THAT was wonderful to hear!
You're brave, do you know that? I can just hear the rumbling, grumbling, and growling of the "Catholic bashers" coming toward you? There are so few of those on here like you, who can be rational! I can't believe all this vitriol on here against Catholics and our leader! They pounce on every blessed article the media can dish out on how the Pope scolded Bush; and they fall for it like a ton of bricks, and believe every word.
Normally, many of them wouldn't believe half of what the liberal US or world media has to say. But an article comes up like that, and a switch goes off somewhere, and the bashing of the church, and the Pope is full-swing! I realize that there are issues people have, but must they paint the whole church with a tar-brush?
You don't even hear a thing about how the Pope is against abortion or homosexual behavior, or other social issues. No, all I hear is the constant complaining of how he has no moral authority because of the bad eggs in the priesthood.
Why, just why, can't we hear of good things the people of the church do, and by extension, the Pope? Yeah, maybe he's against war; but he's also against terrorism, and he was also against the way the Nazis and the Communists treated people!
He complimented us in this speech. Maybe there was a mild rebuke in there about the war; but in general, he seemed to be praising the efforts of the soldiers in WW11 and up till the present conflict in Iraq.
I realize us Catholics need to work on cleaning out our own rooms, and disciplining those that were wrong. However, didn't the Lord say something about "Removing the log out of our own eye, before trying to take the mote out of another's eye"?
This can happen in any organization, any profession. It could even happen in 'their' churches! I don't care how 'conservative' they think they are, or how 'conservative' they think their churches are. They have to remember that even the Puritans had 'rascals' among them! Maybe they need to be reminded what happened in Salem, Massachusettes 300 years ago? Those people were as 'conservative' as they come!
Do they remember what the Lord had to say to the Pharisees? Yeah, they were pretty 'conservative' too! And a number of them, as I recall, put him to death, because they couldn't stand to hear the truth about their own behavior.
Maybe they (Catholic bashers, not honest critics) should learn about a little word called 'respect'. They have fellow "Freepers" on here, who although mad about SOME of our leaders, still admire and support many others, including our Pope.
And we all together, will straighten our own church up; as we have done for 2000 years! Over and over if necessary, because we are all human, and are capable of sin! Other churches have them too; and these people need to tend their own 'houses' and see if they need some cleaning! Surely they have humans in there too, humans that sin?