Habemus Papam!

[Flosshilde]

No indulgence for you Flosshilde!
No 1 - you have not got the faith.
No 2 - selling indulgences started a revolution previously and you lot ( I mean 'the separated brethren') started your own show.
No 3 - it's not a get out of jail free card - as some money changer described it above - you have to earn it.

But - remember the Good Shepherd - all strays are welcome back.

"You lot" - don't associate me with 'that lot', or any other religious lot.

[scottycelt]

"You lot" - don't associate me with 'that lot', or any other religious lot.

Amazing how extremely sensitive some liberal, tolerant members are over harmless, inoffensive little words. ...

[scottycelt]

In my case the answers to the first three would be a resounding yes. To the last it would be no; you jump all to rapidly to conclusions, scotty.

I didn't jump all too rapidly (or any other way) to conclusions regarding yourself, S-A, though many thanks for answering the questions!

[amateur51]

Sums me up!

[amateur51]

What an evil old man, donating millions to the Church.

String him up.

Your millions, perhaps Mr Pee but not mine

[amateur51]

Unless you're gay and you want to get married.

Then you can expect that the Church will do its best to persuade the State not to allow it.

[amateur51]

Are you interested in theology, Mr Pee?

MrPee is not even interested in Radio 3

[amateur51]

Amazing how extremely sensitive some liberal, tolerant members are over harmless, inoffensive little words. ...

Oh naff off you old scrote




TukTukTukTuk

[french frank]

But I think I agree about ‘Francis I’, perhaps because putting the numeral after the name somehow conjures up a series more vividly. (But wasn’t Franz Joseph called ‘Franz Joseph I’?) Interesting point of usage, maybe one for 'Pedants' Paradise'.

As far as I can see, this is the first time in recent times that a new name has been added. The last new name to be followed by no others was Lando (913-914). A number of popes before him also had one-off names. They are all officially listed solely by name, with no ordinal. It seems the media have now cottoned on to this and the latest is Pope Francis. Or just Francis.

[ahinton]

As far as I can see, this is the first time in recent times that a new name has been added. The last new name to be followed by no others was Lando (913-914). A number of popes before him also had one-off names. They are all officially listed solely by name, with no ordinal. It seems the media have now cottoned on to this and the latest is Pope Francis. Or just Francis.

But how might you suppose that scotty would respond to the possibility of a future Pope Frances?

[Julien Sorel]

There's another piece in today's Guardian concerning Jorge Bergoglio and the 70s Junta in Argentina.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/15/pope-francis-argentina-military-era

[Alain Maréchal]

One thing that I could not help but notice in such of the coverage that I heard (and it wasn't particularly easy to avoid it) was the widely divergent estimates (albeit each presented as though fact) for the number of Catholics in the world; I heard 1bn, 1.3bn and 1.2bn and there may well have been others. How anyone can be certain I have no idea, but all of these figures sound very far-fetched to me, not least given the sheer numbers of the total population of China, India, the Far East, the Middle East and Russia where the Catholic population must be pretty small.

All is explained by Tim Harford on "More or Less". 25th February is the relevant programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moreorless

[JFLL]

I suppose it might depend on whether the 'first' was capitalised: 'The first World War' or 'The first World war' is not the same as 'The First World War'

Subtle point, but in book titles all significant words are capitalized, so it would be possible to interpret it in the first way. I wonder what the author used in his text?

[Flosshilde]

As far as I can see, this is the first time in recent times that a new name has been added. The last new name to be followed by no others was Lando (913-914). A number of popes before him also had one-off names. They are all officially listed solely by name, with no ordinal. It seems the media have now cottoned on to this and the latest is Pope Francis. Or just Francis.

What about the John Pauls? The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm) lists the firast as John Paul I. I don't know how the Vatican might list him, assuming that they produce a/the 'official' list.

(& it was also a new name, created very recently)

[french frank]

What about the John Pauls? The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm) lists the firast as John Paul I.

That's because he was followed by John Paul II (the Polish Pope), having only survived 1 month in office.