Showing posts with label Pope John Paul II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pope John Paul II. Show all posts
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Mea Culpa: The Pope Apologizes for His Church – By GUSTAV NIEBUHR - March 12, 2000 - The New York Times
WITH his special Mass at the Vatican today, Pope John Paul II has set out to do what none of his 262 predecessors felt called to do: apologize for historical transgressions committed by Roman Catholics in the name of the church.
In so doing, John Paul -- whose pontificate has been remarkable in many ways, from his globe-circling pastoral travels, to his support for democratic change in Eastern Europe -- is acknowledging the grim side of the church's past, in eras distinguished by forced conversions, support for the Crusades (whose violence fell on Jews, Muslims and Eastern Orthodox), and creation of the Inquisition.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
“…for the Catholic Church to complain that they are being victimized is just laughable.” Pope Benedict's Gang -- Too Big to Fail? – by Rick Ayers – The Huffington Post
…After the defeat of Liberation Theology, the church has reverted to its worst traditions of authoritarianism and repression. It is that cruel history that is being exposed today. Photo
The efforts of the church to limit the damage from the newest revelations of massive child abuse have been surprisingly effective so far. The task of Pope Benedict's team has not been to deny that these crimes took place. Rather, they have sought to reframe the debate, to deflect the discussion from the deeper implications that cry out for examination. Here are a few of their key points:
Monday, May 4, 2009
Infallibility - - of the Church rather than of the Pope - Nov. 19, 1995 - The New York Times
By PETER STEINFELS
Published: Sunday, November 19, 1995
In a statement approved by Pope John Paul II, the Vatican announced yesterday that Roman Catholics must consider their church's doctrine that only men can be priests to be "infallibly" taught.
Invoking the word "infallible," which in Catholic theology is reserved for teaching considered irreversible, free from error and requiring full assent from the faithful, indicates the Pope's desire to rule out unequivocally the possibility of ordaining women.
…that is likely to spur a new round of disputes among theologians about the statement's degree of authority.
Behind those disputes will be agonizing reappraisals by many Catholics who are deeply committed to the ordination of women. A New York Times survey in September showed that 61 percent of American Catholics favor the ordination of women to the priesthood, and among many nuns and women holding key posts in the church this question is viewed as a measuring stick of its attitudes toward women's equality.
... several theologians and bishops said the new statement was as likely to lead to reappraisals of the teaching authority of the church and the Pope as to rejection of women's ordination.
"There are literally millions of Catholics in the U.S. alone who see no reason why women can't be ordained, and they're not going to decide they're not Catholics,"said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame. "It is the Pope and the Vatican who will be seen as out of step." (Tony Blair and Benedict XVI 2009)
…Few theological concepts are subject to more confusion than infallibility. It is usually associated with papal infallibility. The exercise of papal infallibility, which requires solemn declarations by the Pope under carefully specified circumstances, is in fact very rare: In 1854 Pope Pius IX promulgated the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception; in 1950 Pius XII promulated the dogma of Mary's Assumption into heaven.
Because of controversies over papal infallibility in modern times, many Catholics have come to think that only teachings declared in this fashion are considered infallible. But a more general teaching -- an infallibility of the church rather than of the Pope -- holds that basic doctrines stemming from Jesus and Scripture and taught universally by the church's bishops are to be considered infallible.
…But other theologians found the congregation's statement puzzling.
"I am dumbfounded, frankly speaking," said the Rev. Francis A. Sullivan, who teaches at Boston College and specializes in questions of teaching authority. A year ago, Father Sullivan wrote that the Pope's 1994 declaration probably did not meet the conditions for ordinary infallibility since there was no evidence that bishops around the world had concurred with it, at least not since modern debates on the role of women in the church had begun.
"A greater authority than my own has come to a different conclusion," Father Sullivan said yesterday. "It's going to create a great problem for a lot of individual consciences."
"Catholics are obliged to do their honest best to conform their judgment with the official judgment of the church," he said. "If they cannot, I think one has to fall back on a fundamental principle of church law: 'No one is held to do the impossible.' "
Other theologians puzzled over the phrase in the congregation's statement that the Pope's position was "founded on the written Word of God." They said a commission appointed by Pope Paul VI concluded in 1976 that nothing in Scripture prohibited ordaining women.
