POPE GANESHA LAMA IMAM ANGEL MORONI XVI
This might stand as the most ridiculous statement of the year:
"I would prefer a pope who is more open to other religions."
- Bystander in Vatican City
Yeah...I want a Mormon Pope. [Edit - Read: Is the Pope Catholic?]
On a serious note. I was having dinner with a couple of German friends tonight and they were in total shock when the John Paul II's replacement was announced. They bluntly stated that he's a cold, strict ultra-conservative church leader. Now, that made me think for a second. If they had announced a U.S. cardinal as the new pope I would have no clue as to what his history was and what his political/"moral" stance is. It wouldn't shock me, I wouldn't even react one way or the other. But, to know that people in Germany are shocked by this selection either stresses the influence this man has, or it stresses the influence the Catholic Church has over European countries.
It's not my religion, so my words are meaningless. People (the masses, no pun intended) don't get to vote on something like this. It shouldn't affect me directly either. If I was Catholic, maybe I would be concerned...or realistically, maybe I wouldn't be.
2 Comments:
Or maybe they read the news articles before, during and after like everyone else did. Before they chose Ratzinger, I knew that much about him because he was one of the frontrunners to be the next pontiff. I think it's a bit easy to read into it without doing further investigation.
I tend to think that the effect that pope's have span generations... or at least it's a very slow moving process. It's not like a government where you can simply institute a policy or law and everyone must abide. Usually with doctrine it must much slower.
I think John Paul 2 had much influence largely from the simple fact that he lived so long and was able to do things like appoint all but 3 of the cardinals that are part of the college of cardinals today. I definitely think it makes a difference to catholics in America since they tend to be more liberal (birth control, women priests, breaking the celibacy law for priests, etc.)
An example of how doctrine is important is the recent appointment of a gay bishop in the Episcopal church. Because of this, many have gone to the Anglican church which, as I understand it, they are supposed to be a "subset" of.
Thank you!
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