Posted on 02/15/2016 12:34:39 PM PST by Aliska
Photos and more than 350 "intense" letters from Pope John Paul II to a married woman he corresponded with for more than three decades have been found at the National Library of Poland, Deutsche Welle reports, via a BBC documentary. The notes and images—often showing the pontiff, who was made a saint in 2014, in casual wear—reveal a friendship between himself and American philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka that included holidays spent together and an intimate relationship that historians are trying to figure out. "Here is one of the handful of transcendentally great figures in public life in the 20th century, the head of the Catholic Church, in an intense relationship with an attractive woman," a Christianity history professor at Cambridge University tells the BBC, which notes there's never a "suggestion [he] broke his vow of celibacy." "I would say they were more than friends but less than lovers," Edward Stourton, the documentary maker, tells AFP, via Deutsche Welle.
(Excerpt) Read more at newser.com ...
So f***in’ what? That’s what I would say. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Gee. Whatever interest do you suppose they have in "trying to figure out" what was "going on"?
Perhaps that’s why he was such a kind, loving man. I miss him.
John Paul had the kavorka...
Innuendo of this sort is, of course, impossible. Everyone knows priests are gay. *ducks*
Why do we worry about smearing a dead Pope when the current one never fails to provide us with conversation fodder?
BTW, some call him "John Paul the Great." I like to call him "Lolek the Mensch."
There is no theological basis for priests to suppress healthy normal sexual activity. It is unnatural. Until the celibacy requirement is abandoned or fundamentally modified the pool of potential priests will remain very limited. Unfortunately the priesthood is attracting an inordinate number of homosexuals. The vast majority of the molestation cases has been vile homosexual priests violating young boys. People are losing trust in the clergy and the Church is having difficulty ministering to the faithful Truly unfortunate since the Church needs godly men to preach and minister. The Church has always had the role to counter the deviant aspects of man’s nature and the society he creates. This is especially important now that America is entering an era of post Christian neo pagan epicurean decadence. Sadly it does not have the personnel to counter the culture, is not serving the faithful and is losing trust. There are those who will argue that “celibacy” is not the problem but it is. A healthy man can no more deny his sexuality, its exercise and its meaning, any more than he can deny himself food, water or oxygen. The Church must purge the clergy of homosexuals and allow godly normal heterosexually active moral men into the ranks.
Its been said the Church faces an existential crisis about every five hundred years. The first was the fall of Rome and the question if the Church as an organized institution would survive, next was the schism between Eastern Orthodox and the Western Papacy, then came the challenge of the Reformation. Now in this era there is the corruption of the clergy. Catholic apologists have said that with each prior challenge the Church prospered and grew. They took this as evidence of Divine favor. Let’s hope that somehow the challenge of a corrupt clergy will also be resolved
You are right. I have incredibly deep friendships with men who I love as brothers. It has made me a better woman, a better wife, a better freind and a better public official.
The guy was at the right place at the right time during the Reagan years.
I had a lot of respect for him. Wish he were around today, that’s for sure.
As for trashing his reputation, part for the course for those who want to diminish he’s positive contributions to the global scene.
I have no beef with getting things on the record, but I want it to b4 the unvarnished truth, and not a slime job.
I'm torn. I don't want to advocate for married priests but the situation such as it is now, I think there has always been corruption, but now there is a permissiveness with hard teachings. The ones who try to hold the line are the ones being punished; i.e., Cardinal Burke.
It made me think of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. I would say they had a very intimate relationship where there was no sexual expression towards one another. That's what I choose to believe anyway.
There are lines to be drawn. It is better for some in life than others. In a friendship which is a little more than just that, it sounds like satisfying emotional needs but still not completely fulfilling.
I have had pretty close friendships with several priests and quite a few non-priest males. Only those with warped minds think anything of it.
Absolute nonsense. Christian moral teaching requires ALL males (and females) who are not married to die virgins. ALL deliberate seeking of venereal pleasure, except in mutual acts of husband and wife that are in themselves apt for the generation of new life, is grave matter--i.e., mortal sin.
Anyone who holds that voluntary abstinence from sexual activity is unnatural and impossible has rejected the teaching of Jesus Christ on this matter.
Seems to me the ones hollering the loudest to end the discipline of celibacy are also the ones most accepting of homosexual acts. Try finding one liberal of any faith that accepts abortion and ‘gay marriage’ but also thinks the Catholic discipline is valuable ans should be continued.
Freegards
The letters are dying with me. And I knew he was friendly with women. He was just that way.
But when the pope came out and said something against internet relationships, I started to pull out of it. I searched my heart and realized what I was in had a sinful component.
So I got out of mine, partly but not wholly inspired by the pope, and his lasted through his death according to the article.
The point is that married clergy was the norm for the catholic Church until twelfth century. It was concerns about hereditary bishops and the inheritance of Church property that led to mandatory celibacy. Effective holy celibate priests do not deny their sexuality, but state that by sacrificing its exercise, they become more spiritual, better priests and closer to God. Yet the reality is what was written. There are fewer and fewer such priests. The clergy has been corrupted. The Church needs godly heterosexual men and women who can do much good but are unable to suppress forever the moral exercise of their sexuality. It is a difficult subject but it must be confronted.
Bullcrap. Reagan also had some female pen pals that were very close friends. JPII, corresponding with a lady is a normal thing in life.
In a rare serious moment for me, there actually are a few rare women that a man can benefit by cultivating a friendship with.
A smear of a very good man.
“”I would say they were more than friends but less than lovers,” Edward Stourton, the documentary maker, tells AFP, via Deutsche Welle.”
Ok, what exactly is “more than a friend but less than a lover”?
This reminds me of “person of interest”. It has no legal definition whatsoever. It started with that poor hero Richard Jewell from the Atlanta Olympics. Its a way to call someone a suspect with out saying the actual word. There are suspects and witnesses. Nothing else. A cop can interview people all day long, but the moment he has the idea that the person committed the crime, they are a “suspect” and must be advised of their rights.
There is no such entity as a suspect lite, “person of interest”. If you believe that they were involved, they are a suspect.
This weasel language that she was “more than a friend, but less than a lover” is he exact same tactic.
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