The New Pope

[GarthP2000]

Okay folks. Now that we know that John Ratzinger is the new Pope Benedict XVI (the 16th, for all those who have trouble with Roman numerals ;)-->), what do you all here think of him. Both Catholic and non.

Let the Discussium Re Pontificum fly.

[pawtucket]

Wasn't he on Cheers?

[Steve!]

I think that was John Katzenjammer.

[Hills Bro]

Holy Smoke !! :D-->

[LG]

quote:

Originally posted by GarthP2000:

Okay folks. Now that we know that John Ratzinger is the new Pope Benedict XVI (the 16th, for all those who have trouble with Roman numerals), what do you all here think of him. Both Catholic and non.

Let the Discussium Re Pontificum fly.

Are you just granting others permission or do you have an opinion? BTW, the name is Joseph, not John.

[GarthP2000]

quote:

Are you just granting others permission or do you have an opinion?

My, my, ... haven't had our morning coffee, have we?

I'm not granting anyone 'permission' as it were, just starting up a discussion, ok? ... Damn

quote:

BTW, the name is Joseph, not John.

I stand corrected.

[GrouchoMarxJr]

Maybe because the new pope is German...I dunno, but when I saw him grinning with his new pope hat on, for just a split second he looked like Veepee wierwille! That round German face and those sunk in eyes...

His reputation is that of a staunch conservative who has put in considerable time in understanding church doctrine...hmmm, as long as doesn't start handing out green name tags...

[johniam]

Wonder if he digs the Scorpions.

[excathedra]

"the enforcer"

--

i think his name comes up in the book, "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II" by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner

i'll let you know when i finish reading it

[hiway29]

well, he was a member of the Hitler youth program, on two occasions, later claiming he had no choice. I don't know enough about him, the program, or Germany to pass judgement, but it is not an encouraging resume.

[Allan]

Certainly interesting that the elected pope is einen Deutschlander.I have been reading Gerald Flurrys' trumpet mag articles about the rise of Germany again.

According to Flurry, Germany(who have a bad record for starting world wars)have been hungering to once again be a European superpower and have been working away at dominating the EU to achieve this end.The Yugoslavia coflict reached the desired end for them in that the Kosovans and Bosnians broke away from Yugoslavia and aligned themselves with Germany.

The big losers,Serbia,who had fought with the allies AGAINST Germany in the second world war!

I don't consider myself a 'hardcore' conspiracist but Gerald Flurry has been saying for a number of years that the RC church(whore)will ride on the back of a European superpower(beast)

[mstar1]

I really don't know that much about him except what Ive heard the last few days. I've heard all sorts of radio comments today, some of which aren't too flattering.

The Germans (who do know him)apparently don't like him much as church attendance has been way down. He is supposedly pretty heavy handed on doctrine which isn't something that appeals to me...or something that I think will have positive effects worldwide.

I'm not up on my Cardinals or workings of the Catholic Church,but I was sort of hoping for the Nigerian or South American, someone who had more field experience and hadn't spent their life at ' the root'.

Anyone can change but when I heard he had been a Nazi soldier it didn't sound like something that should be on a Pope's resume.

I guess we will have to wait and see, he has some big shoes to fill

[Wacky Funster]

Benedict? What a dumb name ...he actually chose it!!!

Pope Benny...the big ben...

I could care less...I still don't get it...!!!

[smurfette]

Not too encouraging to me either...when John Paul II passed away the religious commentators for vatican city were saying that the new pope's name would say a lot. If he had went with Paul/John or John Paul he would have been making a statement that he intended to do a lot of what JP II did. The fact he chose something so different indicates he doesnt intend to follow JP II's example

[markomalley]

quote:

Originally posted by mstar1:

I really don't know that much about him except what Ive heard the last few days. I've heard all sorts of radio comments today, some of which aren't too flattering.

(snip)

I'm not up on my Cardinals or workings of the Catholic Church,but I was sort of hoping for the Nigerian or South American, someone who had more field experience and hadn't spent their life at ' the root'.

mstar: the only African who was deemed a candidate was Cardinal Arinze. He would be extremely conservative and plain spoken in his approach.

