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Neo Anti-Catholicsm
Men's News Daily ^ | 4-28-05 | Michael P Tremoglie

Posted on 04/28/2005 7:55:00 PM PDT by Miami Vice

People who do not know the difference between a vanilla wafer and a Communion wafer expressed fear and loathing when it was announced that the Catholic Church’s conclave of cardinals elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger the new pope.

The shibboleths of international secularism abounded after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, who chose the regnal name Pope Benedict XVI, was proclaimed as the new Bishop of Rome. The tocsins by the media were emblematic of the disdain of those who are religious by bien pensants of the world.

The similarities of the news reporting by both the American and European media were astonishing. They were absolutely apoplectic that Ratzinger was the new Holy See because he strictly adheres to Church doctrine. They were aghast that Ratzinger was the new Pope.

London’s Daily Telegraph referred to Ratzinger as “God’s Rottweiler.” The BBC mentioned the fears caused by Ratzinger’s conservatism - whose fears they did not say. Indeed, one BBC commentator called him Pope John Paul II’s

“ enforcer.” Ratzinger’s hometown media, Germany’s Deutsche-Welle TV, broadcast a program called Journal, which did a special report titled, Quo Vadis Pope Benedict. This program expressed concerns by many that Ratzinger was a conservative who would continue the Catholic Church rules about marriage, abortion, etc. During the Deutsche-Welle program there was a comment that Ratzinger “was suspicious” of Marxism - as if being suspicious of Marxism were a criterion for mental instability. A French TV news report repeatedly stated that Ratzinger was a conservative and therefore perceived to be a threat by many around the world. Other European publications referred to Ratzinger as the “Panzer Pope.”

American news media interviewed many citizens who said they were disillusioned by Ratzinger’s conservatism and his adherence to church dogma. American journalists reported incessantly that many “ progressive” Catholics worldwide and particularly in America consider Pope Benedict a danger (much like they consider Republicans and President Bush) to the world because of his conservative Catholicism.

National Public Radio said Ratzinger could be considered a Catholic Church “neocon.” The LA Times said the election of Ratzinger validated the notion that the Catholic Church was a “colonial enterprise.” MSNBC repeated the “God’s Rottweiler” and “Panzer Cardinal” slurs.

The Village Voice said that Ratzinger was controversial because he opposed liberation theology, which they describe as “ progressive thinking.” This said much about the Village Voice. Liberation theology is merely communism clothed in Christianity.

Cartoonists also chimed in with their graphic venom. The new DC daily tabloid, the Washington Examiner, quickly revealed its liberal bias. It contained a cartoon with Pope Benedict singing, "Are you ready to party like it's 1299?" Italy's Corriere della Serra had a parody of Pope John Paul II’s first address during which he told the Italian people that if he made a mistake speaking Italian they will correct him. The cartoon shows Benedict saying, "And If I make a mistake, woe to you if you correct me!"

Slate.com issued a cartoon with God saying “eenie, meenie, miney, moe” to a group of cardinals. ( How ironic the liberal Slate is using a racist slur. An airline was sued for being racist because an airline attendant used the phrase “eenie, meenie…”)

The Nazi theme was common with cartoonists. An Argentine newspaper published a cartoon with goose-stepping cardinals parading by Pope Benedict who responded with a Nazilike salute. A Slate.com cartoon shows a broadcaster saying, “ The Pope is not a German Shephard he is a Rotweiller. He was in the Hitler Youth .. he did not play Cliff the mailman on Cheers.”

The invective used against Pope Benedict is typical of the diatribes used by communist propagandists. It is formulaic. They routinely refer to people whose ideas they do not like as Nazis. They said this about President Bush and they are saying it about Pope Benedict.

One can only conclude that the character assassination of Pope Benedict by the media both here and around the world will be an integral part of the campaign to discredit him. One can predict then that the news media will report, ad nauseum, about Ratzinger’s relationship to the Nazi Party during World War II and the alleged passivity by the Catholic Church towards Nazism – or as claimed by some – the collaboration between the Church and the Nazis. A claim that has been proffered by some academicians who state that Pope Pius XII either did not object to or endorsed Hitler and Nazism.

Such “ history “ will be part and parcel of the campaign by liberals, communists, feminists, and others who hate the Catholic Church to discredit, once and for all, the papacy and Catholicism. The liberal mainstream media – even those who are Catholic – will be gleeful participants. They will repeat verbatim and without contradiction the vitriol about the relationship between Catholicism and Nazism as if it were established fact.

Fortunately, there are at least two sources to refute these claims. One is a book, written in 2000, by University of Mississippi Law Profesor Ronald Rychland, titled Hitler, the War, and the Pope. It can debunk many of these myths.

Rychland disproves the claims of politically correct historians like Garry Wills, who pronounced Pope Pius XII silent about Nazi atrocities - or possibly implying that he was sympathetic to the Nazis. Rychland provides irrefutable proof that Pius XII worked against Hitler. He provided information about German troop movements to the Allies. He asked Italian churches and convents to hide Jews. Thousands of Jews lived in the Vatican and at the pope’s summer home Castel Gandolfo.

These myths are also debunked by watching the contemporaneous World War II film made by Frank Capra about Nazism titled Prelude to War. This was one of a series of films made by Capra to inform the American public about the causes of WWII.

Capra’s movie shows that the Nazis thought religion and the Catholic Church as contemptible institutions – an attitude very similar to the liberal media. Capra tells how worship of Hitler and of Christ was considered incompatible.

