I'm going to tell you a story:
Once upon a time, a very rich, old man with his own country inside of another country lived in a huge, beautiful castle which was adorned with much gold, precious paintings, and thousands of priceless artifacts.
Although he was not married, he was surrounded by many other old and young men, most of whom wore skirted robes like the very rich, old man.
These men all worshiped a Jewish guy who died over 2,000 years earlier, and the castle was dedicated to this Jewish guy, named Yeshua or Joshua, or in Greek, Jesus. According to the tales written down in a collection of ancient books, Jesus was never married, so perhaps that's the reason these men do not marry. This is strange, because one would also think that all the men in this group, known as Roman Catholics, would also have to be Jews. But that is not the case. In fact, the group has actively persecuted and killed Jews over the years and even today many of these men do not like Jews. And they claim to worship a Jew. It's a conundrum.
While they are all supposed to be celibate and virgins, stories have come out that a goodly number of them have mistresses and others like to have sex with other men, even though having mistresses and having sex with other men are forbidden by their Jesus; or so they claim. Quite a few of them like having sex with very young children -- mostly boys -- and that has caused some problems in the church, especially when it was discovered that almost all the big cheeses in the church had, for years, tried to cover up the fact that the skirted men were abusing little boys and girls.
The old rich man is called pope, and he is the biggest of the big cheeses in this group that worships the Jesus person, who they claim is God. The pope seems obsessed with sex, as he insists not only that the other men cannot get married, but that all people who worship Jesus in the way the Pope does cannot have sex outside of marriage and cannot use any contraceptive devices.
The pope, who is very rich and lives in his own castle in his own country within another country, is so serious about this anti-contraception business that he will not allow his people to use condoms even though it has been proven condoms can save lives.
One day not too long ago, the pope and a number of his skirted minions flew off in luxury jets to visit the continent of Africa where there are a growing number of Roman Catholics. Many of the people in Africa are very poor. Many of the people in Africa have a terrible disease called AIDS.
Before he went to Africa, the pope made it clear to all Catholics as well as everyone else that he was opposed to the use of condoms. When someone pointed out to the old, very rich man, who lives in a castle in his own country within another country, that condoms could help stop the spread of AIDS in Africa, he became quite upset, religiously upset, and not only insisted that condoms were forbidden, but that, in fact, condoms were "aggravating the spread of AIDS."
No one knows where he got that information. It is not in his holy book, and it can't be found anywhere else, so many people think the pope made it up and criticised him for making a false statement.
When the pope got to Africa, he again stated condoms were bad and Jesus would not like them, and Catholics must not use them, and if some people got AIDS and died, oh well, that's just too bad, but one cannot defy the church's rules and go to heaven and live forever with Jesus and the popes!
It is ironic, as many have noted, that this very old, very rich, celibate man believes he has the right to tell other people what to do with their sex lives.
Then the pope, who is very rich and lives in a castle in his own country within another country, talked about poverty. Now, there are a lot of nasty people in the world, and some of them pointed out the irony of this very rich old man, who lives...well, you know, calling for Africans to do something about their poverty. I mean, he does live in a castle with much gold and all that other stuff.
Even more ironic was his call for African leaders to confront corruption. Everyone knows that his own group, the Roman Catholic Church, is a leader in the corruption field. In fact, some say that the Roman Catholic Church is the most corrupt organization in the world at the present time.
You may think I'm deliberately mocking the Roman Catholic Church and the very rich old man who lives in a castle in his own country within another country, and that may be true, but everything I've said so far is true, too!
But now something quite humorous has occurred. The Italian Catholic Church (Italy being the country within which the very rich, old man's own country is located) became very angry with people like me who dared to criticize or point out some of ironies mentioned above.
In fact, Italy's senior bishop (that's another very rich, old, celibate man who runs around wearing dresses, talking about sex) said angrily: "We will not accept the pope being made the object of mockery and offence, in the media or elsewhere."
Wow. You can see he was religiously pissed off!
Then Bishop Angelo Bagnasco went on to say: "He [the pope] represents for everyone a moral authority, which this journey has made people appreciate even more."
Well, I think Bagnasco is wrong. First of all, no cares what he thinks. And he can object all he wants to mockery and offence of the pope in the media or wherever, but it doesn't matter. He can't tell the media or anyone what they can do or say.
Also, to say the pope "represents for everyone a moral authority" is just silly. I mean, c'mon. He's just a very rich, celibate old man, who wears a dress and lives in a castle in his own country within another country and who presides over one of the most corrupt institutions in the world. How can he represent anyone's "moral authority."
I think Bagnasco is wrong. I think the pope is wrong. They have no moral authority whatsoever.
Anyone who would try to ban condoms knowing such a ban means the death of thousands, perhaps millions of human beings, cannot claim moral authority.
Finally, I have to say I've read a little bit about this Jesus guy, and this very rich, celibate old man who wears dresses and lives in luxury in his own castle in his own country within another country, doesn't resemble the Jewish guy at all.
