Pope Benedict - Cnut or Genius?

Wazdakka

Pointless religious figurehead is pointless.

He is the elected leader of a multinational cult of people who worship an imaginary friend...
I have no opinion on him whatsoever

sensibleken

prinz wrote: »

Hush now Ken. You see...



It also says something about Thierry Henry's handball and a kangaroo on the loose in Meath.

What My Name Is URL is talking about has nothing to do with Fatima.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/akita.htm

ah i see.

I read somewhere the secret of fatima was that yor ma is fat

or maybe that she planned on having a holiday inside a tree stump in limerick

prinz

sensibleken wrote: »

or maybe that she planned on having a holiday inside a tree stump in limerick

The tree stumped was booked. I hear there's a toasted cheese sandwich available though. Complimentary bit of ham on arrival.

Kasabian

I personally am christened a Roman Catholic but would not call myself one. Having grown to be able to make my own mind up on something, I have decided Catholism is not for me. It's doctrine would be against my beliefs as a human being, it's willingness to judge me on it's out dated preachings have made me take the decision that it is not the church for me.

I still have that catholic guilt so easily engrained in my pysche as a child and everyday I find I push it away more and more. As an intelligent , free thinking individual I have decided that no church satisfies my beliefs but I do still hold onto my spiritualism.

Listening to the preachings of any man is not the way I want to live my life or develop my future. Being at peace with oneself is that comfort so many try to find through their church and faith. I have found it without a church but a sense that their is a greater reason for all.

My faith is that as a decent human being who believes that something greater exists in this life I have is, how I live my life . If it turns out that I am wrong and death is the end then fine , so be it . I don't know if there is life after death , I don't know if there is heaven and hell but I do know that those who put themselves up as the vessels of the message of thier God have failed me in getting the message across.

There are good and bad in all walks of life , some who genuinely want a church that is solid and truthful to it's beliefs , sadly they are being destroyed by the elected head of their church and some who have masked their evil in a cloak of precieved holiness.

The Pope as the head of the church is expected to preach the churches doctrine , sadly for the church humanity has moved on and it gets more outdated. He is neither a cnut or a genius , he is a fool that follows a doctrine that is out of touch with an ever increasing number of the once faithful. This is the cost the church has to pay to remain faithful to the words and beliefs it was founded on. The beifs that they are following the word of their God and will ultimately bring them through the gates of heaven and to be welcomed by their God.

If that gate exists then my belief is that if you are a decent person treating others with respect and care then your chances of crossing that threshold are as good as any devout christian who blindly follows the words of a man they believe speaks the word of God.

The Catolic church leaves itself open to derision each day and when the Pope speaks on matters as shown in the OP with words I believe cannot be taken seriosly by any right thing people ,it brings me to the conclusion that the church will collapse in my lifetime.

For some that will be a tragedy as they are good people who practice there faith with goodness and as decent human beings. I include some priests in this ,as I have met and still know good decent one's who have also questioned their faith due to the fact they have seen the ongoing problems in their church. sadly they are very far down the pecking order of the establishment that is the Catholic church which still has amazing powers weilding over so many in this world. That saddens me for these people.

prinz

Kasabian wrote: »

There are good and bad in all walks of life , some who genuinely want a church that is solid and truthful to it's beliefs , sadly they are being destroyed by the elected head of their church...
The Pope as the head of the church is expected to preach the churches doctrine , sadly for the church humanity has moved on and it gets more outdated..

Either the RCC can remain truthful to it's core beliefs/doctrine or it can chop and change to keep up with the trends of the day. Which is it to be? It must walk a tightrope tbh. Can't please all of the people all of the time.

My name is URL

prinz wrote: »

Either the RCC can remain truthful to it's core beliefs/doctrine or it can chop and change to keep up with the trends of the day. Which is it to be? It must walk a tightrope tbh. Can't please all of the people all of the time.