Likewise, all of the potentials from Latin America would have been pretty orthodox, as well.

Remember that JPII appointed all of these people, with the exception of two.

[markomalley]

quote:

Originally posted by Wacky Funster:

Benedict? What a dumb name ...he actually chose it!!!

Pope Benny...the big ben...

I could care less...I still don't get it...!!!

Choosing the name of Benedict sends an interesting message out there. The last pope with the name Benedict served during WWI. He was known as a peacemaker. He also attempted to resolve many differences between modernist and traditionalist forces within the Church during his pontificate.

Although his name may sound ridiculous to you, it is very interesting to one who can understand a little bit of Church history.

[markomalley]

As for me, I am absolutely overjoyed at the choice. I would have not thought that the Cardinals would have ever chosen him, for a number of reasons. Frankly, I would have been even more thrilled had they chosen Arinze, because that would have blown peoples' minds and we would still have ended up with a good, orthodox pope.

However, frankly, I was terrified that they would have appointed somebody like Tettamanzi, Martino, or Re.

I've heard some interviews with Ratzinger (Benedict), while he was running the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I truly believe that there will be a lot of people surprised by him, some pleasantly and some, not so pleasantly.

[Linda Z]

I don't mean to offend, but honestly, this reminds me of the "Passing of the Mantle" in twi. Same old heirarchy, very political, followers divided on the choice the cardinals made.

The new pope was one of JPII's closest confidantes (wonder if he wrote a book called JP and Me)?

If what I heard on NPR is true, he often played bad cop to JPII's good cop in the Vatican's version of the "good cop, bad cop" scenario.

I heard a Catholic theologian from Boston College interviewed. He was polite and respectful, but it sounded to me like he wasn't too thrilled with the choice. People on the street who were asked their opinion were divided--some thrilled and some disappointed.

Oh well, it doesn't look like the rule forbidding priests and nuns to marry will be lifted anytime soon. I think that's a shame. Although I'm sure there are many priests and nuns who are celibate by choice, I think it should be just that: their choice.

I hope this pope will address pedophilia and other abuse by Catholic clergy more aggressively than his predecessor.

[outofdafog]

I did hear something about him wanting to remove the stain of scandal that has beseiged the catholic church.

Mark and Allan, those are some pretty fascinating facts. Some good research here.

Benedict Arnold - first thought that came to mind - sorry. Not sure what his deal was. Don't remember my history to well.

[Wacky Funster]

Thanks for the tidbit Mark...very enlightening.

outadafog...I thought the same exact thing!!!!

[Jbarrax]

Well, as long as we're discussing Catholic history and the new Pope, I'd like to throw out this interesting tidbit. There is an old Catholic prophecy that predicts how many Popes there will be and assigns a motto to each papacy. To summarize: Back in 1143 an Irishman named Malachy composed mottoes, in Latin, for all the popes until the end of the world. There has been some controversy about how appropriately these mottoes have been applied to some Popes in history. And, because of the fame of the prophiecies, some Popes and papal candidates have deliberately fabricated information about themselves, or done things they thought would fit the mottoes. The motto for the last Pople is "Petrus Romanus", meaning Peter of Rome.

The kicker? Including Petrus Romanus, there are only two left. The motto for the newly installed Pope Benedict XVI is "Gloria Olivae" or the glory of the olive.

IF--I say--IF the prophecy is actually valid, this might be a reference to the close of this age, spoken of in Romans 11:11-25, in which Israel and the Gentiles are referred to as the natural olive tree and the wild olive tree. We wild olives were graffed in to the natural olive tree and, when the fulness of the Gentiles --wild olives--is come, God will bring the natrual olives back. This would of course deal with God gathering Israael again and fulfilling all of the remaining prophecies in Daniel, Revelation, etc.

The motto for Pope John Paul II was "De Labore Solis" meaning Labors of the Sun. If one is apocalypse minded, one can interpret this in light of John 9:4

quote:

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

This interpretation (a bit of a stretch I know) would project the papacy of J2P2 as the last one before the world's descent into the darkness of the Great Tribulation.

