When Dopes Pope

60 Miles Too Far For World Traveler Pope
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck L'Aquila, Italy, left 294 dead, 1000 injured, 10 missing and 28,000 homeless.

Dope Pope Benedict chose not to visit the stricken area before or during the Easter weekend. Perhaps fearful of the aftershocks, he retreated his residence south of Rome. He held services on Good Friday as well as the traditional Easter Mass in the Basilica at the Vatican. While he said prayers for the survivors of the earthquake, plans to visit the area were not mentioned.

Traveling, however was mentioned: his recent trip to Africa and an up-coming jaunt to the Holy Land. Perhaps with all those frequent flier miles, another 60 miles of travel would cut into his viewing time of reruns of The Flying Nun and The Father Dowling Mysteries.

The Pope is seen in the photo at the left paying tribute to Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, wearing his prized replica outfit.

The Dope Pope was well trained in 'going the other way' from the time he served as a Nazi soldier during WWII He was a deserter and later spent time as a POW.

It is not clear whether the he gave a second thought to the notion that the survivors of the L'Aquila disaster might have needed and would have wanted his presence there. Sure he prayed for them, but the spiritual needs and hopes of the people of that area would have been uplifted knowing he was there for them.

It's not the first time, and it probably won't be the last that the Pontiac Pontiff has shown poor judgment. He recently stuck his feet in his mouth and while chewing on them sounded like a sanctimonious pompous Pope when he said that "condoms do not prevent HIV." I suppose he thinks that the only way to prevent HIV is to practice abstinence.

(Pictured: The Pope using his new "spit guard" to protect those closest to his podium.)

If the Dope Pope really cared about ending poverty, he'd forgo traipsing around the world, pontificating to the poor people that they cannot use condoms or any kind of birth control. A contributing cause of poverty is having more children than the people can afford. If the Pope cared about poverty, the Catholic Church would quit forcing parishioners to give 10% of their pretax income to the church.

To his credit, he did acquiesce and grant Special Dispensation to allow Mass to be held on Good Friday at a state funeral for 205 of the earthquake victims. This action was taken only after Italy declared a National Day of mourning.

This is what happens when dopes Pope!

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