's nuclear-powered ~.' '$!iland nuclear-armed submarines has ~officially been baptised 'S'"BODY OF CHRIST (Corpus Christi). ,Apart from a small group of localChristians nobody objected.The Catholic hierarchy apparentlyagree with the Moral Majority leaderwho said that Nuclear Arms werea gift of God to the USA.

"THE POPE'S HANDSARE DRIPPING WITH

BLOOD."(Laura lJiaz Me bfor Livourn1e . m er of Parliarrwnt

at o.t ' III a speach deliveredI ona, 15. 4. 1946.

Between 1925 and 1935 the Vatican re-presentative in Berlin was a certaincardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who was in-strumental in negotiating the famed"Concordat" between the Holy Sea andthe Nazis. (Dictionary description of-concordat: a harmonious agreement.)The pope at the time was Pius XI) char- :acterised by the Cologne Gazette as"the most German Pope who ever sat onthe throne of St.Peter". In 1939 he wasfollowed by an even more "German"pope: Eugenio Pacelli, now callinghimself Pius XII. He told his friend Rib-bentrop that he always had a special af-fection for Germany.

Von Papen, Hitler's most "respectable"statesman who had negotiated the Con-cordat, defines Nazism as "a Christianreaction against the spirit of 1789", and'indeed, fascism was securely linkedwith Christianity. Hitler was a Catholicas were nearly all of his henchmen, andthroughout his life he confessed his be.lief and his conviction that providence

. protected him. The Vatican was re-putedly pleased to see Catholic Austri-ians and Bavarians establishing them '-selves in Protestant Prussian Berlin,'poised to "liberate" the East.

The originator of fascism, Mussolini,had already been praised by the pope assavior of Italy, and even when he beganhis bloody military campaigns, the Va-tican supported him. The Jesuit cardinalof Milano, Archbishop Alfredo Ildefon-so Schuster, called the barbaric' Ethiop-ean war a Holv Crusade, and the popehimself (Pius XI at the time) explained:"Italy thinks lhe war is justified be-cause of a pressing need for expansion".The. occupation of Albania was notoppOsed by the Church either.

If Catholics felt uncomfortable withpolitical leaders whose hands becamebloodier each year, they were remindedthat it was their duty to obey establishedgovernments. No such reminder cameforth in support to the lawful govern-ment in Madrid. The pope excommuni-cated the heads of the Spanish repub-lic and declared spiritual war. The pri-mate of Spain, ,the Archbishop, vir-tually proclaimed civil war. Championof the Church General Franco, suppor-ted by Hitler and Mussolini (and hismoorish African troops who were Mo-hammedans!) enjoyed the full blessingsof the pope who praised the tyrant inflowery words. In language that seemsto echo from previous centuries, bishopGomara preached: "Blessed are the can-nons if, in the breaches they open, thegospel springs up!"

In all the honest memoirs of church-people of the time it is. confirmed thatthe mood in Europe's Catholic institu-tions was enthusiastically fascist. Catho-lic students went to Rome and returnedfull of praise. From hundreds of docu-ments here is a typical example on howCatholic groups identified with fascism:

The "Catholic Action Centre" in Bel-gium, .organised by Monsignor Picard,who openly proclaimed Mussolini agenius and expressed the wish for asimilar dictator for all Catholiccountries, published "Avant Garde", apaper whose aim it was to weaken theties between England, France and Bel-gium. The publishing house, "ChristusRex" was managed by Leon Degrellewho not only welcomed German occu-pation, but who fled with the Naziswhen the Allies advanced. Did such menact behind the pope's back? Certainly

14

not. Pius XI said: "The men of CatholicAction would fail in their duty if, asopportunities allow it, they did not dir-ect the politics of their provinces andof their countries." (Pius Xl's \ letter"Peculari Quadam") .

The above mentioned Catholic leaderDegrelle could later be heard on Berlinradio broadcasting to his liberated com-patriots: "I have asked my Fuhrer for20,000 flying bombs. They will chastisean idiotic people. I will promise youthey will make Anverse a city without aport, a port without city ... " (Anversewas indeed heavily bombed.)

The Church often attempted to dis-own such men after the war, not tooconvincingly. "Catholic Action's" chiefwrote in his memoirs: "Being a ferventChristian ... I would not have consider-ed collaborating (with Hitler) withoutfirst consulting the religious authori-ties". He goes on to describe in detailtheir answers.

The Vatican had already established a"Collequium Russicum", a Jesuit insti-tute prepared to re-evangelise the con·quered area in the East, under the ex-plicit protection of the Wehrmacht andthe SS. It was no secret that the popeexpected Adolf Hitler to win the war.There are numerous references to this inthe correspondence between Berlin andGermany's representatives in the Vatican.

While most Catholics at the time livedunder fascist rule or with fascist sym-pathies (as in South America), therewere also Catholics in Anglo-Saxoncountries, and the allied representativeswere anxious to gain the support of thepope. Numerous representations weremade, documenting atrocities commit·ted by the Nazis. In 1941 (just to give

an example), when Pacelli was alreadypope, Roosevelt's personal representa-tive begged the pope to denounce Nazibarbarities. After three weeks ',camethe pope's reply, containing the sen-tence: " ... up to the present time it hasnot been possible to verify the accuracythereof '(the atrocities)"1. ,

In December 1942 the Allies, includ-ing governments in exile, issued a decla-ration condemning German atrocitieswhich went way beyond waging war -the well documented exterminationcampaigns, The pope, asked to co-signthe declaration, refused, telling MyronTaylor to report back to Washingtonthat the Holy Sea (Cardinal-Secretaryof, State Maglione, to be precise)'had been unable to "verify the Allied re-ports as to the number of Jews exter-minated" 2" (In other words, while itwas unclear whether one million or twomillion had been gassed, one should notissue rash declarations!)

The pope's Christmas message of1942 was less reserved:

"This is not a time for lamentation,but action. May the Crusades' enthu-siasm get hold of Christianity, and thecall of 'God wants it!' will be heard;may we be ready to serve and sacrificeourselves, as the Crusaders of old ... Weexhort and implore you to take uponyourselves the awful gravity of the pre-sent situation ... As for the volunteerswho participate in this Holy Crusade ofmodern times, . . . raise the standardhigh, declare war on the dark~ess of aworld separated from God". Hitlercould not have put it better. 'If Catholicsin fascist countries had any doubts onwhich side the pope stood, this war-likemessage removed them. The Allied 'wereaghast. When they approached the HolyFather, he pointed out that he hadnamed no names, that he had alsospoken of his concern about the dis-placed and the persecuted, and Jewscould feel free to incl]lde themselves intothat category. Taylor's assistant H.H.Tittman reported to Washington that onDecember 30, during an audience withthe pope, the holy man had "led him tobelieve that he felt· that there had beensome exaggeration (of Nazi evil) for thepurposes of propaganda" 4.

A week later, when the pope wasagain urged to qualify his Christmaswords so that they could not be takenas a blanket approval of Hitler's war, hesaid that "his public statements hadsatisfied all demands recently madeupon him to speak out."5.

The pope had indeed made somestatements for the consumption inallied countries that could be interpre-ted as showing sympathy with the Jews.But bishops in fascist territory werenever encouraged by the pope to followthat line. '

One studies with interest the Germandocuments of the era. Hitler, as a Catho-lic, was naturally anxious to maintainthe good will of the pope, and many en·quiries were made as to his holy react-ion to the gas ovens. There are dozensof references to show that the pope'sgood will was never completely with-drawn from Hitler. Here is a typicalmessage, addressed to von Ribbentrop,the Nazi Foreign Minister, from the Ger-man Embassy in the Vatican, (Oct.28,1943):

"Even though urged on every side,the pope has not expressed any demon-strative reprobation of the deportationof Jews from Rome. He can expect ourenemies to reproach him in this attitu-de, and see it exploited by the Protest-ants of Anglo-Saxon countries in theirpropaganda against Catholicism ... "6

Again and again, enquiries from Berlinwere answered: don't worry, the pope ison our side. The pope's failure to take aclear stand affected not only Germans.In the US, the Jesuit father Coughlin,known for his militant anti-semitism,kept a radio program going whichclaimed to attract 20 million listeners.I quote this fact because it was ment-ioned in official German corresponden-ce as evidence that the Catholic Churchthroughout the world was basically pro-Nazi.

Vichy's Vatican embassador wrote 'tothe French government: "The Churchnever professed that the same rightsshould be given to all citizens. . . Assomeone in authority in the Vaticantold me, you will not find yourselves indifficulties over the status of the Jews;'7

In the occupied, territories Catholicscholars came out of the woodwork andfell over each other in their attempts tojustify Hitler. M. Daniel-Rops of theFrench Academy, a most pious man,wrote this: " ... the face of a persecutedJewish nation fills history, bu t it cannotobliterate this other face, smeared withblood and spittle, for which the Jewishcrowd, felt no pity ... " and he goes onto say that it was "divine will" which"compensated" for the Jewish crime ofcrucifying Jesus, making the pogroms anact of God. So it appears in "Jesus etson temps" in 1944. After the war suchreferences were deleted from reprints.Daniel-Rops' books are still regardedhighly by Catholic scholars.

After the war attempts have beenmade to try the pope for war crimes.That of course was impossible asmillions of Catholics believed that theirHoly Father can do no' wrong. Dozens,if not hundreds of books have been pub-lished to show the pope's complicitywith the ,atrocities, committed byItaly, Spain and Germany, yet theChurch has never found the strength tosay: we were wrong. :A later,' ',popehas often been quoted as saying that ifPius XII had spoken out, more people

would have died. The evidence is to thecontrary, and the statement is at oddswith Pius XII's own words after the warended. He was interviewed by the Swissjournalist Dr. Nerin Gun; the Gazette ofLausanne, Nov.15 1945 printed this in-terview, which in part says: "We (thepope) knew that, for political reasons,violent persecu tions were taking place inGermany, bu t We were never informedas to the inhuman character of therepression." And that after all the de-tailed documentation put before him bythe alliedpowers.

Neither has the pope ever spoken outagainst the Catholic terror organisationssuch as the "Oustachi", which operatedin Yugoslavia, and whose leaders wereall practicing Catholics, declaring thatOustachi was simply a religious move-ment aimed at establishing the truefaith. It is today presented as a Nazifront. Their hestialities, well documen-ted, challenge our credulity. Hundredsof thousands were massacred in themost cruel ways imaginable. The vict-ims' eyes were hacked out and garlandswere made of them to be worn and pre-sented as mementos.8 When the mur-derers and torturers fled Croatia, firstto Austria, then to Italy to be shelteredby the Church, they left behind chestsof gruesome reminders of their deeds:platinum and gold wrenched from theteeth of tlieir victims, rings and otherloot. Not only did the priests preachviolence from the pulpit, they parti-cipated. The pope's own representativewas on best terms with Oustachi but-chers, and the pope himself wrote theforeword to a book of instructions bythe German Jesuit Muckermann whichcontains sentiments like: "CatholicAction means the gathering of worldCatholicism. It must live its heroic age.... The new epoch can be acquired forChrist only through the price of blood.'9

Suurces:'1) "A"schwitz' alld the Allks", M.Gjlb",·I,publ. Michal!! Jos"ph Ltd., Londoll 1981.2) Fo,'eig/l Hela!iolls of tile Ullited Stai<:s,1942 VoU, Washillgton 1960, p,. 70- 71.3), "\Val' Messa!!es to th" World' by Pitts XIl,(lid. Spcs., PUrLS 1945.4) Foreign Helatio/ls of Ih« Ullikd Sioks,1942, Vol.3, P. 911-13.5) [ioreigr, OtIice Papers: 371/34363,C2166)"St'cret AI'chives ut the WilhdrnslTassH"7) "A"schwitz and tI,,· Allies"8) '4Tht! secret hislol';" or thp Jesuits", h,'dl1lU1l1Poris, p,.o[(:stalll Tndh Society9) «Assassins in. the lla'll(~ (){U<Jd", H.Laurier(',(Ed. D"foul', 1'01'is 1951) ,

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an example), when Pacelli was alreadypope, Roosevelt's personal representa-tive begged the pope to denounce Nazibarbarities. After three weeks .camethe pope's reply, containing the sen-tence: " ... up to the present time it hasnot been possible to verify the accuracythereof '(the atrocities)"l. .

In December 1942 the Allies, includ-ing governments in exile, issued a decla-ration condemning German atrocitieswhich went way beyond waging war -the well documented exterminationcampaigns. The pope, asked to co-signthe decla!ation, refused, telling MyronTaylor to report back to Washingtonthat the Holy Sea (Cardinal-Secretaryof. State Maglione, to be precise)'had been unable to "verify the Allied re-ports as to the number of Jews exter-minated" 2" (In other words, while itwas unclear whether one million or twomillion had been gassed, one should notissue rash declarations!)

The pope's Christmas message of1942 was less reserved:

"This is not a time for lamentation,but action. May the Crusades' enthu-siasm get hold of Christianity, and thecall of 'God wants it!' will be heard;may we be ready to serve and sacrificeourselves, as the Crusaders of old, .. Weexhort and implore you to take uponyourselves the awful gravity of the pre-sent situation ... As for the volunteerswho participate in this Holy Crusade ofmodern times, . . . raise the standardhigh, declare war on the dark~ess of aworld separated from God". Hitlercould not have put it better. 'If Catholicsin fascist countries had any doubts onwhich side the pope stood, this war-likemessage removed them. The Allied 'wereaghast. When they approached the HolyFather, he pointed out that he hadnamed no names, that he had alsospoken of his concern about the dis-placed and the persecuted, and Jewscould feel free to include themselves intothat category. Taylor's assistant H.H.Tittman reported to Washington that onDecember 30, during an audience withthe pope, the holy man had "led him tobelieve that he felt that there had beensome exaggeration (of Nazi evil) for thepurposes of propaganda" 4.

A week later, when the pope wasagain urged to qualify his Christmaswords so that they could not be takenas a blanket approval of Hitler's war, hesaid that "his public statements hadsatisfied all demands recently madeupon him to speak out."5.

The pope had indeed made somestatements for the consumption inallied countries that could be interpre-ted as showing sympathy with the Jews.But bishops in fascist territory werenever encouraged by the pope to followthat line. '

One studies with interest the Germandocuments of the era. Hitler, as a Catho-lic, was naturally anxious to maintainthe good will of the pope, and many en-quiries were made as to his holy react-ion to the gas ovens. There are dozensof references to show that the pope'sgood will was never completely with-drawn from Hitler. Here is a typicalmessage, addressed to von Ribbentrop,the Nazi Foreign Minister, from the Ger-man Embassy in the Vatican, (Oct.28,1943):

"Even though urged on every side,the pope has not expressed any demon-strative reprobation of the deportationof Jews from Rome. He can expect ourenemies to reproach him in this attitu-de, and see it exploited by the Protest-ants of Anglo-Saxon countries in theirpropaganda against Catholicism ... "6

Again and again, enquiries from Berlinwere answered: don't worry, the pope ison our side. The pope's failure to take aclear stand affected not only Germans.In the US, the Jesuit father Coughlin,known for his militant anti-semitism,kept a radio program going whichclaimed to attract 20 million listeners.I quote this fact because it was ment-ioned in official German corresponden-ce as evidence that the Catholic Churchthroughout the world was basically pro-Nazi.

