A newspaper round-up

Sitting in the bus station the other day I picked up a Spanish paper, and as usual depressed myself. It seems young people in Spain, ie those under 30, have one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe, 30.4% compared with say 16.2% in the UK. How sad that young people, at the very age when they should be starting and building on their careers, can't even get a job at all. Then of course, I found something about that knowledgeable wise old guy who lives in a posh house in the Vatican City. Yes, dear Pope Ben (aka Joseph) was attracting media attention again. As this was a Sunday paper, it was more of an analytical piece and was focusing on his general ability to make the most crass decisions possible. The paper regarded Ben's asinine comments about condoms as yet another of his out-of-touch policies following two other hugely controversial actions this year. The first was his decision to rehabilitate British bishop Richard Williamson, a breakaway bishop who had been ex-communicated by John Paul II. That in itself is of little interest to those of us who are not gripped by every move of the Catholic Church, but the fact that Williamson denies the Holocaust and the murder of Jews in gas chambers puts a somewhat different light on it. However, it seems, in spite of the offensive nature of Bishop Williamson's obnoxious views, that the unity of the Catholic Church is more important. By legitimising Williamson (and three other ex-communicated bishops), the Pope has not only undermined the actions of his predecessor, but shown his total and utter lack of respect for another religion and the families of all those who were killed in that allegedly mythical holocaust. The second controversy the paper highlighted was ironically, the ex-communication of a Brasilian woman and the medical team who performed an emergency abortion on her nine-year-old daughter who was four months pregnant with twins. The girl became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her stepfather, which police believe had been happening for some years. They also accuse the stepfather of similar crimes against the 14-year-old handicapped older sister. But wait, the most important thing here is the lives of the two unborn foetuses. Never mind that the nine-year-old girl - who has been raped - needed an emergency life-saving operation. Nope we should be putting those unborn innocent little twins first. So the naughty doctors and the naughty mother who consented to the operation have been kicked out of the church. One wonders why the nine-year-old wasn't kicked out too, but I suspect she was too young and probably hadn't been confirmed, or no doubt she would have been ejected unceremoniously from the all-important and oh-so-righteous Catholic Church. Apparently even Lula da Silva praised the medics and criticised the Pope. Quite right, Lula. Oh, what about that unpleasant piece of work - the stepfather? Well, it seems that although he may well have committed a rather nasty crime, it isn't bad enough to get him chucked out of the church. Abortion, as we all know, is a far worse crime than raping your nine-year-old stepdaughter. If there is any justice, when Joseph Ratzinger arrives at the pearly gates, I do hope God sends him down to burn in hell for eternity. Moving on, and back to condoms, in Spain now. Arantxa Quiroga, the new president of the Basque Parliament, featured in an in-depth interview in the paper. Senora Quiroga has four sons, and is a member of the Opus Dei. So it's hardly surprising that she was totally in agreement with the Pope's comments about condoms during his Africa trip, and she's proudly gone on record as saying she would never use one. Very helpful Arantxa. Are you aware that some of your compatriots in Spain can not afford the luxury of having four children? Anyway, the article finished off on a particularly stupid note. Regardless of Senora Quiroga's religious views, it would seem she is a successful politician. So what was the final comment of the article? Apparently she is now wearing heels (tacones). And her friends have noticed that she seems more confident. Naturally that is all a woman needs. It doesn't matter that you may be intelligent, successful, motivated, hard-working, ambitious - just pop on a pair of high heels and the world will be your oyster. I despair.