Take it easy, Lance.

The soul's home is not Rome. It is Christ. Men and women of goodwill contemplate now as they have done for two thousand years on the life of the Church and it's relationship to life and message of the only Lord and Master. The mantra is love. the mantra is truth. The mantra is the cross. The mantra is the resurrection. The mantra is NOT Rome, the Roman Pontiff, the College of Cardinals...it's not even Pius XII or John XXIII. There is one standard for all men and women be they janitor or pontiff and that standard is our individual and collective configuration to Christ.

Don't ever mistake the waiter for the meal!

Paul Martin, Moraga, CA

It is time to view the pope as inconsequential as he really is to millions of "normal people"...he and his church dogmas and doctrines and practices have simply been left behind by thinking, refllective human beings.

Greg Comella, oakland, california

Give me a break Jerry! Do you live in a house, eat three meals a day, have a few extraneous snacks, and beers, have disposable income, go on vacation, have wardrobe from which you select what to wear daily? If so, how can you justify your lifestyle while others starve, die of preventable diseases, lack of health care, AIDS, and thirst for clean, drinkable water? Hypocrisy means stage acting, your post smacks far more of such posturing than does this look at Pope Benedict's daily life. You are implicated by your own shallow moralism.

The Holy See gives tens to hundreds of millions of dollars each year to alleviate hunger, fight AIDS, and other diseases, to educate the young, this is seperate from the other support the Catholic Church gives at all levels. Suffice it say, what is spent to maintain the Pope's lifestyle pales in comparison to what he raises and and freely gives worldwide. Spare us the village moralist act.

Scott, Salt Lake City, USA

Two Thousand years and some folks still see 'hypocrisy' when people of faith have anything other than simple robes, bread, and water. The vow of poverty is not a standard attribute for all religious or even clerics. Judas had the same question about the fine oil that the woman wiped the feet of Jesus with. After all, it could have been sold to feed the poor. Hypocrisy has long been the mantra of those who feel they are entitled to judge the actions of the the religious that they claim are irrelevant in today's world. Apparently religion is not that irrelevant if they consistently feel compelled to attempt to point out the 'sins' of the faithful. Perhaps they need to do a self examination of their own sins first, reconcile with God, and come home to Rome. God Bless our detractors. Benedicamus Domino!

Lance Patrick Mashburn, Columbus, GA

Is it just me who finds it somewhat hypocritical that on one hand there is a religion which emphasises personal sacrafice and the aid of the poor (amongst other aims), and then the leader watches flat screen TV's and and has a "modest amount of wine" in a meal prepared by an army of nuns in a "high tech kitchen"? Of course he doesn't spend all his time living in such luxury in his grand residence in the centre of of one of the worlds richest countries - he goes off to his summer residence when things get too much!

Jerry D, Poole, England,

I firmly believe that this Pope came at the right time. We needed a Holy Father with his Intellect and modest appearance. Ad Multos Annos for his 80th birthday!

Roberto Buontempo, Gharghur, Malta

Is there any way I can purchase some of these pictures?

Sarah Cox, Pittsburgh, PA/USA

It's a shame that millions of Catholics around the world, condemned to a life of poverty by Papal dogmatism, can't afford to relax in front of a flat-screen TV.

Danielle Kokkinos, Marbella,

It is a novel idea.Pope Benedict XVI has been showing that truly the spirit of God is his control.May he continue to find favour in sight of our lord Jesus Christ,amen.
Those who appreciates the fact that Jesus Christ is lord
will continue to pray him to be stronger as the days go by
so that he will continue to be a goo sheperd,amen.

Placid, Port Harcourt., Nigeria.