I think the objections were in not practicing what he preaches. Selling celebrity pope plates and tee shirts while condeming celebrity worship is just a tad hyprocrital.
I think the objections were in him being Pope ... and therefore by definition evil, and wrong in every instance on every topic.
“Selling celebrity pope plates and tee shirts while condeming celebrity worship is just a tad hyprocrital.”
Not at all. Not even a little. Not the slightest scintilla or iota.
After reading note 1, I started to write a reply to the effect that people don’t seem to understand what hypocrisy is any more. Your next note made me think that even people who do seem to know what it is will often reach to any extreme in an attempt to infer it where it doesn’t exist. After all, any old stick is good enough to beat the Pope with.
To make your argument you had first to call these souvenirs “celebrity” items, which is as arbitrary as it is unreasonable.
The word “celebrity,” as we are using it here, does not mean “any person who is well known.” It means “people who are well known for trivial or meaningless pursuits, or for nothing more than being well known. “Famous for being famous,” like Paris Hilton.
Mother Theresa is quite well known, but she was never a celebrity. Or, for the more whacked-out among us, consider Ghandi. It would be an insult to denigrate him as a mere celebrity. I’m sure the leftards would be outraged if one said of Kamarade FDRsky that he was only a celebrity.
Far less even than these people is the Holy Father “famous for being famous.” His duties are hardly trivial or meaningless, nor were the duties whose successful execution brought him to the Throne of Saint Peter.
It is hypocritical in no regard for a man well known for his involvement in weighty, solemn matters to criticize air-headed twerps for lionizing celebrities known only for their success at sports, trivial entertainment, and sexual depravity.
It is a tradition of long standing for the faithful to want and treasure souvenirs of a Papal visit. The availability of such souvenirs trivializes neither the Holy Father’s mission nor the veneration of the faithful.
The Pope is not selling anything. He couldn't care less if you buy T-shirts or tumblers with his image on them. If you've given even the most cursory glance to this Pope and his ministry you'd know that such issues are light years removed from his concerns. These items are sold either by make-a-quick-buck entrepreneurs or by the organizers of his visits as a means of defraying expenses. You really think he's coming to England so he can promote his own cult and hawk a few souvenirs? You think he's going to huddle with Marini and Archbishop Nicholls this evening in Westminster and say ........."well boys, how many coffee mugs did we move today..........??"
Is it really necessary to explain the nature of the "celebrity culture" which he is attacking? Has balance and common sense entirely forsaken this forum? He's warning against the dangers of seeking after worldly success and fame at the expense of faith and eternal salvation.
Britain is a country which is dominated by mass selling daily tabloid newspapers (The Sun, The Daily Mirror etc) which feed an apparently insatiable public appetite for news about the rich and beautiful, including sports stars, entertainers and members of the aristocracy. The increase in this obsession appears to have paralleled a corresponding decrease in the public practice of religion.