[NYer]

FULL TEXT

Cardinal Ratzinger On Europe's Crisis of Culture (Part 1) The "God"less Society

Cardinal Ratzinger On Europe's Crisis of Culture (Part 2) - "Dogmatism"

[NYer]

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[One Proud Dad]

It is not, it is a disgusting blight on mankind, a sin, and an afront to God.

[the invisib1e hand]

he doesn't quite connect with the everyday joe like JPii, but I do agree with him. i think.

[murphE]

The Cardinal expressed his belief that the reasons given by the architects of the EU Constitution for excluding God from the document—that the mention of God or recognition of the Christian roots of the continent might offend those of other religions—doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions." GK Chesterton

[mware]

Good post.

BTW, I sure hope that Fr Frank has a talk with Senator Frist. He not only turned his head against the president but more importantly, turned it on the culture of life as well.

I'm very disappointed in his new stand on stem cell research.

[delacoert]

A confused ideology of freedom leads to dogmatism, which is showing itself increasingly hostile to freedom

Succinctly and powerfully stated. Thank you Pope Benedict.

[wagglebee]

Ratzinger concluded by expressing his strong doubt that the Enlightenment culture will ever provide a common cause for men. “We have to ask ourselves,” says the Cardinal, “if it is really complete in itself, to the degree that it has no need of a root outside itself.” The implied answer, of course, is no, the Enlightenment culture without the firm foundation of Europe’s roots in Christianity can only devolve into a pseudo and dogmatic religion, ultimately restrictive of freedom.

That is an incredibly powerful statement!
Secularism restricts freedom -- I love it!

[FearNoMan]

homosexuality

adj 1: morally reprehensible; "would do something as despicable as murder"; "ugly crimes"; "the vile development of slavery appalled them" [syn: despicable, ugly, unworthy] 2: thoroughly unpleasant; "filthy (or foul or nasty or vile) weather we're having" [syn: filthy, foul, nasty] 3: causing or able to cause nausea; "a nauseating smell"; "nauseous offal"; "a sickening stench" [syn: nauseating, nauseous, noisome, loathsome, offensive, sickening]

[bubman]

Great post. Thank-you Rapsinger for stating the obvious. This Pope will get me in church more often.

[Palladin]

Benny nailed it on this one!

[TAdams8591]

"A confused ideology of freedom leads to dogmatism, which is showing itself increasingly hostile to freedom"

Precisely and well stated!!!! How many times have we all proposed similar arguments here on FR?

[NeoCaveman]

A confused ideology of freedom leads to dogmatism, which is showing itself increasingly hostile to freedom.”

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

[NYer]

Ping!

[OpusatFR]

Papa Benedict is preparing the saints. He's giving warning.

You knew this was coming.

[fish hawk]

As a non-Catholic, let me say, I was a great admirer of John Paul and now I believe I am going to like this Pope even more. His statement is on Europe but it also could apply to America. God be with this man and keep him safe.

[Kazul]

There's a quote of one of the founding fathers that goes something like 'freedom is first binding yourself to God' though far better sounding and more poetic than that. People seem to forget that. It's the do-it-if-it-feels-good mentality. It's awful at school.

[Kazul]

There's a quote of one of the founding fathers that goes something like 'freedom is first binding yourself to God' though far better sounding and more poetic than that. People seem to forget that. It's the do-it-if-it-feels-good mentality. It's awful at school.

[Graymatter]

I am fervently wishing B16 a long, long life. :)

[fortunecookie]

Thank you, bookmarking. I remember studying psychology not so long ago in college and at that time, it was still taught that homosexuality was an objective disorder and even treatable for some. It was being argued then (early-mid 80's) that it should be removed as a 'disorder'. Some of my profs didn't think it would be removed. But it was. Now will we follow Canada and make it a crime to speak against it in any way?

[Gritty]

I'm glad to see this Pope speak out on these subjects. This frank discussion is long overdue in Europe as well as America.