Posted on 01/01/2004 5:55:35 AM PST by HAL9000
VATICAN CITY, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The world needs a "new international order" to solve its conflicts and ensure peace, Pope John Paul said in his New Year's Day address on Thursday.The ghosts of 2003 -- when the United States invaded Iraq without United Nations approval -- dominated the pope's first speech of 2004.
"More than ever we need a new international order which draws on the experience and results of the United Nations," the 83-year-old pontiff said at a mass in St Peter's Basilica.
"An order which is capable of finding adequate solutions to today's problems, based on the dignity of human beings, on integrating all society, on solidarity between rich and poor countries, on the sharing of resources and the extraordinary results of scientific and technological progress," he added.
Speaking at Christendom's largest church, the pope urged people not to lose hope of finding peace in the Holy Land, which the Vatican feels is vital to winning the war on terror.
"The land in which Jesus was born sadly continues to live in a dramatic condition. And in other parts of the world sparks of violence and conflict have not been extinguished either. But we need to persevere and not bow to the temptation of losing hope."
Turning to Africa, the pope paid tribute to his Burundi ambassador, Michael Courtney, killed on Monday in an ambush the army has blamed on rebels who have refused to join a peace process to end a 10-year conflict.
"(He) was tragically killed...while he was going about his mission of promoting dialogue and reconciliation. We pray for him and hope his example and sacrifice will bear the fruits of peace in Burundi and the world," the pope said.
The leader of the world's one billion Catholics, who suffers from Parkinson's disease that makes it difficult for him to talk, seemed alert and read all of his homily in a clear voice.
But it is unclear what 2004 holds for him. For the first time since his election in 1978, the pope enters the new year with no firm plans for travel, although there have been some invitations.
He was particularly weak on his last foreign trip, a visit to Slovakia in September, when aides had to read most of his addresses for him.
You need to dust off the old history books and recall that there were power struggles very early on between the church in Alexandria, the church in Rome, and the eastern church, which included places like Syria and modern-day Israel. One could make a very good historical argument that if Alexandria hadn't been sacked, it would have ended up as the center of the Christian church instead of Rome.
Yes. The Pope wants us to get at the "root causes" of why terrorists want to kill us. (Hint: It ain't abortion).
The introduction of abortion into the discussion is supposed to draw a moral equivalence between the United States and Saddam Hussein. Don't fall for it.
Yes he should. Vatican City would likely be rubble now, if not for the United States.
And it remains true "stuff", but stay in denial, I suspect you're good at that.
I think the fact of the matter is that what was once the greatness of Europe, society and the greatness of Christianity is because of the catholic church.
European society did not begin to make major advances until it began to throw off the 1000 year shackles of the church during the Renaissance,
I agree wholeheartedly. It's time the rest of the world adopted the Constitution of the United States of America as its blueprint for future peace and prosperity.
Is that what they tell you in Catholic school?
And you actually believe that?
Obviously, according to Scripture, God's Will was done in the head of the Church ending up in Rome under Peter:
Matthew 16: 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Notice how certain posters on this thread skipped these bold lines in jumping to the line where Jesus disciplined His first Pope?
"AUTO-DA-FE (more correctly auto-de-fe; "act of faith") the name of the ceremony during the course of which the sentences of the Spanish Inquisition were read.
"The ceremony comprised a procession in which members of the Holy Office, with familiars and agents, and the accused persons who had confessed their guilt and declared their penitence took part; a solemn mass; an oath of obedience to the inquisition, taken by the king and all lay functionaries; a sermon by the grand inquisitor; and the reading of the sentences, either of condemnation or acquittal, delivered by the Holy Office.
"The handing over of impenitent persons, and those who had relapsed, to the secular power, and their punishment, did not usually take place on the occasion of an auto-da-fe, properly so called." That is the entire unedited entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1973 edition, Vol. 2, page 856. One of the good old exhaustive Brittanicas not dumbed down to meet he lack of current scholarly standards in gummint skewels. You may imagine that your Wednesday night Bible Study folk are more in the know, but I doubt that they are.
Do you imagine that society as it exists at the dawn of the 21st century is LESS in need of a series of serious, ummmmm, inquiries into the beliefs and practices of perfidy among us than were the societies of the grand Age of Faith? 45 million slaughtered innocents via SCOTUS in our country alone; legalized lavender canoodling, courtesy of SCOTUS, homosexual child molesters among the Catholic clergy, public officials who want to call themselves "Catholic" while cheerleading and protecting infanticide and lavender "marriage" or civil unions or whatever, and you think it wise to reject the reinstitution of the Inquisition wherever possible????
The Inquisition still exists as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and has, in recent decades, been run by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Under him, it has successfully attacked and suppressed "Liberation Theology" which is armed Marxism-Leninism posing as Catholicism. Miscreants of the Marxist-Leninist variety are free to believe what they please. Governments or free men and women may shoot the miscreants when they seriously act out such beliefs to the detriment of the lives or property of decent citizens. If the miscreants simultaneously claim to be Catholic, the Holy Office or Inquisition can deal with that and has.
The Roman Catholic Church has formally recognized and pledged to defend the civil rights of those "in error" as to theology, including atheists and agnostics. This is one pledge which helped bring down the Iron Curtain and the soviet empire. You have referenced this as "freedom of religion."
The signature line is from the lyrics of a song in the songbook of the Party of the Right of the Yale Political Union: Torquemada's Band. The next line is "Another soul to heaven from Torquemada's Band." The tune is that of MacNamara's Band. The POR is comprised of Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Heinz's 57 varieties of Protestants, agnostics, atheists and even Nietszcheans. For the most part, the members (including a number of Protestant Federal Appellate judges since membership is for life at least) share a sense of humor sadly lacking in you.
The Catholic Church recognizes and supports free will. Free speech is a largely American notion and one which is admirable and practical in civil affairs but NOT within the Church as to its own affairs which, of course, are not at all your business.
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