Vichy's Vatican embassador wrote ·tothe French government: "The Churchnever professed that the same rightsshould be given to all citizens. . . Assomeone in authority in the Vaticantold me, you will not find yourselves indifficulties over the status of the Jews;'7

In the occupied territories Catholicscholars came out of the woodwork andfell over each other in their attempts tojustify Hitler. M. Daniel-Rops of theFrench Academy, a most pious man,wrote this: " ... the face of a persecutedJewish nation fills history, bu t it cannotobliterate this other face, smeared withblood and spittle, for which the Jewishcrowd felt no pity ... " and he goes onto say that it was "divine will" which"compensated" for the Jewish crime ofcrucifying Jesus, making the pogroms anact of God. So it appears in "Jesus etson temps" in 1944. After the war suchreferences were deleted from reprints.Daniel-Rops' books are still regardedhighly by Catholic scholars.

After the war attempts have beenmade to try the pope for war crimes.That of course was impossible asmillions of Catholics believed that theirHoly Father can do no' wrong. Dozens,if not hundreds of books have been pub·lished to show the pope's complicitywith the .atrocities. committed byItaly, Spain and Germany, yet theChurch has never found the strength tosay: we were wrong. :A later, '. popehas often been quoted as saying that ifPius XII had spoken ou t, more people

would have died. The evidence is to thecontrary, and the statement is at oddswith Pius XII's own words after the warended. He was interviewed by the Swissjournalist Dr. Nerin Gun; the Gazette ofLausanne, Nov.15 1945 printed this in-terview, which in part says: "We (thepope) knew that, for political reasons,violent persecu tions were taking place inGermany, but We were never informedas to the inhuman character of therepression." And that after all the de-tailed documentation put before him bythe alliedpowers.

Neither has the pope ever spoken outagainst the Catholic terror organisationssuch as the "Oustachi", which operatedin Yugoslavia, and whose leaders wereall practicing Catholics, declaring thatOustachi was simply a religious move-ment aimed at establishing the truefaith. It is today presented as a Nazifront. Their bestialities, well documen-ted, challenge our credulity. Hundredsof thousands were massacred in themost cruel ways imaginable. The vict-ims' eyes were hacked out and garlandswere made of them to be worn and pre-sented as mementos.8 When the mur-derers and torturers fled Croatia, firstto Austria, then to Italy to be shelteredby the Church, they left behind chestsof gruesome reminders of their deeds:platinum and gold wrenched from theteeth of their victims, rings and otherloot. Not only did the priests preachviolence from the pulpit, they parti-cipated. The pope's own representativewas on best terms with Oustachi but-chers, and the pope himself wrote theforeword to a book of instructions bythe German Jesuit Muckermann whichcontains sentiments like: "CatholicAction means the gathering of worldCatholicism. It must live its heroic age.... The new epoch can be acquired forChrist only through the price of blood.'9

Sources:1) "Auschwitz· alld Ihe Alli,'s", M.Gilbat,publ. Michael Juseph Lid., LUl1d,)I/ 1981.2) .F()~·eigH Relutiults of the United Stales,1942 Vol,], WushillgtuI11960,1'.70·71.3). "War Messa!'es tu th •. World' by Pius XIl,(Ed. Spes., PUrlS 1945.4) FU"eign He/ations of the U"ilt-d Stalt-s,1942, Vol.3, P. 911·13.5) Fureig" Office Papers. 371/34363,C2166)"Sccret Archives uf the Wilhdmst"rasse"7) "Auschwitz und iI", Allies"8) "The secret history or till' Jesuits", b'dtllulIlPuris, Protestallt Tt'uth Society9) "Assassins in the 110n1(' uf Gud", H.Luurien·,(Ed. Dufuur, Puris 1951)

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C IME AND THE FEAR OF GOD

"Convicts as a class seem to be the mostreligious people in the country", writesLeo Kalmer ("Crime and Religion",Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago) afterexamining prison records in the USA.

While some religious minorities, suchas Jews, Quakers, Wesleyans, and cer-tainly atheists, are under-represented injails, Roman Catholics are the mostcrime-prone. At the time of Kalmer'ssurvey sixty percent of Americans pro-fessed to no religion and were represen-ted by ten per cent in jail, and the fortypercent who considered themselves reli-gious supplied ninety percent of thejail population. "Therefore", asksKalmer, "what use religion?"

Dozen of studies have been made inEurope and America (not only byatheists), to get to the bottom ofthe phenomenon: why do churches aridreligious schools turn out so many cri-minals? To give some idea of the ratio,here are some examples:l Wyoming had7.13% Catholics in its population, but32.18 of their prisoners were Catholic.Colorado had 10.91% Catholics, it'sprisons had 37.42% - and so on.

Catholic investigators have tried re-peatedly to find factors which couldexplain the phenomenon without in-criminating the nature of Catholicteach'ings. They have speculated, for in-stance, that many delinquents in Amer-ica are Catholics from Puerto Rio, Cubaand Mexico, and so are much easier toconvict because they don't speak Eng-lish. .

But if Catholic crime was indeed theresult of the social disadvantages ofaliens, then the latter ought to be doingbetter in their own countries. This is notso. Emmett McLoughlin (an ex-Catholicpriest) compiled a list of countriesaccording to the number of murdersper thousand of population. Thecountries with the least murders were(in that order) Scotland, Switzerland,Norway and New Zealand - all "Pro-testant" countries. The countries withthe most murders were Colombia, the

Philippines, France and Yugoslavia, andthe mixed Protestant/Catholic countriesin the middle. What is surprising is thatCatholic Colombians (who are so fer-vent that they burn down "amoral" Pro-testant churches and regard Protestant-ism and Atheism as crime), have morethan a hundred times more murders perthousand than the nasty Scots! Thisstudy was made in the years 1957, 57and 59, but indications are that theratio has not changed much.

Catholic leaning towards crime is nota modern phenomenon. Joseph McCabe(also an ex-priest) studied the correlationof crime and religion over a hundredyears ago. Here are some of the resultsfrom 1880: Top of the list for murdersin Europe were the Catholic countriesof Spain (7.2 murders per 1000) andItaly (10.1 per 1000), the least mur-ders were committed in Protestant<:ountries (England and Wales - 1.2 per1000). The figures presented by Lea forsome years after that vary only slightly.

We also have figures from a typical"p.1ixed" country, compiled in1910 by the Chief Justice of New Zea-land for that country; while the mem-bers of the Church of Englandconsti-tuted 40.27% of New Zealand's populat-ion, 41,47 of their prisoners were C ofE - just a fraction.more than average.Wesleyans were doing well, they wereless than three times as crime-pronethan the average citizen, and Presbyter-ians were also better than average, bu t theCatholics were more than twice as likely

I to commit a crime than the average, New Zealander, or six. ti!lles more likely. than a Wesleyan. The 14.07% Catholicsmade up 32.95% of prisoners.

American gangsterism, as examplifiedby the Prohibition, was a Roman Catho-lic monopoly and criminals, eventhough they may have murdered and ex-torted on weekdays, went to church onSundays. The mafia today is strictlyCatholic, and surprisingly fervent. Theydonate large amounts to the church tomaintain a feeling of spiritual security,

and maybe to atone for the occasionalmurder of an anti-mafia cleric!

It is not true that the large number ofCatholics in American jails are Catholicby name only. Monsignor Francis Lane,prison chaplain, said that Catholic pri-soners had received "the sacraments" onan average of about two years.

The Catholic brothel and the devoutmadam of popular fiction is not so farremoved from fact. New York's army ofCatholics has been found to be almosthalf Catholic. Many brothel keepers in-sist on their girls attending church andmaintain a kind of self-worth by donat-ing generously to the churches.

It is not only the prisons and thebrothels which are full of Catholics;mental institutions too have an over-large Catholic clientele. EmmettMcLoughlin compiled thousands of fig-ures from American institutions andthey left no doubt that the CatholicChurch produces more madmen thansaints. Many institutions did not keeprecords on religion, or in the case ofCatholic houses, were loath to divulgethem and so it was impossible to cOm-plete accurate statistics. But it is inter-esting that that 94% of doctors said thatsexual maladjustments are prevalentamong girls from Catholic schcols, 75%of doctors believed that Catholics gener-ally were prone to suffer from sex-guiltdisturbances, 91% of doctors said thatthe prohibition of birth control hadnegative consequences. 86% of doctorsbelieved that Catholic sexual teachingcaused serious conflict.

The Catholic church is aware of suchstatistics, since many studies Were in-deed conducted by their own. But sincenone of their explanations hold waterand the obvious rational explanations(to which I come in a minute) are notacceptable to the church, the officialstance is now against compiling statistics.Independent researchers have been ham-pered by interference from the churchhierarchy who know that their flockwill show up badly. But newsp~per

articles and talks to field workersconfirm that social problems are mostprevalent among Catholics, includingwife beating, drunkenness etc, and abort·ion. it has been said that in this age ofanti· discrimination that the publishingof figures which reflect badly on a sect·ion of the community is illegal, andnewspapers do not want to offend themany Catholics among their readerswho, it is true, are probably goodcitizens.

Catholic morality has always beenupheld by a hierarchy which at timeswas nothing else but organised crime.Popes poisoned each other, amassedriches, killed opponents by every avail-able means. It is astounding how theCatholic priesthood can present itselfas favouring high moral standards, andlook down on non-Catholics as inferior.Catholic parents are not only unawarethat Catholic schools are, statisticallyspeaking, more likely to turn theirchildren to crime, they would stren-uously deny it. But "Catholic writers",according to McLoughlin, "have admit·ted that confession and indulgencesmade crimes so much easier that sinswere freely perpetrated because forgive.ness was so automatic." Catholic moral-ity stems -from the concept that anamoral deed is something whichoffends God. And interpretation of justwhat constitutes a crime and how it canbe atoned for is geared to that concept.Atheists on the other hand maintainthat there is no God who must beobeyed or bribed, and that crime is

simply something which makes our lifeon earth, (the only life we have) verydifficult and it is therefore in the inter-est of all to agree to that social contractwhich assures we get along as well aspossible. For that reason atheists areso much under·represented in jails. Itis curious that in ligh t of this undeniablefact religious people constantly equateatheism with crime.Throughout the ages Catholics havewiped their slate clean by simply givingto the rapacious overlords of the Church,by buying their indulgences, paying formass, kissing phony relics, and aquiecingto the lies and crimes of their priests. In,return they were given assurances thatGod would not subject them to thehorrendous pain of everlasting flames."The Christian Catholics commit manysins in hope of pardon through pen-ance ... " writes Charles Lea ("A Historyof Auricular Confession") and evenwhere a sin is committed with the spe-cific intention of confessing it and ob-taining forgiveness later, it is acceptable,for in fact it proves that the individualthereby demonstrates his or her beliefand trust in God. Ritual and dogma re-place. rational behavior and analyticalthinking. The Church is primarily inter-ested in self-preservation and enrich-ment, not dedicated to the individual'shappiness or the well-being of mankind.

The Catholic concept of crime. throu-out the ages has challenged the credulity

. of thinking people. Manslaughter is nota mortal sin. Thinking of sex was (andstill is to some). A Catholic who chewed

an' ice cube during fast committed agreater sin than if he had clubbed thebaby of a heretic to death. (The chew-ing of ice cubes, by the way, has beena wonderful subject for Catholic "think-ers". It is now generally agreed that ifit is deliberately eaten during fast, usingthe teeth consciously, then it is a sin,but if it is inadvertantly swallowedduring fast, God will forgive it!) ACatholic who attended a Protestantprayer meeting committed a mortalsin, but not if he shot a hundred Jewsin a concentration camp. A Catholicwho ate meat on Friday would go tohell (unless he atoned for it, usually bysome financial exercise), bu t stealingsomething (provided it was nottaken from the Church) could be fixedby a Hail Mary or two. Catholicmorality is not much more advanced to-day. According to the present pope itis "morally defensible" to drop nuclearbombs on Moscow; the pilot, as well asthe people who designed and built andfinanced the plan.e and the bomb,havenot committed mortal sins. Not so thelaw-abiding woman who aborted a fer-tilised egg (a mere cluster of cells notremotely ressembling a human baby),she will go to hell. With such a moralityexpounded py today's Catholic leadersit is no wonder that Catholics leave theirfaith in droves, and others end up injails and madhouses!

For mon! ill{ornwtiol1 read"Crilne and I11l1n()ralit.\' ill the CuthCJIicChurch" by l!.'nl1n~~ttMcLuughlill,pub/' by 1.yle Stuart, New Yo'-/,(s<}l:frceboolz fur this al·ticle~

And here's the punch line!'From the people who fill the jailsto the less crime-prone:

II Atheism is... one of the mostdisturbing manifestations of the mysteryof evil.lI ,

(from "Thr! New Catholic Encyclopedia")

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C'urtt.Jon by Lofofrol1! "Unfuir to llipPot:rils"

In 1983 the Papal Code of Cannon Law was revised to replace the versionthat had been revised in 1917/18. It is contained in seven volumes, all in Latin.

There is, unfortunately, no longer the death sentence for "heretics",and for the firsttime it is even permissible for Catholics to have their bodies cremated.

Excummunication still exists, and it is a fate worse than death. After all, it assuresyour ever-lasting suffering in hell.

The number of crimes which carry automatic excommunication has been reducedfrom 37 to only 6. One of these cardinal of cardinal crimes is the ordaining

of a bishop without papal permission. That should discourage any split of theprogressives from the present medievalists.

Murderers, by the way, are not excommunicated, but abortionists are.Atheists will expose their usual lack of ethics by whining that it is worse to kill

a feeling, loving and loved person than it is to abort an unfeeling, unloved fertilisedcell. It shows that they do not know and fear our

-LOVING GOD.

GOD DAMN YOU!

When - in a short fit of temper - one of us, today, yells at another, "God damn you!" we know not whereof we speak. Beingdamned by god, or by his agents, was an enormously serious event in the lives of persons in prior years when the RomanCatholic Church was at the height of its power. Kings trembled, lesser authorities were psychologically emasculated, theordinary lay person was traumatized at the thundering words of the church. An excommunication removed one from thecommunity of persons with whom one lived, denied one access to the church or to its sacraments, caused neighbors,/riends,and family to shun one, set one apart as an untouchable, and otherwise isolated one from the human community.

An English novelist, Lawrence Sterne (1713-1768),in 1759,decided that he would use one of the official excommunications(which varied somewhat, but not a great deal, from one bishopric to another in diverse countries) in one of his works. Sterne,for use in his novel, Tristram Shandy, obtained an excommunication from the chapter clerk of the dean and chapter ofRochester. This has been checked against other official Roman Catholic excommunication texts and, basically, is about"standard. "

It is presented here in two columns - the Latin on the left and the English on the right - so that you may know what youreally mean when you turn to someone and say, "God damn you!"

'1~x auctoritate Dei omnipotentis, Patris, et Filij,et Spiritus Sancti,~ et sanctorum canonum, sanctaeque et intemeratae Virginis Deigenetricis Mariae, -

~ y the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy~ Ghost, and of the holy canons, and of the undefiled VirginMary,mother and patroness of our Saviour, -

- Atque omnium coelestium virtutum, angelorum, archangelorum,thronorum, dominationum, potestatuum, cherubin ac seraphin, &sanctorum patriarchum, prophetarum, & omnium apostolorum &evangelistarum, & sanctorum innocentum, qui in conspectu Agni solidigni inventi sunt canticum cantare novum, et sanctorum martyrumet sanctorum confessorum, et sanctarum virginum, atque omniumsimul sanctorum et electorum Dei, -

- and of all the celestial virtues, angels, archangels, thrones,dominions, powers, cherub ins and seraphins, and of all the holypatriarchs, prophets, and of all the apostles and evangelists, and of theholy innocents, who in the sight of the Holy Lamb, are found worthy tosing the new song of the holy martyrs and holy confessors, and of theholy virgins, and of all the saints, together with the holy and elect ofGod, - May he be damned.

