New Pope Vows To Unify Christians (Pope Benedict XVI To Continue Eucumenical Outreach Alert)

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday pledged to work to unify all Christians, reach out to other religions and continue implementing reforms from the Second Vatican Council as he outlined his goals and made clear his pontificate would closely follow the trajectory of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, listed top priorities of his papacy in a message read in Latin to cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel for the first Mass celebrated by the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

He said his "primary task" would be to work to reunify all Christians and that sentiment alone was not enough. "Concrete acts that enter souls and move consciences are needed," he said.

The new pope said he wanted to continue "an open and sincere dialogue" with other religions and would do everything in his power to improve the ecumenical cause.

The message was clearly designed to show that Benedict was intent on following many of the groundbreaking paths charted by John Paul, who had made reaching out to other religions and trying to heal the 1,000-year-old schism in Christianity a hallmark of his pontificate.

Benedict referred to his predecessor several times in his message, including a reference to the late pope's final will, where John Paul said he hoped new generations would draw on the work of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meeting that modernized the church.

"I too ... want to affirm with decisive willingness to follow in the commitment of carrying out the Second Vatican Council, in the wake of my predecessors and in faithful continuity with the 2,000-year-old tradition of the church," he said.

John Paul supported council reforms but cracked down on what both men considered excesses spawned by the changes, including calls for priests to be allowed to marry and admission of women into the priesthood.

The Vatican's hard-line enforcer of church orthodoxy under John Paul II for almost 25 years, Benedict had gone into the two-day conclave as a favorite. He was elected Tuesday as the oldest pontiff in 275 years and the first Germanic pope in almost a millennium.

A cheering crowd of more than 100,000 welcomed Benedict when he stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as dusk fell Tuesday and gave his first blessing as pope. By contrast, St. Peter's Square was nearly empty early Wednesday, although by the end of the Mass a few hundred had gathered to watch on giant TV screens.

"We greet our Pope Benedict XVI," read a poster toted by teens from a high school in Handrup, Germany, who were in the square when his black Mercedes convertible, its top up and Vatican flags flying, zipped into and out of his former offices at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Benedict said he had been surprised by his election, and German Cardinal Joachim Meisner told reporters late Tuesday that he had looked "a little forlorn" when he went to change into his papal vestments in the Room of Tears — so nicknamed because many new pontiffs get choked up there, realizing the enormity of their mission.

Meisner added: "By the time dinner came around, Ratzinger was looking much better and very much like the pope."

Benedict asked cardinals to dine together on bean soup, cold cuts, a salad and fruit, Meisner said. The nuns who prepare their meals at the Vatican hotel where the cardinals were sequestered during the conclave didn't have time to plan a special menu, so there were only two special treats — ice cream and champagne.

In his first words as pope delivered from the loggia overlooking the square, Benedict paid tribute in accented Italian to "the great John Paul II." He called himself "a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord."

It was a sign of John Paul's charismatic legacy looming over the new pontiff, who is described by people who know him as intellectual, cultured and rather reserved.

Benedict said Wednesday he felt John Paul's presence as he wrestled with two conflicting emotions following the election: thanks to God for the gift of being pope but also "a sense of inadequacy" in carrying out the responsibility.

"I seem to feel his strong hand holding mine, I feel I can see his smiling eyes and hear his words, at this moment particularly directed at me: 'Be not afraid.'"

Benedict, who turned 78 on Saturday, is the oldest pope elected since Clement XII in 1730. His age clearly was a factor among cardinals who favored a "transitional" pope who could skillfully lead the church as it absorbs John Paul II's legacy, rather than a younger cardinal who could wind up with another long pontificate.

His election in four ballots over two days concluded one of the shortest conclaves in 100 years.

A conservative on issues such as homosexuality, the ordination of women and lifting the celibacy requirement for priests, Benedict has led the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — a position he used to discipline church dissidents and uphold church policy against attempts at reform by liberals and activist priests.

