Posted on 03/12/2010 5:15:20 AM PST by NYer
Edited on 03/12/2010 2:36:51 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Wednesday in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI gave a fascinating talk containing important insights into the ideas and principles guiding his pontificate.
And this talk, given at his regular Wednesday Audience, came as a series of terrible crises continues to strike the Church, from scandals in Ireland to matters connected to the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, from scandals in Germany to accusations against the Pope’s own brother, Father Georg Ratzinger.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicexchange.com ...
That's it? Those are the crises? He rebuked Islam and he lifted the ban from a penitent?
Thanks for posting this NYer, it gives an insight into the thought processes of an "Inside the beltway" writer in a Vatican context. But IMO this article is a lot of froth about nothing.
well it’s not like he caused these scandals. Look at the bishops in the lands where they are taking place. And so what if he pisses off the muslims. good for him.
How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to raise us up whenever we fall!
It is well worth reflecting on the WAY OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM - GOOD FRIDAY 2005.
On this Friday in Lent, I would encourage all Catholics to remember Pope Benedict XVI in their prayers and personal sacrifices. We know the source of this attack. Fr. Amorth has correctly assessed the situation.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people insist on debating and discussing things that can't be known - at least can't be known at this time. I guess it's easier to speculate on things than to elucidate.
Perhaps, it’s wishful thinking. Darkness fears light.
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1) Satan is a liar, and the father thereof, and a murderer from the beginning. God personally told me that ... I believe Him.
2) Many news-critters think that their job is not reporting. They see their job as making the news, helping people understand the news, forming their interpretation thereof, molding their opinions. NBC Channel 4 in Washington DC has been running radio and TV ads for their news broadcasts explicitly touting that theme. They're proud of it.
3) Benedict has seriously annoyed the political and ecclesiastical "left". His teaching of Christian theology and doctrine has been solidly Catholic and Patristic. He exposed the mohammedans for the animals that they are. He has championed the "extraordinary form" of the Mass and the return to reverence in the "ordinary form" of the Mass. He has successfully reached out to some very "conservative" "disaffected elements". Satan is, no doubt, FURIOUS!
3) When Satan is furious, he looses his "flying monkeys" ... humans who follow his agenda. The "left", and the press are shot through with them. A few of them also infest the Church, both in the hierarchy and the laity. They will lie, cheat, steal, slander, seduce, and very likely even murder to promote their agenda.
4) Benedict's pontificate has so far been relentlessly Godly. OF Course the Enemy is assailing him. We know what happened to Benedict's "Immediate Supervisor" ... and Jesus also told us to expect slander and persecution.
5) "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt 5:10 May Our Lord continue to bless and protect Pope Benedict, and may the Holy Spirit continue to inspire his words and actions.
I see sources in this article like ‘Politics Daily’ and the ‘AP’. What do we expect from such sources? There are plenty of people hoping that Pope Benedict XVI (and the Church) will fail. I remember many many reacting unfavorably to his election. They wanted a liberal pontiff would ‘reach out’ and accept the worldly notions that were becoming popular in the liberal corners of the Church. Instead, they got a faithful conservative who acknowledges that the Church might get smaller, but would become stronger in faith.
The seminaries in North America (and some countries abroad) are filling up with good conservative and devout men. The progressive holdovers are very disdainful of this.
God bless Pope Benedict XVI.
As part of his primary duty, he has an obligation to vigorously act root out abusers and perverts among the clergy.
Is that their complaint about the Pope's brother? With the breathless lead up to that revelation, you'd have thought he'd been caught in bed with a live girl or a dead boy.
Seriously, the man was a choir director, and sometimes, in the past, that's how teachers, choir directors, Scout leaders, heck MOTHERS, got the attention of a misbehaving, or fresh-mouthed child.
