[BiGG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barbara', 'W')hy here?
Because I'm the one and only forum member living in Rome, of course!

Ask away!

PS About that Malachy prophecy, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm afraid it's true. The "gloria olivae" means "glory of the olive tree", which is the symbol of Saint Benedict. But also: Benedict 16th was born on April 16, and guess who is the saint of that day? Good guess: saint Benedict.
Again, tha last Pope Benedict, Benedict the 15th, is known as "The peace Pope", because he was the first Pope in history to speak loudly against war (WWI).

I think there's enough for me to dig that bunker...

[PenultimateManStanding]

Good reply to the fleshopoid, Barbara. So you take-a questions eh? Is a the Pope Catholic?

[erl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'i')n every person hides a Catholic waiting to get out. It's just a matter of gently pulling. Pope Benedict XVI will do just that.

[lorenzo]

I think many of us, even some atheists and other heathens, might agree that the process of secularization of the West correlates with the age of cheap oil.

I'm not sure how strong this correlation is, but historically speaking both dynamics are congruent and develop simultaneously.

Before the age of cheap oil, the Western world was dominantly Catholic (while the world at large had not seen the light of Christ yet). Around 1900 (very broadly speaking) secularization in the West began.

Consumerism grew, individualism became pathologic and persistent, urbanism became megalomaniac, traditional social structures disappeared, mass destruction of others became the norm (world wars, colonial wars, industrially organized genocides), totalitarianism flourished, and the age of sadness and shallowness started.

In short, the secular age is the age of horror, mass murder, chaos, and total destruction of the last vestiges of human dignity.

Now the question is: will peak oil and the advent of the post-horror age automatically re-Catholicize the diseased, sick Western world?




PS: We know that only in secular America and Europe, the process of modernization has brought secularization. In the rest of the world, you can be both modern and Catholic (which goes to show that the non-Western world is a bit more flexible and creative). So maybe we need a more radical destruction of modernity in the West in order to bring the heathens over there back to their senses. Peak oil might do just that. But this is mere speculation.

[BiGG]

kochevnik, Let me see if I can break this down into an easy format for you….

The Catholic Encyclopedia claims St Malachy visited Rome in 1139. While there, he allegedly had these “prophecies”, wrote them down, and gave a copy to Pope Innocent II. Soon after, the alleged prophecies were lost

Now, there was never any mention of these alleged prophesies prior to 1590 anywhere and the Catholics admit this so with that in mind. “Conveniently”, the missing prophecies were found 451 years later by a monk in 1590 and everything “prophesized” prior to that date was right on the money! However, most rational thinkers believe they were written in 1590 so of course they were accurate!

Remember, nobody mentioned those prophesies prior to 1590 INCLUDING St. Malachi’s friend & biographer Bernard of Clairvaux! Now after 1590, the prophesies are not right on the money at all, in fact they are simple generalities that could easily fit many things like your daily horoscope does! See how simple that is?

[killJOY]

When you speak so abstractly, you can say any garbage at all and folks think yer profound.

bleh.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 's')ecularization of the West correlates with the age of cheap oil.

[k_semler]

I believe that Lutheranism was founded in 1536 after Martian Luther made a trip to the Vatican and saw how the donations were being spent. The CofE was founded sometime in the late 1600s, so other Christian religions besides Catholicism existed long before the advent of the petrolium era, and I think that they will continue to exist after the petolium era ends.

[Phil]

Too bad we can't send dipshits like Lorenzo back to the Dark Ages where he would better fit in.

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', '
')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 's')ecularization of the West correlates with the age of cheap oil.

[Ludi]

Living in the US, in Texas, I don't see this "secularization" you speak of....

Most everyone around me is highly relgious, mostly Protestant but some Catholics. There are a few minor religions, and a tiny smattering of atheists.

[killJOY]

Raphael, when you're direct, you're good.

keep it that way.

[UIUCstudent01]

I got an actual question concerning the actual current Rome stuff - and not stuff you can look up in the internet/history books.

What's the mood in Rome? Are locals secretly annoyed at the mass influx of people? Is there alot of people there even now?

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')onsumerism grew, individualism became pathologic and persistent, urbanism became megalomaniac, traditional social structures disappeared, mass destruction of others became the norm (world wars, colonial wars, industrially organized genocides), totalitarianism flourished, and the age of sadness and shallowness started.

In short, the secular age is the age of horror

[BiGG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', ' ')"..... In short, the secular age is the age of horror, mass murder, chaos, and total destruction of the last vestiges of human dignity.

Now the question is: will peak oil and the advent of the post-horror age automatically re-Catholicize the diseased, sick Western world?"

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('k_semler', 'I') believe that Lutheranism

[BiGG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', ' ')He surely contributed to opening the age of horror.

[killJOY]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')t is certain that the New Testament was not written by Christ himself, nor by his apostles, but a long while after them, by some unknown person

[RonMN]

I think the incredible amount of hostility shown here only serves to PROVE Lorenzos point!

[erl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', '
')...the protestant genocides (extermination of the jews...

Now I'm not saying that Catholics have never committed crimes, but they were of an entirely different scale and of an entirely different dynamic.