IN FRATERNAM MEAM: IN DEFENSE OF THE POPE AND THE CHURCH

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Thursday, April 07, 2005

IN DEFENSE OF THE POPE AND THE CHURCH

I have never argued or get into an argument when it comes to religion. this evening, there was this African American woman, who works with me at the call center and came to work for her 2130hrs start time shift. As soon as she sat down besides me in our cubicle (we are four in each cubicle)she bang the thick newspaper that she brought with her on top of her station and started cursing and uttering words that is so vulgar and mundane. I did not pay attention cuz I was on the phone with an irate pax.

Then the dead hours of the shift started to come (0100 to 0400 hrs) and so there's lots of us, just sitting down with our headset on and waiting for a call to come in.

This woman, (I cannot mention her name) started again cursing and complaining so many things about the death of the Pope.

woman...I cannot understand why this old man is creating lots of media hype on his death...look, even the newspaper carries all the pictorials of so many stupid people who comes to Rome to see this old man who is already dead.

I cannot take the heat from this woman anymore, so I answered her back.

me.... you know.... the Pope never asked anybody, nor did he asked the world, nor did he asked the media to cover his death and his sufferings. People came to pay a final respect to a great man.

woman... how do you know he's great? is it because he lives like a king in a Palace looking like building and the place called the Vatican, already makes him great?

me.... the reason I said he is a great man, because he was able to do things other man was not able to achieve and do. He was able to topple down communism by starting it in his own native land and was able to oust the Communist regime without any bloodshed and without any political outcry, except the preaching of sincere and non violent protest. then the Berlin wall followed. This is the reason he was also so admired by Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, the PLO leader Yasser Arafat and icluding the Prime Minister of Israel, who called the Pope "our Old Friend". Man's greatness is not where he lives, but he conducts his preachings and teachings as exemplified by him.

The Palace that you are talking about, is called the Apostolic Palace. Does the King lives inside the Palace...no. The Pope lives there and he represent a sovereign state within the heart of Italy, called the Vatican.

Let me tell you a brief history and listen first before you curse again.in 1377, the chief residence of the Pope is always the Vatican. In 1447 the reigning Pope started construction of the now Vatican, that you said you hate very much. The Vatican State is an independent sovereignty as recognized during the Lateran Treaty in 1929.

woman...don' shit with me Mel. I don't want you to tell lots of things that you think I don't know. I know where that shit is..and I will never go there for this stupid death of an old man. These people are all crazy coming to this place.

me....why will I shit with you, when you don't know what you're talking about.

woman.... I know what I am talking about. Why does this old man's funeral to be held in public and making it very spectacular and being magnified by the media.

me.... this old man that you are talking about, did not ask the people to come and did not ask the Media to be covering his funeral. The Pope's funeral wil go on, with or without the media and the people.It is just so happen, the media thinks this is a great event,and the media even calling it "Catholic Woodstock" that they dont want to miss. bitch!

woman...are all these people catholic? or are they jsut there to be part of the drama and the hype?

mel...are you not watching the news, lots of people that was interviewed in the street of Rome are not Catholics, there were people interviewed and said they are atheist, but they said they are there to be part of history. and since you are testing me, let me give you some numbers that I have taken from the show on TV, here is the tally of the Catholics, as posted on TV by the media. in 1900 there are only 59 million Catholics in Latin America, now there are 483 million Catholics, in 1900, there are 2 million Catholics in Africa, now there are 147 million and in Asia in 1900 there are only 11 million Catholics, now there are 124 million. These was posted by the media and not the church. and the media is saying also that there are 300 people a minute who passes infront of the body of the dead Pope, and 18,000 hourly and 4,000 daily. This was the posting of the Italian government.

woman...why do they have to say nine days of masses and all that shit??

me...that is the rule of the Cannon Law of the Catholic Church.

woman...what cannon are you talking about...Boy!

me....listen woman, let me lecture you since you are very dumb and ignorant on many things. The name Canon Law, was given to the official body of laws of the Catholic Church. The name is derived from the Greek work "Kanon", meaning to say "a measure of rule".

woman... your religion has so many shit and pageantry. I was watching TV this morning and there were all these men dressed up in red and red cap in their head and was called the Princess of the Church. Does it means to say the Pope is the King?

me.... I thought you hate the Pope and the Catholic Church, then why are you watching it on your TV? this shows only how dumb can you be. The Princess of the Church is the given name to the Cardinals. The church is like the military, they have ranking in their orders, and they are given a title and the Pope is not a KIng because the Cardinals are called Prince of the Church. The term "Pope" was derived from the Latin word "Father" or "Papa" and "Pappas" for Greek. All these men that you said dressed in Red are the Cardinals chosen by the Pope himself and was created in their office based on what they have done and what they are doing for faith and the faithful.

woman...well, how many Popes do you have? how come, the news is always saying that the first Pope is this and the Pope is going to be elected and all that crap.

me....well...the first Pope if you know this is St. Peter between 64 to 67 AD then St. Linus, St. Anacletus, St. Celement I, St. Evaristus, St. Alexander, St. Sixtus, St. Telesphorus, St. Hyginus, St. Pius I, St. Anicetus, St. Soter, St. Eleutherius, St. Vicor I, St. Zephyrinus, St. Calixtus I, St. Urban I, St. Pontian. These are some of the names we have to memorize when I was studying for the priesthood. So the Papacy started as early as 64 to 67 AD up to the present time. As you can see there's lots of Popes already and I cannot excatly tell you their numbers.

woman...then why did you not tell me that you studied for the priesthood. You made me look like a dumb bitch infront of them (pointing her fingers to all the agents listening and laughing at our conversation).

me.... i am sorry, you think yourself as a dumb bitch. but in some way ... you are really dumb, but not a Bitch.

Then 0300hrs came, I need to go home and rest for the next day job I have at the Law Firm.

posted by infraternam meam @ 1:55 AM

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