Pope Francis is TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for doing nothing at all

On December 11, 2013 TIME Magazine made their year's big announcement, the Person of the Year. It chose Pope Francis.

One must wonder then, if the act of doing nothing is all it takes these days to be a person of the year. Sure the Pope has said some really nice things:

Atheists can go to heaven. That’s nice, but atheists don’t actually believe in heaven, so really, it’s just a kind gesture. Lets not forget though, church officials quickly said he was wrong. (Infallible?)

The Catholic Church should back off from the fight against homosexuality. Again, this is nice, but he only suggested it, and did not change a single church policy or endorse same-sex marriage or for that matter announce the church would recognize such unions.

Capitalism cannot solve poverty. He is right, it cannot, and hearing the Pope criticize capitalism was awesome. Too bad he did it sitting on a pile of billions of dollars.

What the Pope has not done however is persecute a single child rapist priests, or even come up with a plan to do so (he talks about making a plan, but again, this guy is all talk). He hasn’t used the churches billions to make real change. Hell, IKEA donated more money to the Philippines disaster than the Catholic Church.

Okay let me be the first to say I do like the Pope however the article is telling the truth. I can like him yet still be critical of him though he has said some really nice things he hasn't really done anything. The boondoggle the Philippines where I believe it was said they sent hundred and 150 K a couple thousand Bibles and rosaries is pretty lame. Considering the Philippines is supposed to be the third most Catholic nation and world and the Catholic Church receives billions in donations you would think they would be trying to help that country a bit more but maybe it is a business decision I don't know. Well at least this Pope doesn't look like the Emperor from Star Wars that guy would make most kids cry just by looking at them.

It seems to me that this Pope is a puppet who does not have the power of the previous ones. This seems to be a PR campaign. Of course I could be wrong in his words will turn into action some point. We can all hope.
Read the whole article at examiner.com

Pope Francis is Time Magazine's Person of the Year and still Pedophile Monthly's Favorite Person to Cover Up Things.

If Obama can win a Nobel for nothing at all...why not the Pope being a person of the year for nothing at all?

Both are by popularity/political votes from the 1%...not the actual 99% that make up humanity.

After all...we have nothing to say because we are not important enough.

Politics...Religion...= Money.

Got it?

Peace

reply to post by Grimpachi


You seem a bit confused about the 4 million (starting with the 150K emergancy fund) the state of the Vatican sent to the Phillipines and the untold millions in food, money and other aid the Catholic church, orders, parishes and charity organizations have sent to the Phillipines. In many areas various Catholic orders were the only people getting and handing out aid. The Pope is both the head of state and head of the Church, this confuses people when he acts as head of state it seems. Also considering the new direction he has sent over a billion Catholics in I would say calling that nothing is kind of silly.

Maybe you should consider the things

he has done towards positive efforts

have not been revealed, as of yet, to you.

Time...will tell.

Grimpachi
Okay let me be the first to say I do like the Pope however the article is telling the truth. I can like him yet still be critical of him though he has said some really nice things he hasn't really done anything.

It seems to me that this Pope is a puppet who does not have the power of the previous ones. This seems to be a PR campaign. Of course I could be wrong in his words will turn into action some point. We can all hope.

Yes, it is a PR campaign. But that is a big doing right there.

Speaking of hopium, there does seem to be quite the similarity between him and Obama. He is to Ratzinger as Obama is to Bush. Way different in the image dept, but in the actual doings, not so much.

With some key quotes and photo ops and a media blitz targeted to get the hopium and change we can believe in up and running in a seemingly opposite direction without anything really moving at all, he's done one hell of a lot.

reply to post by Grimpachi


I'll tell you right now what it is - there is a new movement in the liberal atheist camp and especially media that rewards people for doing nothing. It is actually because doing something of substance is considered evil. Progress is not a kind word, for it can be offensive.

The new Pope is a good Pope, I believe it. But look what happened when Obama got his Nobel Peace Prize and was then torn apart by the end of his Presidency. Any liberal atheist praise will last only so long before it turns to scorn and hatred.

Although I agree that Obama has done a decent job as President, it is not the leaders but the followers I am worried about -

Do we really want a code of ethics that changes with the yearly tide? Or even with the season?

The only real point I'm making here is that as I get older, it gets harder and harder to keep up with the changing tides of moral values. And I'm getting tired of spending my entire life keeping up with re-education programs instead of learning something useful.

