Posted on 07/05/2013 5:37:06 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
Pope Francis has paid tribute to his predecessor Benedict XVI in his first letter to clergy, acknowledging that most of it was written by Benedict.
The encyclical to Roman Catholic bishops, called Light of Faith ("Lumen Fidei" in Latin), speaks of faith as a beacon of hope for those who suffer...
... the document says that modern society tends only to accept the truths of technology and science.
In a passage relating to faith and family life, the Pope restates the Church's opposition to gay marriage.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.bbc.co.uk ...
The key point is whether you believe that those departed are still "alive". The CC believes and teaches that ALL souls will live forever, and that those not currently "embodied" on Earth are as much (actually much more) alive than those of us here, either in purgatory, Heaven, or Hell (and yes, purgatory makes perfect sense as understood by the CC). Those in Heaven are already (and all...not just those recognized as) saints, those in purgatory are "saints-in-waiting", and those in Hell have chosen their destination by their own free will.
"Even if I could speak to saints in the hereafter I’d be doing so as brothers and sisters and praising the Lord in the process.
Which is precisely what CC's do. Let's just say that what you are "standing against" is a faulty image rather than what the RCC is.
"Not just begging favors then goodbye."
According to Catholic doctrine, there is no such thing as "goodbye".......just "not currently here in the flesh".
Note...I joined the RCC about six years ago after forty years as an "unchurched" Episcopalian, after MUCH study.
If I didn’t cancel my Facebook account....I’d love to shove this in all the moral relativist’s faces today!
What do you want the Church to do?
The Church states clearly that when someone says theyre Catholic and when they are Catholic by virtue of having received the sacraments which always include proper instruction that if that Catholic dies without having repented of grave sin they are going to hell. That they are not put there by God but that they choose it. And its forever
Either we are thinking people and can discern that we will never ever get our catholic teaching from anyone on cnn or we are stupid and need spoonfeeding from the Chrurch, most of which we spit out anyway
The pope reiterated today that the church’s position on homosexual behavior regardless of its origin and revalence is wrong It says this with the intent of bringing troubled homosexual people into union with the
Church
Anyone calling hoimself a priest who is not in keeping with the teachings of the Church is a liar and there is a lot of trouble ahead
Anyone who is a priest is educated highly enough to know how to do research necessary to realize there is an incidence of about 3 percent and that this has been so for ever. If it is growing then weustnlook at the pish aming young eople in public school and in pop culture and parents need to watch out
The Church is not in the business of worldly punishment, itdoes not support this cnn priest. Hes in for a world of trouble. And people need to think
What you don’t know about the Church is a lot
Regardless of one’s denomination in Christianity its documented in the pages of the Bible the warnings and repudiations of homosexuality.
Its quite possible that so-called same sex marriage has only been pushed upon a culture here in the 21st Century. Think of how far-fetched and ludicrous an idea on all previous generations.
A society built on perversions is doomed to fall.
10% of the population homosexual???!!!
Hahaha. They wish.
It’s more like 3%
For one example, the 1st chapter of Romans clearly identifies rampant homosexual activity by the antediluvians as the primary reason why God destroyed all mankind except righteous Noah's family with a worldwide flood. The Old Testament account of fire and brimstone falling on Sodom and Gomorrah also shows that God hates homosexual acts, not homosexuals themselves, and will eventually punish or even destroy the people of cities and even entire nations that allow and even promote those forbidden practices. God doesn't hate homosexuals, Jesus died to atone for all of man's sins. But He hates and forbids homosexual acts and will punish nations that legalize those acts. The US won't be an exception.
America's recent history indicates, to me at least, that God's judgment is already beginning to fall on the US because we as a nation have turned our collective back on God and His Holy Word. Review the major news events that have adversely affected the US within just the last decade or two if you doubt it. I believe that His punishment on our once-Christian** nation and it's people will become much more severe as time goes on unless we as a nation begin identifying and enforcing God's moral laws again, as most of our local and state governments did up until I was a young adult (mid-1950s).
**Not Christian in the sense of an officially Christian nation as Iran is as an officially Islamic nation, but in the sense of being predominantly Christian-oriented in law and practice.
That's basically what preachers are supposed to do.
Don't take this is as a personal criticism... it just hit me as funny (in an ironic sort of way). Protestants complain that Catholics "make stuff up". Now we're getting criticized for not making stuff up. Just funny.