And who are they pleasing atm? With statements like the one made last week about ordaining women.. and claiming that condoms increase the risk of HIV?

The church has always changed with the times.. until recently anyway. When the theory of evolution first came to light the church embraced it rather than fight it.. "They can't please everyone all of the time" is bull****, they don't even try

Minstrel27

prinz wrote: »

As were a lot of people back in the day it seems. Parents, teachers, psychologists, gardaí, etc etc.

Cúnts the lot of them. Because a lot of people were makes it ok? Whatever floats your boat.

Absolution

i just think hes stuck in the past

Kasabian

prinz wrote: »

Either the RCC can remain truthful to it's core beliefs/doctrine or it can chop and change to keep up with the trends of the day. Which is it to be? It must walk a tightrope tbh. Can't please all of the people all of the time.

The RCC has to remain truthful to it's core doctrine. You can't have alá carte religion. If you want to remain a catholic you follow it's doctrine if not you walk away.

Kasabian

Absolution wrote: »

i just think hes stuck in the past

He is stuck in the past because that is where the writings that he follows comes from. The Bible and Gospels are not in the Catholic church a moveable feast.

prinz

My name is URL wrote: »

And who are they pleasing atm? With statements like the one made last week about ordaining women.. and claiming that condoms increase the risk of HIV?

First of all you'd need to know what was actually said. I'll take the ordination of women first..

(a) The sacrament of ordination is at present reserved for men. This may well change in the future however. At present though, as the sacrament is reserved for men, then anyone in the RCC ordaining women priests are committing a sacramental crime within the RCC, by conferring a sacrament outside of the currently allowable circumstances. The comparison to child abuse that was jumped upon was that child abuse is not a sacramental crime, simply because there is no sacrament in the RCC tradition which deals with child abuse. It is still a crime as far as both criminal and canon law is concerned. Ordaining women is not a criminal nor is it AFAIK is expressly forbidden in Canon Law. Can you see the difference? It was simply explaining where the issue of ordaining women in the RCC is. Suddenly it is jumped upon and you get people in righteous anger declaring the Vatican said ordaining women was as bad as/worse than child abuse. They said no such thing.

(b) The Pope never said that condoms increase the risk of HIV. It was a similarly misunderstood piece. What the Pope did say was that distribution of condoms alone can lead to an increase in instances of HIV. It has been shown to be true. The countries with the best record of confining HIV/AIDS have taken a holistic approach, with distribution of condoms in conjunction with proper education, sex education, behavioural analysis etc. Unfortunately accurate reporting doesn't sell quite as many newspapers etc as POPE SAYS CONDOMS CAUSE/SPREAD/GIVE YOU AIDS.

My name is URL wrote: »

The church has always changed with the times.. until recently anyway. When the theory of evolution first came to light the church embraced it rather than fight it.. "They can't please everyone all of the time" is bull****, they don't even try

Simply put there theologians found that there is no conflict in Catholic teaching and evolution. That was why they acknowledged evolution. In time the RCC may allow women priests.

I'd be curious as to just what change due to societal changes in recent times you like to see the RCC embrace? First you say the church always changed with the times, then you say they don't even try? The Church can embrace anything that doesn't conflict with core beliefs.

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Cúnts the lot of them. Because a lot of people were makes it ok? Whatever floats your boat.

Foreseeable misinterpretation.

Irish Guitarist

He was no more a Nazi than any other German at the time. He was a member of the Hitler Youth when he was a child, much like every other German (non-Jewish) boy. It's not like children had much choice in the matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI#Early_life:_1927.E2.80.9351

Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth — as membership was required by law for all 14-year old German boys after December 1939[9] — but was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings.[10] His father was an enemy of Nazism, believing it conflicted with the Catholic faith. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and killed during the Aktion T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics.

Just thought I'd mention it.

George Orwell 1982

I don't think its fair to compare Pope Benedict to a women's vagina. I like women's vaginas.