Maybe if I had spent more time learning useful things in school instead of being re-educated, I would be better off economically and happier. That just strikes me as what's up.

I bet both Obama and the new Pope got rewards because they represented the Epitome of the current re-education agenda. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

reply to post by MrSpad


It was about two weeks ago when the figure was 150 K so it's gone up since then great I'm glad it's still less than what IKEA has given. As for people in a new direction that's good I have no complaints about that unfortunately I have seen in these very threads from Catholics stating their dismay in this pope and they are not sure they should follow him. He has church officials stating he is wrong. I thought he was the authority on all matters. But maybe he isn't.

I am glad for the things he has said but I believe he can do much more but for some reason the actions have not followed his words….. Yet. Imagine if he had said that Catholics everywhere should do what they can to help those in the Philippines instead he told people to pray for them. It's a nice thought but not very helpful.

As I have already said I like him but I can still be critical.

I didn't like Francis to begin with, I found all the media releases to be conveniently placed, that his resume might not be everything everyone said it to be. And while I have these reservations his actions have shown whether or not he is towing a political line within the church, or actually believes what he preaches, he is setting a good example and also conveying one.

Therefore not only do I have nothing bad to say about the man at this time, I support his actions within the church and beyond.

The church has a long history, a storied history, it has been a tool for evil and complete indifference… Although, that doesn't mean it can't be a tool for the exact opposite.

(No matter how opposed to religion my personal beliefs are… )

reply to post by Grimpachi

Dear Grimpachi,

You know I have respect for you, but this thread isn't up to your usual standards.

The article, and you, ask why hasn't he given some of the billions he's sitting on. Part of the reason is that he isn't sitting on billions. The donations from the local churches stay mainly in the area or at least in the country. The Vatican itself has a budget the size of a medium US city, and occasionally is in the red.

Second, the question is raised, "Why hasn't the Pope changed the doctrines of the Church?" To ask that question is to answer it. It is a silly question.

But, directly to your point. If you were really wondering why Time chose him as Man of the Year, you could have asked them. Their website gives an explanation written by their managing editor. Here is part of it:

And yet in less than a year, he has done something remarkable: he has not changed the words, but he’s changed the music. Tone and temperament matter in a church built on the substance of symbols—bread and wine, body and blood—so it is a mistake to dismiss any Pope’s symbolic choices­ as gestures empty of the force of law.

He released his first exhortation, an attack on “the idolatry of money,” just as Americans were contemplating the day set aside for gratitude and whether to spend it at the mall. This is a man with a sense of timing. He lives not in the papal palace surrounded by courtiers but in a spare hostel surrounded by priests. He prays all the time, even while waiting for the dentist.

He has retired the papal Mercedes in favor of a scuffed-up Ford Focus. No red shoes, no gilded cross, just an iron one around his neck. When he rejects the pomp and the privilege, releases information on Vatican finances for the first time, reprimands a profligate German Archbishop, cold-calls strangers in distress, offers to baptize the baby of a divorced woman whose married lover wanted her to abort it, he is doing more than modeling mercy and ­transparency. He is ­embracing complexity and acknowledging the risk that a church obsessed with its own rights and righteousness could inflict more wounds than it heals.

Asked why he seems uninterested in waging a culture war, he refers to the battlefield. The church is a field hospital, he says. Our first duty is to tend to the wounded. You don’t ask a bleeding man about his cholesterol level.

poy.time.com...

I do hope, Grimpachi, that you weren't simply looking for a way to present an attack on the Pope and the Church.

With respect,
Charles1952

Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, George H. W. Bush, Ted Turner, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Rudolph Giuliani, and Vladamir Putin have also made their Person of the Year at Various Times. So what did you expect?? A person who actually Did something positive for other people?? lol lol lol lol

Personally, I actually don't mind this new pope. I'm not joining any time soon. But at least he's not a total ass like the others.

Sold in lots of countries that magazine is.

Propaganda.

Lets not talk about those that have endowed the front cover of that rag as person of the year.

Did I mention that the pope is the latest patsy for the banksters propaganda publication?

mOjOm
Personally, I actually don't mind this new pope. I'm not joining any time soon. But at least he's not a total ass like the others.

edit on 15-12-2013 by mOjOm because: (no reason given)

And there you have it. That's job one right there.

He seems like a nice guy, not like the prick before him.

