Posted on 05/10/2009 4:29:37 PM PDT by Steelfish
The Pope brings the Truth to the Middle East - not a peace plan
By George Pitcher. 10 May 2009
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Israel today, amid some of the tightest security ever to accompany a visiting dignitary. Unsurprising at any time, given the febrile and fractious nature of Middle East diplomacy, but a particularly vulnerable aura surrounds the Pope on this tour, as a consequence of recent events that have again poisoned the well of Jewish-Christian relations.
The fear is that the lone fanatic with a gun will have gained renewed motivation from the Pope's apparent enthusiasm for the beatification of Pius XII, known in some Jewish quarters as "Hitler's Pope".
His rehabilitation of the excommunicated Bishop Richard Williamson, just as he gave a Holocaust-denying interview in Scandinavia, and his revision of the Good Friday Prayer, with its echoes of Roman Catholic anti-semitism, have exacerbated old wounds.
Fears that Pope Benedict may have put back the clock to the days when Jews would have routinely been called "Christ-murderers" in Vatican circles have led to representatives of both faiths to call on what they know to be a good and holy man to make conciliatory and diplomatic noises. They want him to condemn Williamson, to affirm the Jewish state and to censure Hamas and Hizbollah.
To some extent, the Pope can be a worldly diplomat. (snip) But he cannot aspire to be a remedial politician in the Middle East. His job is to speak Catholic Truth, born of tradition and interpreted through the prism of his own scriptural faith.
Those who want a flexible pope, one who addresses the Abramic faiths in an ecumenical way, make a category mistake. If he compromised the Truth, then he wouldn't be the Pope.
The Pope’s Message is simple; Here’s an excerpt from “Dominus Iesus” written by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0086/_P7.HTM
May the Lord watch over him on this journey.
You know, it’s starting to look like they are setting up a scenario so that IF something happens to the Pope, the Israelis will be blamed regardless of who did what. This is about the eighth story like this I have seen out of the UK.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.