Holy Cats!
I read this article in the NY Times this morning and thought it was charming; until I got to the second to the last paragraph. Oh, fine. Don't read it for yourself. It's all about Pope Benedict being a big cat lover. But right toward the end it says that he couldn't bring two of his beloved cats with him when he moved into his papal quarters.
Excuse me? He's the Pope! Who's bossing around the Pope?
Perhaps our man in Rome, Willym, can shed some light on this for me (since I'm entirely disinclined to work it out for myself). But golly Moses, this goes directly to the apostolic authority thing. What? The Pope can be trusted with the See of Peter but not a couple kitty cats?
Excuse me? He's the Pope! Who's bossing around the Pope?
Perhaps our man in Rome, Willym, can shed some light on this for me (since I'm entirely disinclined to work it out for myself). But golly Moses, this goes directly to the apostolic authority thing. What? The Pope can be trusted with the See of Peter but not a couple kitty cats?
Labels: big questions
cobbled together by Moi at 6:21 AM
20 Comments:
hehehe, lorraine. i did a post about cats over the weekend. it will totally explain the whole cat and pope thing.
the pope just cannot be distracted by the whims of a cat.
;-}
In religious orders, owning pets is a BIG no-no. Members die or get transferred and the rest are left to care for the pet they didn't want in the first place. Lots of resentment builds when that happens. Also, with so many members transferring in-and-out, the poor animal goes crazy, never knowing who to bond to.
Maybe the pope's right-hand guy is allergic to cats.
Ba Ha Ha Ha (Note no W)
The N.Y. Times? Sounds elitist to me.
No political thoughts after the primary? Hmmm.
Oh well. Maybe its best not to talk about those things. Too easy to hurt peoples feelings. Certainly not my intent. Sure is nice to see all these people getting involved with the democratic party though. Republicans must be shiverin' in fear. Though I dont want to bother them either. Love your enemies or those who think they are anyway.
Sorry for the length.
Peace
:+}
Must check it out, Danny. And cats do have their whims.
Yeah, that makes sense, Buck. But this is THE POPE. You'd think that would carry with it a little clout!
Anonyba, what's to say? It is as I predicted...big enough for Hils to stay in, not big enough to change the math. Nothing to add to that. But I agree...for all the hand wringing about how this long contest is hurting the party, the last thing the GOP needs is a whole bunch of new Democrats. Including, but not limited to, the thousands of Republicans in PA who SWITCHED PARTIES so they could vote for either Hillary or Obama.
Mightn't these cats be heathens? Siamese? whatever? wrong religion? Do you see W or any US president riding a "harsey" (horse) of the wrong mediatic breed? say... an Arabian horse? See already Obama's middle name "problem" (who cares?)
What if these cats were the feline equivalent of say... Siberian Huskies? Maybe it would send the message that we (or the Vatican, and therefore Catholicism at large) do support Putin's debatable regime and/or oil exploitation/exploration in the great wildernesses that still make the earth what it is (a fine mess, among other thigns, but also a thing of beauty, and still liveable for now--add a few decades, we'll see then.
Anyway, Probably the creatures could get lost (and maybe in holy places--holy mackerel!), misbehave and desecrate thigns andp alces, and you can't have his Holiness' garb, vestments, et al., soiled by feline leaks and mischief. UNACCEPTABLE. And a stain(literally, maybe) on the Holy See
Buit, I agree, at first sight it seems.... hard to stomach. With at second sight (insight?), there must be some moral and practical considerations. (what if the cats eat meat on friday (no longer a restriction, and yet, poor PR image...) etc etc
i heard this on the news and was shocked....i'll have to visit danny and find out. i think it is a form of control by the church and some other stuff that i can't quite remember at the moment.
The cats might have been gay. That is all I got.
Cats are familiars for witches. Duh, everyone knows that.
He should have checked with the landlord before he applied to get into the place, it's probably on the lease agreement. Same thing happened to my sister. ;)
I'm blaming Charlie for this.
I will NEVER understand Popery.
So I went and did an exhaustive study of the question,and discovered that Rome has over 300,000 feral cats roaming the streets.But!..The Roman citizens are quite fond of them.
Then I discovered that there is an official biography of the Pope,written by a cat naed 'Chico'.
Indeed,the Pope is a great lover of felines,and even has a cat statue gracing his home in Germany...
No mention of who has forbidden him to bring his cats into the Papal quarters,but my guess is it's an effort to placate some disapproving Nun..you know how irritable they be.
Some thoughts:
- Iwanski only understands potpourri not popery
- I'm guessing the papal gowns would just get full of cat hair... they don't want the public to see him using a lint roller.
- They don't want people to get allergies when they rub their faces in the pope's holy gowns
- Cats would make the pope LOL and distract him from holier things
- He was being mind-controlled by the kitties and the advisors needed to rid him and mind control the pope themselves. yeah, mind-control hoggery!
- The papal gowns cannot be clawed at
- The politics of local kitty antics would get in the way of the politics of The Church
- The kitties would demand their own tunnel system in Saint Peter's Basilica
- How does one rid the papal gowns of that tuna smell?
- The inaugural pope dish of "kitty stew" would have just been awkward with cats walking around
- They don't want the pope to turn into "that crazy cat lady"
- They couldn't find anyone to change the litter boxes
LOL on Sfoofie's comments! :)
But if the pope really loved his kitties, he would never part with them!
Boo on the pope for ditching his cats!!
I know what it is - - he tried having a cat at the Vatican but it turns out that cats absolutely FREAK when they encounter red Pradas.
There. Mystery solved.
Well, kids, this was another classic case of the comments being infinitely funnier than the original post. I really like all y'all.
A lot.
Now, ALL OF US failedto notice one thing: Lorraine (who is well connected, we agree, and knows her stuff) reports that "TWO OF THE [Pope's]CATS" could not be brought to the Vatican. Does he have others in the Vatican? Why those two? Discrimination against SOME at the Vatican? Are we talking... hair (hardo?), smell, color, breed, creed, national origin?
I smell somehtign fishy, and a major rat (both should concern Felinery, you'll agree)
OR, is this wrong??? and it is 'the Pope's " TWO BELOVED CAtS" ' could not be brought?
Grammar/wording problem? inaccurate reporting? carelessness and low standards of writing or reporting ? Papal Discrimination?
This has all the ingredients of the New "name of the Rose" or even "Da Vinci Code" in Roman and Catholic felinedom.Keep on investigating, this could be the Pope's FelineGate!!
Folks, you are NOT going to believe it!!! The Pope's favorite cat, Chico, was indeed a SIAMESE!!!!! Racial discrimination, or is it species-al (special?) discrim!
But hey there is Cardinal in the Vatican who has sneaked in a dog (and "everybody knows it" says the story (I did a google search)!!! I am Shocked, SHOCKED!!! A dog!!! where will they stop? Why not a ferret, a gerbil, a python (called "monty", of course)
The Vatican remains mum about which regulation forbids the POPE!! to have his cat (or cats) with him... so we are back to all the speculations in the comments above.
Now, I HAVE to go back to work...
Weird. You'd think they'd let the man just pay a pet deposit.
Late on this one - not word's you'd want to hear from, say, your girlfriend but...
I've set some Vatican friends on this one and they'll try and come up with some dogma,doctorine or dictum!
Sling is right about the cats - each neighbourhood has its Cat Lady (usually) who feeds and tends to the strays - in fact one of the largest cat santuraries is located at the site of Julius Caeser's assasination.
Teehee I said dictum...
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