Excommunicamus, et anathematizamus hunc furem, vel huncmalefactorem, N. N. et a liminibus sanctae Dei ecclesiae sequestra-mus, et aetemis 5uppliciis excruciandus, mancipetur, cum Dathan etAbiram, et cum his qui dixerunt Domino Deo, Recede a nobis,scientiam viarum tuarum noh.imus: et sicut aqua ignis extinguitur, sicextinguatur lucema ejus in secula seculorum nisi resipuerit, et adsatisfactionem venerit. Amen.

Maledicat ilium Deus Pater qui hominem creavit. Maledicat iliumDei Filius qui pro homine pass us est. Maledicat iliumSpiritus Sanctusqui in baptismo effusus est. Maledicat ilium sancta crux, quamChrist us pro nostra salute hostem triumphans ascendit.

Maledicat ilium sancta Dei genetrix et perpetua Virgo Maria.Maledicat ilium sanctusMichael, animarum susceptor sacrarum.Maledicant ilium omnes angeli et archangeli, principatus et potes·tates, omnisque militia coelestis.

Maledicat iliumpatriarcharum et prophetarum laudabilis numerus.Maledicat ilium sanctus Johannes Praecusor et Baptista Christi, etsanctus Petrus, et sanctus Paulus, atque sanctus Andreas, omnesqueChristi apostoli, simul et caeteri discipuli, quatuor quoque evange·listae, qui sua praedicatione mundum universum converterunt.Maledicat' ilium cuneus martyrum et confessorum mirificus, qui Deobonis operibus placitus inventus est.

Maledicant iliumsacrarum virginumchori, quae mundi vana causahonoris Christi respuendacontempserunt. Maledicant ilium omnessan<;tiqui ab initiomundi usque in finem seculi Deo dilecti inveniuntur.

Maledictus sit ubicunque fuerit, sive in domo, sive in agro, sive invia, sive in semira, sive in silva, sive in aqua, sive in ecclesiil.

Maledictus sit vivendo, moriendo, munducando, bibendo, esuri-endo, sitiendo, jejunando,. oormitando, dormiendo, vigilando, ambu-lando, stando, sedendo, jacendo, operando, quiescendo, mingendo,cacando, flebotomando.

Maledictus sit in totis viribu5 corporis.

Maledictus sit in vertice, in temporibus, in honte, in auriculis, insuperciliis, in oculis, in genis, in maxillis, in naribus, in dentibus,mordacibus, sive molaribus, in labiis, in guttere, in humeris, in harnis,in brachiis, in manubus, in digitis, in pectore, in carde, et in omnibusinterioribus stomacho tenus, in renibus, in inguinibus, in femore, ingenitalibus, in coxis, ingenubus, in cruribus, inpedibus, et in inguibus.

Maledictus sit in totis compagibus membrorum, a vertice capitis,usque ad plantam pedis :- no sit in eo sanitas. .

We excommunicate, and anathematize him, and from the thresh·olds of the holy church of God Almighty we sequester him, that hemay be tormented, disposed, and delivered over with Dathan andAbiram, and with those who say unto the Lord God, Depart from us,we desire none of thy ways. And as fire-isquenched with water, so letthe light of him be put for evermore, unless H shall repent him andmake satisfaction. Amen.

May the Father who created man, curse him. - May the Son whosuffered for us, curse him. - May the Holy Ghost, who was given tous in baptism, curse him. - May the holy cross which Christ, for oursalvation triumphing over his enemies, ascended, curse him.

May the holy and eternal Virgin Mary, mother of God, curse him. -May St. Michael, the advocate of holy souls, curse him. ....:.-Mayall theangels and archangels, principalities imd powers, and all the heavenlyarmies, curse him. .

May St. John, the Praecursor, and St. John the Baptist, and St.Peter and St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all other Christ's apostles,together curse him.· And may the rest of his disciples and fourevangelists, who by their preaching converted the universal world,and may the holy and wonderful company of martyrs and confessorswho by ,their holy works are found pleasing t.oGod Almighty, cursehim.

May the holy choir of the holy virgins, who for the honour of Christhave despised the things of the world, damn him - Mayall the saints,who 'from the beginning of the world to everlasting ages are found tobe beloved of God, damn him -

May the heavens and earth, and all the holy things remainingtherein, damn him.

May be be damned wherever he be - whether in the house or the- stables, the garden or the field, or the highway, or in the path, Qr'in the

wood, or in the water, or in the, church.

May he be cursed in living, in dying. May he be cursed in eating anddrinking, in being hungry, in being thirsty, in fasting, in sleeping, inslumbering, in walking, in standing, in sitting, in lying, in working, inresting, in pissing, in shitting, and in blood-letting.

May he be cursed in the hair of his head. - May he be cursed in his'brains, .

- and in his vertex, in his temples, in his forehead, in his ear's, in hiseye·brows, in his cheeks, in his jaw-bones, in his nostrils, in hisfore-,teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his thtoat;in his shoulders, in hiswrists, in his arms, in his hands, in his fingers. May he be damned in hismouth, in his breast, in his heart and purtenance, down to the verystomach. May be be cursed in his reins and in his groin, in his thighs, inhis genitals, and in his hips, and in his knees, his legs, and feet, andtoe-nails.

May he be cursed in all.the joints and articul~tions of his members,from the top of his head to the sole of his foot. May there be nosoundness in him.

May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of his Majesty -curse him

- et insurgat adversus ilium coelum cum omnibus virtutibus quae - and may heaven, with all the powers which move therein, rise upin eo moventur ad damnandum' eum, nisi penituerit et ad satisfac· against him, curse and damn him unless he repent and maketionem venerit. Amen. Fiat, fiat. Amen. satisfaction. Amen. So be it, - so be it. Amen.

The document was taken from "The American Atheist", July 198519

, dd spots ...f God s aorne 0

THE YOUNGEST, THE OLDESTAND THE SLOWEST POPEThe Guiness Book of Records tells usthat the youngest pope was Benedict IXwho was only 11 or 12 when he becamepope in 1032. The oldest pope , asclaimed by the church, was electedwhen he was 103 years old in 678. His-torians dispute it.The slowest election was that of Teo-baldQ Visconti as pope Gregory X inor around 1210.When the cardinals could not come toa decision after 31 months, the Mayorhurried them up by putting them on adiet of bread and water, and removingthe roof of their conclave. That madethem decide in a hurry.

(Guiness Book of Records)

BANANASIn 1923 the composers of the song"Yes we have no Bananas" were success-fully sued by the owners of Handel's"Hallelujah Chorus", which had similaropening bars.

Rome's Basilica of Santa Croce in Geru-salemme has a cut-off dry human fingeron its altar: supposedly the finger withwhich st.Thomas touched Jesus' side!

DIE IN PEACE-THE CHRISTIAN WAY.

Come again, Mother Theresa?The Ethiopian famine, according toMother Theresa, is .simply God's way ofteaching the world a lesson in charity.A theists would make us believe thatoverpopulation is at the root of theproblem of too many people for toolittle resources.Another gem from Mother Theresa:"Abortions are a greater danger thannuclear war"!!!

INSIDE RELIGIONIn 1960 a man was hospitalised in theUS who had, among other things, 3 setsof rosary beads in his stomach.

("1'lle Pe(Jpk's AlmuIlGch")

HONEST CHRISTIANSThe Liverpool Secular Society went tocourt in 1867 because the owner of therooms they were renting broke the con-tract. The court arrived at the anonym-ous decision that a secularsociety, sinceit did not recognise the supreme author-ity of the Church, had no rights to betreated according to the law, and nocontract with such eVil people had tobe considered as binding.

TRUE BEll EVERSVINDICATED!In 1806 a hen near Leeds, England,allegedly laid an egg with the words"Christ is coming" imprinted. Priestsproclaimed this to be a sign fromheaven for the coming "Armageddon".Masses flocked to inspect the egg. Adoctor who checked the story out, dis-covered that the letters had been in-scribed with corrosive ink. The con-gregation, far from getting mad at thehoaxers, gave thanks to God for savingthem.

BUILD MORE ARKS"The world will end by a giant flood onFebruary 20, 1524'~ announced Jo-hannes Stoeffler of TDbingen in Germ-any. People started to build enough arksto choke a section of the Rhine river.Many others scoffed at the prediction,but when the appointed day came andcoincided with a freak rain storm, theystopped laughing, and scrambled to savethemselvestoo. Although the world didnot end, the rain storm enhancedStoeffler's reputation. A fter all, hewasonly a little bit wrong...

A HOLY DIFFERENT BAll GAMEDuring the 16th, 17th and 18th cent-ury the Vatican selected boys withgood singing voices (lemales were notallowed to .sing in church) and castratedthem to prevent their voices from break-ing during adolescence. The custom wassaid to be maintained until early thiscentury.

DID JESUS REALLY HAVETHREE PENISES?Since Jesus Christ was supposed to haveascended to heaven, taking his bodywith him, the church was hard-pressedfor relics of his body. Then they re-membered that there must have beenone part of his Jewish body that wasleft behind: the foreskin. And sincethree monastaries or churches claimto own Christ's foreskin, and since allof them have performed amazing mirac·les, there must be only one conclusion:he did have three ...

MONUMENTAL HOPES"And if any time hereafter any personor persons shall desire to honor my re-mains, they can do it by erecting a mo-nument whereon shall be inscribed thesewords: 'Here lies the body of CharlesGuiteau, Patriot and Christian. His soulis in glory.' "These words are from the last will andtestament of assassin duiteau, who shotUS President Garfield in the back.

The Lord told Moses to wipe out theMidianites, telling him to "kill everymale among the little ones, and killevery woman that hath known man bylying with him. But all the womanchildren that have not known man bylying with him, keep alive for your-selves." These virgins which the Lordwanted the Israelites to rape andenslave, numbered 32.000 (Num.32:40).32 virgins He wanted to have sacrificedto himself.And they wonder why atheists don'tlike Him!

FAUL TV TIME MACHINE?Ahazia was 22 years of age when heascended the throne, being 18 yearsyounger than his father (IIKings 8 :25-26). According to II Chron.22:1-2 hewas only two years older' than hisfather;(There are hundreds more examples ofinconsistency and nonsense in the bible)

WUTTEPPESITTUKGUSSUN·NOOWEHTUNKQUOH.

The above word means "kneeling downto him" (Mark 1:40). It is from a bibletranslation that no one can read, thework of missionary John Eliot, publi-shed in 1661. The language of thatAmerican Indian tribe has long sincedied out. 1000 copies of the work wereprinted and 50 are still in existence. Theonly other word that can still be under-stood is "mugwump" - Big Chief.

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VEGETARIANS BEWARE!A nun ate some lettuce without makingthe sign of the cross and swallowed adevil. When the devil was called out bya holy man, he replied: "How am I toblame? I was sitting on a lettuce, andthis woman, not having made the sign ofthe cross, ate me along with it!"

This is a true story, since it was toldby the infallible pope himself (Gregorythe Great).

YE~ BUT CAN DEMONSBE I RUSTED?

UNFAIR TOSNAKESfThe Italian Society against Cruelty to

Animals protested to Our Holy Fatherin Rome who apparently is no animallover. In his frequent diatribes againstSatan he likes to compare him withsnakes, dragons, goats etc. This, thesociety said. is grossly unfair to ourhorned and/or slithering friends.

In the haydays of Catholicism, exorcistsdid a roaring trade. One of them, thebishop of Beauvais, cornered the com·petition by giving a special service: Hemade the exorcised demons sign a docu-ment that they would not return intothe body of the possessed.

demonstration, sentface an anti-pope. of the Vatican

The pope, ~.n~~f ~an from the. rig~c:r~rn as to whatalong a sec lffering. police remalU Uas a peace 0 hould take next.action they s

WODONGA'S SEX PUBLICITYThe mayor of Wodonga (a retired far-mer) wants to get rid of all the roughstuff on the shelves of the city's library.The "rough stuff" are books on humansexuality - "masturbation, orgasm andthat type of thing", says the CouncillorMacauley. The library staff produced alist of the books in question, 32 all told,ranging from Black's Medical Dictionaryto The Joy of Sex. Since the mayor'soutburst on the local radio station,people are flocking to the library to getthese books to read ...

The Foreskin SagaConsternation has struck parishio e

of the small medieval town of Calcata -the Viterbo region of Central Italy -what they believe to be Christ's fore-skin, the relic which for four centurieshas attracted pilgrims to the localchurch, has been stolen .... Accordingto legend, it was given by the VirginMary to Mary Magdalene, then deliveredby an angel to Charlemagne, who inturn gave it to Pope Leo III at his coron-ation in Rome in the year 800 ....

GOD'S GIFTSSmallpox is "a judgement of God on thesins of the people ", this was the officialview of the Church when scientistsbegun to experiment with vaccination.It was God's right to kill by diseases,and to avoid his judgement would makeHim very mad. Pain too was God's gift,and anesthesia was opposed by theChurch, especially for women duringchild birth. After all, it said in thebible: "In sorrow thou shalt bring forthchildren. "

MICRO SURGERY - THE DEVIL'SWORK ...

LIONS 1 - CHRISTIANS 0A good Brazilian Catholic by the nameof Carlos Albertos Oliveira Fontes (47)went to "test the power of God" in theZoo of Salvador. by putting his hand in-to the lion's cage. The Courier Mail(Aug. 21, 1986) reported Carlos to be ina satisfactory condition (physically, thatis) in hospital ...

"If thy hand offend thee, cut it off",is the biblical advice to good Christians.Michael O'Connor of Sydney was such agood Christian, and when he ~ost inter·est in his tatoos, he went into a hard-ware shop, bought a circular saw anddid Godfs work. Micro-surgeons in Syd·ney's Prince of Wales Hospital workedfor many hours re-attaching his hand.The Vatican declined to pay the medicalcosts ...(Source: Canberra Times, JUlie 2,1986)

HOW GOOD A CHRISTIAN ARE YOU?DO YOU KNOW YOUR BIBLEAND CAN YOU INTERPRET ITCORRECTLY?HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF GODDECIDED TO TEST YOU?WHY NOT TAKE THIS TEST FIRSTAND FIND OUT!

(Gen.22:2) And he said, Take now thy son,thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, andget thee into the land of Mo.ri'ah; and offerhim there for a burnt offering upon one of themountains which I will tell thee of.

Refuse rightoutaDIf the Lord approached YOU

with such a request, would you:

Find a polite excuse not tobO

Do it without questiondJ

How would you describe the picture?

Papal inquisitors sadistically inflict pain aDon an innocent victim

Maybe they made a fire to keep thepoor man's feet warm ' 00

A heretic is being questioned by wise menof God, and to ensurethat the sinner will confess and thereby save hisimmortal soul, they kindly assist himin the process

(Gen.6:6) And it repented the LORD that hehad made man on the earth, and it grievedhim at heart.

7 And the LORD said, I will destroy manwhom I have created from the face of theearth; both man, and beast, and the creepingthing, and the fowls of the air; for it repentethme that I have made them.

If YOU were God, would you (aLways remembering that you wereall-powerful and all-knowing)-admit that it was the first time you created a world, an'd thatit needed ironing out. Luckily you are all-powerful and thereby ableto fix it-decide to destroy the earwicks, ringworm and similar guffiesbut that you'd let the baby harp seals alone, and any animal'that looks a little like Bambi. . . .

Have no mercy, drown the bloody lot, even though youyourself have created .the poor critters -

Before you read the inverted part ofthe Holy Scriptures, who would you thinkis excluded from eating the bread of theLord -

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(Exod.12:12) For I will pass through the land Who do you think, said these words:of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first·born in the land of Egypt, both man andbeast,

Look at the picture.What do you see?

