Tuesday, April 19, 2005

A New Pope...

I'm not Catholic myself, nor an expert on Catholic issues by any means, but yikes.

NYTimes says this:

He has been described as a conservative, intellectual clone of the late pontiff, and, as the Dean of the College of Cardinals, he was widely respected for his uncompromising - if ultraconservative - principles and his ability to be critical.

As cardinal, he had shut the door on any discussion on several issues, including the ordination of women, celibacy of priests and homosexuality, defending his positions by invoking theological truth. In the name of orthodoxy, he is in favor of a smaller Church, but one that is more ideologically pure.

(snip)

On Monday, at a Mass before the conclave convened, he delivered an uncompromising warning against any deviation from traditional Catholic teaching.

I've read elsewhere on the web that this "uncompromising" includes preaching that gay folk are moral evils, whether or not they actually act on their gayness.

AmericaBlog is a little more critical of this new Pope, who, by the by, during WWII did a stint with the Nazi Youth (hey, he was drafted!):

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/04/new-pope-is-ratzinger-candidate-from.html

1 comment:

Catholig said...

Well I'm glad that when mentioning the Pope's involvement in the Nazi Youth you stated that he was drafted. Wikipedia has more on the topic, including his father's objection to the war. Also he wasn't in the Hitler Youth for very long because he was granted a dispensation, being in the seminary.

Another point is that he worked with John Paul II (a pole) extensively, and Deus Caritas Est was (I believe) co-authored by JPII.

Besides that however I don't see why upholding 2,000 years worth of tradition is a draw back. In fact I agree with him on the Ordination of Women. Pope John Paul II even said that the Church has no authority to ordain women. As for homosexuality - well homosexual attraction (SSA) isn't a sin. It is homosexual acts - according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.