ADL Welcomes Election of Cardinal Ratzinger as New Pope

[Tinoire]

ADL Welcomes Election of Cardinal Ratzinger as New Pope

New York, NY, April 19, 2005 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope, Benedict XVI. Under his leadership in Germany and Rome, the Catholic Church made important strides in improving Catholic-Jewish relations and atoning for the sin of anti-Semitism. Cardinal Ratzinger has been a leader in this effort and has made important statements in the spirit of sensitivity and reconciliation with the Jewish people.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We welcome the new Papacy of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. From the Jewish perspective, the fact that he comes from Europe is important, because he brings with him an understanding and memory of the painful history of Europe and of the 20th Century experience of European Jewry.

Having lived through World War II, Cardinal Ratzinger has great sensitivity to Jewish history and the Holocaust. He has shown this sensitivity countless times, in meetings with Jewish leadership and in important statements condemning anti-Semitism and expressing profound sorrow for the Holocaust. We remember with great appreciation his Christmas reflections on December 29, 2000, when he memorably expressed remorse for the anti-Jewish attitudes that persisted through history, leading to "deplorable acts of violence" and the Holocaust. Cardinal Ratzinger said: "Even if the most recent, loathsome experience of the Shoah (Holocaust) was perpetrated in the name of an anti-Christian ideology, which tried to strike the Christian faith at its Abrahamic roots in the people of Israel, it cannot be denied that a certain insufficient resistance to this atrocity on the part of Christians can be explained by an inherited anti-Judaism present in the hearts of not a few Christians."

Though as a teenager he was a member of the Hitler Youth, all his life Cardinal Ratzinger has atoned for the fact. In our years of working on improving Catholic-Jewish ties, ADL has had opportunities to work with Cardinal Ratzinger. We look forward to continuing that relationship.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/VaticanJewish_96/44698_96.htm

On edit more with thanks to Princess Turandot:

New York – The American Jewish Committee today congratulated the Catholic Church and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on his election as the 265th pope, Benedict XVI.

"Cardinal Ratzinger already has shown a profound commitment to advancing Catholic-Jewish relations, and we look forward to continuing our close working relationship with the church," said Rabbi David Rosen, AJC's international director of interreligious affairs.

"We hope the church will continue to show the same sensitivity to Jewish concerns and needs as did the late John Paul II."

C is the leading American Jewish interlocutor with the Catholic Church in the U.S. and at the Vatican.

http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/nfo/article.cfm?id=3906

The Simon Wiesenthal Center congratulates Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on becoming Pope Benedict XVI.

"I hope that he will continue to build on the legacy of Pope John Paul II’s special relationship with the Jewish people," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "The new Pope, like his predecessor, was deeply influenced by the events of WWII," he said. "As a child, Pope Benedict XVI grew up in an anti-Nazi family. Nonetheless he was forced to join the Hitler Youth movement during the Second World War."

Rabbi Hier continued, "Pope John Paul II dramatically changed the Catholic Church forever in reaching out to other religions, particularly Judaism. I am confident that the Vatican under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI will continue to build on those remarkable achievements and organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center look forward to being partners in that process."

http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/nfo/article.cfm?id=3906

[peacetalksforall]

1. This is powerful testimony. It should be explored in contrast to the

opinions of those who condemn based on his affiliation in his youth. How do DUers contradict this?

Maybe the accusations against him should be contained to those that have to do with non-progress of Catholic positions vs trends of those who ask for modernization and those who are waiting for a change about sexual abuse laxness. I want to know about his Opus Dei affiliations.

Looks like we have to know more about his relationship with Jews and Israel? It appears it's too soon to condemn him for this part?

[Tinoire]

2. MinstrelBoy is your best resource for anything related to Opus Dei

It is powerful testimony indeed. I have a few books by Ratzinger that I am going to re-read where he discusses how One Covenant covers all the Judeo-Christian faiths (Christianity, Judaism & Islam).

We really need to know more and ask ourselves if the Cardinals who elected John Paul II's right hand man were all gaga. He was elected by a majority of Cardinals from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Europe. They know him better than we ever will.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Minstrel Boy just posted this on his blog

http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/

So Opus Dei has its Pope, and St Malachy of Armagh is either right again, or just lucky. Like I've said before about the curse of living in interesting times, at least they're interesting.

