He's trying to exorcise them:
"Pope blesses thousands of Harley riders" Associated Press, June 17, 2013
VATICAN CITY — Biker culture came to the Vatican on Sunday as Pope Francis blessed thousands of Harley-Davidsons and their riders celebrating the manufacturer’s 110th anniversary with a loud parade and plenty of leather.
Thundering Harley engines nearly drowned out the Latin recitation of the ‘‘Our Father’’ prayer that accompanied Francis as he greeted the crowd before Mass. Standing in his open-top jeep, Francis drove up the main boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square, blessing the thousands of people in what was a giant Harley parking lot.
Once the service got underway, bikers in their trademark leather Harley vests sat in the square alongside nuns and tens of thousands of faithful Catholics taking part in an unrelated, two-day antiabortion rally....
Tens of thousands of Harley owners from around the world descended on Rome for the four-day anniversary of the American manufacturer.
The main events were Sunday’s Vatican blessing and a parade Saturday past the Colosseum and other historic landmarks — adding color, traffic, and noise to a colorful day in downtown Rome, because of a gay pride march.
Related: Pope Gives in to Gays
Can't drown them out.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that six bikes were involved in a pileup Saturday on the main ring road around the capital, while a Swiss biking couple were killed in a highway crash on Wednesday.
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Nice guys, but louder than hell.
Also see: Call For Hall Trial to be Moved
Hell's Angels Banned in New Hampshire
It is the power of Christ that compels you! It is the power of Christ that compels you!
"Pope’s laying of hands fuels debate on exorcism; Vatican cautious in statement on actions at Mass" by Nicole Winfield | Associated Press, May 22, 2013
VATICAN CITY — Is Pope Francis an exorcist?
The question has bubbled up ever since Francis laid his hands on the head of a young man in a wheelchair after celebrating Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, shook, then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him.
The television station of the Italian bishops’ conference reported Monday that it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed there was ‘‘no doubt’’ that Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil.
The Vatican was more cautious. In a statement Tuesday, it said Francis ‘‘didn’t intend to perform any exorcism. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone who was suffering who was presented to him.’’
Fueling the speculation is Francis’s obsession with Satan, a frequent subject of his homilies, and an apparent surge in demand for exorcisms among the faithful despite the irreverent treatment the rite often receives from Hollywood.
In his very first homily as pope on March 14, Francis warned cardinals that ‘‘he who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil.’’
He has since mentioned the devil on a handful of occasions, most recently in a May 4 homily when in his morning Mass in the Vatican hotel chapel he spoke of the need for dialogue — except with Satan....
Specialists said Francis’s frequent invocation of the devil is a reflection both of his Jesuit spirituality and his Latin American roots, as well as a reflection of a Catholic Church weakened by secularization.
Can a Pope say "Aw, hell?" Isn't that a swear word?
‘‘The devil’s influence and presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity inversely proportionate to the presence of Christian faith,’’ said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a moral theologian at Rome’s Pontifical Holy Cross University. ‘‘So, one would expect an upswing in his malicious activity in the wake of de-Christianization and secularization’’ in the world and a surge in things like drug use, pornography, and superstition.
I'm sorry, but what do you think faith is based on? Maybe some elements and people from history were true, but.... ???
As for the pornography charge, I can't think of anything sicker than the pooper-pounding of an altar boy.
As for the drugs, well, strike three.
I suppose the devil made them do it.
While belief in the devil is consistent with church teaching, the Holy See does urge prudence, particularly to ensure that the afflicted person isn’t merely psychologically ill.
The Rev. Giulio Maspero, a Rome-based systematic theologian who has witnessed or participated in more than a dozen exorcisms, says he is fairly certain that Francis’s prayer on Sunday was either a full-fledged exorcism or a more simple prayer to ‘‘liberate’’ the young man from demonic possession.
‘‘When you witness something like that — for me it was shocking — I could feel the power of prayer,’’ he said in a phone interview, speaking of his own previous experiences....
I'm praying for a job.
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