Pope Benedict XVI Decries "Clouds of Evil" Over Africa that Spawned War, Tribalism, Ethnic Rivalry

Now I have nothing against Pope Benedict XVI, but he has made some very controversial comments. The latest came during his visit to Africa. He celebrated Mass Sunday with an estimated one million Angolans and decried the “clouds of evil” over Africa that have spawned war, tribalism and ethnic rivalry that reduce poor people to slavery. Really Pope? Aren’t there clouds of evil all over this world and in your European continent as well?

“How true it is that war can destroy everything of value”, Benedict said. Evils in Africa have “reduced the poor to slavery and deprived future generations of the resources needed to create a more solid and just society,” he said. Source: Breitbart

These are the same evils that led European explorers and criminals to Africa and the Caribbean to plunder villages, enslave natives and rape the women, as well as eradicate millions with many diseases.

Filed under: Africans, Angola, Apology for Slavery, Ethnic Rivalry, Europeans, Pope Benedict XVI, Tribalism

Calls for Pope Benedict XVI to Step Down Heat Up after He Allowed Holocaust Denier Bishop Richard Williamson, Four Others, Back into the Fold

I am all for people speaking out against the ills of our society, but to call for Pope Benedict XVI to step down because of his decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust denier Richard Williamson and four other bishops is simply ridiculous. How come nobody bothered to call for the previous Pope to step down after the thousands of revelations of sexual abuse a myriad of Roman Catholic priests, some of who were moved around from parish to parish? This latest wave of criticisms after the Pontiff’s announcement have been particularly acrimonious in Germany, where denying the Holocaust is a crime punishable with a jail sentence. I don’t dispute that fact. They are right to condemn his actions, but to ask him to step down is ridiculous. The Vatican clearly made a serious error in its actions and it needs to apologize to the Jews.

“If the pope wants to do some good for the Church, he should leave his job,” eminent liberal Catholic theologian Hermann Haering told the German daily Tageszeitung. “That would not be a scandal, a bishop has to relinquish his position at 75 years, a cardinal loses his rights at 80 years,” he said. Pope Benedict is 81.

Meanwhile, a senior Vatican official acknowledged the Vatican administration may have made “management errors” with the decision to , whose comments sparked the controversy. “I observe the debate with great concern. There were misunderstandings and management errors in the Curia,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is in charge of the Vatican department that deals with Jewish relations. “The Pope wanted to open the debate because he wanted unity inside and outside,” the German cardinal told Vatican Radio. He also noted that “these bishops are still suspended.” Source: Breitbart

Williamson, an English bishop had dismissed as “lies” historical evidence that six million Jews were gassed by the Nazis during World War II. Jews and Catholics alike have produced widespread criticism. From the start, I saw Pope Benedict to be a very controversial person, much to the knowledge of many, so they should not be terribly surprised by his actions. Just last week he named a controversial ultra-conservative priest as auxiliary bishop in Linz, criticism also came from within the Church. It is painfully obvious that he has his own agenda and doesn’t seem to care one iota that his decisions seem to be on the ruthless side. They knew exactly what they were getting when the made him the Pope. Now deal with it. So, I guess there was no slavery either? Unbelievable.

Filed under: Bishop Richard Williamson, Holocaust Deniers, Nazi Germany, Nazis, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholics, The Vatican

Pope Benedict XVI Welcomes Holocaust Denier Bishop Richard Williamson and Three Other Bishops Back into the Fold

I am not a Catholic, but I do know that Pope Benedict XVI is ticking people off, one group at a time, with his radical views. It seems that Jewish officials in Israel and overseas are outraged that he decided to lift the excommunication of a bishop who denies that Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers. The pope’s decree, issued Saturday, brings back into the Catholic Church’s fold Bishop Richard Williamson and three other bishops who belong to the Society of Saint Pius X.

The society was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve, who rebelled against the Vatican’s modernizing reforms in the 1960s, and who consecrated the men in unsanctioned ceremonies. As a result, Pope John Paul II excommunicated the four in 1988.

