Posted on 09/11/2002 5:32:02 AM PDT by Pern
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, marking the anniversary of the attacks on U.S. cities, branded terrorism "ferocious inhumanity" but asked for prayers that God would show mercy and forgiveness for the attackers.
The pope also urged the world to change in situations of injustice that spurred the desire for revenge.
"We pray for the victims today, may they rest in peace, and may God show mercy and forgiveness for the authors of this horrible terror attack," he said in Polish, according to a translation provided by Vatican Radio.
The pope was speaking in unscripted remarks in Polish during a special general audience dedicated to commemorating the victims of the attacks by hijacked aircraft on New York and Washington landmarks.
The service included mourning music and a peace prayer.
"Terrorism is and always will be a manifestation of ferocious inhumanity, and because it is, it never will resolve conflicts between human beings," he told some 10,000 people in the Vatican's vast auditorium.
"Violence can only lead to further hatred and destruction."
But he called for changes in "scandalous situations of injustice and oppression, which continue to afflict so many members of the human family, creating conditions that are favorable to the uncontrolled explosion of the thirst for vendetta."
After his address, special prayers were read in several languages, including Arabic, for the victims of the attacks and for peace among religions.
MORE THAN 3,000 DEAD
More than 3,000 people died in the attacks on New York's World Trade Center, U.S. military headquarters at the Pentagon on the Washington outskirts and in a hijacked plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
The prayer read in Arabic asked believers of all religions to "firmly reject every form of violence and commit themselves to resolving conflicts with sincere and patient dialogue" while respecting different histories, cultures and religions.
Speaking in a somber voice in his address, the pope said injustices had to be tackled through urgent and resolute political and economic actions.
He said that when fundamental rights were violated in oppressive situations, "it is easy to fall prey to the temptation of hate and violence."
But one year on, the pontiff said it was not enough to commemorate the victims and pray for their families.
"We also want to interrogate the consciences of those who planned and carried out such a barbarous and cruel action," he said.
"One year after September 11, 2001, we repeat that no situation of injustice, no feeling of frustration, no philosophy or religion can justify such an aberration."
"On this very sad anniversary, we raise to God our prayer so that love may be able to take the place of hate, and, with the help of all people of good will, that concord and solidarity may take root in every corner of the earth," he said.
If Luther hadn't deliberately removed books from the Bible containing references to praying for the dead you would know that this practice is both historical and scriptural (2 Maccabees 12:38-46).
Has he ever asked God for mercy for himself on this matter?
PS. When I say directly responsible I mean THEY DID IT THEMSELVES!
I presume the "infallible" pope of that time was right behind the burning of heretics, too. Or is just this one infallable?
2 Mac?! Try using a book of actual Biblical Cannon.
Matt 12:32 supports purgatory? Hardly. It only states that those who refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit, those who resist the prompting of the Holy spirit, will not be saved. It's an obvious statement, and not one that supports and purgatory.
1 Cor 3 is a chapter discussing the ministers of God and their teaching will be tested. You're stretching here.
If you can come up with one good Biblical verse saying: when we die there is a place called purgatory where we are cleansed before going to having I'll concede the point.
"In every religious system, except that of the New Testament, the doctrine of purgatory after death and prayers for the dead have always found a place. In ancient and modern times, we find that paganism leaves hope after death for sinners, who, at the time of their departure, are unrepentant, and consciously unfit for heaven. For this purpose a "middle state" was invented in which guilt could be removed in the future world by means of purgatorial pains.
In Greece the doctrine of a purgatory was taught by the very chief of the philosophers. Thus Plato, speaking of the future judgment of the dead, holds out the hope of final deliverance for all, but maintains that, of "those who are judged," some must first "proceed to a subterranean place of judgment, where they shall sustain the punishment they have deserved." In pagan Rome, purgatory was also held up before the minds of men.
In Egypt, substantially the same doctrine of purgatory was taught. But once this doctrine of purgatory was admitted into the popular mind, then the door was opened to all manner of priestly extortions. Prayers for the dead can be completely efficacious without the priest as intermediary and no priestly functions can be rendered unless there be special pay for them. Therefore, in every land we find the pagan priesthood "devouring widow's houses," and making merchandise of the tender feelings of sorrowing relatives sensitively alive to the immortal happiness of their be loved dead.
Such was the operation of the doctrine of purgatory and prayers for the dead among avowed and acknowledged pagans, and it differs in no way from the operation of the same doctrine as taught by the Roman Catholic Church. There are the same extortions in both. The doctrine of purgatory is purely pagan, and cannot for a moment stand in the light of Scripture. For those who die in Christ no purgatory is or can be needed; for "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin." If this be true, where can there be the need for any other cleansing? On the other hand, for those who die without personal union with Christ, and consequently unwashed, unjustified, unsaved, there can be no other cleansing; for, while "he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life," and never can have it. Search the Scripture through, and it will be found that, in regard to all who "die in their sins." The decree of God is irreversible: "Let him that is unjust be unjust still, and let him that is filthy be filthy still.""
It's only a biblical practice if it's actually in the bible, and it is not. Neither book of Maccabees is in the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, and neither is considered holy scripture by the Jews.
The Pope is charged with carrying on the work of Jesus on Earth. So, what would Jesus do?
Nobody ... just be ready and willing to try to explain that to God, and take the judgment resulting.
Don't give me the verse on Peter either because there was no direct linage from Peter except by invention.
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