"God has taken the most unusual people and placed them in places of authority, power if you will, and used them for his purposes," said American Cardinal Adam Maida. "So I believe that Cardinal Ratzinger, with all his gifts and talents and even some of his shortcomings, will somehow be able to reach others."

British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor suggested Ratzinger might temper some of his positions, at least publicly, because of the office he now holds.

"The pope now has a platform and a place he didn't have before. Now he has much wider responsibilities, and I think he's aware of that," Murphy-O'Connor said, adding that Ratzinger was elected "notwithstanding his age."

Joy over the selection of a new pope immediately mixed with worries that Benedict could polarize a global church, whose challenges include growing secularism in rich countries and inroads by evangelical groups in regions such as Latin America.

"He could be a wedge rather than a unifier for the church," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit weekly magazine America.

Evelyn Strauch, a 54-year-old housewife from Ratzinger's home state of Bavaria, buried her head in her hands and wept as she stood in St. Peter's.

"This can't be true," she said. "I had hoped so much that we would get a good pope who would do something for women. ... This is so terrible."

"The cardinals elected a good and holy man who was close to Pope John Paul II," he said. "He'll be a wonderful and good leader in preaching the truth and love."

Benedict inherits a range of pressing issues. These include priest sex-abuse scandals that have cost the church millions of dollars in settlements in the United States and elsewhere, chronic shortages of priests and nuns in the West, and calls for easing the ban on condoms to help fight the spread of AIDS.

And he has to follow in the footsteps of John Paul II, the global pontiff who made 104 international trips in his more than 26 years as pope and set new standards in reaching out to other religions.

In an indication that he would indeed travel and continue to reach out to young people, Benedict said Wednesday he planned to attend the church's World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne, Germany, in August.

With his wispy silver hair blowing in the wind, the German prelate stood before the world's political and spiritual leaders at John Paul's funeral April 8 and offered an eloquent and sensitive farewell that moved some to tears.

Then, just before the cardinals entered the conclave Monday, he made clear where he stands ideologically, using words that John Paul would surely have endorsed. He warned about tendencies that he considered dangers to the faith: sects and ideologies like Marxism, liberalism, atheism, agnosticism and relativism — the ideology that there are no absolute truths.

"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires," he said.

He has denounced rock music, dismissed anyone who had tried to find "feminist" meanings in the Bible, and last year told American bishops it was appropriate to deny Communion to those who support abortion and euthanasia.

Benedict is the first Germanic pope in nearly 1,000 years. His faith is rooted in Bavaria, the Alpine region with Germany's strongest Catholic identity. Like many of his generation, he carries the burden of Germany's past.

In his memoirs, the policeman's son wrote of being enrolled in Hitler's Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He says he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood.

He and his older brother, Georg, were ordained in 1951. He taught theology and earned a reputation as a forward-looking prelate. He took part in the Second Vatican Council, but had some reservations.

Returning to Germany between sessions of the council, "I found the mood in the church and among theologians to be agitated," he wrote in his memoirs. "More and more there was the impression that nothing stood fast in the church, that everything was up for revision."

In 1977, he was appointed bishop of Munich and elevated to cardinal three months later by Pope Paul VI. He was one of only two cardinals in the latest conclave who were not chosen by John Paul.

Associated Press writers Tony Czuczka, Vanessa Gera, Brian Murphy, Daniela Petroff, Niko Price and Rachel Zoll contributed to this story.

I'll take a guess at what he means by Protestants following papal authority every easter. Protestants follow the date for easter defined and changed by pope Gregory XIII in 1582, instead of the one used by all Christians for the first 1500 years.

Actually, I just meant that every Easter lots of Protestants convert to Catholicism. We have a formal program of study which culminates in Confirmation and (for some) Baptism on the Easter Vigil.

But you make an excellent point. Not even the Gregorian calendar, but the setting of the date for Easter and the very idea of celebrating Easter are from the Catholic Church's mandate.

True, but there's actually lots of traffic in both directions.

Sure.

RCIA?

Yep.

there was only one structure in place that contained the Church; it was "catholic" in the sense of being universal—which I believe the True (invisible) Church still is;

When did the Church become invisible?