A man of God blessing theswastika Nags ofGerman Nazis

He is telling some soldiersto be kind to the Jews

The picture is notvery clear

(Sam.5:9) ... and he smote the men of thecity, both small and great, and they hademerods in their secret parts.(6:5) Wherefore ye shall make images of youremerods, and images of your mice that marthe land; and ye shall give glory unto the Godof Israel. ..Can you draw, with a pencil,the outline of an emerod (hold the secret parts)

I wouldn't know anemerod if I fell over one' a 0

My emerod looks a bitdoubtful

My emerod drawingis beau tiful, since Ioften make imagesof the things

(Gen. 11) - And the whole earth was of onelanguage, and of one speech.

Did the-Japanese and the Australian Aborigines once speakthe same language?

Definitely yes C [].

(Levit.26:15) And if ye shall despise my sta-tutes or if your soul abhor my judgments ...

16 I also will do this unto you: I will appoint'over you terror, consumption, and the burn-ing ague ...'29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons,and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

What shall ye eat if ye abhor such judgements as the Grea.tFlood, the killing of all first-barns and the creation ofinsects who.lay their eggs inside living cq,terpillars, so that theybe eaten alive?

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Is the person on the right actingcorrectly in refusing to go to church?

Probably. Just look at his pants .

a~Who cares.'

(Deuter.23:2) A bastard shall not enter intothe congregation of the LORD; even to histenth generation shall he not enter into thecongregation of the LORD.

No, he ;w longer has an excuse, since he just passedthe eleventh generation. While his father was stillguilty for the bastardl")! of his great-great-great- e [-great-great-great-grcat grandfather, this man no .~~~is.

You arC'at a party with your wile ..You 're legally married. In Church. Shehas washed her hair with Sunsilk andit gleams just like on TV. You think:'By golly, shC'has lost weight. " She

wears the dress you like. And the redshoes. What goes through your mind?(Remember the Pope's warning thatit is a sin to look with lust at yourwi{e.)

(Exod.23:8) And thou shalt take no gift: forthe gift blindeth the wise, and perverdeth thewords of the righteous.

I'm a lucky guy. MarriC'd{or 20 years and still inlove and {aith{ul. There's no other woman like her.I'd beller no t drink too much so that we canmake love whC'n we gct home. . . aD

I guess she's ready {or another child. Must get thesugarbag oul to put over her head, Maybe tonight,i{ therC'is time a{tC'rreading the bible. I only praythat I won't {eel any pleasure. Oh Lord, and letit be twins again. Or arC'sextuplets too muchto hope for? C []

I{ you were the Pope and a South Americandictator offered you a gift worth 10 milliondollars, would you bpcome

Who said, {or the first timC', the words:"KILL THEM ALL, LET GOD SORTTHEM OUT?"

(Gen.16:11) And the angel of the Lord saidunto her, Behold, thou art with child, andshalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ish'.ma·el; because the Lord hath heard thy afflic-tion.

12 And he will be a wild man, his hand willbe against every man, and every man's handagainst him ...

The Ayatollah? aD Muammar Gadda{i? b 0An oflicial representative o{ the Pope? C [J

lt would have been nice. aDlt would have been impossible, since Godexpressly made him a wild'man, with hishand against everyone. bO.lt would have been a great sin, since it'd goagainst the Lord's wishes; it would havebeen the devils work, and deserving ofeternal hell fire.' 'c 0

Il Ishmael would havebehaved like a gentleman,that would have been ...

DO YOU HAVE NOTHINGBUT As?Go into the back yard and make a .large fire, take your shoes off and standin it. This will give you an idea of howyou shall spend eternity, for you are anincorrigible atheist and damned.

DO YOU HAVE NOTHINGBUT Cs?A Christian of your caliber ought tobe canonised. But while you may be·come a saint after you die, you are ad-vised to see a psychiatrist. Tomorrow.

You are anywhere between the two ex-tremes and a sinner that could probablybe saved. To do so, give all your moneyto the church.

"I cannot accept that weare to judge Pope and Kinglike other men withwith favourable presumptionthat they did not wrong ...There is no worse heresythan that the officesanctifies the holder of it."(Lord Acton)

AN IMPORTANT QUIZZ FOR DEVOUTCATHOLICS: HOW MANY OF THEQUESTIONS BELOW CAN YOUANSWER CORRECTLY?

1) How many times was Holy FatherBenedict IX holding the Papal Thronebetween 1032-1048?2) How many Popes were simultaneous-ly claiming the Papacy between 896-904?3) Who succeeded the Holy Father Ser-gius III (904-911)?4) Which Pope drank toasts to the Deviland invoked Pagan Gods while gamblingand how did he die?5) How did the Bishop o{ CremonaLuitprand and Cardinal Barunius de-scribe the Lateran Palace (Pope's resi-dence) in the Xth century?6) What did visiting Bishop Benno re-port about Papal Rome in 1046?

7) What was the Holy Father's reactionto the signing o{ the Magna Carta: in1215?8) What were the last words of HolyFather Innocent IX (1243-1254) on hisdeath bed?9) What was the /irst action of HolyFather Nicholas III (1227-1280) alterascending the Papacy?10) How did the famous Italian writerand greatest scholar of his time,Petrarch, describe the Papal Capital orAvignon where he lived {rom 1312-1337?

11) What did Holy Father Urban VI(1378-1389) do on learning that someCardinals were plotting to replace himwith their {avourite?

12) How many children did Holy FatherAlexander VI (1492-1503) have?13) Who was the best businessman-Popeo{ them all?1 4) Which Holy Father made two of hissons Cardinats at the ages of 14 and 16and gave two Papal Cities (Piacenca andParma) to his daughtPr?15) For what is Holy Father and Saintat' the Church, Pius V (1566-1572)famous?16) What was the reaction o{ HolyFather Gregory XIII (1572-1585) to thenews ot' the slaughter at' the Huguenotsin France on St. Bartholomew Night in1572, when 100,000 men, women andchildren were killed?17) How did Holy Father Clement VIIIreact to the Edict o{ Nan/es (1598) by·the French King granting Protestants ameasure pf religious ·tolerance?18) What was the t'avourite punishmentunder Papal jurisdiction in Rome in theXVI and XVII centuries?19) How long did Holy Father ClementXIV. (1769-1774) live after having dis-solved the Order of Jesuits?20) How did more recent Holy Fathersview religious tolerance and t'reedom oropinion? ; .,21) What is "Syllabus of Errors"(22) What happened to the long-standingrule of the Canon Law requiring deathfor heretics?

1) 3 times, after having sold the jobtwice for 2,000 pounds of gold and thenreclaiming it by force.2) Eight. Two were murdered by HolyFather Sergius III.3) The son of the above Sergius III andhis mistress Marozia was crowned by hisHoly Father to become Holy FatherJohn XI. .4) Holy Father John XII(955·964). Hewas beaten to death by the husband ofhis mistress when caught with her inbed. The Church has put the inscriptionon his tomb "Ornament of the WholeWorld".5) "A Brothel" and "A Stable".6) "There was no Cleric in Rome whowas not either illiterate, or guilty' ofSimony or living in concubinage".7) Holy Father Innocent III (1198··1216) called it being "Inspired by theDevil" and proclaimed Anathema on itand its supporters.8) He said to his relatives assembledaround him: "Why do you weep? Did Inot make you rich enough?"9) He promptly appointed his 3brothers and 4 other relatives Cardinals.10)"It was swept along in a flood of themost obscene pleasure, an incrediblestorm of debauch, the most horrible andun'precedented shipwreck of chastity ..."The Pope VI· is referred to as "AnEcclesiastical Dionysos with his obsceneand infamous artifices."

11) H~ had 6 of them t.ortured t? death, .17) He said: "The most accursed thing~atc~mg th~ tortur~ himself while rea~. that €an be imagined whereby liberty ofmg hiS breylary. (~Itnessed a~d des~rl' conscience is granted to everybody,~ed by emme~t .~unst of the time, Diet· which is the worst thing in the world."nch Von NeheIm). 18) Torture, castration and burning at12) 6 known and probably 8. His in· stake.famous son, Cesa~e, ~as. a murderer; his 19) Less than a ye~. All indicationsdaughte~, Lucretia, sll~ilarl~. S~e also were that he was poisoned.had an mcestuous relatIOnship w~th her 20) The pronouncement of Holy Fatherfather the Pope and probably With her Gregory XVI (1831.1846) in his Encyc.brother. . lical (5/8/1832): " ... that absurd and13) POSSIblyLeo X (1513·1521), the erronous doctrine or rather deliriumone who excommunicated Martin Luther. which claims and defends liberty of con:

.H~ .amassed a perso~al fortune of science for everyone. From this comes~~lllh?nsof c~owns. SaId a.bout Papac~: in a word the worst plague of all, name·

