New Pope

[Emma Jane]

"The newly elected Pope, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 19, 2005. Ratzinger is the 265th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
AP Photo/Jasper Juinen"

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/special/4_19special6.htm

This picture eerily looks like the Emperor, from the Star Wars pre-tril and trilogy.

eerily


by the way, I mean no offence, if any is taken

[Koliedrus]

No offense taken.

I'm Catholic (cradle) and half German.

I also notice that the vestments are crooked.

Let's see what happens.

[Cruise Director]

I was talking with a co-worker today and it donned on me that I have been alive for three popes now. That's got to be something.

It will be interesting what will become of this pope and the relations with American catholics. I saw some figures where a majority of American catholics were in favor of birth control, priests getting married and women being allowed in the priesthood.

Can religion liberalize?

[mute]

WE HAVE A POPE!

When I hear 'German' and 'Pope', I think 'power', 'World War I and II'.

Uh ohs!

[Koliedrus]

WE HAVE A POPE!

When I hear 'German' and 'Pope', I think 'power', 'World War I and II'.

Uh ohs!
How do feel about 'Texan' and President'?

Have a look at where the "German Shepherd" took his new name (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XV).

On 25 May 1914 Chiesa was appointed a cardinal and, in this capacity, on the outbreak of World War I—with the papacy vacant upon Pius X's death on 20 August—he made a speech on the Church's position and duties, emphasising the need for neutrality and promoting peace and the easing of suffering. The conclave opened at the end of August, and, on 3 September 1914, Della Chiesa was elected Pope, taking the name of Benedict XV.

His pontificate was dominated by the war, which he termed "the suicide of Europe", and its turbulent aftermath. His early call for a Christmas truce in 1914 was ignored, and though he organised significant humanitarian efforts (establishing a Vatican bureau, for instance, to help prisoners of war from all nations contact their families) and made many unsuccessful attempts to negotiate peace, his effectiveness even in Italy was undermined by his pacifist stance. The best known was the seven-point Papal Peace proposal of August 1917, demanding a cessation of hostilities, a reduction of armaments, guaranteed freedom of the seas, and international arbitration. Only Woodrow Wilson responded directly, declaring that a declaration of peace was premature; in Europe each side saw him as biased in favour of the other and were unwilling to accept the terms he proposed. This resentment resulted in the exclusion of the Vatican from the Paris peace conference of 1919; despite this, he wrote an encyclical pleading for international reconciliation, Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum.

I dunno. I never met the guy. Doesn't sound like a power-seeking warmonger but, like mute, I haven't studied the histories of either pontif in much detail so I won't draw conclusions from what little information I have in my skull.

"German Catholic who looks like a science fiction character" seems more hysterical (both funny and otherwise) than enlightening to me. I hesitate to use the word "stereotypical" but there it is.

I'm also finding it interesting that many agnostics, athiests and religious tend to lean toward the same outlook when world events are concerned; bad times ahead. It's like different colonies of ants battling over the existence of a cricket.

And would someone please explain to me how Peter became the foundation of Christ's church and protestants hate that church so much?

No really. I don't know. I suppose I could Google for opinions but no thanks. I'll take what I get here for now.

Sorry about that. Had to shit it out. Now I feel all clean inside ;)

[Stuart]

I just hope he doesnt take 'unification' too far in his attempt to be a broad church. True, I think that half of Catholics have it completely wrong anyway, through either false teaching or simply being 'nominal' Catholics, and thinking that they are saved anyway. However, for those I do believe to be Christians (by the by, just because I believe that only half are, it could vary wildly, from 5% to 95%, because I dont know all of them) I'd rather see a Church built on solid teachings and doctrine, rather than having it watered down to try and placate the liberals, on most areas, like the following. No sex give you a 0% chance of contracting a STD (apart from freak blood mingling accidents). Paul (the apostle) spoke specifically about the sin of lust for the same sex (its no worse than any other, but still a sin). As for male priests, I do believe that priests should be male. But be allowed to marry, because I dont see anywhere in the Bible where it says otherwise. And as for other things, well, im not a Catholic, just an evangelical Anglican, so I cant comment upon them apart from the obvious or that which i've come across. However, a strong, theologically sound pope could go a long way to bringing more believers into the fold.

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

I thought lust was a sin in general - regardless of the object being lusted after? Isn't sex supposed to be purely for the purpose of procreation?

Slightly off topic, but I went to my first gay marriage the other day. It was a beautiful ceremony. I cried. I'm such a wuss.

[Stuart]

No, sex can be fantastic, Muffy, but only within the confines of marriage. God gave us the ability and the desire, he simply states the proper mode to use it. Within marriage, between a man and a woman. A

ctually, what you said is what happened to one of my friends. He's rather good with women, being rather good looking and generally well dressed and mannered, and this barlady started chatting him up. Eventually they got onto what he did during the week.


'Im at theological college.'
'So you're a Christian, right?'
'Thats right'
'So that means that you can't have sex, doesn't it?'
'No' he said, with a giant smile 'it means I have the best sex in my life, with the wife that I love.'

I have never seen anyone look so shocked in a good while.

In the end, sin is simply a symptom of our rebellion against God. We all rebelled, we all sin, which is why no sin is worse than any other.

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Personally I've quite enjoyed sex outside of marriage too.