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.
The pope stands up in broad daylight and announces to the world we need a "New International Order" to bring peace to the world.
We need a new international order, new world military, world currency, world political system, new world religion, and new WORLD LEADER.
"Jingoism?"
It's certainly obvious you're a Patsy.
Now, it's called VISA, MC, DISCOVER, and ELECTRONIC CURRENCY.
Buchanan's isolationism continues to be discredited by world events.
He's an entertaining television commentator, however.
We Catholics notice that the deform (unlike Luther himself) has developed a very jaundiced view as to Mary, denying doctrines like the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Assumption of Mary and the perpetual virginity of Mary and, as to the last, engage in legendary feats of YOPIOS gymnastics to deny Mary her due.
Whatever the bona fides of the deformation founders (and there is plenty of reason to question that), there is no question that they have produced a wild cornucopia of heretical offshoots, each containing many who think themselves Peter or cling to the silly notion that their opinions are as good as any other "opinions." Then the resort is ever to the Scriptures as the Word of God (which they most certainly are) but only according to the convenient understanding of the deformed reader. Need rationalizations for birth control (which no Christian church Catholic or deformed allowed 100 years ago). No problem: do-it-yourself interptretation of translated and retranslated passages will do the trick. Divorce? Likewise. You are probably at least as familiar as I am and probably at least as disgusted with those self-interpeters who have decided that God's punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah was because of the residents' lack of hospitality rather than the sexual perversions which many wished to practice on God's angels taking the form of men. YOPIOS leads nowhere. We have nearly two thousand years of learned commentary and explication in the Teaching Magisterium of the one and only Church created by Jesus Christ and not by the wounded ego or id of some renegade monk or the guy who runs the corner gas station or the store-front self-appointed preacher. That commentary was produced by men (and some women like St.Catherine of Siena) ranging from the apostles themselves to those who learned from them directly (i.e., St. Ignatius of Antioch and other authors of the early second century Didache), the early Church Fathers and those who have supplemented their analysis ever since.
You may seek in good faith along with the more aggressive of your reformed brethren to convert adequately catechized Roman Catholics to join you in the wilderness of YOPIOS. As my Irish grandmother often observed: Misery loves company. You cannot advance adequate reasons for Catholics to to join you. There are no such reasons. You have willingly cut yourselves off from the fullness of the Church of Jesus Christ. On those occasions when you are in agreement with the Teaching Magisterium, good for you! When you are not, we may recall that Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane over His knowledge that His flock would not be one flock.
You do not have to be a Roman Catholic to be saved since Christ's flock is not one flock. There is a considerable degree of effrontery and hubris, however, displayed by those who imagine that Christ did all that He did so that Fr. Martin Luther, casting an overly fond glance at Sister Katy, decided to found the Church of Jesus Christ in 1517 by massacring his every vow and causing her to massacre hers. Bear in mind where you got the Bible that Luther shortened as to its Old Testament and vilified as to its New Testament in part (the Epistle of James, Revelation, etc.)
Finally, if you are a conservative in the United States, Catholics are 28% of the population here and climbing in percentage. On the social issues that matter in our society (as opposed to our respective pulpits), Catholics are allied with Southern Baptists (17% of Americans), Missouri Synod Lutherans, Wisconsin Synod Lutherans, Good News Methodists, Westminster Presbyterians, Orthodox Jews, genuine Muslims, Mormons and socially conservative agnostics and atheists (however rare those two categories may be). We Catholics are in full agreement with none of these on doctrine but in 95% agreement with the conservative Protestants.
Why use this website to stir up trouble among conservatives who generally agree on taxes, on foreign and military policy, on abortion, on the nature of marriage, on regulation on small government, on guns, on other matters? All we do is entertain our common enemies.
If you are conservative as to matters political, you aren't going to win without us and we aren't going to win without you. You are probably not going to pope and I can assure you without fear of contradiction that I am not joining the protest against the RCC. There are leftists, atheists and agnostics (not you or other sincere Protestants) who stir up this trouble on here to take advantage of our respective fervors. Those leftists, atheists and agnostics are as wise as doves and as gentle as serpents, if you get my drift. Why reward them? Celebrate the good that you will acknowledge among Catholics as we acknowledge the good to be found among you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.