Pope rescinds promotion of priest who called Katrina punishment for New Orleans

[funkybutt]

Source: Times Picayune, New Orleans - Associated Press

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has formally rescinded the promotion of an ultraconservative priest who came under fire for suggesting that God punished New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina.

The Vatican announcement Monday confirmed a previous decision by the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner to pass up the promotion.

In January Benedict promoted Wagner to the post of auxiliary bishop in Linz, Austria's second largest city. The move sparked an outcry from Austrian Catholics, and Wagner last month decided to give up the job.

The Vatican's announcement said the pope had "exonerated Wagner from accepting the office of Linz auxiliary bishop." Wagner has questioned whether Katrina was a result of "spiritual pollution" and has characterized Harry Potter novels as satanic.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/pope_rescinds_promotion_of_pri.html

[Mrs. Overall]

1. New Orleans is predominantly Catholic--I guess that pissed off God. I love how these assholes pick

and choose which disasters are a result of "divine cleansing". Wonder if this Fr. Wagner is a Holocaust denier as well.

[msongs]

2. doh! was the pope a hitler youth? nt

[onehandle]

9. All teenage German boys were required to sign up.

An old girlfriend's father was forced to and he was half Jewish.

I don't like this Pope for a lot of reasons, but that one is not the fault of a young boy.

[sarge43]

3. Half of the people who died thanks to Katrina were over 75 years old.

I doubt very few, if any of them, read the Potter books. So we're to worship a god who arbitrarily kills innocents because he/she/it is pissed about other people's reading habits?

Thanks, but no thanks.

[damntexdem]

10. Yeah, but we all know how sexually active older folks are nowadays.

It was obviously all those orgies in the retirement communities that brought on Katrina. ;-)

[sarge43]

11. Of course. The pot smoking glaucoma patients and

the secular bingo games, all worthy of God's wrath.

[mamameow]

7. new religion

these formal religions need to be cleansed from radicals. just like islam needs to clean house, so does the catholic church. i am so glad that i escaped the crazy catholic church. my dad forced us to be members. i told him over and over from earliest memory, when i hit 18 i am out of it. just what i did. if god gave us katrina, then god gave us george bush to teach us about our lack of interest and concern about whom we elect to govern this country. George bush is our punishment for not voting and for not knowing our candidates. works both ways you religious freaks, catholic freaks, christian freaks and islamic freaks. you are all at the same party. go see bill maher's religulous, faith depends on what degree of insanity you believe.

[Raster]

4. some christians, like the "reverend" maria look for divine retribution at every turn.

Their skygod is vengeful and angry, the perfect deity for ultraconservative, "god-fearing" worshipers.

[TlalocW]

6. That's why when something negative happens to conservatives

From losing a local election to having a judge not hear their case, I attribute the actions to God just to cheese them off.

TlalocW

[lovuian]

5. New Orleans is home to the arcadians the REBELS

of the Catholic Church

Rome only wants mindless to be their followers

[No Elephants]

8. Ah, the Pat Robertson school of speaking crap about God's will.