It IS a busmess so profItable that It ly unrestrained liberty of opinion andwould be sheer madness to open the freedom of speech "eyes of the ignorant". 21) A list of 80 "Reprobated,proscribed1~) Paul III (1534·1549). A later Pope, and condemned principal errors of ourS~tus V, ha~ done even better. He made times" compiled by Pius IX in 1864,hISson Cardmal at 13. (This Pope decreed his infallibility).15) He institutionalised Holy Inquisit· Samples: It is false that "Every man ision, torturing and burning at stake free to profess the religion, which byhundreds of heretics, while Holy Father the light of human reason, he believes towas watching. He was also concerned be true." It is false that "Men find thewith the morals of the Clergy, prohibi· way of eternal salvation and attain it inted Priests to keep female servants and any religion" (Other than Roman Ca·Nuns to keep male watch dogs (!) and tholicism). It is false that "The Romanordered that blasphemers were to have Pontiff can and should reconcile himselftheir tongues pierced with red hot iron. to and agree with progress, liberalismHe was also instrumental in convincing and modern civilisation" (Article 80).P~ilip of Spain t? invade England with 22) It was reaffirmed by Holy FatherhiSArmada, but died before the debacle. Leo XIII in 1901 and again by Holy16) He celebrated Thanksgiving Mass, Father Benedict XV in 1918 as "Righthad church bells ringing, sent congratu· and duty to put heretics to death". Notlations to the French Royal Court and until 1983 were the words wateredstruck a commemorative medal inscri· down a little.bed: "Slaughter of the Huguenots". Compikd by Dick AIlOIl

~~~~~~during one of the apparitions! A phototaken of the family before the "mirac-

lE'» ';})l)1.py 'Y!ff1J1JtJf.JJ .a.JJd 1JJJJ.JJk faces ~(de Sede) and Rev. de Marchi wrote atthe time: "Any physiognomist wouldcredit (Lucia) with a coarse, if not vici-ous nature."

The mother of the family was theonly one who could read a little, and inthe evenings she read the children froma book called "Abridged Mission". Thebook dscribed holy visions such as theone in La Sallette-Fallavaux in theFrench Alps (interestingly enough,Fallavaux, "fallax vallis" can be tran-lated as "valley of deceptions",); thebook also contained other informationthat was useful to young Christianminds, such as the much needed exactdetails of "Christ's passion": "Kicks:144. Punches: 150. Slaps in the face:102. Blows at the body and chest: 202.Lashes with a whip: 5,000. Heart pangs:72. Tears shed: 600,200. Drops of

_blood shed: 230,000". Such was theeducation of moron Aboboro's illiter-ate children. At the time when the"miracle" attracted attention, a doctorexamined the children, and his report oftheir mental state was not favourable.The doctor's report disappeared (mirac-ulously) from the archives during ·Sala-zar's Fascist-Catholic dictatorship.

Portugal was possibly Europe'spoorest country, and the region ofFatima was Portugal's poorest - truly abackwater of European civilisation;mountainous to the point of being un-accessible, its people "suspicious" andalmost totally illiterate. Church publica-tions praise the area for "the number ofits priests, the abundance of its voca-tions; it was considered as one of themost precious jewels of the church andone of the main supports for religiousaction as a whole: one could trust inits prie'sts and parishioners under anycircumstances" (Rev. Galamba de Oli-veira). True, the region had supportedthe church when in 1911 attempts weremade to separate State and Church. TheFatima region and its numerous priestsopposed the move so vigourously, thatan inventory of church property wasprevented, i.e. everything was assumedto belong to the Church. It is worthmentioning that after Salazar's longreign the church had managed to keepstUI half of the people illiterate (1974)!

Several books (see footnote) on thesubject recall a conversation overheardby an army chaplain between father deSousa and prior Ferreira regarding theterrible poverty of the region. Bothagreed that there was only one hope torelieve it: a miracle, and a big one. LikeLourdes. There was a strong suspicion atthe time among educated people (suchas the director of the National Libraryin Lisbon) that the whole miracle wasmanufactured by local priests.

The threll children's accounts,detailed at first, become rather evasiveafter the first couple of "apparitions".Attempts to corroborate their storiesfailed. When the children were quest-ioned by civil authorities, they repeatedthe stories, but Lucia, recalling, that in-

A $5 MILLION MIRACLE! FATiMA:Have you miracle of miracles ...

Mothers of Christ at the bottom The Catholic Church has published overof your garden? a hundred books on Fatima, some with

On October 16, 1964, Rosa Buzzini resounding titles like "Maria Saves theWest" by bishop Gruber, in which the

Quattrini, a simple peasant woman of author describes the "miracle" as "aSan Damiano, Italy, saw the Mother of forceful counterplay against the mightChrist in her garden. of Satan, unequalled in history."

While visions of that kind are two In truth Fatima is a million-dollarbob a dozen in Catholic countries, this business, ,designed to lighten not onlytime the Madonna had visited somebody the hearts out the pockets of millions ofspecial, somebody with business sense. suckers - and the present pope wentMamma Rosa spread the news of the there in 1982 to keep the hoax going.vision and opened a snack bar to sustain The story is that of 3 illiterate child-

ren, who in 1917 saw the virgin motherthose who came to look at the pear tree of Jesus no less then 6 times, in severalwhere the Madonna had appeared, and odd guises. First as a veiled lady (almostwhich had displayed an unseasonable certainly played by a- Senhora Geniproflowering (not uncommon). She also with connivence of local priests),speak-opened a souvenir shop at the miracle ing in a "thin melodious voice", then assite, finally even a 100 room hotel, be- a doll in a tree ( it spoke in the samecause the pilgrims came thick and fast. voice without moving its lips), then, as

As a cult developed around Mamma pe?ple ?ame to witness the event, theRosa and her Madonna of the Pears the c.hI1drens. accounts cOJ?flicte~, and they

. ' SImply saId: "Ask LUCIa.LUCIaknows".VatIc~n becam.e embarassed, and maybe I Lucia was the older sister.even Jealous, SInce all the money flowed The children's father nicknamedinto Mamma Rosa's pockets. Vatican Abobora is officially described as havinglawyers could do nothing, since the led "an examplary life" as pumpkinPope had failed to register "Madonna" grower; " ... he used to confess, takeand "Mother of Christ" as trademarks. holy communion and never missed Sun-The best the Vatican could do was to day mass." Eyewitness accounts of con-deny that a miracle had taken place. t~mporaries disagree. Abobora (P';1mp-

.. kIn) means "moron", the man, beIng aYet the ~Iracle WhIChtook. PI~ce was habitual drunk and idiot, never grew a

a true one. people kept comIng. They pumpkin in his life. He was even drunkcame in such numbers and bought relics 'with such ravenous appetite thatMamma Rosa was worth no less thanfive million dollars when she died inSeptember 1981.

Then she left all that fortune to PopeJohn Paul II - with a condition! Thather vision would be recognised as gen-uine. And who knows - in times tocome she might even be beatified.

The last word (and that was sometime ago) from the Vatican was thatmaybe Mamma Rosa saw somethingafter all...

Mama Rosa, who amassedfive million dollars from her backyard

miracle,

terview later added: "The Senhor sub-prefect wan~d me to tell him the sec-ret but I wasn't allowed to tell it toanybody." Even her own accounts wererather confused. Example: "(the holyvirgin) never appeared to me last year.Never did she before May this year. Ihave not told that to anybody, becauseit is not true." (Told to Rev. Formigao.)A month later: "Last year, I had seenthe same lady at the place named Estru-meiras. I had told it to my mother; shelaughed at me a lot and she had threat-ened to beat me. That's why I didn't tellanything this time".

A rather gruesome account of the in-terrogation by civil authorities has nowcrept into Catholic literature; it did notappear until 20 years after the event andis a total fabrication. In the presence ofthe children the sub prefect allegedly'boiled a cauldron of oil and threatened todeep fry the children if they did not re-cant! "Confronting Death" is the head-ing of a chapter describing this scene inone book. It is odd that such a thing hasnot been mentioned in all the volumin-ous literature of the first 20 years,either by the children, by the press, orin any of the many reports by theChurch! But it's still repeated in severalauthoritative church books, apparentlyas a warning on what happens when c.ivilauthorities have the right to questIOngod-fearing Christians!

There are many claims that weremade later. On the fifth apparition (13/9/1917) flowers were supposed to havefallen from the sky. No one of thethousand ar so people who were actu-ally present saw any flowers comedown, and a pastor admitted that aphoto pUblished later was a fake.

On the 6th and last apparition thecrowd assembled was quoted in somesources to have been 100,000, otherssay 15,000. In any case it was huge. Bythat time the circus was well organised;the children were washed and dolled upwith crowns and artificial flowers. See-ing the crowd outside, the children'skeeper at the time (a Senhora Maria doCarmo Menezes, author of the bookusing the faked photo), warned: "Child-ren if the miracle you have predicteddo~s not happen, those people mightjust burn you alive!" The holy virginwould not let such a thing happen, infact, that day she excelled herself bytelling the children that the war hadended, that very day. Asked repeatedlyon this important bit of information,Lucia was most definite: The war hadended on that very day, and the soldierswere coming home. In fact, the' armist-ice was not signed until a year later. Thefalse prediction is no longer to be foundin Catholic literature, and Lucia herselfwho was soon to be spirited away intoa convent, away from questioningpeople, later claimed that she never saidsuch a thing, but simply inferred that-the war would be over "soon".

Not all the clergy was in o'n the hoax,but priests are like policemen, theydon't go around dobbing each other in.Even so some priests of the area dis-approved of the "miracle". The Parsonof Penacova said he "could not resolveto believe in the miracle".

Amon~ other amusing aspects of the"miracle' is the claim that the virgiritold about another war to come. This

The Pope's gala performance at Fatima: Miracles are the Catholic Church'sgreatest money spinner, and ignorance is promoted. Pope Leo X:, "... it

would be sheer madness to open the eyes of the Ignorant.

and St.John and St.Josef. How theyidentified themselves has not been re-corded, but it must have been true, be-cause the pope went there in 1979 and450,000 believers thronged to see himat the glass-enclosed shrine.

The trouble was that once the popewas gone, so were the people with alltheir money. And the unsold plastercasts began to gather dust.

But monsignor had seen the light: ashrine-led recovery for the little Irishbog village! He cajoled the governmentinto paying for an airport. Nobody likesto reject a Catholic request, not in ire-land. But in 1983, when $A19 millionhad been spent and the airport wasn'teven half finished, the governmentstopped funds. It had become apparentthat an extravagantly large airport in atiny Irish village was a white elephant ifever there was one. And the monsignor'spersuasions could be better described asgood old deceptions. 19 million of tax-payers' money, so the critics said, couldhave been better spent.

Monsignor was not fazed. He said (re-ported in "The Age",-7/61'86): "This isthe greatest thing to have happened inthe West for 100 years."

Meanwhile the villagers are getting alittle impatient. It is expected that thelamb of God may put in anotherappearance soon to help the villagersmove the tons of holy kitsch that gatherdust in their stores. God may work inmysterious ways, but monsignores sel-dom do.

claim was not published until thesecond world war was well on its way(1941), but it is still held up as a "pre-diction" come true!

In case of another war or any event ofworldwide significance, the church hasitself covered. With Ku-Klux-Klanishpretentiousness the pope talks of a"Third Secret", too powerful formortals to know about. It is handeddown from pope to pope, only to be re-vealed after the event!

There was in fact talk about a "bigsecret" back in 1917, when the hoaxwas initiated, but the children said thatthis secret concerned themselves-thechildren, and not the world at large. It isgenerally assumed that it concernes thecircumstances of how the hoax was or-ganised.Source: "Fatinwt Inquiry about a H()ov\"" byGerard de Sede; HFatinla lJeslnascarada" byJoao Ilhal'co. -

KNOCK KNOCK - Who's there?Half the people around the area ofKnock in Ireland are unemployed. Fam-ilies are large, resources are limited. Butthanks to the farsighted monsignorHoran the main street of Knock is nowan un{nterupted row of souvenir shops.They're not in business yet, and neitheris the "Knock International Hotel" orthe big airport; but God willing, theywill be soon.

A hundred years ago the "Lamb ofGod" appeared to 15 (some say inebria-ted) villagers on a rainy night, accompa-nied by no less than "Our Lady" herself

, ean I'm c(Jredof my~~ellet in W1irac res:

YOUR OWN MIRACLEy 0 honour Our Holy Father by presenting Him with some new miracles, such as

e "Shroud of Moorrabin" or the "Virgin of Paddington"? As PETER VISKA explains,all the do~it-yourselfer needs is some simple tools and an unbounded faith in the Almighty.Remember, miracles are not only fun, they are a glory to God - and can be profitable too!

THE APPARITION.STEPS:Find a 16mm copy of The Sound of Music.Borrow a 16mm projector and a very longextension cord from a friend. .Locate a suitable grotto-shaped alcove near alocal convent. It helps if the grotto is en routeto the local milk bar.On the night before the arrival of the Popeset up the projector in a hidden location,aimed at the grotto.Leave a pack of nicotine-free, tar-free, FREEcigarettes and a box of matches convenientlyplaced.When the nuns pass by and stop, and light upa cigarette and blowout the smoke ...START the projector. The apparition will belike a hologram on the smoke. As the smokedissipates, turn off the projector.

Before the nuns return with eyewitnesses,remove evidence and spray the word"MARIA" lightly inside the grotto.Release infra-red photographic proof beforemedia's morning deadline.Be the first to set up HOLY WATER andOTHER SOUVENIRS stall for the Pope'svisit to the grotto.

THE SECOND SHROUD.STEPS:Visit grandma's house and borrow her specialCloths she uses each Christmas for her plum-puddings.Smear your face and body with Vegemite andrub yourself on the plum pudding cloths.Tack the Cloths together with antique threat.Two days before the Pope's visit, place thereconstructed plum pudding shroud at a cityconstruction site with deep excavations.The cover of night will help.Phone the National Sacred Site Trust andreport imminent desacration of a very signif-cant theological artifact.Dressed in priest's garb, make your way tothe excavation site. Point out remarkableresemblance offace to that of TURIN shroud.

t;") In front of media, authenticate existence of aIJ rarely mentioned second shroud.(.}. After the visiting POPE has blessed the s~conQo shroud, release information of the 'hoax' to

Truth newspaper.G') Return cloths to grandma in time for new" batch of plum puddings.

SPEAKING IN TONGUES.STEPS:

cr Tape Molly Meldrum's Countdown rave on.,.. your dad's reel to reel taperecorder.r;) Flip the tape inside out, so it plays backwards.r.:. Play it at fast speed.

~ Dubb of this mix ,·up tape and make cassette!:J loop. Practice speaking the garbled loop tape

phonetically.J:1 On the day the POPE arrives, break throughV the barrier, run up to His Holiness and blurt

out the well-rehearsed "SPEAKING INTONGUES" message.

r.I Repeat the message ad infinitum. Faint twicee.J while you are being interviewed for theevening news. Roll your eyes back duringyour final recital, then collapse on the flooras the POPE commences to bless you.

/At In a prepared statement declare MollyI..:J Meldrum as your religious head and leader.

When the religious specialists finally playa tape of your performance backwards, theparapsychoreligious coincidence will amazeand convince them.Leave town and let Molly Meldrum handle thereligious chaos and Papal groupies.

~------'~~

THE BLEEDING STATUE.STEPS;Remove the head from a genuine Lourdesstatue of OUR LADY.Hollow out the inside of the wooden statueto make a reservoir.

Fill the reservoir with fresh vermillion-coloured paint.Replace the head. Allow glue to dry.Touch up paint work.Visit an unsuspecting relative with anidentical statue. While they are making a cupof tea, switch the statues.Three days before the POPE arrives, visit theabove-mentioned relatives. Make sure youtake a small make-up mirror.While they are making the customary cup oftea, turn ON their Compact Disk player.With extreme precision reflect the laser beamfrom the CD to the heart of the BlessedStatue. This will make an undetectable holefrom which the vermillion paint will slowlybegin the BLEED.Upon the relatives' retur'n to the room,casually notice the phenomenon. While every-one is busy praying, call current affairsprograms, newspapers, magazines and thePapal Tour organisers.

TERVIEW WITH THE POPEThis article is a little bit of a personal disappointment. (Don'tturn the page, 1 hope to clarify that statement.) I'd intendedit 0 be an in.depth interview with His Reverence but it seemsr,e jumped the gun somewhat. Actually I'd promised theeditor of Australian Playboy an exclusive interview, on thesuength of which I'd received a hefty advance which I've al·ready spent on a new typewriter, so all sorts of litigation is inthe aiI. I had a semi-firm telephone assurance that a personalaudience and interview was in the provisional stages of dis·cussion and negotiation. But, frankly, the bastards let medown. The pope's minders gave me all this rigmarole aboutsubmitting a transcript of the questions first, for approval. Justspringing that kind of stuff is unprofessional; we had an agree-ment. Now you must understand a lot of my personal inte-grity is tied up in this thing, and as far as I'm concerned a dealis a deal, albeit a tacit telephone· handshake with Cardinal X(I am prevented from naming names due to pending court

I'd intended to preface the interview with the followingshort introduction (in italics), but after the "co-operation"I've received, you can forget it.

Today's interview is with a real biggy, one of the greateststars of all time in this business and an all round nice guy toboot, none other than that famous fellow who's proved exclu-sively you can make a career out of kissing tarmacs, ha, mylittle joke, no seriously now folks, that famous holy-roller, andhe's been one for as long as I can remember, the inimitable andthe remarkable, not to say inlallible ... the one and only versa-tile and famous ... and believe me honestly when I say it's al-ways been my ambition to meet this fellow ... and such agreat bloke, really ... and I've met some of them and it's true,the bigger they are the nicer they are, and he's one of thebiggest, and our special guest here we're so pleased could fly inall the way from L.A., or Rome, just to be with us here on thisspecial special occasion. .. I'd like you all to really put yourhands together, so to speak, and give a big warm welcome toyour friend and mine, the man who's meant so much to somany of us over the years, who really needs no introductionat all, yes here he is folks, our special guest, doing one of hisfamous routines that took him right to thetop and over the other side, with thatmagical number from the wonderful, marvellous,sensational hit, The New Testament, a wonderfuland fabulously telented man ...Take it away, Pope!

*_ "eill Overtun is a Melbourne cartuonist,writer and lectrtr(~r;· his novel "Neon Eclipse"Juu just been published by P,mguin.

action). Now I thought I'd been semi·verbally·guaranteed anExclusive with the Pope, but they just didn't come throughwith the goods. 1 waited in the lobby of the Hilton Hotelwith my tape-recorder all set up to go, and they never showed.(Maybe my problems don't matter a hill of beans, but let's laythe blame at the correct doorstep.) Five bags of beer nuts,then 1 left.

Since submitting my list of questions, I have received nofurther contact from them, in spite of my repeated phone-calls. They put me on hold. The dull burr of Dr. and theMedics singing "Spirit in the Sky" still numb my ears. How·ever, moving right along. Unable as I am at the time of publi·cation to have made, as it were, direct contact with His Holi·ness, I present this interview "in absentia", so you personallycan fill in the blanks. I ask only that you remember whoshowed up and who didn't show up.

And then I'd expected he'd'give us an excerpt, you know,a reading of some sort, then we'd go straight to the questions:

- Pope, that really was a great pleasure for me. Very good in·deed. First rate stuff. Strong language for kids, but gripping,gripping: ' Now, one thing I've always wanted to ask you, anda lot of people I'm sure would want to ask you, is about theCheesestik. About who exactly invented those pull· down redtabs down the sides that don't work? Similarly, why do band·aids have that red cotton down the sides that you're supposedto tear down but never function properly either? Are yougoing to intervene on this visit, and take any direct action toresolve this?

- Well, then,.I suppose you'd really much rather discusscontraception. Now, if you want to find out about cars, youask someone who really knows the business and how it works.You go to a garage mechanic. If you want to find out how tobake bread, you ask a baker. So if you want to find about sex,what do you do go along and ask a Catholic priest? Don't mis-understand me, 'but I'd wanted to know your exact qualifica-tions in this area? I mean, to be honest with you, I had a

jz-~ .~/Y~.

friend that once asked a catholic priest about sex, and we hadto stick an ice-block down his back just to bring him aroundand stop the nosebleed. He gave him the address of TheFamily Planning Clinic, in a plain brown envelope. Who ex-plained The Rhythm Method to me, I mean my friend, andwell, it all seemed to really be designed to give pregnancy asporting chance. Or The Rhythm Method in disguise, known asthe Billings Method, which involves not only long periods ofabstinence but filling in lots of little charts with green and redsquares. I got confused between it and bingo, which was goingon in the hall next door. Is there a real difference, or just inthe numbers they callout?