It's a well-worn play, find someone seemingly way over on the opposite side of the yard and put him up to same old tricks. It worked for Bush, worked for Obama, it will work for Francis, too.

But his trajectory will be like Obama's. You can't start out with walking on water press only to then find the walking was only talking. The only place left to go is down.

reply to post by charles1952


Hey Charles

Looking at it you're probably right OP wasn't written very well. I haven't been going so good after my surgery. As far as this being a hit piece….. Well it wasn't intended to be. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with him and the things he is said. As I mentioned before I do think he could've done more as far as the Philippines go or at least done better. Maybe that subject sticks in my mind more because I have ties there and most people here cannot even fathom the devastation.

I had high hopes he would deal with the pedophilia going on in the church and maybe he will but it certainly seems like business as usual. There was even some talk that he may influence some change as far as contraception goes. I am not talking about abortion or the pill but changing the stance on prophylactics. That would've made a huge impact on the AIDS epidemic. I guess I can still hope that things may change.

As far as change goes I think he has realized like many others in the church that the only way the institution that is Catholicism will survive is if they change. I have done a few articles on I'm sure you read them or at least one of them. I just think if he is truly the authority of church matters need to be doing much more to bring about that change. Then again it seems like there is a group within the faith that wants to fight him tooth and nail.

All I can see is what's on the surface I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes and can only guess. Anyway the point of this thread is not to bash instead just make people more aware of the reality of things. What is the old saying actions speak louder than words. I like his words I just want to see more action. He is playing a sweet tune just don't get lulled into the music.

reply to post by BlueMoonJoe


You're absolutely right. That very well may be the plan they've come up with. We'll just have to wait and see I guess. The Catholic Church has been having a bad couple of decades and I'm sure their numbers were hurting compared to what they were used to having. The "rope a dope" might be a good play for them right now to curry favor from anyone out there who have become desperate and looking for answers in these hard times. Putting their front man out there with a message of compassion and new ideas just might work.

Like I said, I'm not signing up now or in the future but some very well might. At least his message is a good one however. I'd rather see that than him gaining favor by advocating the opposite. There's hope that his actions will follow his speech which I'm sure isn't as easy as it might sound.

reply to post by BlueMoonJoe

Double post Sorry.....

the vatican does not sit on piles of cash like most people assume.. most of their wealth is in assets.. not cash...

reply to post by jude11


Couldn't agree with you more. Putting him on the face of that mag is purely a PR stunt. We are already well and truly conditioned to think of him as we do. The actual looking at his lack of actions and simple platitudes is a sign the conditioning is breaking down. (I also suspect in countries that have shown this breaking down or non-acceptance of the attempted conditioning in the first place are dealt with by a deliberate lowering of the education standard in order to help stop our debate and criticism skills IMHO).

For me, he is initially as likeable and 'pretty' as Obama - just an image of an ideal put in place to protect the 1%.

He has "done something" - he's totally changed the "face" of the Vatican. He hasn't had TIME (he he) to do anything except make his pronouncements, get rid of the throne, refuse to use the papal apartments, and make lots of people have renewed hope for this planet and its various species.

It's not like he can wave a magic wand and it's all different one morning, but at least he's talking the talk consistently and not waffling, and walking the walk as much as he can right now.

I agree that Time's "Person of the Year" is a, well, sketchy 'accolade', especially considering that Miley Cyrus was on the short list....WHU?????

), but the Pope deserves recognition - he was, as of a couple of weeks ago, at least, the Number One internet person of interest....more talked about on the web than any other living human being. And God knows, his message is awesome.

Obama, OTOH, got the "Nobel Peace Prize" for nothing but lip service, and he's had 5 years of very lame success due to GOP obstructionist behavior and Ayn Rand philosophy-pimping. I am absolutely opposed to the use of "drones", and frankly think Obama and W. both "deserve" to be tried in a tribunal for war crimes.

To the Pope, I say, "You go, You!!" All the negativity about it really bugs me, and I'm not a Catholic - not even really a "Christian" - but what he says is TRUE, and it is what JESUS said, as well.

Anyway, cheers all. We can hope that this time it's not just "a PR stunt" - but give the man some time, for crying out loud!!!

Could he be "shut down" and "foiled" by the veteran Vatican monsters? Sure he could. But, so far, he seems totally genuine to me. (And absolutely correct.)