No punting or porno on pontiff website
No punting or porno on pontiff website
Apr 21, 2005: The holder of the recently acquired domain www.BenedictXVI.com, who registered the name chosen by the newly appointed Pope was chosen – together with five of the other potential papal names he thought might be chosen – has promised not to sell the domain to pornographers or online gambling operators, who would likely be the highest bidders for such a domain.
Rogers Cadenhead, who hails from Florida, has linked the domain to his own personal website, on which he has posted a message prior to the selection of the new Pontiff, briefly outlining the how the selection is determined.
He also reveals how he arrived at the shortlist of six potential names foe the new leader of the Catholic Church, stating that he initially feared that registering the six domain names was "tacky, to say nothing of soul-imperiling" until he read about the issuing by the Vatican of 700,000 special stamps issued to mark the period between Pope John Paul II's death and the election of his successor, which, according to the Vatican post office, promptly sold out.
Once the new Pope was unveiled as Benedict XVI, and news reports emerged which questioned the motives behind Candenhead registering the site, he added an update, stating that: "A few news reports suggest that I might have popesquatted BenedictXVI.com to sell it to pornographers. For the love of God, people, that's not going to happen. I will be running any plans I have for this domain by my own Catholic doctrine enforcer, my never-miss-a-Sunday grandmother Rita."
Other similar websites are, however, up for sale, including Pope-Benedictxvi.com and Benedict16.com, so the potential remains for those to fall into the wrong hands, an unpleasant, but sadly, not an inconceivable prospect.
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