'The Pope cannot decide however to ordain women as priests, because most simply, Jesus did not do that and the Pope would be going beyond his mandate.'

Since Catholic doctrine makes the Pope utterly infallible, and decrees that absolute submission to his authority is a requirement for valid membership of the Catholic Church, this is simply weaselly waffle. He can do what he damn well pleases, and explain afterwards if necessary that God has given him new instructions, or told him that his predecessors were wrong. Ratzinger's failure to make the reforms that any decent compassionate person could see were necessary and desirable have got nothing to do with the limitations on his power, and everything to do with the flaws in his character.

Jesus of course was always and only a Jew, as were all of his disciples and the people that he associated with while he was alive.
Therefore following the "logic" about the presumed exclusive identity, whether cultural/religious or sex/gender, of those in his "ministry", the poop should have always been a Jew.

Electing a new Pope is not going to be an easy
task. Think about it:

The Church artificially
limits its choice to men who have to be celibate,
ordained as Cardinals for a set
number of years, and preferably be less than 65 years
of age. They also need at least a modicum of
spirituality, intelligence, and human talent, and must
be basically acceptable amongst their peers. They
should also never have publicly disagreed with
papal teaching, or said or done anything radical, or
upset too many people, have no medical or psychological
problems, nor be in any intimate relationship that
causes scandal, and have reasonable leadership skills,
common sense, and good judgement.

It remains to be seen where the Church is going to find enough
suitable and talented men from such a restricted pool to
lead its Church.

Interesting times ahead.

diver dan

I accept that there is no independent contemporary historical record of Jesus’ existence, but there is lots of evidence that a movement arose shortly after the period of his reported death based on his reported life and teaching. That this movement was based on an actual historical figure is the most logical explanation for this phenomenon. Jesus’ probable historicity is widely accepted by historians of other faiths and none. Whether Jesus was in fact all the things the bible and church claim is of course a different question, and does touch on issues of faith.

My point was really that the bible and its account of the example of the disciples as reported in the New Testament does not support Catholic tradition on the position of women or on marriage of clergy.

Christianity can perhaps be described as self-invented, but only in the same way that, say, Australia or psychology are self-invented.

Constance
I have great respect for nuns and the work they do, but they cannot be priests and they cannot be pope (well with one exception, but that’s another story)

Pericles,

Yes, humans regardless of what position they hold are ultimately fallible creatures. That is, no institution is every perfect.
Can’t you be more philosophical? I see those few evil popes in history as part of the whole stage of human drama. Ie.the Catholic Church is like a paradigm of the diversity of human nature and no group is ever immune. You do believe in good and evil, don’t you? There will always be forces you have to fight against.

Rhian & JohnBennetts,

“If the pope were to follow Jesus’ example he would have no hierarchy of priests and bishops but a collection of followers, male and female, committed to service, healing and evangelism. At which point, I might become a catholic.” Why do you have a fixation with male hierarchy? Look at what’s happening to the Anglican church. It looks like they are becoming more and more divided, are they not. The Pope has now even made special arrangements for those fleeing the Anglican church because some Anglicans have become so sick of the BS of the whole equality obsession which has become ridiculous.

With my experience in the workplace, I say please do not put these neurotic females in the church hierarchy as it would be disastrous. After all, Jesus was a male, can you please leave it at that. He had is male disciples and he also had the support of Mary and Mary Magdalen. And we still have the many female patron saints - they were not disregarded, they were highly respected by men and all, and adored.

Mother Theresa was considered a spiritual partner to Pope John Paul 2nd - and so are the more low-profile Catholic nuns. Isn’t that good enough? Why is it always these days, the Me Me Me factor - I want the power rantings by deluded women. The nuns are their own autonomous directors all over the world, working with humility without the need for power obsessions. It is this whole power seeking thing which is ruining the world.

The feminists have got it all wrong and they have only ended up betraying females to the detriment of society. They have only ended up corporate careerist slaves.