Pope Warns That War Could Bring 'Religious Catastrophe'

Washington Post ^ | March 30, 2003 | Reuters

[HapaxLegamenon]

The thing to understand about this pope is that Vatican II (1962-65) is the starting point for everything. Thus everything must be rehashed accroding to the liberal ideals of modern man. Thus, his preocupation with ecumenism. Hostlities between religions must be avoided at all cost. Thus the Catholic Church continues to make concessions in every corner while receiving nothing back. This war, inasmuch as it shows the cruelty and bloodiness at least of some forms of Islam (Cut your enemies heads off, sucide bombing for alah, etc), threatens to destroy the shadows and Phantam sucesses that he thinks ecumenism has wrought.

[Jhoffa_]

I can't believe this is malicious on behalf of any of them.

But I agree with the "ashamed" part.

[DED]

Bush has never ONCE said Saddam is THE threat; quite the opposite, he has repeatedly stated that the war on terrorism will be a long, ongoing process.
His one point that I disagree with is that this war will eventually be won. The war on terrorism will NEVER be over, as it only takes one disgruntled or misguided fool to launch a terrorist attack, even a very large one.

[RobbyS]

The pope is thinking that one does not drop a match into a tinder box. Let us hope his assessment of the facts is wrong.

[Theresa]

"The Pope HAS NOT said that this is an unjust war, either now or earlier."

Sure he did. I heard it on FOX that the pope said it was not a just war. Why do you say that's not true?

[tessalu]

The Pope does not even control his own church, which has been filled with pedophile priests. Is there any reason to believe that he is any more credible than they? What makes the Pope think he is qualified to tell anyone what they should do? He needs to tend to his business at hand.

[RobbyS]

Funny, I thought that Israel, not the United States, was the Jewish state.

[Tigercap]

The pope is one man, like you or I.

[RobbyS]

What does the issue of pedophile priests have to do with Iraq? By the way, a large percentage of Iraq Christians live in Bagdad.

[DED]

Ecumenism is like the joke I heard several years ago. A little boy comments that all religions are just different ways of voting for God. This concept is wrong - all religions are mutually exclusive, making it very important to look into it enough to be sure you're making the right choice!

Christianity can be supported historically. Kids are taught things in history class for which there is less historical evidence than there is for the existence of Jesus Christ. And there is overwhelming historical evidence that the Bible is incredibly accurate.

Can Islam make the same claim?

[ex-snook]

"Bush has never ONCE said Saddam is THE threat; quite the opposite, he has repeatedly stated that the war on terrorism will be a long, ongoing process. "

Then if Saddam is not the threat, why did Bush decide to bomb Iraq first? Nah, the Pope is right on this. This is about regime change, oil, or Israel and not terrorist threat.

[HapaxLegamenon]

Can Islam make the same claim?

NO!

[Jhoffa_]

Then if Saddam is not the threat, why did Bush decide to bomb Iraq first?

I honestly don't think it matters what it's about. Saddam has it coming and we have the moral high ground.

All he had to do was keep the deal he made and disarm.. If he had done so, US troops in Iraq would be nothing more than a faded memory.

[laz17]

The pope is one man, like you or I

I used to believe he was much more than just a man. I truly believed he was moved by the Holy Spirit. But my opinion of him has done a 180 over the last two months. Is he even aware of what is going on in the world? Does he know of all the Christians who have been martyred all over the world by the sword of islam, as in Rwanda and Indonesia? How can he, in good conscience, ask us to appease the Beast that is slaughtering the flock? Does he actually believe the Beast will stop its slaughter? Does he actually think that if we make nice, muslims will stop killing Christians and Jews? How naive can he possibly be? How can he pretend to be trying to prevent a war between religions when islam has ALREADY declared war and is actively waging it?

The Pope no longer champions the Gospel. He champions political correctness, and political correctness is nothing but an invention of Satan to demoralize humanity and fool it into submitting without trying to defend itself. Satan is waging war against Christians and Jews via socialism and islam, and political correctness is his way of disarming the victims.

[Cicero]

You heard the Pope say it, or you heard Fox say he said it?

There seems to be a lot of confusion and liberal spinning about what the Pope has said and not said.

I have not seen any statement by the Pope that the war is wrong. I have seen several statements praying for peace, urging negotiations if possible, and this one urging that Muslims and Christians should not start killing each other--which is just a polite way of trying to restrain the Muslims from killing Christians. None of this is a direct criticism of President Bush, the United States, or the current war.

[ex-snook]

"I honestly don't think it matters what it's about. Saddam has it coming and we have the moral high ground. "

Nah we don't. Bush says he is carrying out UN resolutions and the UN says he is not. Bush is doing it for his reasons and that is regime change, oil, or Israel. Reasons matter for moral high ground.

[DED]

He's taking on Saddam first because this is the enemy we can SEE, and he was in a position to give some really nasty WMD's to the ones we CAN'T see.
Besides, the guy has reportedly snuffed out a million people over the last 20 years; isn't that reason enough?
Yes, I DO know there are other world leaders that have been equally horrendous, but we can't go after them all - we had enough trouble getting going with THIS one.

[laz17]

This concept is wrong

It most certainly is. It is not enough to believe in God. It is imperative to KNOW God. To know who He is, to know what He says is right, to know what He says is wrong. This is why He revealed Himself through the Bible and in Christ.

Many people believe in God, but they don't believe in THE God. Just as God created man in his image, many people create God in their own image. They invent a God that agrees with them, rather than following the commandments of the one true God. They worship a God who doesn't exist, or demons masquerading as God. This is why Christ said that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will inherit the Kingdom. It is not enough to believe in a divine being. One must recognize the identity of who that specific divine being actually is. And the only way to recognize that is to follow His commandments, not the commandments of men or false gods.

[ex-snook]

"Besides, the guy has reportedly snuffed out a million people over the last 20 years; isn't that reason enough? "

Nah, Russia and China have snuffed out even more and we contained them. We have contained Iraq for the past dozen years. This is about oil, regime change or Israel, not some body count.