…"It is utterly irresponsible for the Vatican to say something that doesn't quite mean what it seems to mean," he said. "If the Pope wants us to believe that the prohibition against ordination of women is a matter of divine law and divine faith such that the denial of this teaching is a heresy, then that puts everyone who disagrees outside the church. Is that what is being said?"
Tony Blair said the Vatican should rethink "entrenched" attitudes towards homosexuality, claiming its views on gay rights were out of step with those of ordinary Roman Catholics.
In an interview with the gay magazine Attitude, the former prime minister disagreed with the pope's stance and argued that most Catholic congregations would have a more tolerant approach to homosexuality. Read more
Tony Blair slams Vatican attitude toward gays
LONDON (AP) — Roman Catholic leaders are out of step with ordinary believers in their attitude toward homosexuals, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an interview published Wednesday.
Blair, who formally converted to Catholicism in 2007, said he believes there is a big generational difference on the issue, and that ordinary Catholics are more liberal-minded than their leaders. Read more Photo
Friday, April 3, 2009
World Leaders Who Know The Importance Of Children
photo
The test of the morality
of a society is what it does for
its children.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)
Pope John Paul II and Princess Diana
“I urge you to adopt a policy of zero tolerance for all offenders, whether they have abused one child or adolescent or many, whether past, present or future.”
New York
Tuesday, 2 October 1979
The United Nations organization has proclaimed
"All of you are jewels...I am an example of what is possible when girls, from the very beginning of their lives, are loved and nurtured by the people around them." Michelle Obama
Read more
Family Acceptance Project - building healthy futures for youth
Groundbreaking Research on Family Rejection of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Adolescents Establishes Predictive Link to Negative Health Outcomes
Monday, March 30, 2009
No Irreconcilable Differences between Science and Religion - - Pope John Paul II
Every now and then, a surprising figure arises, inspired by a fuller understanding of Christ's love and willingly confronts the fierce opposition of complacency, with the hope to initiate a resiliency of love for all people, ending all forms of hatred.
(Pope John Paul II & Princess Diana)
Pope John Paul II was one of these figures, who in an unprecedented gesture of humility, in 1992, publically apologized to Galileo for the Vatican’s error and declared him “not guilty,” 359 years later.
Pope John Paul II’s purpose for this gesture was to stress that the Church does not reject scientific progress and is not opposed to the free search of truth. (ENCYCLICAL LETTER FIDES ET RATIO OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND REASON) Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 14 September, the Feast of the Triumpph of the Cross, in the year 1998, the of my Pontificate.
He stressed that there are no irreconcilable differences between science and religion, stating “Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.” (LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II TO REVEREND GEORGE V. COYNE, S.J., DIRECTOR OF THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY) From the Vatican, 1 June, 1988.
IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
In 2000, Pope John Paul II’s unwavering persistence to right the wrongs of the Church in the past, and despite the resistance from inside the Vatican, he proved to be unstoppable. On March 12, 2000, he made a public apology, asking forgiveness from God for sins committed by the Church, against groups of people, “We are asking pardon for the divisions among Christians, for the use of violence that some have committed in the service of truth, and for attitudes of mistrust and hostility assumed towards followers of other religions." Pope John Paul II pleaded for the hope that “Never again,” would the Church repeat these kinds of violence. (Rory Carroll)
Pope John Paul II began a process of removing the blindness of Church authorities caused by years of arrogance; he was replacing it with humility to open new ways to understanding and unity. This unprecedented act of humility, his public apology for the Church’s past sins, rekindles a sense of hope, in the Church. It was similar to the way Pope John XXIII, inspired hope by his words calling for the Second Vatican Council, 1962, "I want to throw open the windows of the Church so that we can see out and the people can see in." These unprecedented public acts made by world church leaders generates hope, which should not be dismissed too readily because the light of hope does not shine yet in all areas of human life. It is the work of hope to keep it alive, giving it birth in areas where hope has yet to shine. 
In 1962, Pope John XXIII, named Man of the Year in 1963 by Time magazine, opened the Second Vatican Council with the intention of internal renewal of the global Roman Catholic church.
Read more
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)