Posted on 03/19/2009 5:06:17 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Pope Benedict's repeated gaffes and the Vatican's inability to manage his message in the internet era are threatening to undermine his papacy, Vatican insiders have said.
The Holy See is struggling to contain international anger over the Pope's claim on his first official visit to Africa that Aids "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".
The Pope's remarks about condoms, and a recent furore over his lifting of the 20-year excommunication of a British bishop who has questioned the Holocaust, has left him looking isolated and out of touch, prompting calls for a radical shake-up of the way the Holy See delivers its message.
The Pope is isolated and fails to adequately consult his advisers, said a Vatican source with 20 years' knowledge of the Holy See.
Another Vatican insider described Pope Benedict's four-year-old papacy as "a disaster", recalling the pontiff's previous inflammatory remarks on Islam and homosexuality.
"He's out of touch with the real world," the Italian insider said. "On the condom issue, for example, there are priests and bishops in Africa who accept that condoms are a key part of the fight against Aids, and yet the pope adheres to this very conservative line that they encourage promiscuity. The Vatican is far removed from the reality on the ground."
The Vatican's traditional culture of secrecy has made it ill-equipped to communicate its message in the internet age.
The Holy See claimed that the Pope had no idea that British bishop Richard Williamson had denied the extent of the Holocaust, but critics have pointed out that a simple Google search would have uncovered the maverick's anti-Semitic views.
"Until recently the Vatican was secretive and their way of controlling the message of the Church was to release information slowly and highly
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
St. Malachy, (d. 1148) Irish Bishop and Seer, produced an accurate list of future popes which began with Pope Celestine II in the year 1143. His list consists of a single line which gives a clue to the characteristics of each pope. From this list of 112 popes there are to be just 2 more after Pope John Paul II who passed away on 2 April 2005. His predictions regarding the popes have been for the most part pretty accurate regarding the identifying characteristics that each line reveals. St. Malachy doesn’t give any predictions or information about what happens after the last pope. According to some other seers, we will have arrived at the end times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes
And...
Prophecy of St. Nilus concerning 20th Century
Catholic Encyclopedia - St Nilus (d. circa 430 AD)
Many, many years ago... St. Nilus
After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; they will completely lose their faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints. And all this will result from the fact that the Antichrist wants to be Lord over everything and become the ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. He will also give depraved wisdom to an unhappy man so that he will discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is deceit of the Antichrist. And, the impious one! — he will so complete science with vanity that it will go off the right path and lead people to lose faith in the existence of God in three hypostases. Then the All-good God will see the downfall of the human race and will shorten the days for the sake of those few who are being saved, because the enemy wants to lead even the chosen into temptation, if that is possible... then the sword of chastisement will suddenly appear and kill the perverter and his servants.
Pretty amazing the prediction considering when it was made.
Vatican insiders? Who? Ron Howard and Dan Brown?
Might as well been them, this is b.s. of the stinkiest like fresh on my shoe kind.
and yet the pope adheres to this very conservative line
********
All you needed to read is this line.
The Pope angers cafeteria Catholics.
Actually the story read: "a Vatican source with 20 years' knowledge of the Holy See." I think your guess of a reporter could be right. There are some who have covered the place for that long. Or it could just be a liberal Catholic who has been a Vatican watcher for that long, and has his knickers in a twist, because Pope Benedict is SO effective.
Thank God for it!
what a load of crap!!!! Thi shas been the consistent message of the Holy See since AIDS started. It's also true.
Shades of “Father Elijah!”
Hmmmm. The UN has been distributing condoms in Africa like they were leaves falling from trees for 20 years and the AIDS rate has only gone up. So perhaps the issue of promiscuity and the common practice of anal sex with prostitutes (which many women fall into as a second job) is the problem and not the lack of condoms.
The truth is often unkind.
What's the breakage rate on condoms? Multiply that by the frequency of sex and you soon find yourself having unprotected sex.
Where have condoms been shown to reduce AIDS? Certainly not in Africa.
Much as I love John Paul II, I’m glad there will be no Koran-kissing by this Pope.
“Atheists Condemn Pope for Advocating Religion, Say Should Resign.”
That's exactly what is going on. Living through this has an almost surreal quality right now.
No qestion. But that's not what I was addressing in my post. Somebody had made the absurd claim that...
"It is a scientific fact that the AIDs virus is so small it can easily move through the wall of a condom."
That is what I was addressing. And, if you want to find someplace where condoms have reduced with great significance the HIV infection rate, you need look no further than India.
Um, what prophecy would this be?
I think some RC Bishop or some such made some predictions about a long string of Popes and this is supposed to be the 2nd to the last one with the next one supposed to be evil etc.
However, as the quotes of USA and other leaders ref’d in my tagline affirm . . . even the Pope back at the time of that quote—I forget which one—was supporting a world government—which the Bible is clear about being satanic, evil to the max.
Nostradamus.
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