Posted on 02/13/2013 3:44:10 AM PST by IbJensen
Obama to Pope: 'I have appreciated our work together over these last four years' President Barack Obama has released a statement on the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and, as usual, it's all about himself. In three spartan sentences, he manages to use the word “I” four times.
The use of the first-person singular is Obama's own Holy Tradition, a hallmark of both his rhetoric and his governing style. His administration is a Magisterium of one.
Nonetheless, one line is particularly galling: “Michelle and I warmly remember our meeting with the Holy Father in 2009, and I have appreciated our work together over these last four years.”
That mutual work has consisted of:
•Stripping the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops of federal grants to fight sex trafficking, because the USCCB would not refer patients for abortion;
• Forcing Catholic non-profits and laity to violate their faith by financing abortifacients at home and abortion around the world;
• Publicly advocating the redefinition of the family, something the pope said just last month threatens “the future of humanity”;
•Trying to have the government decide who is a “minister,” a ploy with far-reaching implications that the Supreme Court unanimously struck down; • Reducing the “freedom of religion” to a mere “freedom of worship”; and
• Generally trying to shoehorn people of faith into a tiny, hermetically sealed box as far removed from the public square as possible.
In other words, Obama thanked himself for a four-year relationship that has been purely adversarial.
As Bill Clinton might say, that takes a lot of brass.
One is tempted to interpret Obama's strange show of appreciation as a sign of good sportsmanship, rather like opposing teams shaking hands after a basketball game. One could also detect an oblique sense of gloating, as he congratulates himself on outflanking the Church in the United States, often with the active aid and participation of the Catholic laity and hierarchy.
Compare Obama's statement with that of House Speaker John Boehner, who is Catholic:
The prayers and gratitude of American Catholics are with Pope Benedict XVI today. The Holy Father’s decision displays extraordinary humility and love for the Church, two things that have been the hallmarks of his service. Americans were inspired by his visit to the United States in 2008, and by his quiet, steady leadership of the Church in uncertain times. People of all nations have been blessed by the sacrifices he has made to sow the seeds of hope, justice, and compassion throughout the world in the name of Our Lord and Savior.
Note the reverence, the attention to the good the other person has done, the beneficial impact someone else's actions have had, and the reference to a Higher Being.
Obama essentially read the pontiff out of his own statement, indulging him only insofar as the pope happened to coincide with his interests and those of the coalition that elected him.
Note to Speaker Boehner: This is how the conservative grassroots expect you to “work together” with President Obama in his second term.
You forget that the same nations in the global south that the west sent Catholic missionaries many years ago, now are sending in turn missionaries to the west to bring the Gospel back in return, including America.
Anglicans are “separated Catholics”. They differ from the Roman Catholics in that they regard the Pope as a superior to the archbishops and cardinals, but not endowed with divinity. In their view, popes, like all men, are subject to fallibility, and lapses in wisdom may be corrected over time as more facts are revealed.
Papal infallibility has been a sticking point for centuries.
From your keyboard to God’s inbox . . .
The Pope is not, never has been, “endowed with divinity.” And only SOME Anglicans are separated Catholics; the fast majority are protestants. And Anglicans had marvelous reasons for disavowing the pope—divorce and replenishing the English treasury. (Sorry. Catholic I am, ecumenical I’m not.)
vast, not fast.
They differ from the Roman Catholics in that they regard the Pope as a superior to the archbishops and cardinals, but not endowed with divinity.
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Catholics do NOT believe that the Pope is divine. Where did you get such a ridiculous idea?
How so?
From the Catholics. Papal infallibility and all.
Popes, it turns out ARE fallibile after all. That is what set Martin Luther off on his quest for truth and honesty in things religious.
Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders.
What God will decide for Pope overall.
I would love for the Pope before he steps down to renounce Obama as an anti-Christ.
“They differ from the Roman Catholics in that they regard the Pope as a superior to the archbishops and cardinals, but not endowed with divinity.”
I’d love to see a citation from the catechism confirming that Catholics believe the Pope is God.
The Pope is not God, but one need not be the head God to be divine. In the Catholic hierarchy of blessed souls, the canonized saints are elevated to a level of divinity only just below that of angels, and are prayed to almost as fervently as the chief among them, the presence of the Trinity.
And Popes are saints in the making. Of course, not all Popes have been elevated to the status of a canonized saint, but every one of them has been a candidate.
1. The Church does not teach that Popes are COMPLETELY infallible. Rather. The Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra-that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding Faith or Morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding Faith or Morals.
2. Martin Luther was rightly upset by abuses of sinful men in the Church, but sinned himself with the course of action he took. Later, he even wanted to remove the book of James from the Bible.
Alloysteel, in these times when Christianity is being heavily attacked, it would do us all well NOT to attack one another.
Plus as Lent has begun, best to pray for each other and regard each other as brothers and sistes in the Lord.
I hope the Big Suprise for Obama is what God will decide for Obama.
“In the Catholic hierarchy of blessed souls, the canonized saints are elevated to a level of divinity only just below that of angels, and are prayed to almost as fervently as the chief among them, the presence of the Trinity.”
Ok. Where in the catechism does it say this?
No attack was intended, and in the spirit of ecumentalism, ironing out the misunderstandings and distortions played upon by all parties in these repeated schisms has to be engaged in some way. All of us together are smarter than any one of us, and rigid attitudes tend to break apart even the firmest resolve to commit to honesty.
But the truth is not a popularity contest, and not to be determined by anything like a “democratic” vote. Sometimes truth is particularly harsh and disagreeable, but is not less the truth. It is thinking makes it so, and critical thinking is an art too little utilized in today’s world.
Might want to try exorcisms first.
Plus as Lent has begun, best to pray for each other and regard each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord.
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I agree. ;-)
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