I'm not minimizing the fact that there has been abuse of children or young people, by priests, brothers, nuns, or others connected to the Church, but claiming that any of it is causing a 'crisis' in Benedict XVI's papacy is ludicrous. All of the abuse mentioned took place years before he ever became Pope. In fact, it was he who sent the message to the American Bishops many years ago that they'd better start getting a grip on wayward priests, and that they should screen seminarians much more closely for homosexual tendencies. He understood, even if the American Bishops didn't want to admit it, that much of the problem was actually homosexuality and not pedophilia.
It is not surprising that there are attacks on this Pope. He is absolutely unapologetic in pronouncing what he sees as problems in the world caused by our choosing sin, instead of God's ways. He drove the left nuts long before he became Pope, because he has been outspoken for years. That's how he earned the nickname 'God's Rottweiler'. ;o)
The Pope's brother admits that he slapped kids on occasion, years ago.
Guess whose administration is in "crisis," according to the AP.
Exactly. He is pissing of the right people. Agents of Satan: the media, the secular left, islam, communists, and CINOs are exactly the people who will at best, turn away from you and who at worst, will gladly participate in adding their knife to your back.
Personally I believe that Pope Benedict XVI is much more savvy than many opponents give him credit for being.
Yes, and in present times people always like to use the mores of today to define the past. In my day almost everyone got physically disciplined by someone.
In grade school my husband and his friends had a competition and the winner was the one who got the most paddlings from the principal. The school didn’t get permission from the parents or counsel them, they just spanked them. The contest was over when they got a body building type principal who knocked them across the room when he paddled, my husband only got paddled once by him.
I tried my hardest to be perfect and fade into the woodwork but I still got whapped a few times over the knuckles in 1st grade and the bad kids got it daily. Neither of us were in Catholic schools this was the regular public schools.
What we might consider to be abuse today was just discipline in my generation and you didn’t go home and tell Mom and Dad because you would get punished again for getting punished at school.
You are correct...and THIS needs repeating:
“On this Friday in Lent, I would encourage all Catholics to remember Pope Benedict XVI in their prayers and personal sacrifices. We know the source of this attack. Fr. Amorth has correctly assessed the situation.”
It is hard to say for sure, but I would not be surprised if history judges Benedict’s papacy mroe favorably than JPII’s in many ways.
I agree with the others who say he is ticking off the right people.
I will tell you something, too, that I've gleaned from my experience in 30 years as a lawyer. Folks who come forward years and years after the fact to make allegations which cannot be defended against because everybody else is dead -- are NOT telling the truth. The idea that shame prevented them from coming forward might have been true in the 50s and 60s when many kids were taught that priests could do no wrong, but in the post-VCII climate of general lack of reverence towards priests, plus the open discussion of sex and molestation EVERYWHERE, that excuse hasn't washed for at least a quarter century.
Some of them are mentally unstable people who imagine themselves into believing it, or are attracted by all the media attention given to accusations against the Church. Some are talked into it by lawyers. Some hate the Church and are deliberately lying to hurt her. And some are just greedy, venal persons who jump on a bandwagon in the hopes of getting some money. Years ago, the law firm I worked for represented MARTA, the Atlanta bus company. The company staged a "sting" -- they set up an apparent bus wreck on Peachtree Street with an unoccupied bus -- police, wrecker, car crossways in front of it. It made the papers. Within two weeks they had over ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE who claimed to have been on that bus and have been injured. You can't make this stuff up.
It is froth about nothing. I love that Benedict spoke the truth about Islam. That’s why there was a stink. He is one of the handful of folks in the world who dared to speak out. Clearly and with authority.
Those who speak the Truth will always be targeted by those who hate the Truth.
Anybody who's had much experience with choirboys knows that a rap on the head with the conductor's baton or a hymnal is sometimes necessary to simmer things down. People have written entire books about mischievous kids in parish boys' choirs. I can highly recommend this one:
Actually, I highly recommend anything by William Mayne, especially Earthfasts. He is one of the best writers for children around.
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