I would hate to have something that I did when I was 14 years old held against me.

He was forced into the Hitler Youth for a few months or years, maybe? He served as a priest for over 50 years.

I'd like to think that one easily cancels out the other.

But I know you speakers of truth for the last days are out there. Hang on reformjoy...its not an easy calling. My prayers are with you. (I made the Tower of Babel comment, in case you forgot which one I am.)

I know an involved friend out my way, who is very active in political issues involving child abuse.

I have my own interest in politics, but sometimes I wondered about my passion, the drive to speak out.

If God has a plan, and an Anti-Christ will rise, what is the purpose in crying out to our brothers and sisters?

I mean, if bad things are going to happen, why are we compelled to speak out about truth and what we see. Aren't we messing with fate??

My friend looked me square in the eye, with such strength...and said...

"You want to be on the right side, don't you?"

Wow. I was hit with lightning. all doubt gone and extinquished. Oh yes, there's going to be two sides in that final battle.

It's time to pick a side.

Freep on! :)

I mean, if bad things are going to happen, why are we compelled to speak out about truth and what we see. Aren't we messing with fate??
*****

Its only bad for the one who can't see what is coming. Jesus warned of the destruction of Jeruselum, it was harsh words, not one Christian perished in 70 A.D. according to the Jewish Historian Josephus. He obviously scared them enough they heeded His warnings, when they saw what they had been warned about. What would have happened had he stayed silent?

One of Satan's greatest tools is SILENCE.

whatever sect you belong to, if you are a bible-believing Christian, you must work for unity.

My faith is not to be controlled by any force outside of God and Christ.

Unity? This talk of unity smacks of the rantings of the coming of the AntiChrist and the mark of the beast.

Yes, the Bible is true after all.

We do live in interesting times....

The Pope, in and of himself, cannot unify the Church any more than fruit can appear without a tree. The Church is not his creation to unify or modify at will. He would probably be the last to say it is by his efforts that the Church comes into being and is sustained and unified. The Pope, if anything, is an instrument of Christ's in bringing together all who confess His Name and are, by His grace, willing to take up the cross and follow Him.

That is probably how the Pope is thinking, to the extent he abides in Christ together with the Church. Those who write about him ought to choose their words more carefully.

In view of the all-sufficient merits of the living Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world there is good reason for the Church to engage in gracious proclamation of the forgiveness of sin and everlasting life even for the most decadent of men. Ecumenism is a good thing if, and only if, this truth is at the forefront. All other wheeling and dealing is, by and large, for naught.

Christians MUST unite.

Riiiiiight.

Cardinal Ratzinger said in Sept 2000"
``The Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the primacy, which, according to the will of God, (the Pope) objectively has and exercises over the entire Church,''

He also said:"other Christian churches ``suffer from defects,'' the document said they had not been deprived of what it called ``significance and importance in the mystery of salvation.''

He further states that "church" can correctly be applied to the Orthodox churches which broke away from Rome nearly 1,000 years ago, but not to those which broke away at the time of the Protestant Reformation.

Given the history of his "church"(inquisitions, indulgences, Galileo, pedophile priests, ... Ad Nauseum), I'll take defective every time.

Thank God, then for Free Republic. There will be people who post here in years to come, who will try to intimidate the outspoken into silence. They will not use logic, but ridicule and try to pull us into their world of anger and deception hoping to trip us by our own mistakes.

Hold fast, speak clear.

Those who understand, will hear.

Blessing to you, always my FRiend.

There will be people who post here in years to come, who will try to intimidate the outspoken into silence.
*****
You can't be moved and you can't be intimidated. Truth can not be changed, a lie can be told a million different ways. The great deception is upon us, growing stronger by the day saturated with the religious spirit and control of the Pharisees, while The Bride's eyes, ears and understanding are becoming more precise, tuned to what the Spirit of Lord is proclaiming. REPENTANCE AND PREPARATION!

The Battle has begun and the gates of hell shall not prevail, don't be afraid.