Can't argue with that and I don't, but how many pastors of mainline protestant denomination churches are speaking out against the sinful acts of practicing homosexuals? I read about more of those so-called pastors affirming homosexual acts and same sex "marriage" as acceptable and normal than I do about pastors of those apostate World Council of Churches denominations condemning those abominable practices for what they are, SIN. Any and every born again bible believing Christian pastor knows without any question that God's holy Word condemns homosexual acts as sin, and thankfully Pope Francis has the spiritual guts to also call those acts sinful just as the bible says they are.
Homosexuals are no different than "straight" sinners who repent and accept Jesus Christ as their resurrected Lord and Savior (Ro ch9 v10). Those who meet those qualifications will be saved from damnation, not by ceasing to sin, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ as the resurrected Son of God who paid the penalty for mankinds's sin on the cross. OTOH, if the sinner, homosexual or straight, continues to practice a sinful way of life without genuine repentance, he or she has not truly accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and therefore he/she is not a biblical Christian.
You must have misunderstood my remark. In no way was I criticizing Pope Francis for what he said, just the exact opposite. The Catholic Church has received more than it's share of criticism from we protestants for not removing practicing homosexual priests from the clergy, and IMHO that criticism is deserved. But hopefully Pope Francis will change that policy and the outrageous crime of homosexual Catholic priests preying on young boys who are placed in their charge will soon become a thing of the past.
Well, the honeymoon with the libs who liked his simpler, less-lavish lifestyle has come to an end.
Ugh. I had it bad yesterday at a family gathering. My cousin just came out of the closest and I wasn't supportive of his decision or his engagement announcement. So, yesterday I brought my first serious girlfriend to a 4th of July gathering. And the pro-gay-marriage CINO members of my family (about half) ignored us and treated us like garbage. Last time I ever bring her to one of their gatherings.
We DON'T adore the "elements" (bread and wine), we adore JESUS - when the elements were transsubstantiated from bread and wine to His Body and Blood. THAT'S what we believe - that our Communion is REALLY HIM! That is the foundation of our Faith. You really need to check out our Faith - after all, it is the ONLY faith instituted by God Himself - all other faiths/religions were instituted by man (and, I believe, one (islam) was instituted by satan!)
You think that’s funny? Well, it’s not. Grow up.
The Catholic Church has received more than it's share of criticism from we protestants for not removing practicing homosexual priests from the clergy, and IMHO that criticism is deserved. But hopefully Pope Francis will change that policy and the outrageous crime of homosexual Catholic priests preying on young boys who are placed in their charge will soon become a thing of the past.
Anyone with any sense of reality will have to note that it is already a thing of the past. It is very hard to find any cases where the abuse occurred in the last 15 years. It may have come to light in recent years but the abuse was decades ago. We can argue over the way the bishops handled it in the press and the lack of leadership they showed publically... but the reality is that they did do something right in dealing with the problem.
For contrast, the rate of abuse in the schools remains above 30% (a student entering today has a 30% chance of some sort of sexual abuse by a teacher during their tenure through high school) and the Boy Scouts are inviting open homosexuals. The time to criticize the Catholic Church on this issue is passed.
Actually, the CC should never have been criticized in the first place, as the whole problem had/has its roots in modern psychological thought, rather than anything wrong with the Church.
The psychologists were telling the church hierarchy that "queers are like normal people and capable of restraining their warped sexual urges", and could therefore be counted on to remain celibate, just like the heterosexuals already do, more or less successfully. After all, if they remain celibate, how are they different from heterosexuals??
So the CC abandoned the scrutiny/discernment requirements that had been successful for 2000 years, and embraced modern "psycho-think". We have all seen the result(s).....not good. And since, as a result of this hiatus, there are now queers "in" the hierarchy, re-instituting to old rules will be painful, difficult, and take at least a generation or two to be fully successful.
I’m very glad to learn that homosexual predation on young boys by what must have been a small segment of the Catholic clergy has been ended by the Catholic Church itself instead of by government authorities. I could never understand why something that awful and immoral could have continued in the Church for any long period of time without being discovered and eliminated by whatever means were necessary. Thanks for the update on that issue.
It used to be thought that such things could be ‘fixed’. The Church relied on psychologists, etc. Mistakes were made, which excuses what happened decades ago. However, there are recent mistakes.
The Pope mentioned a gay lobby in the Vatican - while those surrounding him backpedaled, they never really denied it. There are still problems, but he has appointed a small council of cardinals from every area of the world to determine what should be done to reform the curia (administration).
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