Thursday, February 21, 2013

How to Become Pope

10 comments:

  1. Cute presentation; some comments:

    1. Priests must attend and graduate from a seminary prior to ordination which is not mentioned. (M.Div. really?)

    2. The president and the pope are not at all dissimilar; not any man can be president (the great American lie) the same as not any man can be pope.

    3. You could once buy elevation to the College of Cardinals (directly) as well as the Papacy (indirectly); you most definitely can buy the presidency even today.

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  2. The reason why any catholic is eligible in case all the cardinals are killed (not so far fetched, considering they are all in the Sistine chapel for several weeks)

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  3. What does this have to do with economics or government interfering in the economy? Or maybe you are coming up with another of your conspiratorial theorists??.. whatever the catholics do or how a pope is elected has nothing to do with economics or whatever Mises and Hayek or the other Austrians have taught.

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    1. Whatever Catholics do or how a Pope is elected has nothing to do with economics? Really?

      Since economics is human action, the actions of 1.3 billion people (some of whom are Catholic, at least in name, if not practicing Catholics), who may well listen to what the Pope has to say, can have tremendous influence in the world.

      Mises himself has written on the influence of religion, including Catholicism, on ideas and actions.

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  4. "Since economics is human action, the actions of 1.3 billion people (some of whom are Catholic, at least in name, if not practicing Catholics), who may well listen to what the Pope has to say, can have tremendous influence in the world. "

    That was a great comment. You enlightened me.

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  5. This post reminds of one of my favorite libertarian essay by Ronn Neff:

    http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/ut010.htm

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    1. Hello, this is anon@ 8:01. I thank you both kindly for your remarks.

      Thanks for posting Neff's essay. It's a great idea, and could definitely work in this place or that. Like any other libertarian endeavor, it would be difficult and time consuming.

      Socialists or interventionists surely make up a great mass of the Church now. It is no longer conspiracy, but accomplished fact. I know from personal experience: I naively tried to influence RCIA instructors with libertarian and traditional ideas during confirmation classes. They purely hated me for it. I tried for the duration of the class: eight months. Not one person in a small class of about 9 chirped up to support me (to give you an idea about my knowledge, I'm Rothbardian; I support Ron and not Rand).

      After the Confirmation ritual, one of the teachers handed us our certificates. I thanked him and humbly lamented my lack of influence. Suddenly, one of the young wives of the class walked over to me. She captured my attention with her gaze, and winked at me.

      I knew that, no, this wasn't a pass at me in a church. She was silently acknowledging agreement with some of the things I had said. That in itself was a great reward. Too bad for me that she was married.

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    2. I am the RCIA director in my parish, and also a Rothbardian. I insert my opinion that the drug war and LBJ's Great Society were disasterous. I usually generate shock (even among the catechist's) when I mention the position Augustine and Aquinas took that prostitution should not be illegal. We each do what we can, and never know exactly what effect we have. That is a lesson for both Christian and libertarian evangelists.

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    3. Hello, this is anon@ 1:50. Thanks for your reply. How I wish I had taken RCIA with you! I agree with everything you have written (and you are right irrespective of whether I agree).

      People close to me have given me good and appropriate constructive criticism: perhaps it was my delivery that was failing. This is true. I am a poor vessel to deliver the libertarian philosophy, although I know it well and can articulate it well.

      We all know that the current environment we live in can make these discussions extremely uncomfortable. But your right; we never know exactly what effect we have. And so, it is all the more reason we should not give up.

      Thank you again.

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  6. My three choices for pope (all are eligible, in alphabetical order):

    Andrew Napolitano
    Lew Rockwell
    Tom Woods

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