So if ole St Malachy was "tuned in" Pope Benedict will preside over the advent of the Great Tribulation. And who better to usher in an age of unprecedented darkness than a former Nazi??

Isn't this fun? :-)

Fore more information on the Prophecies of St Malachy, CLICK HERE

Peace

JerryB

P.S. My wife thinks this is all nonsense. She rolls her eyes whenever I mention it.

She's probably right.

[GarthP2000]

From The Daily Dish on Andrewsullivan.com=http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php

quote:

And so the Catholic church accelerates its turn toward authoritarianism, hostility to modernity, assertion of papal supremacy and quashing of internal debate and dissent. We are back to the nineteenth century. Maybe this is a necessary moment. Maybe pressing this movement to its logical conclusion will clarify things. But those of us who are struggling against what our Church is becoming, and the repressive priorities it is embracing, can only contemplate a form of despair. The Grand Inquisitor, who has essentially run the Church for the last few years, is now the public face. John Paul II will soon be seen as a liberal. The hard right has now cemented its complete control of the Catholic church. And so ... to prayer. What else do we now have?

and

quote:

Thanks for your emails both sympathizing and telling me to leave the Church entirely. But I am still in shock. This was not an act of continuity. There is simply no other figure more extreme than the new Pope on the issues that divide the Church. No one. He raised the stakes even further by his extraordinarily bold homily at the beginning of the conclave, where he all but declared a war on modernity, liberalism (meaning modern liberal democracy of all stripes) and freedom of thought and conscience. And the speed of the decision must be interpreted as an enthusiastic endoprsement of his views. What this says to American Catholics is quite striking: it's not just a disagreement, it's a full-scale assault. This new Pope has no pastoral experience as such. He is a creature of theological discourse, a man of books and treatises and arguments. He proclaims his version of the truth as God-given and therefore unalterable and undebatable. His theology is indeed distinguished, if somewhat esoteric and at times a little odd. But his response to dialogue within the church is to silence those who disagree with him. He has no experience dealing with people en masse, no hands-on experience of the challenges of the church in the developing world, and complete contempt for dissent in the West. His views on the subordinate role of women in the Church and society, the marginalization of homosexuals (he once argued that violence against them was predictable if they kept pushing for rights), the impermissibility of any sexual act that does not involve the depositing of semen in a fertile uterus, and the inadmissability of any open discourse with other faiths reveal him as even more hardline than the previous pope. I expected continuity. I didn't expect intensification of the fundamentalism and insularity of the current hierarchy. I expect an imminent ban on all gay seminarians, celibate or otherwise. And I expect the Church's immersion in the culture wars in the West - on every imaginable issue. For American Catholics, I foresee an accelerating exodus. But that, remember, is the plan. The Ratzingerians want to empty the pews in America and start over. They will, in that sense, be successful.

Wow jeepers! ... I wonder how Pat Buchanan feels about all this. -->

JerryB, would St. Malachy be that old distant relative of Malachi, one of the authors of the book in the bible bearing his name? Why I didn't know that any of the prophets were a wee bit Irish, now did ya, lad?

[coolchef1248 @adelphia.net]

well being brought up as a rc then the way now thinking about returning to rc i have this to say about pope ben.. he is 78 years old!!! what are they thinking of?

i think they want to go back to rome to be wined and dined in a few years

[outofdafog]

Hey I always thought the pope would be the "antichrist". You know, over a billion people in the world worship him and he comes across as the "angel of light".

I never thought it was JP2, but always felt like his successor would be the one. Still do.

[J0nny Ling0]

I just saw a poll on CNN online. They asked;

"Are you pleased with the selection of the new Pope?"

And I thought; "How the hell should I know?! I don't know Ratzinger from a ratz a$$! I'm not answering that one!"

I mean, what do we have to go on? CNN,ABC, CBS, Foxnews, Catholic Digest, or Life, Look, Or The Times? Maybe if I just read the next issue of "People", or listen to NPR's "All Things Considered"...

I am so amazed that people the world over can get so passionate and wrapped up about someone who doesn't even know they exist...

What do we really know about anything?