[Gamecock]

"His Holiness' Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, lights a traditional Hindu devotional lamp before the statues of Hindu deities."

[Gamecock]

Soooo, did you pray this Hindu verse?
Did your local house of worship offer this pagan prayer up?

[Christian Engineer Mass]

Oh my gosh.

Not much longer to wait before the little horn proclaims his one world religion.

Pray to not be deceived.

[squarebarb]

I cannot imagine that the Pope has not already read and studied Hindru scriptures. He’s an educated man after all.

[Terry Mross]

Woo Hoo! It won’t be long now before we’ll be lifted outta’ here!

[icwhatudo]

Maybe Moses should have participated in the golden calf festivities and stopped being so judgmental...

/s

[The Comedian]

What-no-Koran-handy? ping.

Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.

[Reagan69]

Wow, this is disturbing.

[MEGoody]

HINDUS HAVE applauded Pope Benedict for including verse from ancient Hindu scripture Upanishads in the Good Friday Meditations and Prayers led by him at Roman Colosseum.

What???? Why in the %*## did the Pope do that?

[RnMomof7]

On Good Friday? I guess any god will do when striving to please man and not God

[Hodar]

I’m not Catholic; but I see nothing wrong with adding those lines in an address. There are several world religions that have admirable traits, thoughts and philosophies that can help us gain a better understanding of what we are to be.

Honestly, there is only 1 world-wide religion that I can think of that has nothing worthwhile to contribute to mankind - and it isn’t Satanism.... ok, ... make that 1 World-wide religion and one small cult.

[the invisib1e hand]

You left off the "Christian Fundamentalist Caucus" tag. You might need a "Snakehandlers" one, too.

Mods!

[jtal]

This may very well be true but I don’t remember hearing about this at the time (almost a year ago) and given that the service commemorates martyrs of the catholic faith who perished at the hands of pagans - I would be very surprised if it were.

But if it is true I agree that it is disturbing given the context. Nevertheless a pope doing something foolish like this ( or kissing the koran ) affects not at all the truth of Catholicism.

[Juana la Loca]

The quote that was used is: “Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.”

Nothing in that specific line that conflicts with Christianity.

[Alex Murphy]

Related threads:
Catholic center completes 25 years of 'Converting' people with leprosy to a healthy, dignified life
Hindu “Mass” Sparks Violent Altercation in Toronto Churchyard
Catholic priests seek to adopt Hindu rituals
Bishop Pilla Visits Hindu Temple
Photo Report of Hindu Ritual at Fatima: Pictures of a Desecration
Hindus smell greed in Vatican declaring "Simpsons" as Catholics

[metmom]

First a pope kissing the Koran.

Then a pope praying Hindu verse.

What next?

I shudder to imagine.

And yet the Catholic church denounces and condemns Protestants.

Unreal.....

[Pyro7480]

The article is from 2009. The Good Friday meditations from that year can be found at Way of the Cross at the Colosseum. It has this subheading: "MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS BY The Most Reverend THOMAS MENAMPARAMPIL, S.D.B., Archbishop of Guwahati (India)." So he was the author, not the Pope.

I browsed through the 14 Stations, and found the reference. Here's the full context, from the 14th Station:

Tragedies make us ponder. A tsunami tells us that life is serious. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain pilgrim places. When death strikes near, another world draws close. We then shed our illusions and have a grasp of the deeper reality. People in ancient India prayed: “Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.”[1]

After Jesus left this world, Christians began to look back and interpret his life and mission. They carried his message to the ends of the earth. And this message itself is Jesus Christ, who is “the power of God and the wisdom of God”.[2] It says that the reality is Christ [3] and that our ultimate destiny is to be with him. [4]

[1] Brihadaranyaka Upanishads 1.III.28.
[2] 1 Cor 1:24.
[3] Cf. Col 2:17.
[4] Cf. Phil 1:23.

Ah, so he didn't pray the pagan verse. It was a quotation. The meditations by the Indian bishop also included a quote from Shakespeare, but the overwhelming quotations/citations were from Scripture.

[IbJensen]

Since I hear only the Tridentine Mass as approved and guaranteed by Pope Pius X, I am spared ridiculously evil situations like this one.

What explanations will be forthcoming to God from the originators and those subsequent popes to Vatican II? They won’t mean a thing.

[DannyTN]

Act 17:22 ¶ Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, [Ye] men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. Act 17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Act 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Act 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; Act 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; Act 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Act 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by [that] man whom he hath ordained; [whereof] he hath given assurance unto all [men], in that he hath raised him from the dead. Act 17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this [matter].

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

The Pope knows what he's doing. He would not read something as a prayer that is contrary to Catholicism. It's easy to find an isolated verse or two from other religions that are OK. That is not an endorsement of the other religion.

[exPBRrat]

I think what my furor Pope thinks.