Heaven's Hostile Takeover

Item (Times of London):

THE Pope is set to abolish the concept of Limbo, overturning a belief held by Roman Catholics since the Middle Ages.

Limbo has long been held to be the place where the souls of children go if they die before they can be baptised. However, a 30-strong international commission of theologians summoned by the late John Paul II last year to come up with a “more coherent and illuminating” doctrine in tune with the modern age is to present its findings to Pope Benedict XVI on Friday.

Vatican sources said yesterday that the commission would recommend that Limbo be replaced by the more “compassionate” doctrine that all children who die do so “in the hope of eternal salvation”.

Item (dmmaus's Live Journal):

What this change in theology will do for the millions of Dungeons & Dragons players across the world is not yet clear. Randy Thomson, a Dungeon Master of 23 years from Buffalo, New York, is livid. "The Pope has no authority to mess with the cosmology of our beloved multiverse!" Thomson ranted, between gulps of cola. "This will be like Second Edition all over again, when they tried to take away our demons and devils. If it's a schism the Pope wants, it's a schism he'll get!"

Item (Caribbean Realities Study Center):

The ‘limbo’ dance, with its tight movement notwithstanding the lowering pole, did not come from Africa, nor did it emerge in the Caribbean. The limbo was born on slave ships, where space was small and chains were short. Under the cruellest and most dehumanising of lived experiences, the joy of limbo was created by people on their way to centuries of slavery.

Talk about unintended consequences for Caribbean gamer geeks!

(via Jonah Goldberg)