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Posted on 07/12/2007 6:25:21 PM PDT by xzins
In an act of jaw-dropping hubris, Pope Benedict Joseph Ratzinger recently declared Protestantism's churches "not true churches." In an effort to underscore the wisdom of such a position at this time, he then had his "document" signed by none other than Cardinal William Levada, a pro-gay, pro-pedophile, pro-molestation cleric hailing recently from San Francisco and Portland. Apparently hypocrisy is in abundant supply in the Vatican larder.
Levada is one of the papal appointments that causes either great puzzlement about (or gives great insight into) this Pope's orientation. Fresh off of scandals in his previous appointments, Levada received one of the Vatican's highest appointments to the post previously held by Benedict himself before his own ascension to the papacy. One of the most powerful positions in all of Catholicism, the Vatican’s “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” is Levada's launching pad to spread his peculiar influence to the remainder of the church. He seems just the guy a conservative church leader like Ratzinger would think of when puzzling the question, “Who should I have teach the people about Jesus?”
In having Levada sign this negative document rejecting Protestant churches and ministers, the Pope has displayed either blind incompetence or unbelievable hypocrisy. Others think he simply might not have been sleeping well…..for a long, long, long time.
William Donohue, head of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is on record castigating Cardinal Levada for blaming the female victim who was impregnated by one of Levada's randy underlings. At the time, Levada’s position was that the lady should have used “protection.” (Could Nancy Pelosi have said it better?)
Donohue's take was that the statement was no different than saying 'What's wrong with you, honey, aren't you smart enough to make sure condoms were used?' "
The Los Angeles Times, no conservative paper, had listed Levada among the area's most powerful gay-friendly Catholic leaders.
See links below
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.
(snip)
The document, signed by the congregation (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) prefect, U.S. Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul - a major ecumenical feast day.
Homosexual Activists Cheer Appointment of New San Francisco Archbishop (to Replace Levada)By Hilary White
The LA Times wrote that the “trail of abuse” in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and its surrounding area dioceses “leads inevitably” to St. John’s. According to the Times, 10% of St. John's ordinands for Los Angeles from 1950 to ‘65 have been accused of molesting minors. In two classes, 1966 and 1972, a third of the graduates were later accused of molestation.
The group of bishops includes Roger Cardinal Mahony the Archbishop of Los Angeles who has been praised by the homosexual activist group, the Rainbow Sash Movement, for his support for their cause; Patrick Ziemann, the disgraced former bishop of Santa Rosa who was dismissed from his diocese after sex abuse allegations from one of his own priests and Tod Brown, bishop of LA’s neighbouring diocese of Orange whose letters and instructions to priests on homosexual issues have been called “confusing” and whose diocese has been used to house a number of notorious homosexual abusers.
Perhaps the most prominent member of the group is Archbishop William Levada, formerly of the now-bankrupt Portland diocese and lately of San Francisco whom Niederauer will be succeeding. Levada’s appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – making Levada among the three most powerful prelates in the Church – came as a shock to many Catholics aware of the problems stemming from Los Angeles.
Jim Bretzke, chairman of the theology department at the University of San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Niederauer’s appointment, “rather than someone more doctrinaire or conservative,” is evidence of Levada’s power in Rome.
Rescind the Appointment at Once by Thomas A. DroleskeyMany of us have expressed our reservations concerning the appointment of the former ordinary of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Most Reverend William Levada, to be Pope Benedict XVI's successor as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The resurfacing of a report from 1994 makes it imperative for Pope Benedict to rescind this appointment at once.
Apart from the ways in which Archbishop Levada protected priests who were inclined to the persistent commission of perverse sins against the Sixth and Ninth Commandment (see Generating Controversy and Negative Press on this website), His Excellency permitted court papers to be filed under his name when he was the Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, in 1994, that placed the blame on a woman who had been impregnated by an archdiocesan seminarian (and was seeking child support from the archdiocese) for not having "protected" herself from the consequences of her behavior with the seminarian (now a priest). Here is the report on the matter that appeared in the August 3, 2005, edition of the Los Angeles Times:
Faithful Furious Over Tactic
Catholics express shock over lawyer's arguments that a woman who sued Portland archdiocese for child support should have used birth control.
By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer
In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple answer for why the archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a Portland, Ore., parish.
In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a Whittier priest, the child's mother had engaged "in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy," the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit.
The legal proceeding got little attention at the time. And the fact that the church — which considers birth control a sin — seemed to be arguing that the woman should have protected herself from pregnancy provoked no comment. Until last month.
That's when Stephanie Collopy went back into court asking for additional child support. A Times article reported the church's earlier response. Now liberal and conservative Catholics around the country are decrying the archdiocese's legal strategy, saying it was counter to church teaching.
"On the face of it, [the argument] is simply appalling," said Michael Novak, a conservative Catholic theologian and author based in Washington, D.C.
That the "unprotected intercourse" argument was offered in Levada's name made it especially shocking to some Catholics. The former archbishop is now chief guardian of Catholic doctrine worldwide. The archbishop's new post as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was last held by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI.
William Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights based in New York, said the legal language was "simply code for, 'What's wrong with you, honey, aren't you smart enough to make sure condoms were used?' "
And that, he notes, is completely counter to the church's teachings, which hold that using contraceptives is "intrinsically evil."
ping
ping
Giving true meaning of the old saying, birds of a feather.
Birds of a feather...
BirdCage??
Amazing stuff...this odd appointment and spokesman???
Luther wasn’t famous for sitting back and taking it.
THE POPE IS CATHOLIC?!
Ya I guess you’re right, this guy should stop being Catholic and join another church then.
What denomination is Cardinal Levada?
Whatever Levada has, it has taken him to the top of his chosen denomination....the RCC.
Protestants call Catholics idoloters, part of a cult and not Christian.
I think I’d rather have my church called “wounded” than any of those. Read the actual document, btw. It states that the Orthodox are true churches but wounded, the Protestants, wounded more. But it’s easier to listen to Satan use the MSM to divide us more.
I got it in a class on internet chatrooms, bulletin boards, discussion rooms, etc.
Really helpful.....”worth the money”
....awesome!
No actually, it give the true meaning to “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
If Levada had retired, he would have been on book tours and the news spouting crap. B16 kept him under Vatican control. How many retired Bishops or Priests have you heard slamming the Catholic Church? Lots, I bet.
If you want to see evil, you will but there is a method to the madness.
Or....
He promoted him.
You quoted the article. But, does the article quote the official document?
>>The article says: “approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches<<
Exactly! The ARTICLE said. Have you read the document or just the spin.
When the media reports the Pope said something, it’s Gospel Truth. When the media reports Bush said something, we are all asking for documentation.
Trusting the MSM is foolish.
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