Pope Benedict XVI ---- Does Not Believe In Class or Social Justice.

[The Lone Liberal]

Statements from the new Pope give every indication of being someone who is lining up behind the economic elite of the world and turning his back upon the poor. It would seem that Matthew 25 is not his guiding light.

"Having seen fascism in action, Ratzinger today believes the best antidote to political totalitarianism is ecclesial totalitarianism”

"Soon after taking charge of the doctrine office (until 1908 it was called the Sacred Congregation for the Universal Inquisition), he reined in liberal academics who used their professorships at pontifical universities to challenge church teachings such as papal infallibility and the immorality of artificial birth control."


"He also cracked down on liberation theology, the confrontational social-justice campaign 3popular among Latin American clergy in the 1970s. Although its links to Marxism were tenuous, both Ratzinger and John Paul were repelled by liberationism's talk of class warfare. Priests and bishops were ordered to stay out of politics - even as John Paul was helping topple communism in Poland. "

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11435865.htm

[soupkitchen]

1. Pope Benedict Arnold

Traitor to American Catholics

[Sapphire Blue]

2. The Vatican’s enforcer

Excerpt...

Others believe Ratzinger will be remembered as the architect of John Paul’s internal Kulturkampf, intimidating and punishing thinkers in order to restore a model of church -- clerical, dogmatic and rule-bound -- many hoped had been swept away by the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 assembly of bishops that sought to renew Catholicism and open it to the world. Ratzinger’s campaign bears comparison to the anti-modernist drive in the early part of the century or Pius XII’s crackdown in the 1950s, critics say, but is even more disheartening because it followed a moment of such optimism and new life.

At the most basic level, many Catholics cannot escape the sense that Ratzinger’s exercise of ecclesial power is not what Jesus had in mind.

Beneath the competing analyses and divergent views, this much is certain: Ratzinger has drawn lines in the sand and wielded the tools of his office on many who cross those lines. Whether necessary prophylaxis or a naked power play, his efforts to curb dissent have left the church more bruised, more divided, than at any point since the close of Vatican II.

<snip>

His record includes:

1) Theologians disciplined, such as Fr. Charles Curran, an American moral theologian who advocates a right to public dissent from official church teaching; Fr. Matthew Fox, an American known for his work on creation spirituality; Sr. Ivone Gebara, a Brazilian whose thinking blends liberation theology with environmental concerns; and Fr. Tissa Balasuriya, a Sri Lankan interested in how Christianity can be expressed through Eastern concepts;
2) Movements blocked, such as liberation theology and, more recently, religious pluralism (the drive to affirm other religions on their own terms);
3) Progressive bishops hobbled, including Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle, reproached by Rome for his tolerance of ministry to homosexuals and his involvement in progressive political causes, and Bishop Dom Pedro Casaldáliga of Sao Félix, Brazil, criticized for his political engagement beyond the borders of his own diocese;
4) Episcopal conferences brought to heel on issues such as inclusive language and their own teaching authority;
5) The borders of infallibility expanded, to include such disparate points as the ban on women’s ordination and the invalidity of ordinations in the Anglican church.

http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/041699/041699a.htm


Based on the persecution of Archbishop Hunthausen (my Archbishop at the time - when I still considered myself a Catholic) I look to this new Papacy with absolute dread. This is a sad & frightening day.

I am still weeping.

[roguevalley]

3. he's a dinosaur and a complete ass.

from www.americablog.org

Ratzinger accused of cover-up in effort to shelter pedophile priests
by John in DC - 4/19/2005 07:51:00 PM

From ABC News:

" pushed my hand onto his penis. And I didn't know anything about masturbation," Juan Vaca, who was first abused when he was 11 years old, told ABCNEWS. "And he says, 'You don't know how to do it. Let me show you.' And he gets my penis himself and starts to masturbate me. I was in shock."

Now read the rest of the story:

Then, four years ago, some of the men tried a last ditch effort, taking the unusual step of filing a lawsuit in the Vatican's secretive court, seeking Macial's excommunication.

Once again they laid out their evidence, but it was another futile effort — an effort the men say was blocked by one of the most powerful cardinals in the Vatican.

The accusers say Vatican-based Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican office to safeguard the faith and the morals of the church, quietly made the lawsuit go away and shelved it. There was no investigation and the accusers weren't asked a single question or asked for a statement.

He was appointed by the pope to investigate the entire sex abuse scandal in the church in recent days. But when approached by ABCNEWS in Rome last week with questions of allegations against Maciel, Ratzinger became visibly upset and actually slapped this reporter's hand.

"Come to me when the moment is given," Ratzinger told ABCNEWS, "not yet."

"Cardinal Ratzinger is sheltering Maciel, protecting him," said Berry, who expressed concerns that no response was being given to the allegations against the man charged with sex abuse. "These men knelt and kissed the ring of Cardinal Ratzinger when they filed the case in Rome. And a year-and-a-half later, he takes those accusations and aborts them, just stuffs them."

The cardinals knew all of this, yet they still chose Ratzinger. They had a choice. They chose evil. Unfortunately, this is what the leadership of the Catholic Church has come to, and become. In a word, hubris. In two words, Tom DeLay.