Legalising drugs is the best way to promote the moral values that both Francis and...

[edgarshade]

Legalising drugs is the best way to promote the moral values that both Francis and I share

CatholicHerald

With reader commetns

By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith on Monday, 23 June 2014

The Church teaches that drug abuse is wrong but that doesn’t mean we should support the criminalisation of drug users.

The Pope has spoken out against the use of recreational drugs, and, it seems, against the possible legalisation and decriminalisation of recreational drug use. Or so it seems. The Zenit news agency carries the story, which reports the Pope’s remarks to a conference on drug law enforcement, at some length, without mentioning legalisation/decriminalisation. Associated Press, which has been copied widely the world over, as for example here gives one the impression that the Pope has waded into a contentious debate coming down decisively on one side. If that is the case, it would not be entirely surprising: the Pope recently spoke in favour of the Union and against Scottish separatism, a question on which the local Church has kept resolutely quiet, perhaps because they realise that this is a complex issue on which a plurality of equally Catholic opinions are possible.

Looking at what the reports say, a few observations are necessary.

First of all the Pope is against drugs. This is hardly a surprise. Everyone is. Taking drugs is deeply irresponsible. By this I mean of course drug taking without a proportionate reason. It is OK to take morphine when in severe pain, but it is certainly wrong to take heroin just for pleasure. Recreational drug use damages people, sometimes severely. So too does smoking tobacco; so too does drinking alcohol to excess; that tobacco and alcohol are legal today is not an argument for legalising all recreational drugs, but must at least give us pause before we advocate a blanket ban on all harmful behaviour.

More...
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/com...e-moral-values-that-both-francis-and-i-share/

 

[Jabberwocky]

Nice find. Highlights in a different way, is another example of, why I hate mass media and, concurrently, I love media. Long live the random interweb zine (yes, my nephew just re-introduced me to - nsfw - OJST!

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

Moral values? What about all of those pedophile priests, popes, nuns, and "saints" in the Roman Catholic church that get a slap on the wrist and then instead of being put into prison wind up just being transferred to another church, or get "rehabilitated" and then go on to abuse more?

There's a lot of revisionist history but the Roman Catholic church did support the Holocaust in Germany, helped Nazis escape to other countries, and also supported the genocide in both Bosnia and Croatia during world war II.

Francis also supported the genocide of Argentine people in the 1970s. He lived in Argentina but he is really from Southern Italy as this is pretty obvious; but he was just born in a very southern region of Italy, and then his parents moved to Argentina the way lots of Italian people did.

Becoming canonized as a saint is nothing special. All it means is that someone donated a lot of money to the Vatican, as if they actually need more money.

Hash and cannabis will probably become legalized in Italy; but not thanks to the church.

The pope recently went to Calabria to a city which is technically a diocese, and claimed to "excommunicate" members of the Italian mafias (Sicilian, Cammora, 'Ndragheta, and Sacra Corona Unita).

But this is just a PR move. He's biting the hand that feeds him as those Southern Italian businesses and businessmen did make large donations to the Vatican, and many have branched out into things that are completely legal.

The pope himself should know that in order to "excommunicate" someone you need to name them publically. That's not going to happen with people involved in la famiglia in Italy or in other countries. La famiglia has been around for a very long time and that's not going to change anytime soon. It's not as though people involved in that business or line of work run around telling everyone what they do, or hold up signs.

The parents of the boy that was killed in that city in Calabria were drug dealers, and got involved with something they should not have; but it was their choice to do this. It's a shame that the kid died; but what happened to personal responsibility and keeping your children and/or family safe? Drug dealing or being involved with something illegal, and being killed in certain regions and/or cities in Italy is common and the parents had to know that something like this would happen. It's akin to someone dealing drugs in Mexico or another central American country and then wondering why a cartel or violent gang members take action.

I personally do not use drugs including legal ones like alcohol, or illegal ones like cannabis or others but I do not care if other people make the decision to use them.

 

[The Doc.]

What a bastard why does the pope have a say in whether drugs are legalised of course he would say no to that.

It makes me sick when turning on the news and seeing how many priests have molested children and gotten away with it cause they are "Holy" they ate sick fucks most of them.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

I called it.

http://www.vox.com/2014/6/23/5834038/no-pope-francis-did-not-officially-excommunicate-the-mafia

But Francis' critique of the mafia should not be seen as an official excommunication, according to Chad Pecknold, an assistant professor of theology at Catholic University of America. In Roman Catholicism, an official excommunication is a strict censure that deprives the excommunicated of fellowship with the rest of the Church body. When a Church member is excommunicated, she is not allowed to take communion. Excommunication, though severe, is not irreversible. According to Canon Law, the censure is "medicinal," meaning it's given to a Catholic in the hopes of urging him to repentance.

As Pecknold explained it to me, the Pope's comment was "just something he said in a homily — which is not a vehicle for disciplinary pronouncements." Further, excommunication is "only for individuals," and not entire organizations. Rather, said Pecknold, what Francis was doing was simply describing the "self-excommunication" the 'Ndrangheta is already experiencing because of their "serious sin."

Yeah as if people involved in various mafias in Italy actually care about what the current papa thinks about them, or think what they have been doing for a very long time is a "sin". roflmao 8)

A lot of the people who are killed by the mafias in Italy or in other places are involved in very dangerous things drugs, arms dealing, etc. and are foolish and put they and their entire families at risk of being killed; but they know this, know the risk and do it anyway, and pay the price.

Many believe myths like, "They are no longer around.", "They're weak.", "It's not like the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s (insert other century/decade here)" or my favorite "The books are closed, and have been for decades. You must be FULLY ITALIAN TO JOIN!"