Merry Gentlemen

Time Magazine's Person Of The Year

It's been a tradition for me to write about the Pope during the holidays. Mainly because it's not really a religious holiday anymore. It's basically a festival of broken dreams and empty bank accounts. I'm probably just like a lot of people at Christmas, a lot of us don't go to church anymore. I know I don't mainly because women are treated like second class citizen breeding machines. We can work our ass off  in the secular world, just like any man, but walk into the church and it's another story. It's going to take basically equality for women to get me to go to church again, ( I know, where is there equality for women, anywhere?) however, I will say that Pope Francis is probably the most interesting guy to wear the pointy hat in forever, but there is the thought that Pope Francis is in full damage control mode.
I bring you tidings of multiple investigations. Just one scandal would be," the Institute for Religious Works – the formal name for the Vatican’s bank – widely regarded in Italy as a haven of organised crime." Shocking, but here's the best part, "Peter Sutherland, non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International, said Transparency is important and necessary,” Oh that's really eye opening, this guy is some kind of "unpaid" consultant. A banker, from a bank, known for it's own scandals is giving out advice, I guess from experience, because now Goldman Sachs is so transparent.Yeah, I'll let you digest that with your Christmas dressing.
Did anyone think it was odd that Pope Benedict abdicated? Maybe because of Vatileaks?
 "documents show how contracts were awarded to favoured companies and individuals and also highlight allegations of internal power struggles with the Vatican's bank known as the Institute for Religious Works." 
I guess maybe the butler really did do it.
Pope Francis has tried to address the child abuse scandals, however, "The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was unimpressed, saying his initiative might burnish the Vatican's image but "in the real world this changes virtually nothing (as it affects only) the 0.2 square miles of Vatican property."
I guess you can't please everyone. Supposedly there's also a "gay scandal" in the Vatican too, but being gay and being a pedophile are two different things even though I hear people use them interchangeably, frequently.  

This is just creepy and wierd

And so this is Christmas, the Pope says his employee's at the Vatican should "stop inspecting and questioning" and gossiping, basically start acting like professionals instead of inquisitors. In his Christmas Homily he tells us "Do not be afraid!" It's pretty sad, because there's plenty to fear in this institution.
As far as Pope's go, I do believe this guy is really trying to focus on the poor and disenfranchised. He's refused to move into the Papal palace. it's rumored he sneaks out at night to hang out with the homeless. That's more than most average people do. But until there's the possibility of a Popess, I think I'll spend my time engaging in other pursuits where being a woman isn't such a liability.