God said, "My people are a peculiar people." You will not fit, you are not suppose to.

Blessings to you too Sis.

... the setting of the date for Easter and the very idea of celebrating Easter are from the Catholic Church's mandate.

I would still like someone to rationally explain how in the world anyone can possibly fit 3 days & 3 nights between sunset friday and sunrise sunday.

You are correct in that the institution was mandated by the RCC, yet year after year, Catholics, non catholics and even people of no particular religious background join in on this pagan practice. Why?

A simple study of scripture clearly refutes this practice and verifies Christs claim that he would indeed be in the grave the full 3 days & 3 nights.

There was NO sunday sunrise rise from the grave. Simple lack of knowledge and the williness to go along with the crowd is but one piece of evidence Satan has deceived this world.

The church has got to learn how to have disagreement without schism and communion without compromise.

If Pope Benedict can find a way that theologically conservative Catholics can find some sort of communion with theologically conservative Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox, than it can only be a good thing. It's a scandal how we fight amongst ourselves.

"If Pope Benedict can find a way that theologically conservative Catholics can find some sort of communion with theologically conservative Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox, than it can only be a good thing. It's a scandal how we fight amongst ourselves."

If you read some of the posts by Catholics on another thread today, you can see that the Pope has a lot of work to do.

By "unity," I mean unity among believers. The bible in several places chastises factionalism and sectarianism. Among Jesus' last prayers was "May they be one."

The anti-Christ will forge unity with those who deny the resurrection and divinity of Christ, and will claim to be Christ himself.

Amazing how you will label the command and prayer of Christ as smacking of "the rantings of the coming of the Anti-Christ."

The anti-Christ will forge unity with those who deny the resurrection and divinity of Christ, and will claim to be Christ himself.

But, isn't this another way of saying these people will BELIEVE the "other-Christ" (anti-Christ) is really Christ?

Those followers will be deceived! It will not be their intent to follow the dark side.

Good people will be deceived into supporting evil!

And supporting the accession of a member of Hitler's Youth is doing exactly that.

Both of you are spouting off about that which you do not understand, or are seriously attempting to disrupt threads about Pope Benedict XVI.

Neither of you are bringing credit to your denomination.

reformjoy, you have had the Hitler Youth thing explained to you numerous times and you keep acting like the man was a card-carrying Nazi.

Kanardly, you belong to a denomination which I believe considers the Roman Catholic Church the enemy.

I consider neither of you custodians of the Truth.

Oh my, custodians of the truth?

Miss Marple - had you done even a scant reading you would have found that Jesus staked His claim of being the Messiah upon spending a full 3 days & 3 nights in the grave. So if He did not, then He was not who He claimed to be. If He did, then there is no human reasoning or mathematical way to fit this time period between friday sunset and sunday sunrise.

As far as easter, anyone can easily find factual evidence that this was and is a pagan holiday, observed even long before the birth of Christ, yet continues today under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church (and incorporated into the mainstream of nearly all Christianity) as a tool to destroy the message of Christ.

Custodian of the truth? I don't think any mere human can claim that, but some things are black and white whether we like it or not.

"spouting off about that which you do not understand" ?
May i request you please show me biblical and or historical proof otherwise?

Either Jesus Christ is who He said He was - or He was an imposter and a liar.

What say you?

Jesus was and is the Son of God, the Messiah, come to deliver us from our sins.

As far as the three days thing, you are not accounting for how the people of that time accounted for "days" and for translation differences.

Most of the translations I have say that "on the third day, He arose." Day one, Friday. Day two, Saturday. Day three, Sunday. This is pretty elementary.

I am not going to get into a heavy theological discussion with you, because you are reading translations and interpretations that I don't recognize.

You and reformjoy have come on this thread and congratulated each other for your knowledge of Christianity, and consider yourselves superior to Roman Catholics. I find it offensive and disruptive in a thread that is for the discussion of Pope Benedict XVI's policies.

It is your privilege to believe the pope is in error. It is not your privilege to insult and disrupt.

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