The choice of a new pope....

[Trader]

Now This, I did not know............................................

 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was not the Cardinals' first choice to be the new

pope, and to become Pope Francis.

 

Their first choice was, interestingly, Cardinal Hans Grapje.

 

Grapje was raised in a Catholic school in The Hague and, as a young man,

aspired to become a priest, but was drafted into the Army during WWII and

spent two years co-piloting bombers until his aircraft was shot down in 1943

and he lost his left arm.

 

Captain Grapje spent the rest of the war as a

chaplain, giving spiritual aid to soldiers, both Allied and enemy.

After the war, he became a priest, serving as a missionary in Africa ,

piloting his own plane (in spite of his handicap) to villages across the

continent.

 

In 1997, Father Grapje was serving in Zimbabwe when an explosion

in a silver mine caused a cave-in.

Archbishop Grapje went down into the mine to administer last rights to those

too severely injured to move.

Another shaft collapsed, and he was buried for three days, suffering

multiple injuries, including the loss of his right eye.

 

The high silver content in the mine's air gave him purpura, a life-long

condition characterized by purplish skin blotches.

 

Although Cardinal Grapje devoted his life to the service of God as a

scholar, mentor, and holy man, church leaders felt that he should never

ascend to the Papacy.

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They felt that the Church would never accept a one-eyed, one-armed, flying

purple Papal leader!

[Black Owl]

Sacrilegious I say, sacrilegious. And you know the second rule around here is no religious discussions. No matter how funny they may be. :rotfl:

[Trader]

maybe we should vote on that!?