"Free The Arm!"

That's what I joked I should shout at Saskatoon's Holy Family Cathedral.  The reason?  The severed arm of Catholic Saint Francis Xavier is on tour, and it made a stop today at Holy Family.  Touring a long dead man's arm like that seems foolish and kind of ghoulish to me.  And as always with supposed relics there's the obvious question of whether it actually is what it is claimed to be. 

I Hope It Doesn't Give Her Ideas.

No doubt you'll have heard about Pope Benedict's resignation by the time you read this.  I can only hope his actions don't inspire certain others to follow.  Specifically Queen Elizabeth.  I don't know about you, but I'm not particularly fond of Prince Charles and some of his ideas, so I'm in no hurry to see him on the throne.

The tabloids will no doubt have a field day with this.  They'll claim all sorts of evil goings on as the "real" reason Benedict resigned, or start babbling about him making prophecies.

Because of his age Benedict was often suspected of being a transitional Pope, one who was chosen precisely because he wouldn't be Pope long, so younger candidates could strengthen their positions.  Maybe we'll see some evidence of this as the process of choosing a new Pope begins.

Draw The Pope Week.

I was just reading this post over at Pharyngula and it got me thinking. Let's have a Draw the Pope Week! After all we might not get a chance soon if we have to shell out licensing fees to do so. The angry looking Pope is by PZ Myers, while the smiling Pope is my version via MS Paint. (Yes, I know, stick to photos and writing, I hear ya.)

Exorcise The Exorcists.

As much as the Roman Catholic Church might accept modern science and its discoveries some irrational beliefs linger. The Archbishop of Ottawa, Terrence Prendergrast, has appointed at least two new exorcists, one English speaking and one French speaking, to replace the previous one who retired five years ago. Supposedly the Ottawa archdiocese doesn't received more than seven or eight calls for exorcism a year, but hey, Pope Benedict, like his predecessor, believes in demonic possession, so they're making sure they're ready. The strength of belief by certain elements of the Catholic Church in demonic possession can been seen in the number of Italian exorcists rising over the past two decades from a mere 20 to some 350 currently.

Jeffrey Grob is the exorcist for the Chicago archdiocese. He states that an exorcist in what he describes as a large, ethnically diverse diocese might get 100 calls a month from those fearing they are possessed. Most who think they're possessed usually aren't, according to Grob. Which of course brings up the obvious question of why the Church doesn't come to the rational conclusion that all those who believe they're possessed aren't, that demons don't exist, and that there is no need for someone who actually practices exorcisms. The highly cynical might argue the tradition of exorcism is maintained to make sure those Catholics who think they are possessed won't go to some other denomination that shares their delusions, and once "cured" move away from the Church. But I have no doubt that most of those behind the continuation of the belief in demonic possession truly believe it is a real problem. Unfortunately the result will be people suffering as treatment that might actually help them is delayed or even avoided entirely because of those involved believing in an irrational cause of their problems, whatever the true motivation of the exorcists.

If you've been down in the dumps lately because there is no enormous catastrophy that will destroy humanity on the horizon, take heart. According to an e-mail I received yesterday the planet Hercolubus is coming to get us. Of course it will probably be like all those other catastrophies that were going to do us all in, like the May 5, 2000 planetary alignment that was going to make the Earth's axis tip over. Or Planet X as promoted a few years ago by Nancy Lieder. Fortunately such supposed events are so big that the kooks can't claim when they don't happen that the government is covering them up. Instead they have to go slink off in embarrassment.

Another of these concepts that will likely be with us for a while yet is the supposed prophecy of the Last Pope, Peter the Roman. The claim goes that St. Malachy, while visting Rome in 1139, was granted a vision where he saw all the popes to come, including the last pope who would be known as Peter the Roman. The prophecy has been interpreted to indicate that after John Paul II only two more popes will be selected before the Second Coming, or the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church, depending on whose interpretation you believe. So when JPII dies expect to hear a lot of talk about this stuff. Of course it should be noted that Malachy's supposed prophecy has an annoying little problem, namely was only revealed some 400 years after he supposedly made it, leading many to suspect he made no such prophecy. And as is so often the case with such so called prophecies the actual details are vague enough that you can fit the popes since 1139 to the prophecy with a bit of careful interpretation.