Posted on 02/05/2012 2:58:27 PM PST by marshmallow
Fidel Castro will be received back into the communion of the Roman Catholic Church during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the island in March, the Italian press is reporting. If true, this is a remarkable story — and one that has yet to catch the attention of editors this side of the Atlantic.
On 1 Feb 2012, La Republicca — [Italy’s second largest circulation daily newspaper, La Republicca follows a center-left political line and is strongly anti-clerical; not anti-Catholic per se but a critic of the institutional church] — reported that as death approaches, the octogenarian communist has turned to God for solace.
ABC’s Global Note news blog is the only U.S. general interest publication I have found that has reported this story. It referenced the La Republicca story and said that Castro’s
daughter Alina is quoted as saying “During this last period, Fidel has come closer to religion: he has rediscovered Jesus at the end of his life. It doesn’t surprise me because dad was raised by Jesuits.” The article quotes an unidentified high prelate in the Vatican who is working on the Pope’s Cuba trip: “Fidel is at the end of his strength. Nearly at the end of his life. His exhortations in the party paper Granma, are increasingly less frequent. We know that in this last period he has come closer to religion and God.”
Some Italian websites have even speculated as to when Fidel will make his confession and credo — setting the date as 27 March 2012 at 17:30 when the two ottantacinquenni, Pope Benedict XVI and Castro, will meet at the Palacio de la Revolución when the pope makes his official visit to the head of state, Raul Castro.
During Pope John Paul II’s 1998 visit to Cuba, Castro attended mass, but did...........
(Excerpt) Read more at geoconger.wordpress.com ...
Ah, you’re channeling the Roman pagans against the early Christian martyrs now.
They died for the faith you attack. So, no, I’m not impressed with you, it’s hard enough to believe you take yourself seriously.
The Christians I’m familiar with still have Christ’s Ministry in their beliefs. Perhaps, someday, you too will.
It really is quite ludicrous to follow teachers who claim Christianity’s core truths were lost and then “rediscovered” in the 20th Century.
But enjoy yourself, preach on, please ping me when you have your own YouTube channel.
For you, what is the Gospel?
That's my thinking as well. If Castro is really sincere and repentant, then why wait until the Pope comes for a visit a month or so from now?
"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. (Matt. 3:7-9)
Does anyone really know they have the next minute to live???
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.
Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
I’ll stand by God’s word.
No, you copy and paste and and illustrate your cluelessness about it regularly. You can't apply what you don't understand.
So apply it. Answer the question.
“For you, what is the Gospel?”
Do tell us oh Pope of the Internet, for you, what is the Gospel?
I know that he loves us. He died for us once and for all time. The blood that flowed from His body paid the full price for my sins. He said "It is finished". The saving work His death, the shedding of His blood, for our sins was over.
I did take into my being His body that was broken for me and His blood that was shed for me. The very instance that I received Him as my Lord and Savior, meaning that at that point in time His blood and His body was applied to my being by the everlasting God. Like the water Christ offered to the lady at the well this was enough. It sprang up into everlasting life. The water that Jesus offered her which was a picture of Himself she only needed to take a sip and she would live forever.
John 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
You agreed that they were images of God.
Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Gospel can describe an account of the life of Jesus. Gospel is also defined as the word that comes out of the mouth of God. It also describes the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It can also mean, simply, “good news.”
There is a strong minimalist, almost zen, drive among some nonCatholics and many buzzwords, like secret handshakes. “Gospel” is one of these.
The simplest reduction of the question: “What is the Gospel?” is:
“Jesus Christ.”
Hey, not fair, I asked you first. Pope means Father. I am no father, thank you!
I shouldn’t leave out our Dispensationalist friends. For them “gospel” is an even more loaded question. Christ’s ministry is not really taken seriously as, for them, Paul has a different “gospel” they sometimes refer to as the Gospel of Grace (codeword again), meaning what Paul taught in scripture as opposed to what Christ taught in His ministry.
My, what has been done to the simple word: Gospel?
“I asked you first.”
Nope. Why do you fear to answer?
You continue to illustrate you can read and quote, but not interpret or understand.
It seems you must realize this yourself, because you keep avoiding answering the simple question.
Do you know the difference between Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and an idol?
Do you?
Or, straight answer please, is Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” an idol according to you?
There is none.
“Jesus Christ.”
Now there is a beautiful answer!
Now that wasn’t so hard was it.
The hard part is taking seriously accusations of idolatry from someone who doesn’t even know what makes an idol an idol.
That is far too hard for me to do.
D-fendr asks:
>>Do you know the difference between Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and an idol?<<
CynicalBear answered:
There is none.
Q.E.D.
Of course it is. Catholics have been indoctrinated to believe that what they do isn’t idolatry. Catholics don’t believe a statue of Mary on the lawn is an idol either.
s
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