Eastern Catholic Ping List
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This brilliant and learned Pope continues to amaze and inspire me. Viva il Papa!
I'm thrilled that Benedict is our Pope!
Thanks much for the link to the original speech.
If it really comes down to this, a couple of things follow. First, Islam could easily embrace insanity (as it has); and second, if God is not linked to reason (He IS reason, of course), then how can any prophet speak for him?
Ping!
this is the second Pope since i've been a Catholic. I'm not disappointed.
Whoever Jeff Israel is, he's been doing a surprisingly excellent job of covering BXVI (whenever I see "Time" on anything, I'm prepared for the worst!). He really seems to understand what the Pope is getting at.
I don't think there's any fear that Pope Benedict won't "connect with the masses," though. If anything, the "masses" are waiting for leadership on this issue, and after many years of feel-good but meaningless gestures, the "masses" may finally be getting what they have been waiting for.
Being part of the masses, I can say that at least I feel a lot better knowing that the Pope is giving this serious thought and realizes the importance of having a defined position, and also that he intends to defend Christianity and not simply overlook or minimize Islam's assualts upon the Christianity and Christians.
A little context, which I'm sure you, NYer, already know.
September 12 marked the beginning of the fall of Islam's conquest of Central Europe. From Wikipedia:
>> The Battle of Vienna (as distinct from the Siege of Vienna in 1529) took place on September 11 and September 12, 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by Turks for two months. It was the first large-scale battle of the Great Turkish War, yet with the most far-reaching consequences. <<
>> The siege itself began on 14 July 1683, by the Ottoman army commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The decisive battle took place on 12 September, after the united relief army of 70,000 men had arrived, pitted against the Ottoman army of approximately 138,000 men — although a large number of these played no part in the battle, as only 50,000 were experienced soldiers, and the rest less-motivated supporting troops.[1] King Jan III Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been made Commander in Chief of his own 30,000-man Polish forces and the 40,000 troops of Habsburg and their allies, led by Charles V, Duke of Lorraine. <<
>> The battle marked the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the forces of the Central European kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire. Over the sixteen years following the battle, the Habsburgs of Austria, and their allies gradually occupied and dominated southern Hungary and Transylvania, which had been largely cleared by the Turkish forces. <<
The date of the start of the battle, September 11, has been suggested as a motivation for the timing of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. September 12, however, is an optional Catholic feast day, in honor of the battle.
"It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."
The Pope invites them to dialogue ... to behave like civilised human beings.
They tell him to bugger off.
And the world watches, and learns. At least, those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
ping
Let us pray for our Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI:
The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
(Follow with Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.)