Why Can't A Woman Be Pope?

[Beany]

OK, one reason to be a popess is because of all the cool dresses you'd get to wear. When a guy wears them they're called robes. And the hats & jewelry look pretty substantial, too.

[Mr Walker]

Perhaps be radical and actually make a Christian Pope, as apposed to this two millenia long succesion of semi-pagan anti-Christs. However, there will not be a woman Pope for all the reasons made in previous posts, and perhaps mostly because even though the religion of Rome is a corrupt version of paganism, having a priestess is definately pagan. Anyway, strange that in UK they do not seem to understand their own language and have no idea that the feminine of priest is priestess. Still, at least they gradually make their way back to paganism

I suspect that this is not an error but a deliberate change. In the later half of the 20th century a lot of gender specific words were removed from "correct english language" to prevent discrimination (or as political correct ness.)

Terms such as author /authoress poet/ poetess, were replaced with a word inclusive of gender. So a priest can now be either man or woman, as can an author or a poet.

As an aside, "ess" tends to denote female as in governor/governess or or seamstress or indeed lioness. A lot of these exclusively female jobs had already diappeared and the names of most others were changed to make them inclusive of male ad female These suffixes came into English from the french after the 1300s, as french became the courtly language of Britain with the Norman conquest.

Instead of chairman or chair woman one was simply called "the chair" or chair person. It got harder with policeman and fisher man but only because they were so engrained in language and culture. Police officer works, but fisher person doesn't.

It is interesting that the latin word for priest , sacerdos, is inclusive of male and female and ancient romans had women priests, but in "The world of warcraft", a modern game played mostly by males, a women priest is called a priestess.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Mr Walker

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

Instead of chairman or chair woman one was simply called "the chair" or chair person.

Madness.....

How long before woman is changed to "wo" and man simply made illegal.....

[Beany]

Perhaps it is overdue to bring back the worship and High Priestesses of Isis. Was massively popular back in the days..... And perhaps it would mean there would not need to be scandalous video about Cardinal Bertone on youtube. So scandalous that I would never link to here for legal reasons. Surprising youtube have not removed yet.....

I think it's important to recognize both the feminine and male divine; I don't care to see one made supreme over the other, but would love to see more balance. Women are as capable of carrying out sacred duties as men are, I think most of us recognize that; however some of us would yield our own common sense and fairness to church authority and accept that because it is tradition it should not change. And who benefits from that, and who loses?

[Grey14]

The last time a pope was elected who was not a cardinal first was in 1379.

You have to be a cardinal first, you can speak rules, I will speak custom, in the middle a truth will reveal itself. Laity have no chance in hell to be elected is the bottom line.

And yet the last time a Pope resigned was 1415. 2 months ago if anyone said the current pope is going to resign everyone would have said yeah right like that has a snowballs chance in hell of happening. So you may not want to be so hard set in what you think is going to happen because at this point anything has a chance of occuring.

[Clarakore]

And yet the last time a Pope resigned was 1415. 2 months ago if anyone said the current pope is going to resign everyone would have said yeah right like that has a snowballs chance in hell of happening. So you may not want to be so hard set in what you think is going to happen because at this point anything has a chance of occuring.

Well we can be certain this time it won't be a lay person unless they can meet at minimum the following requirements:

Any serious papal candidate has to be prayerful, theologically sound and fluent in Italian, the language of the Vatican and of Rome, which is, after all, the pope’s own diocese.

Several cardinals have also said that the next pope must have had experience as bishop of a diocese. That description would exclude some cardinals who have served most of their years in the Curia and those with little pastoral experience, like Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the erudite Italian whom Benedict gave the honor of preaching at the Vatican’s recent Lenten retreat.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, said in an interview, “Being a shepherd of a local church, I think, would be a very important factor if you’re going to be engaged in this idea of renewing the church spiritually.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/world/europe/pope-wanted-must-possess-magnetic-charm-and-grit.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

I think it's important to recognize both the feminine and male divine; I don't care to see one made supreme over the other, but would love to see more balance. Women are as capable of carrying out sacred duties as men are, I think most of us recognize that; however some of us would yield our own common sense and fairness to church authority and accept that because it is tradition it should not change. And who benefits from that, and who loses?

Oh I agree, women always had very important role in pagan religion. I think that reason why in Christaintity they have been repressed is to put distance between Christianity and Paganism, also weird sexual problems od some early Christians. I was thinking about the greatest Pagan burial so far found in the North, the Oseberg ship, and it was burial of a queen, and or a High Priestess, a Pope of "Odinism"...