I know that, but what did the Pope say and what does it mean? My obligations are to follow God's teachings, seek out the truth and to honor Him. Since truth is unique, it can not have multiple meanings and interpretations. Fasting and prayer is an activity with the Holy Spirit, where the truth is uncovered from all the illusions. All the petitionary prayers were answered long ago and have and are now brought to be, by those who search for the truth.
Ash Wednesday and Lent are times where folks commemorate Christ's 40 day search with the Holy Spirit from His Father, from which all truth comes, by fasting and prayer. As a man He had to do these things to learn, else He would not be true to Himself and would never learn. The same must be done by all men if they are to learn the truth. They can not learn it simply by the teachings of another man. All must partake in the prayers. That is the meaning of, "seek and ye shall find".
The idea that the Pope is Christ's rep here on Earth would seem to contradict the fact that we are all God's reps and have been commanded to go out into the world, testify of Him, and give glory to Him. The rock is the solid faith exemplified by Peter. So the Pope is a rep of Christ on Earth, as all of the faith are.
I don't see that the Pope has been specific here regarding anything, except what I have outlined. His words as reported, seem to be no more than cautionary words to the world. It is other men that are claiming certain things, that hint at the Pope commanding something. Things such as: "Pope Calls for Fast Against War in Iraq", "John Paul opened his traditional Sunday remarks from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square by denouncing war as a way to resolve the conflict.", " he has seemed more determined than ever to do his part to persuade decision-makers against going to war." These are commentary attributed to the Pope, or paraphrasing the Pope by other men, in particular AP.
Here's what the Pope said:
""We Christians in particular are called upon to be sentinels of peace,"
That's true. To be short...the 1st Marine div has been a tremendous sentinel of peace. A peace that didn't result in folks living under the sovereignty of a tyrant and his evil world order. A sentinel of peace doesn't surrender all that is good to the forces of evil. He protects it against the dominion of evil. The AP said, "calling on Catholics to dedicate their fasting on Ash Wednesday, March 5, for the cause of peace." It's given w/o comment and implies, "at all costs and in particular that Iraq should not be opposed with force."
The Pope said to pray for, "the conversion of hearts and the long-range vision of just decisions to resolve disputes with adequate and peaceful means." There's nothing in this that says the Pope is against ousting sodom.
He also said, " "expression of penitence for the hate and violence which pollute human relations." Penitence is sorrow and regret. Christians are certainly sorrowful and regret all the evil that is perpetrated. It does not mean the US is about to pollute the world with violence and hate. The US is on a quest to rid the world of a major player perpetrating it. I am sure Christians are sorrowful and regret having to do it, but of our own hands are we to live in this world, as per Genesis.
Fasting, an ancient practice shared by other religions, he said, also lets faithful "shed themselves of all arrogance." True, what glory is given to God by the arrogent.
Some AP propaganda dropped in, "Surveys have shown Italians and many other Europeans oppose war, even if waged under the aegis of the United Nations (news - web sites), and earlier this month, about 1 million Italians marched through Rome to protest against the United States and its push for using military force." Nothing to do with anything the Pope said, or connected to Christianity at all.
"For months the international community is living in great apprehension for the danger of a war, which could unsettle the entire Middle East region and aggravate the tensions unfortunately already present in this beginning of the third millennium," the pontiff said. This is true. The AP used this cut for there propaganda purposes against the war. The statemnt though indicates nothing of the sort.
"It is the duty of all believers, to whichever religion they belong, to proclaim that we can never be happy pitted one against the other; the future of humanity will never able to be secured by terrorism and by the logic of war," John Paul said. This is true. The AP used it to promote submission, and not the rejection of evil. Beside the obvious is the fact that most folks don't know what war, or the logic of war is. War is a clash of wills for dominance. It can be composed of good vs evil, or evil vs evil, but never good vs good.
Here's the beginning of the rest of the AP's propaganda:
"While the pope has been hailed as a champion of peace by anti-war demonstrators ranging from environmentalists to communists, some in Italy challenged his view.
Radical Party leaders Sunday denounced what they saw as the pontiff's "equating terrorism and war, whatever war." Led by Marco Panella, the Radicals say they would like to see Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in exile and a democratic government under U.N. auspices to replace the Iraqi leader. "
Associating the Pope with the reds and greens, leftist authoritarians that would devour your soul at your submission. Then they include the radicals, a real party in existance over there. The radicals it seems were unable to grasp what the Pope really said, and by their own fear and ignorance, failed to grasp the truth.
Nowhere in the article can I find anything the Pope said that is any different than what I posted here, or above.