There is a new Pope

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Apparently he once denounced rock music as "the vehicle of anti-religion" Looks like the nonce Pope is going to be an interesting one

If he continues to further discredit conservatives in the church by being an extremist and absurdly silly I will be quite pleased.

The thing is though people change when they get the top job. John XXXIII was a Vatican bureaucrat and put in as Pope as a "safe pair of hands" and "transitional figure" to continue to conservative policies of Pius XII. But John XXXIII turned out to be the greatest reformer of the 20th century.

If I was a conservative I wouldn't be crowing just yet.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Thought this would be the best place to put this:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/20/us.catholics.poll/index.html

Nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are more likely to follow their own conscience on "difficult moral questions," rather than the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll.

In addition, more than half of those polled, 56 percent, said they were bothered by the pope's opposition to birth control.

[Spiffor]

Good, this means the authority of the pope will become irrelevant, and the Church will finally begin its decentralization

[Brundlefly]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Thought this would be the best place to put this:

Nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are more likely to follow their own conscience on "difficult moral questions," rather than the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll.

Well, they should become Protestant then.

[Dinner]

Likely that is what will happen.

Either that or they'll just stop going to church.

[Brundlefly]

One of the French popes who reigned in Avignon was named Benedictus...

[JohnT]

Originally posted by bfg9000


Well, they should become Protestant then.

Well, the country was founded by them...

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by bfg9000
Well, they should become Protestant then.

It's that whole democracy and questioning leaders thing. Americans don't take orders very well.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by bfg9000


Well, they should become Protestant then.

And let an outdated book decide their morals?

[alva]

Originally posted by Winston
I just hope he will survive long enough for people to actually form an impression of him. Not like John Paul I who died after a month.
* snip *

One needs a strong heart to survive receiving one's first pay-check as head of the catholic church.

[Lefty Scaevola]

"There is a new Pope"

Damn, we only just got rid of the old one.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison


You only think that because you are incapable of thinking beyond the constraints of your dogma...

Yeah, right, You've seen me through

Originally posted by Oerdin
Herreson , read Laz's historical filth articles he spent a fair amount of time and effort writting them and they are indeed historically accurate. I believe he's compiling them for a book.

It is in no way and exaggeration to say that the Catholic Church has had an on going problem with pedophilia going back centuries. They haven't even begun to deal with it and having a person who continues to deny there is a problem and who then claims it's a giant conspiracy between Jews, Communists, Liberals, atheists, and god knows who else is not going to help solve the problem.

Bah, a couple of popes, who were since late antiquity the most spoiled part of the church actually when it comes to customs. As early as Ammianus Marcellinus makes a sharp distinction between popes and other bishops.
You're exagerrating, and even that is much milder than what was written earlier.
I'm not denying problem, I'm putting it in right rank.
Also, some accusations of Laz are backed even by catholics - some are doubtable, though.

[lord of the mark]

'As a young man, the new pope served in the Hitler Youth — compulsory for young Germans at the time — and during World War II was drafted into a German anti-aircraft unit, although he says he never fired a shot. Though Benedict has been a leading voice in the church in battling anti-Semitism and fostering Jewish-Catholic relations, his past raised suspicions in the Jewish state.

"White smoke, black past," said the headline in the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot. "From the Nazi youth movement to the Vatican."

Nonetheless, Jewish leaders said they were encouraged by the special interest by the new pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in coexistence.

"Though as a teenager he was a member of the Hitler Youth, all his life Cardinal Ratzinger has atoned for the fact," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, an American Jewish group that battles anti-Semitism. Foxman himself was saved during the Holocaust by his Polish nanny, who had him baptized and raised him as a Catholic, until his Jewish parents reclaimed him at the end of the war.

Moshe Zimmerman, a professor of German history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, played down the importance of the new pope's membership in the Hitler Youth.

"He was 18 years old when the war ended, so everything that he had to do with the Nazi regime was as a very young man," he said. "I don't believe that there is any room for doubt that (the pope) of today is very different than the days he belonged in the Hitler Youth."


In his book, "God and the World," published in 2000, Ratzinger tried to combine his belief in Christianity's ecumenical message with his views on the special role of Judaism.


"That the Jews are connected with God in a special way and that God does not want that bond to fail is entirely obvious," he wrote. "We wait for the instant in which Israel will say `yes' to Christ, but we know that it has a special mission in history now ... which is significant for the world."


Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Israeli Meir Lau — a Holocaust survivor and a former chief rabbi for Israeli Jews of European backgrounds — said his many meetings with Benedict while he was a cardinal have convinced him of his good record on matters of concern to Israelis.


"(The last meeting) was last year, in New York, in the Museum of Jewish Heritage of all places," Lau told Israel Army Radio. "There was a meeting of two or three rabbis with some 20 cardinals .... His entire speech was given over to a condemnation of anti-Semitism, in the strongest and most unambiguous terms."


Writer Zvi Gil, also a Holocaust survivor, said he expects Benedict to continue John Paul's favorable attitude toward Jews, precisely because of his German past.


"His attitude to Jews in Israel will to a very significant extent be influenced by that of his predecessor John Paul II, whose steps are well known to us," Gil told Army Radio. "And as a German I don't think he will want to move backward from these steps toward Israeli Jews."


Commentators say the new pope's theology mirrors that of many Jewish religious leaders, and should not be seen as a sign of prejudice.

"He's much more traditional, and his positions are a lot tougher than Jewish law," said Lau. "And Jewish law is my law." '

[Micha]

Originally posted by Oerdin
It also seems that as Grand Inquisitor Ratzinger was the one who came up with the idea of denying John Kerry the sacrements because Kerry said he was personally against abortion but would not move to outlaw it. Ratzinger later expanded this idea by publicly stating politicians who don't follow church doctrine (on things like birth control & abortion) could be excommunicated.

http://www.priestsforlife.org/magist...erommunion.htm

Where´s the problem with that?

If those politicians were truely faithful, they´d not defend such things in their policy. If they weren´t faithful, they´d have no problem with being excommunicated.

I mean, I have been baptized, but I couldn´t care less whether I´d be excommunicated or not

It´s like the Wombat Priest saying you´re not longer member of the holy Eucalyptus Cult; Devastating for a Wombat-believer, but others might care little...

[Ned]

Originally posted by molly bloom



Ned would agree with you.

He blames WWII on the British, for instance, and thinks that Hitler had a right to vast areas of Europe that weren't German because of the previous existence of the Holy Roman Empire.


I swear, I couldn't make this up if I tried....

Molly, you misquote me.

However it is charming to see a leftist being such a patriot. I thought you Brits hated your heritage?