'The Pope Is A Pill. . . '

By Les Slater

The Pope is a Pill, it was almost unanimously decided by a near capacity audience in the Memorial Theatre last Thursday.

For the affirmative spoke Mr Peter Blizard, Mr Rod Alley and Dr Erich Geiringer.

Tony Haas, Michael Hirschfeld and Barbara Foot, spoke against the motion.

The most impressive oratory was that of Dr Geiringer (right), and the applause from the audience during and at the end of his speech made clear what the decision of the audience was going to be.

"The Pope is a pill, not in a literal sense, but actually," Dr Geiringer said.

'The Catholic Dogma contends that wine is the blood of Christ and that a wafer is the flesh of Christ. If Christ is a wafer, then it follows that the Pope can be a pill."

"What sort of pill he is, is a matter of contention. There are some who would suggest that he is a laxative. On the Other hand there are many who would suggest that he is an emetic."

The Pope has not been able to produce a pill that will stop people from having sexual intercourse, but he provides the next best thing, an inhibiton towards contraception in those who take the Papal pill.

Producing statistics on the rate of abortions in Catholic countries, Dr Geiringer said that they equalled the live births.

According to Catholic doctrine souls of the aborted were consigned to Limbo, and those responsible for their abortions, went to Hell or at least to Purgatory.

Since the Pope was an anticontraceptive pill, he was contributing to the situations where those involved deemed abortion was warranted.

Therefore the Pope was not only a pill, but a pill which populated Hell.