- Is it just you on this tour, or is there a support act?

- Since arriving in Australia, have you had any problem at theairport with the toilet-paper dispenser in the public lavatoriesthat only mete out about two sheets at a time? Any likelihoodof your stepping in on this matter?

- Well, on a lighter note, what about your attitude on abort-ion? I guess you'd agree that, apart from the unlucky, manypeople who resort to abortion are paying the penalty for beingso dumb. Now - the same people who don't want sex educa-tion in schools don't approve of the most reliable contracept-ion, and would refuse abortions. Are you worried the world'sgoing to run out of people or something?

- I'd also like to ask you about the failure of love. Why does itbegin with incandescant fervour and wind up with Veronicataking to me with her old hockey stick? And why do butchers'boys always seem to have legs with no knees, so that they al-ways move in that duck-waddling, rocking gait? And what thehell is rugby all about? All these grown men sticking theirheads up each others' bums, it can be neither sporting norsanitary, so why is it socially accepted?

- Okay, we all know about the pope as Pope, but what aboutthe man behind the jol;>?I'm sure people would like to hearwhat it is like for you at home. Have you ever had mormonsknockmg at the door of the Vatican at 8 o'clock on a Sundaymorning? Do you think this is a problem with organized reli-gions - dictating over matters of sex and such? I just fail tosee where they're getting their information. Can you see theAlmighty delegating the authority to make moral judgementsto these organizations? "I'm busy with a flood today; I'll justsend around two of those pimply faced kids in the black suitsat eight in the morning." You don't do that, right? Now, Iknow you yourself don't actually go door-knocking, but abalcony's much the same as a door, isn't it?

- What about confession? Do you hold confession with Your-self, and run back and forth between the two boxes?

- I know your brand, the Catholic Church, does not practisecircumcision, as the Hebrew faith does. Do you personally re-gard circumcision to be immoral? I mean, a perfectly goodforeskin, and they don't even put it into a jar for you to takehome. What do they do with them? They can't just throwthem out, old ladies might see them in the laneway, pokingout of the tops of green garbage bags. Is it true what I heard,that they have a dyeworks? Where they dye them all differentcolours, and attach them to baloons? You know, the littlescraggly nozzles you blow them up with? Or is it just somestupid anti-semitic rumour, I just thought you might know,being in the same business and all? I mean I can never blowup another party-baloon without wflincing, so I'd like thematter resolved. Can you possibly check up on that for me?

- Is it true that you've got an art gallery of plundered artworkthough the ages? Isn't that part of the crimes cited at Nurem-·berg against the Nazis - theft of national art treasures? Or didthe Vatican sleep during WWII? And among the collection isAustralian Aboriginal Art too? When are you personallygoing to do the decent thing and hand it all back? Look, nonames or anything, you can just leave it all heaped on thedoorstep of one of our National Galleries and nothing more'llbe said about it.

- Do you think that your continuing popularity is in any waydue to the fact that John Lennon's death meant the Beatlescould never regroup?

- And ... I know this is a bit of a stale old chestnut, but justfor laughs ... are there ever going to be woman Catholicpriests? I mean I know men are men and women are women,and each have their different roles to play and that, bu t canyou see why it's hard to take this from a guy wearing a dress?

- Why is the Vatican dripping with jewels, robes, candelabrasand property when the shoeless and starving of Ethiopia watcheach other die in diarrhoea and dust? And this situation goeson for years while you speculate with land and have yourfancy-dress balls?

- One final question, are you always infallible? I mean do yoever find yourself doing naughty things like, well, biting.t eheads off teddy bear biscuits or jelly babies before you rea.li.seyou're doing it?

- Well, thanks a lot, Pope, and good luck with the showthe rest of the tour.

(From the yet unpublished book "My Favorite Saints", byJ1ichael Sharkey. It also tells us the stories of SaintDementia of Quince, of Saint Codex the Great (Codex ofCactoblastis), of Saint Sycorax, of Wu Pi, the Martyrs ofTurdi and many others.)

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess whosename was Oblivia. She lived in what is now France, and shewas born into a family which was not Christian. Manyfamous kings and princes heard about the beauty ofOblivia, and each longed to have her for himself. Obliviawas as good as she was beautiful.

In those days, great knights roamed the country, seekingfabulous beasts and maidens in'danger, in order to capturethem and prove their manliness. One of these roamingLandsknechts, an Alsatian named Ouzo, saw Oblivia whilehe was sacking the castle in which her parents lived. He washard and cruel, and destroyed all of her family, but sparedthe beautiful Oblivia on the condition that she would marryhim. She did so. But Oblivia was sorry that Ouzo was aChristian, for her 'parents disapproved of mixed marriages.

Oblivia became devoted to Ouzo. She loved him a greatdeal, and over the years he became less truculent. He be- 'gan to maim his captives and let them live, instead of flay-ing them alive from the head down.

One day, Ouzo was attacked by enemies of his own, andOblivia said, "I will go out and treat with the enemy foryou." Ouzo was at his wit's end and let her go. As a resultof Oblivia's dealings with the enemy, Ouzo won a terrificbattle and gained a lot of land. This was Oblivia's firstmiracle, and the Church decided to make her a member byproxy. Oblivia was declared a Saint while she was still alive.In later years she often met the enemies of Ouzo andsapped them of their strength, so that when he died, Ouzohaa conquered most of the Western part of Europe, and hebequeathed it to Olivia.

Oblivia outlived Ouzo by several decades, and was takenup to Heaven by Holy Angels. Her body did not decay, butwas carried away after about a thoudand years.

Her Feast Day is 29 August, and her emblem is a whitecloud.

Infallibility,despite its badpress, is still amonopolyclaimed byCatholicism.Christ, Son ofGod, gavethem a guarantee(no money back).The copy (left)come, from currentCa tholic propagandathat i. sent in plainenvelopes inre.ponse to pre"ad •.

----'ntailibf;-e;acher~,- l what Christ

~ had to teac.h~;bad his ~a!=The Anostles knew

llthhat

the had taught. As was shown ~nr and a t a ·thout error. uld reroa

had tatuhgahttthey wou.1d,do so Wi '.. f Truth wo h.that the ,S,plot 0 .n Y,QU all tante£ . h nroro1sed

-lesson sIX, e r ""for ever~" t

" ... All date kissing leads to occasions Communion, grew careless about herof sin. A kiss.. .is also meant to awaken prayers, and rarely went to Sodalityin the lovers desires which can only be meetings." The book is too coy to spelllawfully satisfied in marriage. Sooner or out what actually happened in thelater your emotions are bound to be parked car , it simply alludes to thearoused ... thus just one kiss may lead "devil's" work.to mortal sin. If one should die in this "About twenty hours later a curiousstate, as well one may, the pains of hell passerby found the couple locked inwould be his or her fate for all death's embrace, apparently victims ofeternity." carbon monoxide poisoning."

The book goes on to describe a case Then the book actually states thatof seemingly innocent "puppy love", the girl "deserves the tortures of hell forwhere the girl, "under repeated invi- all eternity." For those "fleetingtations from the devil", soon grew tired moments of pleasure", and because sheof resisting the boyfriend's advances. had died before being able to go to con-She was a nice girl basically, because she fession she would now burn in hell forhad gone to a Catholic school; then, un- ever and ever, suffering unimaginablefortunately, she had gone to a high pain ...school which was somewhat worldlier. The book is called "20th CenturyShe had began to "relax some of her re- Teenagers", and is specifically writtenligious practices. She skipped weekly for Catholic girls.QUotl'S and illl.lsh-atiolls (runt tlw book H20th Century Teenagers" thai is still being llsed in Catholic schuuls

The perfectCatholicTeenager

-: '. "~"..:.~:...:.... :...-. ~,-

."_ ... ::.::'

The perfectCatholicMarriage

ODD SPOTInA .Ustralta'

State Q s mOst reI' ."c, '. ueensland Iglouseatlonism'" ' where

SChool, and wh IS taught inauthoritl' ere thedes op.e UCation h POse sex

Illegitimat~ ~h~;; are mOreanYWhere else ;n ren than

AUStralia.

The perfect Catholic marriage is re-cognised by the Church. It is a contractbetween you and the Pope.

The perfect Catholic marriage seesthe children as being given over to theChurch, even if one of the parents is notCatholic. The non-Catholic parent signsa piece of paper to this effect.

Thus, the Catholic Church gains evenmore members than it is due. Pyramidselling is outlawed, but the Catholicmarriage numbers game continues.

This growth in membership enablesthe Church to gain income, to buy pro-perty in goo.d locations which can laterbe sold off as housiJtg developments orshopping centres.

The Vatican holds the largest invest-ment portfolio in the Western world.This is also financed by the Catholicmarriage. .

Atone stage, the Pope was found tohave invested in a condom factory inSouth America. He is also said to haveinvested in arms factories. '

In participating in the perfect Catho-lic marriage, you are not allowed to use

any products that may interfere withthe aim of the Catholic marriage, whichis to produce many more Catholics. Thismakes some Catholics unhappy, so theyuse them anyway. They then feel guilty.

The Catholic marriage can persistlong after one or both of the partnershave gone deaf, sterile, insane or war·ped. You can get out of it bu t you haveto pay money, which then adds to theVatican investment portfolio.

Maybe it is simpler to marry theChurch and spend your life as a nun ora priest. Then you can educate the chilodren produced by the perfect Catholicmarriage.

You can also teach them Catholi-::guilt, which is largely based on the fearof not living up to the ideals of the per-fect Catholic marriage. .

Can 900 million guilty people all e'wrong?

Ask the Pope. (Send interna '02money order for a reply. ~o clai.rr:s :-E-cognised after the Second Comin .

by lain Stocks

~~ FROM THE BOOK OF BOOKSWhen you're down in the dumps, treat yourself to a dose of God's own wit. and

wisdom. Grab that Gideon's bible you once took home by mistake and check it out yourself.

The Lord teacheth the prophetnot to hide girdles...Jer. 13:3·7 And the word of the Lordcame to me a second time, saying, Takethe girdle thou hast got, which is uponthy loins, and rise, go to the Euphrates,and hide it there in a hole of the rock.So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates,as the Lord commanded me. And itcame to pass after many days that theLord said to me, Arise, go to the Euphra·tes, and take the girdle from thence,which I commanded thee to hide there.Then I went to Euphrates, and digged,and took the girdle from the placewhere I had hid it: and behold, the gird--Ie was marred, and it was profitable fornothing.

They woke up and were dead.II Kings 19:35 And it came to pass thatnight that an angel of the Lord wentout, and smote in the camp of the Assy-rians and hundred four-score and fivethousand men: and when they arose inthe morning, behold, they were all deadcorpses. {

r so.y dead ( kwe-Ire ) 1hQ1 Pftl Lord

e( of,Ar19 a in ..'

ag- '=

YOU CAN'T GET ME!!!Judges 2:19 And the Lord was withJudah; and he drove out the inhabitantsof the mountain; but could not driveout the inhabitants of the valley, be-cause they had chariots of iron.

C'nrlst"d y()(A 'Z~t:e:::<,.6'" ',..".~/f"':.~I-'IEi~~~<Come and get itt!!!!!Ezek.4:12 And thou shalt eat it asbarley cakes, and thou shalt bake it withdung that cometh out of man, in theirsight. .

Sounds heavenly.Isaiah 16:11 Wherefore my bowels shallsound like an harp for Moab, and mineinward parts for Kir-ha-resh.

1. 'a. acheS.yre \-le.r/lea'lS {

¥\Q.,/be \ peaches.

t~~t(lll~l/~

Come again? 11Amos 4:3 And ye shall go out at thebreaches, every cow at that which is be-fore her; and ye shall cast them into thepalace, saith the Lord.

And God inventeth make-up ...MaI.1:2 Behold, I will corrupt your seed,and spread dung upon your faces, eventhe dung of your solemn feasts; and oneshall take you away with it.

Good Spirit!Numbers 11:23-25 (Good News Bible):Then the Lord came down in the cloudand took some of the spirit he had givento Moses and gave it to the seventyleaders. When the spirit came on them,

not for lonl(.

DIGITSARE IN!

I Kings 12:10My little fingershall be thIckerthan my father'sloins ...

Bon Apetit!II Kings 18:27 But Rab'-sha-keh said which sit on the wall, that they may eatunto them, Hath my master sent me to their own dung, and drink their ownthy master, and to thee, to speak these piss with you?words? hath he not sent me to the men

Pillow taikEzekiel 13:18 And say, Thus saith the Lord

GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows toall armholes. . . haverl'1 beef!

/'\. '(o:hopliffiI11tjflinf

(~ haVe yO" :... 0-

\~

Hosea 12:12And iacob fled intothe country of Syria,and Israel served for awife, and for a wife he keptsheep.

Square heads(Levit.l9:26) Ye shall-not eat anything withthe blood: neither shall ye use enchantment,nor observe times.

27 Ye shall not round the corners of yourheads, neither shall thou mar the corners ofyour beard.

Check the label.(Levit.19:19) ... neither shall a garment ming-led of linen and woolen come upon thee.

"Si quis clericus, aut monachus, verba joculatodarisum moventia serat, anathema esto."(If any clerk or monk utters jocular words causing laughter,let him be excommunicated.)

Ordinance of Second Council of Carthage.

SJo .ocufatonO.

The village idiot in a small Italian villagewas given the job of watching from thechurch tower for Christ's Second Com-ing; he was to ring the bell as soon as hesaw the Savior approaching.

After some weeks the man com-plained to the priest: "It's a boring joband I hardly get paid nothing ... "

The priest replied: "Look at it thisway: it's a job for life. "

There was a young lady named Alicewho peed in a Catholic chalice.The padre agreedit was done out of needand not out of Protestant malice.

What did Mary sing when she gotpregnant?"Penis from heaven ... "

The conductor in a train to Dublin,walking down the aisle, called out: "Isthere a Catholic priest present? Is therea Catholic priest present?"

Some minutes later, as the conductorcame back, still calling the same words,one of the passengers approached him:"I'm not a Catholic priest, but aMethodist minister. Maybe I can be ofassistance?"

"I don't think so", answered the con-ductor. "It's only a cork screw we'rewanting. "

11 novJIf fYl f Christ;. bride 0 fa Ihe Lord '2

fhe J sp~a~_lher-in-ldW.do a5 ff.{1

The host of a distinguished gatheringlooked around the dinner table for aclergyman whom he could ask to saygrace. As he could not see one he turned'to his neighbour, asking him instead.

The neighbour nodded and said:"As there is no clergyman present, let

us all thank God. "

The Catholic Church has often been accusedof being "too inflexible", of interpreting the

Holy Scriptures in a narrow, literal way.Nothing could be further from the truth, as Father

Melchior and Brother Franciscus demonstrate:

WARMIMG

• The Empress of Brazil was blessed bythe pope. She broke her leg three daysafter. She and the Emperor were de-throned and died in exile.

• The Crown Princess of Brazil wasblessed by the pope. Her baby was borndeformed; she died in exile.

• The pope blessed the widow of Mexi-co's Emperor Maximilian. She became ahopelessmanic; died in exile.

• The pope blessed the Emperor ofMexico, Maximilian. He was dethroned

,and killed by his people.

• The pope blessed General Boulanger,and in less than two weeks he was anexile, later committing suicide.

• Dr. Windhorst received the papal "Or-der of Christ" He died in less than ayear.

• In 1963 President Kennedy of theUSA was received and blessed by thepope. He was shot dead in the same year.

• In '1967 Senator Robert F. Kennedyhad an audience with the pope. He wasassassinated the following year.

• In 1978 President Sadat of Egypt hadan audience. He was assassinated.

'\..THE CURSE -.r---OF THE GOLDENROSE ~

• Pope Pius IX sent the Golden Rose tothe king of Two Sicilies, and in less thana year he lost his crown and kingdom.

• Pius IX sent the Golden Rose toQueen Isabella of Spain; in a short timeshe lost her crown and died in exile.

• He sent the Golden Rose to the Emp-ress Eugenie O'f France, and in less thana year the Emperor and the empress losttheir crowns. Both died in exile, andtheir only son was killed by the Zulus.

• Mrs. Sherman, wife of the AmericanGeneral Sherman, received the GoldenRose. She died soon after.

• 0 In ,1923 'the pope gave the GoldenRose to the Queen of Spain. She andher husband Alfonso lost their throneand fled from Spain.

DISASTROUS DISASTERS~Y GO./)it

". NtA({E~ r s f. 0 Tf{E"t.·,\\\\!ti~''\\~~1i~.•

--""0.. _ _~• The pope blessed a steamer filledwith nuns eriroute to South America in187,0. It never reaahed its destination,every person was lost at sea.

• In 1897 the papal 'Nuncio blessed thegrand "Charity" bazaar in Paris. Withinfive minute~ it was in flames, and nearly150 of the aristocracy perished.

• In 1928 the pope blessed the "Italia"airship, and gave it a cross to be placedon the North Pole. The "Italia" brokein half, half her crew was lost.

LOSS OF CROWNLOSS OF BATTLEKINGDOMS GONE TO DOGS' ...

• The German Kaiser visited the popeand received his blessings. He lost histhrone and was chased into exile by theGerman people.

• When Pius IX sent his holy blessingsto the Austrian emperor, the latter lostVenetia, and suffered defeat at Sadowa.

• The Queen Regent of Spain and KingAlfonso were blessed by the pope. Theypromptly lost Cuba and the Philippines.

• In 1970 Emperor Haille Sellasie ofEthiopia had an audience. His countrywas soon hit by a severe draught, andSellasie was deposed .

• In 1973 President Thieu of SouthVietnam had an audience'with the pope.Thieu had to resign and flee; his countrywas taken over by the Viet Congo• In 1969 Paul VI visits Ugandaand knights Milton Obote. Obote wasousted by Idi Amin. In 1975 Idi Aminhad an audience with the pope - soonafter he was ousted; he still lives inexile.

• In 1966 King Constantine and QueenMary of Greece had an audience withthe pope. Within less than a year theywere ousted by Army officers.

• In 1972 Prime Minister Edward Heaof Great Britain had an audience. Hiscountry drifts into a industrial crisis;He.ath's party loses at the polls.

• In 1975 President Ford had an aud-ience, He is defeated the following year.

• In 1980 John Paul \I visited Franceand gave President Giscard D'Estaill£ aprivate audience. The latter wa- E-

feated at the elections.

'[®~(iw~csANDTHE GLORY OF GOD

Torture was not a Christian inventionbut the practice found a natural homein a religion obsessed by the idea ofsuffering. "The evil of torture", writesJoseph McCabe ("The History of Tor·ture") "became fouler than ever in theChristian era - foulest of all at the veryheight of the power of the Church ofRome - and was used in the interest ofreligion." He continues: " ... it was Vol-taire and a group of Voltairian rulers,jurists, and writers in various countries'who awakened the conscience or'Europe and led to the general abolition'of torture; and it was overwhelmingly'in Catholic lands that this sordid, imple.ment of power was used again, and by,the white hand of kings, nobles, andpriests, whenever and wherever medi-eval conditions were restored." .

In pre·Christian, "pagan" Europe,torture had a relatively minor place. TheGreek Sceptics, Stoics and Epicureanscondemned it outright. Seneca said: "Itforces even the innocent to lie."

With the rise of Christianity, torturebecame more, than primarily entertain-ment, it became a divine tool. SaintAugustine, still revered as a Christiansaint and hero, thoroughly approvedand recommended it, as did almost theentire church hierarchy and theChristian rulers right up to moderndays. Constantine, who made Christian·ity the State religion, had some of hisown relatives tortured; the Christianemperor Valentian kept bears which he s::: ';#' I~"'"fed with pagans and heretics, In the ~.;:,; " " I '\~ , ;) ":,

Byzantine or Greek part of the Christ- '~ ~ Ij iii (i)" 'ian empire which prides itself of never "'! 3 , .If I' . f...: ,'"having indulged in an inquisition, cruel- ~ i.~:..~,.t;;l·~t;,:;'ii::

,': '~~~~7 ;1t,:~;~2~:

ty and torture was as rife as 'in 'theRoman part. Theodosius had 7000 men,women and children attracted to thecircus in Thessalonica by promise of ashow - and had them all butchered. InAlexandria, Christians went on a ram-page against pagans; •it was here thatthe elderly and revered Hypatia had herflesh scraped from her bones by Christ·ian monks, No one talks today of theChristian practice of feeding pagans tothe lions, on the contrary, it is alwaysthe Christians which are presented asmartyrs in our literature.

How odd that Christian writers speakof the light of Christianity when it wasdarkness that came with it. Even the ageknown as the "Dark" Age is claimed byChristian thinkers to have been a glori·ous time, when well·fed peasants werepious and respectful, where monks sangwhile pruning apple trees, or copied

manuscripts by candle light. The truth isquite different.

Crucification was no longer practicedsince the days of Constantine (simplybecause it was considered blasphemous

, , to inflict the holy pain of Christ), butthe Christians invented methods thatwere equally revolting. There were oftenreligious and sexual overtones to theirtortures. The "Quaresima" was aschedule of mutilation and torture thatwas calculated to keep the victim alive

• for exactly 40 days, in honour of the" forty days of Christian "Lent". The fire,

a common means of dispatching or tor-turing a victim, was called "holy" and"purifying". The "Iron Virgin" or"mater dolorosa" was a container in theshape, of a woman, and her hollow in-

sides were fitted with strong iron spikeswhich pierced the victim when he wasput inside and the device was closed.Many religious ordeals of torture wereostensibly held to establish a person'sguilt and left him or her no escape. Ifthe ordeal killed, innocence was proven,if it was survived, witchcraft or otherfoul play was thought to be responsible,and the unfortunate person could .beconsidered guilty and be dispatchedwithout qualms.

