Godfried Cardinal Danneels, the liberal Belgian cardinal -- come to think of it, is there any other kind? -- figures that Saddam deserves to be dead, but in name only.
I guess this makes sense: his Eminence is considered papabile, but that's only talk too.
| PETA put up this outrage in Rhode Island, the most Catholic state in the Union (population 65% Catholic), and it's gone already -- after the billboard company said they didn't want to be held liable for protestors going to the site and possibly getting injured while there. |  |
Yet PETA's campaign coordinator William Rivas-Rivas says he'll use the image again and claims, "We're still at a loss as to why it was offensive." He said, according to a CNS story, that the image of Mary was respectful and "beautifully drawn".
What a confession of idiocy. If you haven't figured it out yet, Mr. Rivas-Rivas, how about this explanation: replacing the image of Jesus Christ, our God, with the image of a dead chicken is indeed offensive. I suppose the minds of PETA extremists and those of chickens are comparable, but we Catholics really do believe that God and men and chickens are not all interchangeable.
Public reaction, the spokesman claimed, was great: their web site got -- wow -- 1000 hits. Since PETA's web page contains 118 images, and each image retrieval counts as a hit to the web server, that means maybe 9 people connected in. Yeah, guy, go ahead and keep spending your ad money this way.
Bishop Robert Mulvee made his objection pretty clear: "This use of one of the most sacred images of the Christian faith trivializes not only the Mother of Jesus but also the very cause PETA strives to advance."
