His Church has been plagued with scandals. There has been a loss of faith on a massive scale--statistically measurable and observable--and a corresponding collapse of catechesis. He himself has called the breakdown of Catholic faith a "silent apostasy"--yet he does nothing to reverse the trends. Church attendance has continued to plummet. Vocations have continued to spiral downward. The missions have imploded. The seminaries have been increasingly lavenderized. The highest echelons of the Church seethe with apostasy and corruption. Cronyism is rampant. Yet despite all this, and for 25 years, the Pope has instituted not a single reform of any consequence. Nor need I even mention the heterodoxy on his part that has underscored all this--the scandalous indifferentism and syncretism that has punctuated his long pontificate.
I don't want to get into a debate about this, nor do I intend to engage in "Papacy Bashing." I was merely asking for some information in an area where I was not aware.
There is no question the Church has problems, which disappoints me greatly. And as a former prosecutor, I certainly don't encourage sexual predation of children, which has been a significant part of the problem in the U.S. Yet many of the problems you identified within the Church are not new. Perhaps it is only that in our information age, there is more public awareness. It seems to me that many of the Church's problems are institutional. And the question is; will the College show enough courage and integrity to elect a Pope who can do something about it?
Once you realize that Ultima Ratio is a schismatic (he's separated from the Roman Catholic Church,) it becomes clear why he has a fixation on ranting about JPII.
Your first take was correct. JPII's a man's man and a Catholic's Catholic.
We will miss him--except for the schismatics.
The same old tired lies, over and over again. You never stop in your crusade of hate against the Catholic Church. The Pope has condemned indifferentism and syncretism. You attribute to him heterodox views the Pope has never taught and has specifically denounced. You NEVER mention Dominus Iesus. And if he has made prudential misjudgments, that does not take away his legitimate authority. By your logic, Luther and Calvin were perfectly justified in rebelling from the Catholic Church because of Renaissance era abuses.
Thank you for your usual defense of the Holy Father. (/sarcasm). It's Lent! Give the attacks a break .. or don't the SSPX schismatics celebrate this season any more? No mention of the growth in the Catholic Church, especially in 3rd world countries.
He's pope in a world awash with with the philosophies of self-affirmation, self-assertion and independence. It's a world whose leaders balk at allowing themselves to be photographed in physically compromised situations, looking weak, vulnerable and dependent on others. Yet, the Pope comes before crowds week after week, barely able to move, needing help sometimes even to finish his remarks.
And still the crowds come - because this man's message is the message of Christ, the man of sorrows who came to deliver us from sorrow.
Despite the secularism that has gripped the Western world, we are under his watch, as pontiff. He signed the Catechism that has given our faith such clarity. His teachings have stood as signs of contradiction in the world. He has himself been the central attraction at events like the World Youth Day, and the Jubilee festivals that sparked so man initiatives throughout the Church. We learned how to be Catholics from this master and his words. Last week, from his hospital bed, the Holy Father said: "One must have confidence in life!"
Granted there are aspects of the Church with which you may disagree. You are not the pope, nor do you shoulder the burden that he has assumed, until death. Please take your misplaced screed somewhere else. It doesn't belong on a thread where the pontiff has upheld Church teaching with regard to Homosexual Marriage.
And this all happened in the last 25 years?
There has been a loss of faith on a massive scale--statistically measurable and observable--and a corresponding collapse of catechesis. He himself has called the breakdown of Catholic faith a "silent apostasy"--yet he does nothing to reverse the trends. Church attendance has continued to plummet.
Depends on where you look. Young people are coming back to the church in droves.
Vocations have continued to spiral downward. The missions have imploded.
A gain, it depends on where yo look. We are getting loads of African priests to do what the Irish did years ago.
The seminaries have been increasingly lavenderized. The highest echelons of the Church seethe with apostasy and corruption. Cronyism is rampant. Yet despite all this, and for 25 years, the Pope has instituted not a single reform of any consequence. Nor need I even mention the heterodoxy on his part that has underscored all this--the scandalous indifferentism and syncretism that has punctuated his long pontificate.
THere has certianly been change. Me thinks you are one who looks at a glass half empty.