We are talking about the great agethat built Europe's magnificent cathe-drals and which created great works ofart: these were the times when knightsstill roamed the countryside, and min-strels had to sing their praises. Thenobility of the knights is a myth of Sun-day schools and movie matinees.Knights were parasites on society, robb-ing, raping, murdering and burning. It isnot likely that the rulers of these timeswere indeed "beloved", the records ofintrigues, of poisonings and wars speakagainst it. The peasants had no voice atall, arid being illiterate they were noteven able to communicate their plightto us - to posterity., The great Catholicruler Bernabo Viscomti, Duke of Milan(and inventor of the above-mentionedQuaresima) owned no less than 500.0hounds which the peasants had to keepfor him. If one of the dogs fell ill, thepeasan.t keeper lost a hand or a foot, ifthe dogs killed a bear, the peasant'seyes were put out. For failing to paytax, houses were burned down. Thegreat and noble knight and defender offaith Bernard de Cahusac (as describedby Professor Luchaire) once cut off thehands and feet of 150 monks and nunsbecause they were not as profitable ashe wanted them to be. His wife helpedhim personally by slashing the breasts ofthe nuns and tearing out their finger-nails.

There was a macabre fascination withdeath and pain. Dr. Huizinga ("TheWaning of the Middle Ages") writes ofthe Churchyard of the Innocents inParis: "Skulls and bones were heaped upin charnel-houses ... and lay there opento the eye by the thousands ... " Suchplaces were so popular for promenadingthat shops were put up around themand prostitutes plied their trade. To bereminded of death and suffering wasconsidered an edifying experience, as it

demonstrated the power of God, the ne-cessity of salvation, and the painful pathto it.

Huizinga also writes of the magistra-tes of Bruges who in 1488 were suspec-ted of something or other and were pub·licly tortured. They begged to be killed,but were kept alive as long as possiblefor the edification and morbid pleasureof the multitudes, that they may "feastagain upon their torments".

All the popes of the dark ages of faithurged torture, some invented new waysand happily watched the pain-rackedbodies expire in unspeakable suffering.The Holy Father Urban VI (be remin·ded we are speaking of saintly men whohave remained uncensored. by theChurch to this day) personally watchedand supervised as he had six of his cardi-nals tortured to death, while he himselfread the breviary.

It was no wonder that a religionwhich intimately embraced suffering,produced so much cruelty among thefaithful; it can be said that the morepious a society is, the more it indulges

in cruelty. _The descendents of theabove-mentioned Bernabo continuedthe rule by torture; all were extremelydevout. One of them tortured his ownwife until she falsely confessed, and hethen burned- her to death. Dozens ofsuch holy murders were committed inhis family alone. No one dared to de-mur, if any did, they were forced to eattheir own excrement until they died.This was not considered murder, it wasputting the victim into the hands ofGod, who after all had the power tosave anyone if he wanted to.

The Baglioni of Perugia were so piousthat they moved into a cathedral to live.They hanged 130 of their opponentsoutside the church and then spent threedays saying masses for them. Bastardsand nephews of the popes (of whichthere was no shortage) were foremost inthis sort of behavior. It WHS Machiavellihimself who admitted that the Italiansof the time were so corrupt because"the Church and its represeritatives setup the worst example". .

If God punishes men with eternal

c. -0 i- "WaS reasoned, surely it was<:.... ,..::5L-: :or en to use the same means

"Y cause.::m'-.?ChII- 19 out heretics was a profit-:e GL entertajning business for the

?a acy. ometimes boxes were put up. c urehes and priests encouraged theirL.ock to denounce secret heretics. Theaccused never knew who had dobbedthem in. 0 lawyer was there to defendrhe victim, he was instead subjected topain to help him confess. With jesuiticalrationalitity it was argued that the painactually helped the accused to salvation,since it made him or her confess.:\1illions were murdered this way. Need-less to add, the property of the victimsfell to the Holy Church.

Just as rockets and computers can beconsidered the most advanced of to-day's hardware, the dark ages of faithhad also an area where their technologyexcelled, where R & D was appli~d andpaid dividents. Their technological peakwas the torture chamber. In under-ground vaults robust monks experimen -ted with ever more refined methods forthe glory of God. There was the rack,the thumb screw, boiling oil, SpanishBoots (for crushing the bones of feet);victims were pressed unto spikedboards, hung up by the wrists withheavy weights attached to the feet;cords were tightened around variousparts of the anatomy. Bishops and otherrulers were proud of their torture cham-bers and showed each other their latestequipment as today they would showoff their new cars or hi-fis. "The instru-ments" as they were called, were mostuseful Sometimes it was enough toshow them to recalcitrants such asGalileo, to make him recant on his god-less idea of a round earth revolving ...

The Magna Carta (1215) is today con-sidered a milestone in human progress,as it proclaimed a'mong other things thatno free Englishman could be tortured.The document was condemned by thereigning pope as the devil's work, andanybody approving of the Magna Cartawas excommunicated.

It was always the godless who camp-aigned for the abolition of torture. Un-der the influence of Voltairian thought,Friedrich der Grosse was the first Kingto wipe torture from the law books in1740, even before the French Revolu-tion. Catherine the Great of Russia, ad·vised by the agnostic Diderot, followedsuit in 1769. Later, when she was suc-ceeded by more pious rulers, torturewas re-introduced with a vengeance. In.1776 Portugal outlawed torture, .through a king that was advised by Vol-taire's pupil the Marquis of Pambal.The French destroyed "the instru-ments" when they stormed the Bastille.

The greatest and most celebratedChristian thinkers such as Saint Augus-tine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, even theProtestant Martin Luther, were whole-he'artedly in favour of torture. Their

Suu •.ces: Joseph McCabe "The Histo •.yof Tor·tu •.e"; Be •.tralld Russdl "WhylaIn Hul a Christiart"; Pruf. Huizinger,"The Waning of the Middle Ag"s'; Fran"'Hl'/billli, "Vie To •.t" •..•.,

Christian philosophy, namely the faiththat God would not let anything badhappen if it was truly done in his holyname, precluded any compassionatereasoning.

Whenever clerical forces re-ascended,one of the first things that was re-intro-duced was torture, be it in france, inAustria, in Portugal, Spain, Italy,Russia.

The process continued right into ourown age. General Franco re-introducedtorture and the Australian bishops sanghis praises for it. When in 1938 anItalian cruiser called at Sydney to parti-cipate in the 150-year celebration Car-

,dinal Gilroy went aboard to say Ma;s andalluded favourably to the fact that theship had just come from Spain, where ithad shelled godless Republican positions

"" to help the forces of Christianity.Ferdinand Marcos, 'intimate friend of

the pope until he was ousted by moreprogressive forces, maintained thehorror of torture - he still pictures him-self. as the defender of Christianityagamst godless communists.

In the days before the Falklands War,this writer was prompted by an articleby Phillip Adams on Argentina to joinAmnesty International and to send a

! letter to the Argentinian representative,I to protest against torture in that". country. The response was typical - the

Argentinian Embassy in Canberra sentme leaflets with anti-Communist andCatholic propaganda.. The devoutly Catholic dictatorshipsm South 'and Central America maintain

. torture to this day, and there is no wordof protest from our Holy Man in Rome.On the .contrary, wherever one of hisflock should voice opposition to in-human practices in these countries, he issharply rebuked.

_ •••••••• _K.A.R.O.L.B.Y •• C.A.N.D.L.E•• L.I G_H.T•• ~••L_.I •....•••••

Karol Wojtyla yearns for a return to the Dark Ages; his encyclical of May 1986 showsthat he is totally out of touch with today's world.

This is a shortened version of an article by MADALYN O'HAI R which appearedin liThe American Atheist" in August 1986.

Karol Wojtyla, alias Pope John Paul II,the ultimate madman of our century, onMay 18, 1986, issued the fifth encycli-cal of his eight-year pontificate. TitledDominum et Vivificantem (The Lordand Giver of Life), the thrust of thepsychobabbling that the media reportedwas "Damn the Atheists".

The encyclical is a disaster. Thethinking is so convoluted and muddled,the themes so out of touch with reality,the historical references so fabricated,the style so laborious, repetitive, anddisjointed, that one can only concludethat the man is not alone mad, but soimprudent as to advertise his mental dis-abilities to the world. This is psycho-babble par excellence, and malice-filledpsychobabble at that. The media appar-ently recognized this, and the wire sto-ries and other press coverage were short,bu t not kind. One journal characterizedit as a "doomsday encyclical". The NewYork Times emphasised that it was aharsh critique of the modern world"brimming with references to satan".To excuse the obvious mental condi-tion of the pope, that same newspaper

described the encyclical as "a highlypersonal revery." A psychiatrist wouldbe less kind.

To this date The American AtheistCentre has not received one media re-port which picke.d up an extraordinarilyimportant, special aspect of the encycli-cal. Abortion clinics throughout theUnited States are under siege, with ter-rorist bombings, attacks, and interfer-ence with ingress and egress of womento those clinics. The National AbortionFederation reports that there have beenthirty-four bombings and twenty-sevenarsons at abortion facilities since 1977.In addition, there have been literallythousands of incidents of picketing and

.general harassment short of actualdamage-producing violence.

In all of these anti-abortion actions,the Roman Catholic church figureslarge, yet that particular religion isnever openly named as a source of theanti-abortion violenee. This is regrett-able.

***Throughout the encyclical, thetheme is repeated that as far as this

church is concerned, "every knee shallbow" (Romans 14:11). The church'stask is ."salvic", and the pope repeatsagain and again that, like it or not, itsintention now is to save, or redeem, theentire world.

Wojtyla is intent on identifying theChristian Trinity as the single allowable

. concept of god, reaching back to the1,400-year-old fight of the Father, theSon, and the Holy Ghost (which he nowdesignates as the Holy Spirit) being con-substantial. The largest and most lastingrifts in the· church were over this con-cept. To prove the point he cites Gene-sis and god saying, "Let us make man inour image, after our likeness" (Genesis'1:26). Little did the Old Testamentscholars know that this allusion was tothe Big Three who did not come intobeing until New Testament times -but as the pope illustrates, a foolish con-sistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Wojtyla is reaffirming the orthodoxyof the Roman Catholic church's posit-ion. The Southern Baptist Conventiondid the same in' Atlanta, Georgia, inmid-June of this year, when the leaders

lIDD@l? [b ill [QJ ill)

of tl:e 1-=.-! miIJjon member denomina-tion me- to reinforce their fundamental-

. terpretation of Christianity.

The Holy Spirit came to humankindat the price of Christ's "departure".

ince this was god's big plan, it was ne-cessary then for the Jews to knock offJ.C. by crucifying him. His "departure"had to mean his death - with god "call-ing him home" via his slowly driftingupwards. J.C., you see, had received thefullness of the Holy Spirit, and the onlything that could be done was to killhim. For those of you who are thirstyafter the Holy Spirit, let this be a lessonto you. In this way, the death on thecross is inextricably involved in the planfor the return by the Holy Spirit.

* * *Jesus did not come into the world

only to judge it and condemn it. Hecame to save it. Well, that doesn'tmatter; the Roman Catholic church andWojtyla can both jUdge and condemn,especially in regard to righteousness.Righteousness is really "definitive salva-tion in God ... as it centres on the cru-

cified and glorified Christ." Now youknow. And why was J.C. crucified andraised again? Ah, you finally have lear-ned your catechism - "to break thestranglehold of personified evil, so thatthis world may be fashioned anewaccording to God's design and reach itsfulfillment" (Pastoral Constitution onthe Church in the Modern World, 2).This ultimate sin, "they do not believe",is expanded from Jerusalem at the timeof J.C. to the historic and total world.Therefore, "every sin, wherever andwhenever committed, has a reference tothe cross of Christ." Wojtyla is going toreach out to everyone in the world, allcountries, in all periods of time, to lay"sin" on everyone, so that the RomanCatholic church can then, through theHoly Spirit, save them from it. This isthe exact position taken by the Inquisi-tion once before in church history.

When the Holy Spirit came at thetime of the Pentecost to the UpperRoom in Jerusalem, with the mother ofJ.e. and the apostles in attendance onhim, everyone began to speak "in other

tongues" as confirmation of the HolySpirit's presence. This is the phenomen-on of glossolalia which, as everyoneknows, is evidence of mental illness, en·gaged in only by hysteric religious fana-tics of the radical right. For example,Falwell, Swaggart and their ilk are toohigh-toned to stoop to this kind ofidiocy. However, the pope now inter-prets the "speaking in other tongues" tomean that the Holy Spirit brought"back to unity the scattered races andoffering to the Father the first fruit ofall the nations." In fact! "Peter comesforward and speaks before a multitudeof people of different languages, gather-ed for the feast." Of course, they all un-derstood him, and he them. But, whatdid he speak to them about? Peter, thefirst witness to the power of the Para·clete, the Redeemer, the Holy Spirit,laid upon them all "concerning the sinwhich is the rejection of Christ even tohis condemnation to death, the deathon the cross of Golgotha." If the Jewsthink that pope is ever really going toforgive them for "doing in" J.C., theyshould all read this encyclical. No way!

The vision upon which theUnited States of America wasfounded, specificallyencompassed religious freedom,and the only way to achievethis was by strict separation ofthe State from theChurches.Cartoonist Thomas Nast wasconcerned about the efforts,particularly by the CatholicChurch, to force religioninto public schools. He wasespecially disturbed by popePius IX's 1864 encyclicalwhich demanded that allscience, culture and educa-tion throughout the worldmust be subject to papalapproval.Nast's tears were welltounded. Religion has re-moved many of thealtruistic concepts whichmeant to create a "Land 01'the Free" in America. Eventhe State malta "E PluribusUnum" (seen above the door)has now been replaced with"In God, We Trust".

:'\0 ClIl:HCJI :\I-:E)) Al'PLY.

Lrrru: In;-':ATHA'''.")Ii~~ ('o!n1llhin will nil! tl";' ~'nl\r tf'nddnj!. /.II' it I,ai' I'T",'«,I III \1(' "" illjllril'll~ ill D:I.DH' Eur"pa't; athool lhat (Ill! 1I.!1"I'It'd ,ldlclren ~ho IfOrt her don't

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The rejection of Christ, by implica-tion the rejection of god himself, istherefore linked with the paschalmystery - the crucification and resur-rection. And, there, by god, you nowhave it all in one ball of wax. For Petergoes on with his message to the world ingeneral and to the men of Jerusalem inparticular: "Repent and be baptizedeveryone of you in the name of JesusChrist for the forgiveness of your sins;and you shall receive the gift of theHoly Spirit." He had, of course, drunksome of the holy spirit himself.

"Convert to Christ" is the entiremessage.

* * *The greatest sin in the world was and

is the sin of those who "have not be-lieved". They have, one and all, sentJesus to an ignominious death. Thegreatest sin that man could commit,occurred - the killing of Jesus, the sonof god, consubstantial with the father!Therefore every sin demonstrates its re-lationship with the cross of Christ.

Where is the sin of nonbelief? Thisunspeakable, abominable sin, in its ori-ginal reality, takes place in man's will -and conscience - first of all as "dis-obedience". The disobedience consistsof a rejection of (or at least a turningaway from) the truth contained in theword of god. And, at this point, me-thinks the pope tries to slip in "scien-tific creationism", which is even nowbefore the United States Supreme Court

to see if it can gain entry to our nation's(USA) public schools. For quite sudden-ly, in this discussion he points out thatwhen the universe was created "The Spi-rit of God was moving over the face ofthe water" (Genesis 1: 2) in order tocreate. "To create means to call intoexistence from nothing." Man was thuscreated in the "image and likeness" ofgod. And, since the Holy Spirit did thecreating, he knows man in his heart -and that knowledge tells the Holy Spiritthat the sin of non-belief, which is reallydisobedience, is the sin Which is the rootof all other sins. For man has an obli-gation that has been revealed to himwith the cross of Christ, that there isonly "obedience unto death". After all,J.C. went to the cross just as he wastold, and so should all of us. What aharsh master is this god!

. But what is disobedience, thus defi-ned? It is "transgression of a prohibitionlaid down by God." What was the pro-hibition? - that mankind could not eatof the fruit of the tree of knowledge?For if Adam and Eve did this, in theGarden of Eden, they would become asgods, "knowing good and evil" (Genesis3:4) No one, however, has the right toknow what good and evil is. "Man can-not decide by himself what is good andwhat is evil - cannot 'know good andevil, like god'." Disobedience then asthe original dimension of sin meansman's "claim to become an independentand exclusive source of deciding abou t

good and evil." God, and the Holy Spi-rit, alone can define what is sin. Good-ness, truth and love mean a life in unionwith god; sin, the "breath of evil", isnonbelief and disobedience. "Here wefind ourselves at the very centre of whatcould be called the 'anti-word,' that isto say, 'the anti-truth'." What male-factors would engage in such beastlywork, in such a spirit of darkness?

Well, now Wojtyla gets to the greatbeast - Atheism! " In the modern age,when the atheistic ideologies seek toroot out religion on the grounds that re-ligion causes the radical 'alienation' ofman," it has come to such a state,Wojtyla says, that there is "a process ofthough t and historico-sociological prac-

. tice in which the rejection of God hasreached the point of declaring his'death.' An absurdity, both in conceptand expression." Most Atheists wouldagree with the pope. The concept of"the death of god" was put forward bytheologians - not Atheists. The Athe-ist position is that there never was a godand therefore caterwauling about "thedeath of god" is the height of absurdity.

* * *What did god do when he saw sinfulman? He said, "I am sorry that 1 havemade them" (Genesis 6: 5-7) and laidthe flood on the whole shebang. Reject-ing the love of god thusly brough t"suffering" to man. Wojtyla, however,does not point ou t that the "suffering"

was laid on man by that loving sado-masochistic god.

in, being abroad now in the land,can only be o\ercome by god butcher-ing his own son, 'sacrificing the lamb",which seems a somewhat eerie way ofol\1ng the problem. But, there you are

- tha 's the drama - after killing every-one on earth in a flood in a fit of pique,after causing his own son to be killed ona cross, god "returned to the love whichwas betrayed by Adam through sin."

J.G., you see, when ordered to thecross for no reason whatsoever, since hewas obedient and did "believe in him,"went like a whipped dog to his death.Eve, when ordered not to eat the apple,told god to go buzz off and nothinghappened to her. Indeed, she becamethe mother of all humankind - a not in-significant achievement to which allwomen can only say "Vive la femme!"

The sin of such disobedience cannotbe condoned under Wojtyla's theoretics.Instead of punishing Adam and Eve,however, god waited for several score of

millenia and punished J.G. instead - byhaving him killed. No wonder that, re-garding J.G., the quote Wojtyla uses is,"And his delight shall be the fear of theLord" (Isaiah 11:1-3). At this pointWojtyla becomes helplessly confusedand his efforts to extricate himself arebeyond his abilities. He takes, therefore,a leap of faith and announces that theHoly Spirit managed it all. "Proceedingfrom the Father, he directs towards theFather the sacrifice of the Son, bringingit into the divine reality of the Trinitar-ian communion." You figure that sen-tence out. But, to go on: "Thus there isa paradoxical mystery of love." You canbet your sweet behind there is! "InGhrist there suffers a God who has beenrejected by his own creature: 'They donot believe in me.' " The pope, how-ever, does not add that it was god's owngame to hang his own consubstantialson on a cross and kill him. To go on:"but at the same time, from the depthof this suffering - and indirectly fromthe depth of the very sin 'of not having

believed' - the - (Holy) Spirit draws anew measure of the gift made to manand to creation from the beginning." Aswe used to say back in Pittsburgh, Penn-sylvania, "Put that in your pipe andsmoke it." If it is marijuana, it may getyou close to some understanding of thiscrazy language.

For·those who hope for a better lifehere and now, he has little or nothing tosay; certainly there is no encourage-ment that they should struggle forbetter living conditions. Instead,"Prayer always remains the voice of allthose who apparently have no voice ...Prayer is also the revelation of that abysswhich is the heart of man." Prayer canonly indicate that man is participatingin the divine life. That is small helpwhen one is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, sick and needy. Such a personhardly needs "to save him from him-self" with prayer ...

Madalyn O'Hair is a lawyer and an internationally known Atheist: she is the veteran of many successfulcampaigns agains( religious excesses in America, such as prayer and bible readings in school.

She is known to Australians through her many books and articles as well as through her personal visitto this country.

"- - ~ ...=.:=~,;;\

