Vatican Cardinal Says Dentists Are Veterinarians

Or something like that.

Mind you, I blog this while never entirely trusting BBC, Reuters, or AP to faithfully report accurately what anybody (let alone a Catholic bishop) has said about anything.

Reuters reported yesterday on the strange sympathy of a Catholic bishop for one of most brutal, sadistic, murderous despots in the history of the world:

A top Vatican official said Tuesday he felt pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein and criticized the U.S. military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow."

Jan. 12, I'm going to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. Should I ask for verification of his D.V.M. degree?

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department and a former papal envoy to the United Nations, told a news conference it would be "illusory" to think the arrest of the former Iraqi president would heal all the damage caused by a war which the Holy See opposed.

"I felt pity to see this man destroyed, (the military) looking at his teeth as if he were a cow. They could have spared us these pictures," he said.

My God! O the humanity! We've seen pictures of the brutal, murderous despot getting an oral examination! Why O why didn't the horrible invaders spare us this torture?

The irony here is that Saddam is being treated this way because we respect his humanity. Which is incomparably more than his behavior ever was towards anybody else.

"Seeing him like this, a man in his tragedy, despite all the heavy blame he bears, I had a sense of compassion for him," he said in answer to questions about Saddam's arrest....

A bishop of the Catholic Church — alter Christus — has "compassion" for one of history's most monstrous destroyers of humanity. Why? Because he has repented? Because he has reformed his life? No: because he has been captured and examined by medical personnel.

Martino was one of the Vatican officials most strongly opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Thanks, Reuters. That explains it. Martino has always had more compassion for Saddam Hussein than for the nation he tortured for decades.

"It's true that we should be happy that this (arrest) has come about because it is the watershed that was necessary... we hope that this will not have worse and other serious consequences," Martino said.

Every action, and every inaction, has consequences: that's the way of the universe. Sometimes, we can't know whether consequences will get better or get worse: that, too, is the way of the universe.

"But it is not the total solution to the problems of the Middle East," he said.

Who the &@*! suggested that it is?

Martino said the Vatican hoped the arrest of Saddam "can contribute to promoting peace and the democratization of Iraq."

He said that, after having firmly opposed any real action that could have actually brought Saddam to this situation.

He added: "But is seems to me to be illusory to hope that this will repair the dramas and the damage of the defeat for humanity that a war always brings about."

Really? Allow me to extend to you, on behalf of my country, our sincere apologies for our warfare of generations past by which so much damage and defeat for humanity was brought about by our victory over Hitler & the Nazis — and which helped towards the dramatic ouster of Mussolini & the Fascists. Please forgive us.

Seriously. I trust that Cardinal Martini thinks he is expressing Christian charity towards Saddam Hussein. Faugh! His misplaced sympathy is not Christian charity: it is insensibility so dense that it strikes me as almost inhuman. Maybe that's what comes of too much "note writing" and "long-range invective".

P.S. Don't miss Irish Elk.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 12/17/03 07:48:47 AM
Categorized as Religious.