Posted on 04/15/2006 1:03:31 AM PDT by MadIvan
Pope Benedict said last night that the world was in the grip of Satan and prayed for mankind to open its eyes to the "filth around us".
At an Easter ceremony that recreated the passage of Jesus Christ to the crucifixion, Benedict XVI lashed out at man's "decadent narcissism".
He said "a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan".
The Good Friday service, held at the Colosseum, showed the 14 stages of Christ's suffering and was designed to allow worshippers to share in the agony of Jesus. During the first and final stage, the Pope carried the cross.
The prayers, written by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, the Vatican City's vicar general, were approved by the Pope, and reflected his strongly conservative outlook.
"Surely God is deeply pained by the attack on the family," the Pope said. "Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family."
He also expressed fears about genetic modification, and said it was "insane arrogance" to play with the "grammar" of creation.
The meditations were designed to invoke a feeling of man's sinfulness ahead of the dark hours of Easter Saturday. Bodies are "constantly bought and sold on the streets of our cities, on our television channels, in homes that have become like streets," he said.
Accumulating wealth was "robbery" when it "prevented others from living". He deplored "the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty".
The Pope said society valued "immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication".
The downbeat message echoed the Pope's words at the same ceremony last year, when, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he led the Way of the Cross in place of the ailing Pope John Paul II.
In those meditations, he compared the Church to "a boat about to sink, taking on water on every side". He lamented "how much filth there is in the Church", and said that "a Christianity which has grown weary of faith has abandoned the Lord".
Since his election almost a year ago, the Bavarian-born Pope has surprised many with his gentle public persona. At yesterday's service, however, his ferocity was a reminder of why he was once nicknamed "Cardinal Rottweiler".
John Allen, the author of two books on Pope Benedict, said: "Is this the real Pope Benedict re-emerging? He has projected a very different tone in the last year, but that does not mean that he has changed."
On Thursday, the Pope poured scorn on revelations within the recently published Gospel of Judas, a fourth century text which is sympathetic to Judas Iscariot and whose crumbling fragments claim that Jesus instructed Judas to betray him.
The Pope celebrates his 79th birthday tomorrow, Easter Sunday.
Mr Allen said he would adopt a lighter tone at an open-air Mass at St Peter's.
Because these countries don't understand that true charity is voluntary and secret.. not taxed.
And be Victorious.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
If His Holiness wants to see decadence and the den of iniquity, he should go to San Francisco. But he's an older man, it might be too much for him.
Oh, puuuuuuuhleeze. No, I'm sure only FReepers "get it."
[dripping sarcasm]
Do FReepers really get it? I dare you to read the thread on the Exxon CEO's salary. Not many "get it."
My money's on the Pope. In the eyes of a fool, he make look a fool, but, hey, that's OK.
ou wouldn't be Catholic bashing, would you?
Oops
You wouldn't be Catholic bashing, would you?
The Catholic Church is not leaning left, it is the one Church that has stood against abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, cloning, stem cell research for years and years, long before it was popular to do so.
If anything, the Catholic Church is swinging to a more conservative position. Check the links posted by NYer and READ Pope Benedict's remarks!!!!!
Charity unenlightened by wisdom often guarantees only that the charity will be wasted. In the parable of the talents, the servants who were commended were the servants who wisely invested it.
There is a kind of private charity that is equivalent to throwing money into a black hole where it serves merely to prolong or increase poverty. And socialism is the equivalent of not merely burying a talent, but entombing it in concrete.
Wise use of wealth is the sine qua non of effective charity and the mark of true Christian.
Many of us do!
It seems to me that the Catholic Church has failed to see the filth in their own house. The Church is still procrastinating even after the evil they countenanced has been revealed and still going unpunished.
Its absolutely appalling that the Pope would be condemning the flock while protecting the evil priesthood of the Church. The Pope has no credibility.
I wholeheartedly agree with the Pope's statement that our generation is "anti-Genesis." We are the worst anti-life generation in history. Moreover, this generation shall not pass away without the coming of Jesus Christ. I hope we are ready. Jesus Christ is the only One who can return humanity to belief in God. Without God, we are all lost. I would hope the Pope gets back to this true message of salvation through Jesus Christ and gets off the PC train. There is a huge difference between showing compassion for the poor and neglected and modifying the basic tenants of faith,love, peace and justice.
What a great photo.
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Accumulating wealth was "robbery" when it "prevented others from living". He deplored "the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty".
Yes -- Communism is the answer!
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