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Ear to the Ground

Was It the Pope—or the Cute Beatle?

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Posted on Oct 17, 2007
Bonfire McCartney
timesonline.typepad.com

Macca, is that you?

No offense to those Catholics who were heartened by the prospect of Pope John Paul II’s image appearing in a commemorative bonfire in Poland last April, but the UK’s Times Online has helpfully offered some other possibilities as to who else, besides the departed pontiff, may have materialized in that mystical blaze.


Times Online:

But now, after minutes of painstaking research, Comment Central’s Ludicrous Superstitious Nonsense Unit can reveal that the miracle was far greater than it seemed.

The Pope was not the only person who as the photographer said “had made many pilgramages during his life and was still making them in death”. Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley and Jimmy Connors have all also appeared in the bonfire.

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By Akira_Maritias, October 19, 2007 at 5:50 pm #

I’ll respect catholicism when it respects me, and so far it’s massive campaigns against rights I think everyone ought have push me to dislike it.

Not saying that there’s no nice people there; just crazies. Nice crazy people.

Although what’s crazier is that this became an article. Wow.

Of course, it’s the extremists that speak the loudest for a religion: Bush, Osama, Pope…they all speak pretty loudly when they do something racist, violent, or just outright evil.

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By Emily, October 19, 2007 at 1:17 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Akrita: not all Catholics believe that it’s John Paul II in the flames there. Not all Catholics are insane. Please, some respect.

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By Greg Bacon, October 18, 2007 at 3:02 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

If it was indeed the late Pope JP appearing in that flame, and if Hell is composed of fire and brimstone, then what does that say for JP’s afterlife place of residence?

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By Hemi*, October 18, 2007 at 11:59 am #

If a magician were to tell these same faithful rubes that he was to make a person appear in the flames they would see nothing in this shape but a hoax. To demand less of your “invisible friend” than you would a carnival huckster says very little for your “invisible friend”. The guy in the funny hat and robes is gone; move on there’s nothing to see here.

To be blunt, if an all powerful, perceptible, communicative, creative force existed, why would it communicate with vagaries to only a select few who are already in the fold? Every time one of these stories comes out it’s as if they’ve discovered a lost tribe or a living dinosaur. Just another display for a Ripley’s franchise.

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By Akira_Maritias, October 18, 2007 at 11:08 am #

Gotta love the loonies…wonder how many more years Catholicism has left in it before people realize that they’re insane.

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By Grousefeather, October 18, 2007 at 7:24 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Just goes to show how distorted perceptions can be.

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By Gene, October 18, 2007 at 7:09 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Another example of we “see” what we want to see. Kinda reminds me of the “Paul is dead” hoax of the late 60’s. All those sounds told the “real” story.

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By thomas billis, October 18, 2007 at 7:04 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I hope that these people get the care they need so desparately.Anyone can see it is Tony Perkins from psycho just about to stab Vivian Leigh.

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By Thomthum, October 17, 2007 at 9:43 pm #

to be honest, right from the start i thought it was john travolta in that saturday night fever pose

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