The attempt to link Pope Benedict to the Nazi Party will be politics pure and simple. As Catholics hear these tirades they should consider the source. Those who are dispensing the venom are either ignorant of Catholicism, anti-Catholic, or believe that Catholic Church hierarchy is benighted.

The criticisms of Pope Benedict by liberals reveal their own bigotry and prejudice. Their invective is merely an attempt to censor politically incorrect beliefs. The only thing about Pope Benedict that some could consider dangerous are his ideas.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: catholic; liberals; media; pope

1 posted on 04/28/2005 7:55:04 PM PDT by Miami Vice
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To: Miami Vice
London’s Daily Telegraph referred to Ratzinger as “God’s Rottweiler.”

Big whoop. Folks on FR did the same and it wasn't taken as an insult.

...Mens Wear Daily huh?

2 posted on 04/28/2005 8:01:22 PM PDT by mac_truck (Aide toi et dieu l’aidera)
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To: Miami Vice
"Progressive thinking" is paving the road to hell.

Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI was my choice and I couldn't be more thrilled.

3 posted on 04/28/2005 8:02:02 PM PDT by sageb1
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: MonroeDNA

Hope you found what you were looking for.


5 posted on 04/28/2005 8:09:32 PM PDT by cubreporter ( hav)
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To: sageb1
“ progressive thinking” has been the term for "Marxist thinking" since the 1930's.

This pope does not believe in collectivism. He puts his faith where a pope should. In individualism, an essential part of Catholicism.

6 posted on 04/28/2005 8:12:16 PM PDT by lizma
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To: sageb1

Call me a doomsayer, but...

I expect when Pope Benedict dies, the next pope will (which follows Malachi's predictions btw) be the last of the Catholic Church...as we know it as such.

I feel there will be a schism finally between the communist/liberation theologists and those who believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church as they are now.

This isn't the 'end of the world/Revelations' sort of thing. It more follows along the lines of the song 'It's the end of the world, as we know it'.

Similar schisms will then follow with the Lutherans, Methodists, and other religions and completely reorganize what all the world's Christian religions consist of today.

Radical moslems will watch gleefully from the sidelines, until a new church emerges from the ashes of the old sects.


7 posted on 04/28/2005 8:13:15 PM PDT by Lightfinger
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To: MonroeDNA
I would rather hang out with black-lipstick women stirring a pot.

I'd rather you would too.

8 posted on 04/28/2005 8:14:31 PM PDT by lizma
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To: Miami Vice
Let us not forget about the neocon anti-Catholicism that broke out before the Iraq war and will likely break out again. My particular favorite comes from Joseph D'Hippolito on David Horowitz's site that "perhaps the Bush Administration should consider placing the Vatican on the list of rogue states that support terrorism." Quaint.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13455

9 posted on 04/28/2005 8:18:54 PM PDT by ValenB4 (Viva il Papa, Benedict XVI)
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To: MonroeDNA

It's not cannibalism, as in eating a cadavre, since Christ is risen from the dead and death has no power over Him, but rather it has to do with becoming a living part of the Body of Christ, with Him living in us and us in Him, as he puts it in the Gospel. Of course, as we also see in the Gospel, this is a hard teaching and many disciples left because of it -- as it appears you might have too. Please reconsider and come back to the bark of Peter.


10 posted on 04/28/2005 8:32:58 PM PDT by Unam Sanctam
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To: lizma

Got him a good one, Lizma. :o)


11 posted on 04/28/2005 8:35:07 PM PDT by sirthomasthemore (I go to my execution as the King's humble servant, but God's first!)
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To: MonroeDNA

You're still an idiot. Try reading John 6, probably for the first time, putz.


12 posted on 04/28/2005 8:46:45 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: sirthomasthemore
Thanks! I truly believe "That do unto others, as you would have them do unto you", as a philosophy and firm belief is the answer to many of societies woes.

Christ was right. It's just a fact. I don't look at the way we honor him as ritualism but as tradition. I think society has traditions because they work, they're the right thing to do.

13 posted on 04/28/2005 8:57:26 PM PDT by lizma
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To: mac_truck

The Londond Daily Telegraph clearly meant it as such.
It is Men's News Daily. Obviously uou have difficulty with reading comprehension so your opinion as to whether or not it Freepers calling Pope Benedict God's Rottweiler was an insult is meaningless


14 posted on 04/29/2005 3:26:57 AM PDT by Miami Vice
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To: Miami Vice
The Londond Daily Telegraph clearly meant it as such.

I guess you're not a dog lover huh? Its hard to see how being so associated with any of God's possesions could be construed as an insult, but I'll defer to your superior judgement.


15 posted on 04/29/2005 7:33:37 AM PDT by mac_truck (Aide toi et dieu l’aidera)
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To: Miami Vice

Interesting.


16 posted on 04/29/2005 7:36:18 AM PDT by FourtySeven (47)
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To: Miami Vice

responding to title only...I expect islam to attack the church directly.


17 posted on 04/29/2005 7:38:16 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (In Honor of Terri Schiavo. *check my FReeppage for the link* Let it load and have the sound on.)
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To: Unam Sanctam
"...this is a hard teaching and many disciples left because of it ..."

Talking about many leaving because of hating to hear certain things: John 6:44, 65-66

18 posted on 04/29/2005 7:50:56 AM PDT by Matchett-PI (The DemocRAT Party is a criminal enterprise.)
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To: mac_truck

Smart move by you.


19 posted on 04/29/2005 12:30:59 PM PDT by Miami Vice
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To: Miami Vice

.../sarcasm


20 posted on 04/29/2005 12:34:52 PM PDT by mac_truck (Aide toi et dieu l’aidera)
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