In the mid-1980s, Pope Jon Paul 11 visited a squalid barrio in Tumaco,
Columbia. He was dressed to the holy hilt in his finest white
vestments. The cap, solid gold cross and Pontiff ducked through a hole cut
into tin sheets and plastic and entered a shack that was the home of an
unemployed peasant farmer, his pregnant wife and a half-dozen emaciated
kids. The lean-to structure and the family of hopelessness within were
typical of the crowded barrios he had seen on his tour, which was little more
than a cesspool of poverty and violence, a dump site of shattered dreams.
No doubt the Pope was a seasoned observer of the sight of many countless
children in slums with their stick limbs and swelling bellies, playing in the
open sewers. While in the hut, he tried to speak soft words of comfort
over a cacophony of babies crying for want of food, as they sucked at breasts
run dry from overwork and overbreeding.
The stench of dysentery shriveled the papal nostrils. The hollow and
awestruck gaze of the farmer and his tattered tots made him weep. He
re-emerged from the shack, displaying tears like shining medals to the tropical
sun and the relentless flashing eyes of cameras. He declared with a moving
voice, to the press and the world at large, "I bless the people in this
home" As he left the area, a papal aide was seen slipping $300 into the
Columbian farmer's hand.
Upon the Pope's return from the South American crusade, he stressed with
even more righteous certainty than ever before that all birth control and
contraceptive methods are a sin.
John Hogue
The people here now don't care about Mother Earth, because when they
die they're going to heaven. They're going to get a harp, a pair of wings,
and a halo, and they're going to be playing all the time. It is very
unattractive to me. I don't even know how to play a harp.
Grandfather
Semu Huarte: American Indian, Chumash Nation 1983
Neutering cats and dogs are the 'rage' - Please send that Idea to the pope!
Arhata
Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less.
