"All the others have two or three kids, which seems to me to be fairly responsible population control."

It may seem so - but the maths say that such an increase rate, with people living into their 80/90s will cause the world population to reach an unsustainable level - what with 6 billion already, and rapidly increasing, calculations tend towards only 2 billion is sustainable currently - all we need is to have a few big volcanoes erupt and blanket the sky again, and the hard winters we will experience again will hurt even more than they did in the past.

Well, Joe, I follow your thinking... but ... "He's actually quite rational in what he says, if you take the time to follow his thinking."

Well, the logic and rationalising process was pretty much the same a few hundred years ago when some poor bugger tried to say, just to make the maths easier, that the earth went around the sun .... and interestingly enough, the surviving mechanical machines form the Greeks point to them understanding retrograde planetary motion well enough to suggest they may have suspected that the earth was not the centre ... :-)

I disagree with your claim about no absolutism, the RC did absolutely deny condoms, now accepting "that condom use can be justified in some cases to help stop the spread of AIDS, the first Vatican exception to a long-held policy condemning condom use" is a step away from absolutism ... seems to me :-)

"the Roman Catholic Church does not see condoms as "a real or moral solution,"" - er, what, the pope is thus suggesting an UNREAL or IMMORAL solution?!!!!! Some critics have said that denying condoms was in itself unrealistic and unreal ... :-) Wait on, he IS saying that! QUOTE "It's very carefully qualified," he said. "It would be wrong to say, 'Pope Approves Condoms.' He's saying it's immoral but ... UNQUOTE ... So we now have The Infallible One saying that it is ok to act immorally, if we can justify it later on ... wibble, wibble wibble ... ok so taking that as a precedent, it's ok to rob a bank, if .... hmmm, need to give that one a bit more thought ....


"The pope made clear that he considered the use of condoms a last resort " - he was secular in his youth, it sounds .... :-)


I'm sorry, but I'm not really prepared to listen much to the ravings of someone who 'pointed to a "readiness for aggression" among those who criticized him for revoking the excommunication of a bishop who denied the scope of the Holocaust', a criticism that would seem reasonable...

"if he did not feel up to the task of being pope, he would resign. " - never heard of it happening before ...

I read the whole article - sounds like he is going senile and irrational to me...