~~~.~ __-_ ,I __ ~ .. ,~~I"THE PROMISED LAND," AS SEEN FROM THE DOME OF SAINT PETER'S, ROME.

Diagram:Percentage who say religion islosing influence(from Madalyn Murray O'Hair's"Freedom Under Siege ", publ. byJ.P. Tarcher, Los Angeles)

\~\~11IfW4iJLelmt f': :;/,

~ at:Jiee~d~Thanks 0 efforts by progressive and compass- ~ of the _-

ionate people throughout the last centuries, the . /. tunnel ~"'-'cruelty and power of religion has now diminished v.; I I '

o the point where it is totally rejected by a growing W;~\'inumber of the population (see diagram). Our churches ~ p~are empty, and theological colleges are desperate to findrecruits. The continuing growth of Catholicism, world-wide,is solely the result of the explosive population growth in South Americaand Africa, and for that reason the disastrous process is encouraged by thepope. In educated countries religion is on a speedy decline.

Unfortunately, rather than to embrace humanistic ideals to gain theacceptance of thinking people, most churches have chosen to fight back bycampaigning for a return to fundamentalism, or at least resist adoption ofprogressive ideas. At a time when mankind may well be on the brink oftotal extinction it is more important than ever that we pursue policies thatcan save us from destruction. But as long as Churches oppose birthcontrol, align themselves with repressive regimes, deny to their peoplemany basic freedoms and demand unjust privileges such as tax exemption,they deserve to be regarded as ballast from the Dark Ages that should bejettisoned as soon as possible.

Protestant!Anglican

EasternOrthodoxOtherChristians

Diagram:Percentage of Catholics who stillgo to Sunday Mass(drawn by R.Heimann after datafrom "The Bulletin", July19, '83.

Diagraln drawn byRolf Heilnann. source:"World ChristianEncyclopaedia" byRev.Vr. Barett,Oxford University Press.

ChineseFolk ReligionTribalJewish andOthers

Percentage of Catholics who~!~~.!I.~_~~_~~~~~x.!",~~s.:.__~~~ ..

"Christ's sayings were like quack pills, intende.d to be swallowed whole, without chewing or knowingwhat they were made of, and they poisoned you. "

SAMUEL BUTLER

"If the writers (of the gospels) had gone into any court of justice ... and had given their evidence in the samecontradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger of having their ears cropped for

perjury and would have justly deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that have beenimposed upon the world as being by divine inspiration and as the unchangeable word of God. "

THOMAS PAINE

"Perhaps the time is approaching which has so often been prophesied when religion will take her departurefrom ... humanity, like a nurse which the child has outgrown; ... For there is no doubt that religious

doctrines which are founded merely on authority, miracles and revelations are only suited to the childhoodof humanity. "

SCHOPENHAUER

"1 will admit that one perdition of Christianity has peen undisputably fulfilled. '1come not to bring peace,but a sword. ' Christianity indeed has equalled Judaism in the atrocities and exceeded it in the extent of itsdesolation. Eleven million of men, women and children have been killed in battle, butchered in their sleep,

burned to death at public festivals of sacrifice, 'poisoned, tortured, assassinated and pillaged in th~ spirit .of the Religion of Peace, and for the glory of the most merciful God, "

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

"Be convinced that a she-ass spoke; believe that a fish swallowed a man and threw him up three dayslater safe and sound on the shore; don't doubt that the God of the universe ordered one Jewish

prophet to eat shit (Ezekiel) and another prophet to buy two prostitutes and have children by them(Hosea). Believe a hundred things either manifestly abominable or mathematically impossible:

otherwise the God of mercy will burn you in the fires of hell, not only for millions of billions ofcenturies, but for all eternity, whether you have a body or whether you don't. "

VOLTAIRE

"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaininga free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political

as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose. "THOMAS JEFFERSON

"All great truths begin as blasphemies. "GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

"If science exterminates a disease which has been working for God, it is God which gets the credit, and allthe pulpits break into grateful advertising raptures and call attention to how good he is!"

MARK TWAIN

"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from the ancient Oriental despotism.It is a conception quite unworthy of free men. When you hear people in church debasing

themselves and saying that they are miserable sinners, and all the rest oOt, it seemscontemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings. We ought to stand up and look

the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of the world, and if it is not sogood as we wish, after all it will still be better than what these others have made of it in all

these ages. A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretfulhankering after the past, or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago

by ignorant men. "BERTRAND RUSSELL

"There are religious leaders today in the twentieth century who strain at the gnat ofartificial contraception and then swallow the camel of overpopulation, poverty, famine, crime,

and the conditions which lead to war. Then they say, 'Peace, Peace!' when by their outdatedpro-nationalism they have induced conditions such that there can be no peace!"

Dr. M.H. MOTHERSILL ("Birth Control and Conscience")

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCHA great part of the Australian Papol Tour of 1986 is being "sponsored" by Corporations,

and the "Papal Logo" has been designed and marketed by high-powered experts.Corporate sponsorship is not free, it is a non-taxable expense by Big Business, ultimately

passed on to us; the consumer, whether we approve of the pope or not.As a major, multi-billion dollar investor, the Catholic Church identifies closely with Big

Business, and an association with the Vatican can payoff for businessmen. The storybelow gives an example.

Concerned at the lack of business of their members, the Milliners Institute ofNorth America once hired a publicist by the name of Guido Orlando to approach His

Holiness the Pope. Orlando wrote a letter to the Vatican suggesting the following:

"The remarks I thought Your Holiness might make could be phrased, 'Of the various piecesof apparel worn by women today, hats do the most to enhance the dignity and decorum

of womanhood. It is traditional for hats to be worn by women in church and at otherreligious occasions, and I commend hats as a right and proper part of women's dress.' "

The very words suggested by the Milliners' representative were incorporated in apapal recommendation that women wear hats. L 'Osservatore Romano and many otherpapers repeated them, and they were printed on posters to be displayed in milliners'

stores. Within a month there was a sharp upturn in the sales of women's hats.

THE CROSS OF CHRISTIANITY-IS IT WORTH BEARING?

Religion is a billion dollar business. The main product sold:Immortality. Since no clients have ever come back to complain .

that they're not getting their money's worth, mortals are still buyingthe product.

But business)s not what it used to be. It's not like in the good olddays of the Crusades and the Inquisition, when no questions were

asked by consumers.The "Holy Ghost Busters ", publishers of this book, believe that the

visit by Carol Wojtyla, God's very own representative on this earth, is agood opportunity to ask some pertinent questions, and to examinethe background and the business methods of the people who peddlesalvation in the next world, and who have brought so much misery

to this one ...