I wrote a little here about Opus Dei and why it deserves our distrust. If you don't yet, I suggest familiarizing yourself with the content of the Opus Dei Awareness Network. Opus Dei has been an organ of fascism (by the 1960s Franco's cabinet was stacked with Opusdeistas, and they rose again under the Aznar government), and has amassed for itself a Templar-worthy fortune, and an international network of influence that rivals, or perhaps complements, that of Freemasonry. ("Many of its 85,000 worldwide members work in legal, medical, financial and media professions," according to today's Los Angeles Times. In a post last week I considered the Masonic cultivation of similar segments of society.) Its ritualized mortification of the flesh and psychological self-battery, as well as the inference of unspoken agendas, is highly suggestive of a mind control cult. You don't need to believe The De Vinci Code to believe this bunch deserve a close watch.

While Ratzinger is not a member of Opus Dei, he is its man. He has been a longstanding champion of the Order, and the two Opus Dei cardinals, Julian Herranz of Spain and Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Peru, are reported to have been enthusiastic supporters of his candidacy.

It's true, Ratzinger was a Hitler Youth, but I find better reasons to regard him as a discouraging choice. Membership was compulsory after 1941, so his joining wasn't even a "youthful indiscretion" on the order of Robert Byrd's flirtation with the KKK, let alone an act worthy of Kurt Waldheim. The boy was forced to join the Hitler Youth, but no one made the man support Opus Dei.

more


:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

6. AND, Opus Dei has its U.S. Supreme Court.

[seemslikeadream]

15. Hey Swampter that's one scary guy

:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

17. Whoa! That's a cool pic!

I posted a DeLay pic for you in your LBN thread. :)

[Tinoire]

16. Aw jeez. Now I'm going to have nightmares.

I just made the connection when I came back to this thread!

:hi:

[Tinoire]

9. I knew MB would be on it! Thanks for the link

I'm always interested to read his stuff!

It would be nice to have an open discussion of Opus Dei without a bunch of mud flinging and examine just how close Ratzinger's links to it are but I've given up hope of any rational discussion involving any religion in this new post-Bush climate of intolerance.

I think I'll spend a little time researching this and wander over to MB's blog for discussion.

Take care and btw, did you see that Haitians have a new populist Priest they're trying to get elected? His name is Gerard Jean-Juste and the Police/US Forces have already arrested, detained, harrassed him and his followers. He's from Aristide's same movement so they're trying to neutralize him but not succeeding.

[Tinoire]

10. I knew MB would be on it! Thanks for the link

MY entire post just got zapped! ARGH!!!! /////

Thanks for posting that! I really wish we could have a rational discussion about Ratzinger, Opus Dei and any links they have but I've given up hope in this post-Bush climate of total intolerance.

Interesting. I knew MB wouldn't disappoint! Tonight, I think I'll wander over there and test the waters ;)

By the way, have you checked out the new populist Priest in Haiti, Gerard Jean-Juste from Aristide's movement? He's annoying the crap out of the US authorities and the Haitian Police and they've already arrested, detained and totally harassed him. It's totally disgusting. Democracy Now has a bunch of stuff up about him. Thanks again for the link - I always appreciate what MB has to say!

[Junkdrawer]

3. Fundies have been reaching out to Conservative Jews for a while...

No surprise here.

[Bridget Burke]

5. "Fundies" are Protestants....

And most of them hate Catholics.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Sounds to me like he's a Fundamentalist...

On Monday, Ratzinger, who was the powerful dean of the College of Cardinals, used his homily at the Mass dedicated to electing the next pope to warn the faithful about tendencies that he considered dangers to the faith: sects, ideologies like Marxism, liberalism, atheism, agnosticism and relativism — the ideology that there are no absolute truths.

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism," he said, speaking in Italian. "Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.

Ratzinger served John Paul II since 1981 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he has disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms. He turned 78 on Saturday.

...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20050419/ap_on_re_eu/pope&sid=84439559

[Tinoire]

11. Ratzinger is not a fundamentalist.

Maybe a second read of that paragraph will clear that up for you. They're not calling Ratzinger a fundamentalist; they're explaining how too many people label "having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church" as fundamentalism. It in no way says Ratzinger is a fundamentalist.


The last sentence is absolutely sad and true.

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism," he said, speaking in Italian. "Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.

[Junkdrawer]

12. So he doesn't like the "Fundamentalist" tag, but I say...

If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck....

[Tinoire]

13. Why did you bother pretending that was a link when the only thing

backing you up is your opinion?

Ratzinger could give a rat's ass about you mislabelling him a fundamentalist. Your post was a prime example of that sentence I quoted.

[Junkdrawer]

14. Oh, I think his quotes speaks volumes to his qualifications as a Fundie...

But yeah, if you can't see that, then I guess that's YOUR opinion.

On Edit: Wikipedia on "Fundamentalism"...

"In comparative religion, fundamentalism refers to anti-modernist movements in various religions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism

[Snivi Yllom]

8. excellent background info counter to the nasty bitter anti-pope posts

thanks