Posted on 09/30/2003 7:15:09 AM PDT by Dog
German Cardinal Says Pope 'In a Very Bad Way' Tue September 30, 2003 08:23 AM ET BERLIN (Reuters) - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German head of the Vatican body which oversees doctrinal matters, was quoted on Tuesday as saying Pope John Paul was in very poor health and the faithful should pray for him. "He is in a very bad way," Ratzinger told Germany's Bunte magazine in an interview. "We should pray for the pope."
Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the magazine that the 83-year-old pope had taken on too much, but he was unable to stop him.
The increasingly frail pope was particularly weak earlier this month on a trip to Slovakia and needed help reading his sermons. Last week, he skipped his general audience because of what the Vatican said was an intestinal problem.
Ratzinger's private secretary, Georg Gaenswein, said it was amazing how the pope, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, kept going.
"He can't walk and stand anymore but he is a hero for the faithful. The fact that he doesn't give up despite his illness makes him even more credible," Gaenswein told Bunte.
He said the pope would not give up traveling. "When he is no longer allowed to travel, then dear God will come for him," Gaenswein said.
The leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics, who marks his 25th anniversary next month, appointed 31 new cardinals on Sunday, possibly putting his last stamp on the group that will one day choose his successor.
Seconded.
I was lead by God to the fellowship which I attend. Being submitted to Christ, works that way for me. The spiritual growth that comes from an individual seeking God's will, keeps one in natural communion with Christ continually.
Biblically literate individuals, is true enlightenment. Hense the God blessed prosperity (spiritually) of America. Notwithstanding the blatant hypocrites you mentioned. (Which we all are to one degree or another, hopefully seeking sanctification through Christ in that area).
America has been "Missions headquarters" since much of the reformation moved here in the late 1700's.
Praise God for the "enlightened" Christians who weathered the Taliban in Afghanistan prior to WOT. Praise God for ministries like Safe Harbor, Samaritan's Purse, Voice of the Martyrs, Brother Andrew's Open Doors ministry, to name a few powerful outreaches of God going on today.
The Catholic church has been consistantly admirable in their help given to the poor. It is unfortunate that more of their outreachers aren't grounded in scripture, and centralized on sharing the gospel. Clearly, many are and do.
We can pray that a new Pope will lead them in that direction.
And what of it?
Not in the slightest. I love the Blessed Mother. I'm just wondering what your point is. You wouldn't be attempting to prematurely dance on the grave of the most important spiritual figure of the 20th century would you?
Citation? The Church's position is clear. All are saved by Christ. Non-Christians can be saved by implicit faith in Christ.
2. Homosexuality pervading his church, and not nipping these guys bud, so to speak.
Maybe he could have done more. Who's to say? He has less control over bishops than you might believe. And he's running a Church with 1 billion members. He's not omniscient.
3. Pandering to scientists, in contradiction to the Word of God. (Giving room for his congregation to latch onto Theistic Evolution, which necessitates death before Adam, making death a natural occurrence rather than a choice of man, which eliminates the need for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).
He gave evolution more credence as a scientific theory than I would have liked. But his statement made clear that it's still a theory. And he repudiated the theory of materialistic evolution.
4. Allowing Mary's status to be similar to Christ's.
Citation? That's plain heresy and would be quite newsworthy. She is regarded as the greatest saint.
5. Not having clarity in regarding standing against evil. (Sadam, Muslim terror).
I tend to agree with you on that one, but I think the media has distorted his statements.
They wish, as you have done, that the Pope would clarify these issues to circumvent much of the "wild goings on" related to these topics in the Catholic church.
Not Mary, the Pope or my Pastor.
Do you ask others to pray for you? Do you pray for others?
I certainly don't see him in this light but I also don't feel the need to hope for his death. I hope the RC church keeps up the Marianism. It is the biggest differentiating factor between bible based Christianity and Catholicism.
I was stationed in Aviano Italy when the Pope died and they replaced him with the one that died in just a month. The current Pope was "voted" in while I was still there. Every TV station in Italy was tuned to a smoke stack watching/waiting for the ballots to be burnt that signaled a new Pope had been selected.
Italy has churches like we have stop and rob stores....almost every corner. When the new Pope was selected the bells in those churches all over Italy rang for what seemed like days....awesome event......
Just some of my personal memories of our Pope as I experienced it.
Stay Safe !
Setup: Jesus teaches the disciples about the Holy Eucharist (that would be the same one celebrated by the Catholic Church). Many of the disciples reject the teaching of the Eucharist -- cannot accept eating His "body and blood", and go on their less-than-merry way.
John 6:66 "After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him."
Hmmm...6:66... could it be..... ....
Come on, biblewonk. What major historical figure drew back from the Eucharist and no longer went about with the Church...? (HINT: He was also good at nailing things to wood.)
The Pope in Nikes, that is funny! Talk about a marketing coup!
Tell me the one about Her immaculate conception and how she sits in heaven as the distributrix of all graces.
Luther removed seven books from the Old Testament. Non-Catholic Christians call these books the Apocrypha after Luther. Catholics call these books the Deuterocanonical books.
All of these books were accepted as canonical until Luther threw all of them out because of the reference to Purgatory in 2 Maccabees 12:39-45. His pretext for removing the books was that these books were rejected by a group of Jewish rabbis in the year 100 A.D. at the "council" of Jamnia. Of course, Luther was rejecting the canon determined by Christ's Church in several Councils dating from around the year 400 A.D. This canon was accepted by all of the Church Fathers with the notable exception of Jerome.
Additionally, the Septuagint, from which the Apostles quoted, included the deuterocanonical books of the Bible.
A good explanation of the Old Testament Canon.
Stay Safe !
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