I do believe this. I was in a convent for seven years. The brainwashing was intense. It seems that the imprinting of beliefs over time becomes so entrenched that it can be difficult to reverse. Couple that with ritual and power and you have an unshakable ideology.

Nope. He's no different to the televangelists who rake the cash in.

The Vatican/Catholic church is a property empire & we/they all know it.

I think this particular pope is more forward thinking than past popes. Other than that I honestly have to say it is only a conjecture on my part if I try to read someone else's thoughts.

Good question. My honest answer is, "NO".
To get to where he is he would have had to study lots, he would know as we do that God was invented by man.

Do I care what the pope think?

I don't know about the Pope, but Bill Maher has commented that while at the Vatican filming Religulous, he spoke to high level officials that pretty much let him know they think its all bullshit.

I hope not ???

If any pope actually believed in the Christian principles they are supposed to avow the Vatican would be bankrupt in a week.
The last time there was a pope who was anywhere near sincere, he was found dead in bed reading, a few days after his accession.

I think by the time you get to be pope your sunk costs are already so great you might just as well go along with it to the end.

..... For all of you tracking consistency, here it is my response one more time... I don't care

No. I suspect he’s treated as much as a god to have become certain there is none … but feels it’s his responsibility to maintain the illusion for those incapable of handling the truth..

I think most religious people just try to "act as if", otu of fear and "Pascal's wager."

i don't give a fuck lol

I think he just likes the fancy dresses, satin shoes, and the Popemobile.

I suspect he doesn't. He shows evidence of understanding the higher meanings of those metaphors.

Some do. Some don't.

The Pope's from the 15th through 17th century were all rich land owners who were only in it for the money from the collection plate, the cushy digs and all the free pussy they could bang.

Post 1800, I think most of the Pope's have at least half way believed their own bullshit.

NO

Chances are, they're acting religious to feed their wallets.

For previous popes I would venture that this the 'party line' they would push, but the current pope appears to be willing to 'shift the goal posts', at least as far as he will be permitted to do so. Without evidence to support my view, I would suggest that he might even go further, but knows if he did he would probably meet an untimely end, as have earlier popes who got a bit too far out of line.

I don't care what that creep thinks.
He belongs in prison.

Does the pope shit in the woods?

No, he's a life long power seeker, and he gets his fix using the church's power.

No, just one God. And, more and more, Catholicism - given that science has demonstrated there's too little room between the outer layer of the earth's crust and its liquid magma core to accommodate very much Hell, and with the Hubble telescope increasingly unlikely to beam back a snapshot of Heaven - falls back on the concept of a less literal afterlife.

But it's not too long since the Vatican renewed the concept of the Pope's divine infallibilty.