THE INFALLIBLE LUIGI
Luigi is absolutely certain of his position. his infallible evidence for his conclusion is based on his personal observation of church antics[!] and trying to read encyclicals
It seems to me Luigi unless truth is synonymous with your passionate assertions E.G,"The fact is that there's nothing true about the catholic church's position on any issue" YOU! may be indulging in what you infallibly claim the church does--JUST REPEATING DOGMA AND ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM--pace worldwide staff of numerous catholic universities--. the evidence for LUIGI'S infallible assertions is very 'light on the ground' and not compelling for me anyway.
meanwhile I remain a dissenter from the dogmas of luigi with all due respect. in fact by dissenting from your contestable dogmatic truths then, by your definition alone, one is an educated person.
GOOD WISHES FROM FATHER JOHN GEORGE

How very civilised, Georgie. I won't speak of you with 'due respect', as respect needs to be earned, and you earn nothing but contempt for your insecure and immature diatribe. It's great to see the catholic church continuing its downward spiral though.
Interesting that you introduce the word 'infallible' to the debate - a typically catholic term, and one that has made the church a laughing-stock to all sensible people. Bit of projection, eh?

I've been reading the old testament recently - you know, God's memoirs? In it, he admits to mass-murder on a monumental scale. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, it's all there (see 1 Samuel 6:19 for one of many charming examples of the fellow's murderous intolerance). He makes Saddam Hussein look like a kindergarten teacher. Sure, all that was a long time ago, and he's been much less prepared to admit to anything in recent centuries, but there's no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity, so we'll get him one day.

Another infallible decree from Luigi
* the catholic church is in downward spiral says Luigi
[Luigi please!there are 1 billion RCs and increasing at a healthy rate. 5 million youth encircled pope john paul at a world youth day and 1.1 million youth recently cheering pope benedict in Cologne --sounds healthy to me!
It is the largest christian denomination and has outlasted numerous 'Infallible Luigis' in the past-some even joined us!
Briefly though re 1 Samuel etc horror stories. It is not strict historical literary genre so avoid 'fundamentalism' luigi--the key IMPORTANT message behind the 'camp fire' yarn used by God is[applied in your instance]--DONT MOCK GOD LUIGI OR HE WILL DEAL WITH YOU LATER dont say i didnt warn you old friend..........
ever noticed luigi how atheists cant stop raving about God?Im intrigued Luigi--how in the hell are atheists going to get God before a 'crimes against humanity' tribunal if they say he doesnt exist--NOW DONT WAFFLE ON LUIGI ANSWER IT MAN?
Keep laughin' matey
FATHER JOHN GEORGE AKA 'GEORGIE' BY BIG LUIGI

To return to the matter of Ratzinger - I think the new pope's monocultural background is no doubt a key to his sense of resolute certainty, and of the absolute rightness of catholicism. I have a Polish friend who's a staunch Roman Catholic, and when I suggested to her that she was catholic largely because she was Polish, she was quite offended, and tried to argue that her catholicism and her Polishness had nothing to do with each other! Presumably she believes that she'd be just as catholic if she was born and bred in Tokyo or Riyadh. Particular religious beliefs are clearly culturally based, even if the religious impulse is universal - much to the chagrin of those who seek genuinely to understand what human beings actually are. We have to try to account for it without falling prey to its truth-obscuring visions.

Georgie continues his rants - even using upper case to let us know he's shouting. There are no contradictions in my remarks - your god is both a terrorist and an invention. He was invented precisely to strike terror into the hearts of his followers and his enemies, and your defence of him, as one of his hired guns, is entirely typical. It might be called 'the Hermann Goering defence' - 'how dare you presume to judge me [or him] you puny insignificant little scumbags, i'm the great Goering/God/Saddam etc etc, and you'll pay for your mockery and disobedience when i rise again. Now stop trying to judge me and just bow down to me.'

luigi's latest infallible decree:
GOD IS A TERRORIST AND INVENTION
This latest decree confirms dramatically an old axiom,he who wont believe in god will go on to believe absolutely anything.
Issues raised:
*The Inventor:who is he/she, an atheist? surely not;an agnostic? nuh! he wouldnt know if he invented God or not; A sceptic? he would go mad trying to prove he didnt do it;a secularist? too dumb by far;
a psycho? now youre talking!
Credentials:the inventor must be a polyglot extraordinaire to insinuate his divine invention across mankind from darkest africa and muslim lands through asia with its gaggle of gods up to the highlands of papua new guinea and so the evangelisation continues by the ubiquitous apostle inventor--by the way anyone found the test tube or lab for this invention ?
but in fairness to luigi,he doesn't deny god exists;he just doesn't like the guy.
BUT I still prefer to believe in my God than bend to luigi's most extraordinary fulminating creed of faith indeed the blindest faith ive come across in 30 years as God's little priest in australia and a stint in asia! by the way luigi,you never mention SATAN he cant stand god either,watch him though he be crafty bugger dat pella der!
luigi got to go -will discuss god as al quaeda another time i can only handle so much of this in one session i am recovering from a debilitating stroke-semi paralysis from 2002.

So Luigi? Are you saying you reject the "truth" of the Catholic Church?
If so, how do you explain the countless apparitions, incorruptible saints (saints whose bodies have not decomposed- basically looking like they're asleep), eucharistic bread turning into flesh, and so many others...
Sceptical? Go and see some of them...