A call for christian soldiers to rally and attack the various islamist organisations of the middle east. Would he get any volunteers? And would it be like only a handful, or thousands, millions? Would the rest of the Vatican impeach or arrest him or is that even possible? Would Italy intervene, to try to suppress his attempt at calling a crusade?
Considering that the last time a pope called a crusade that actually took place was at the tail end of the 14th century (google Battle of Nicopolis if you want to see what happened), I'm guessing not a lot.
If his messages about helping the poor, taking in refugees, and addressing climate change have taught us anything, Catholics only obey the pope when he calls for something they wanted to do anyway.
In which case it might actually work ... although, generally speaking, protestants seem to be bigger on the bloodlust. I'm not sure there are any ways for a non-governmental group to wage physical war in the modern world that don't involve terrorism, however.
If that happened, we'd be in bizarro-world, because this pope has been quite big on peace with Islam. It's a bit like asking what would happen if there was a Muslim President. Oh, wait. You believe that too.
Man, @Midnight Funeral is really aching for a full blown religious war that he wouldn't lift a finger to fight in himself.
While I don't agree with all of his policies (clearly), I do have to say when it comes to compassion and human kindness, the man has made some significant leaps compared to his immediate predecessors.
Hey, go for it. March onward for Christ! If radical Muslims and radical Christians kill each other off, that sounds like a win for everyone else.
You know, that's interesting. The Pope used to be a mover and shaker. Now he's just a talker and cajoler. Why not declare a crusade against intolerance, or poverty, or illeteracy or whatever? Why not bring the Vatican's vast wealth and leverage into play instead of just preaching?
I think he does, to a point. He's often talking about fighting poverty, and when he can he directs church money to areas that need help. For example, in an article from Catholic News Agency: There are a great many more examples, not to mention how he removed many of the rich trappings the Pope receives upon taking the office. I really do not doubt his commitment to eliminating poverty. I don't agree with him on a number of issues, but that one isn't among them. Could he do more, though? Certainly, but he's going to need help from governments to make it happen. Poverty is far, far too massive a problem even for the Catholic church to handle on its own.
What if the Pope offers 80 virgins in paradise for any Christian who kills a Muslim? They only get 70 on top of their two existing wives.
Well, this situation would no doubt have negative consequences, but it might be worth it in some ways. Priests would finally be able to walk around in plate armor and smite the unholy with maces. Also, when the Muslims start raising vast hoards of zombies and skeletons, which they probably will, the turn undead ability will come in handy. Over the past few months, I've interviewed about 30 priests. Not one of them owns a set of plate armor, only one owned a mace but he doesn't do any smiting with it, and when asked about how confident they would be if surrounded by an army of zombies, rather than saying something along the lines of "I've got this. I've totally got this!" they looked at me like I was crazy and walked away. What's the point of being a priest if you're not going to wear plate armor, carry a mace, and turn undead? Sounds boring otherwise. A crusade would give all the priests something useful to do. On the other hand, paladins. Fucking paladins. Paladins ruin everyone's fun by being all stuffy and acting like they're avatars of ultimate good and justice. They'd definitely want to be in on this, and they'd ruin it!
Most western males have no interest in virgins anyway so what would be the great appeal? He'd get a better response offering 40 MILFs. Or 20 for that matter.
What do you base that on Dayton? I'd think a true Christian man would be more interested in a woman that doesn't have sex before marriage, not a cougar who's been around the block.
True But most westerners are not Christians (in my opinion) and I have read a lot about what men seem to prefer. Remember in the actual Crusades, the majority of the participants were not the pious, worshipful people. The majority were they run of the mill rabble.
Lots of laughing. Pointing out to him that there's those 600 years Christians have on Islamists. Maybe even a Facebook group. However, as stupid the question is... such a request would be interesting. Because the pope, by church law, is the absolute ruler of every Catholic on the planet. In theory, when he says 'shoot yourself' to a Catholic, this person has to obey or risk eternal damnation. Even more in theory this applies to everybody who has been baptized. Which usually happens a few weeks after being born here I'd bloody well better shoot myself because I have been baptized. Which, coincidentally, was my last contact with the church except for sightseeing and the occasional funeral. But this is actually a good thing, even though popes don't have the sway they used to have. Whatever they say just is so. Islam doesn't have a central authority so everybody's pretty much free to take from the Koran whatever fits their own agenda (Protestant splinter groups do that too btw). Makes some funny but deadly absurd situations too. Like, preaching how everything that's not in the Koran is very very bad. Of course, the whole long and winded sermon is online and linked from a Twitter account... hm.
The medieval nobility enjoyed one activity above all others: fighting. They fought wars, and when they weren't fighting wars they held tournaments, giant mock battles in which the participants often suffered injuries and death. All of this was frowned upon by the Church, who were perhaps surprisingly anti-war in those early days. The concept of a "just war" was introduced to reconcile some of these differences. The Crusades were a handy way to ship a bunch of violent, lawless men overseas so they wouldn't cause trouble at home.
Well, except for the "suicide signifies the sin of despair, which is the one sin that cannot be forgiven" clause.
Also, while many Popes in history played the "if you're pious, do what I say" card, often successfully, there is no actual commandment to do what he says. Of course, if he speaks ex cathedra, which he only does very rarely, you can rely on him being right if he says that not doing something will land you in hell. (Rely, I mean, unless, of course, you're less Catholic than sane.)