The church’s decision to lift the excommunication comes a few days after a Swedish television aired an interview with Williamson in which he claimed the Nazis did not use gas chambers.

“I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against — is hugely against — 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler,” he said in the interview, which appeared on various Web sites since its broadcast. “I believe there were no gas chambers,” he added. Source: NY Daily News

So, what the Pope is saying is that it is okay to welcome a known holocaust denier into his fold. Hmmm, then he has a problem with gays and lesbians? What gives? The Pope’s actions sends a terrible message to Catholics worldwide. He’s saying there is room at his table for bigotry and racial hatred.

Filed under: Bishop Richard Williamson, Holocaust Deniers, Pope Benedict XVI, Society of Saint Pius X

Pope Benedict Compares Saving Homosexuals to Saving the Rainforest from Destruction

Well, the latest religious leader to join the dust-up over gay and lesbian rights is none other that Pope Benedict. He said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. Really Pope Benedict? The survival of the rainforest is akin to saving a homosexual from destruction? Totally insulting and reprehensible on his part. Many homosexuals don’t see their choice as one leading to destruction. The last people who need to talk about ruining someone’s life is the Catholic church. Pope Benedict, how about those priests that literally destroyed the lives of innocent kids when they molested them repeatedly? Was saving them comparable to saving the rainforest?

“(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed,” the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican’s central administration. “The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less.”

The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality “a deviation, an irregularity, a wound.”

The pope said humanity needed to “listen to the language of creation” to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as “a destruction of God’s work.” He also defended the Church’s right to “speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected.” Source: Reuters

I agree with him to a point, but the Roman Catholic church managed to conceal thousands of cases of homosexual acts of many priests, so to compare being a homosexual to saving the rainforest is actually an insult. Personally, the only thing I agree with him on is the issue of marriage. If it ever comes up for a vote in Georgia, I will most definitely vote against gay marriage. Sorry, folks, as a Christian, I just can’t bring myself to see marriage as anything other than between a man and a woman. He needs to apologize to these people for that comparison. Since when is the rainforest on par with humanity for the same attention and compassion? Isn’t he stoking homophobia from his comments?

Filed under: Heterosexual, Homosexuality, Marriage, Pope Benedict XVI, Rainforest, Same-Sex Marriage

Could a Black Pontiff Be Next? Daniel Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta Thinks The Time Is Right

I am not a Catholic, but I found an article in U.K.’s Times Online worth pondering. Is the world ready for a black Pope? According to Daniel Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta, who happens to be black, in the past Pope Benedict XVI had himself suggested that the election of a black pontiff would “send a splendid signal to the world” about the universal Church.

According to the Times Online, Archbishop Gregory, who in 2001 became the first African American to head the US Bishops Conference, serving for three years, said that the election of Mr Obama was “a great step forward for humanity and a sign that in the United States the problem of racial discrimination has been overcome.” He said that recent Popes, beginning with John XXIII and Paul VI, had brought prelates “from all nations and races” to Rome to take up senior positions in the Curia, the Vatican hierarchy. This offered “an international vision of a Church rich in diversity,” he told the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

“My own election as head of the US Bishops Conference was an important signal. In 2001 the American bishops elected someone they respected regardless of his race, and the same thing could happen with the election of a Pope,” he said. This week Pope Benedict XVI congratulated Mr Obama on his “historic” victory, offering his prayers for the President-elect “and for all the people of the United States.”

I must admit the thought is probably an intriguing one, but I am not sure it is sending the right message that they may be seeking to appoint someone solely based on his or her race. I believe that people should be appointed on the basis of their merits, not to be cherry picked to fit the prevailing mood. Barack Obama achieved such a feat because he ran and did so with a strong position of change, which is sorely needed in America and he made history along the way. So, what’s next for the Vatican after the black Pope is appointed? A female pontiff if a woman is elected as President in America? Now, that’s intriguing to some….

Filed under: Archibishop Daniel Gregory, Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI