Posted on 04/03/2002 5:48:16 AM PST by KirkandBurke
he is a man of peace...
He has a very strange way of showing it.
Why doesn't he call on the man whose hand he was holding when he went to the Holy Land (that would be Arafat) to stop the bombing. There would be no "humiliation" of the Palestinians without the terrorism.
And where has the Pope been for the last week, while Israelis were being blown up during their holy season? Not a peep out of him.
Indeed. I seem to remember Vatican indifference to the plight of the Jews during WWII.
Not even Richard Gere's persistent humming (I respect that but still find humor in it.)
Now when a religious belief infringes on another persons' right to live and or others' pursuit of happines (ala the Jihadists and currently many imans in Islam)...then I have a problem with that belief.
This Catholic concurs. If the Church attended to the matters which most concern it, there would be no pedophile priest scandal, vocations would increase and so would attendance.
It would've been better for JPII to issue a statement saying that the Church abhors *all* violence between the Israelis and Palestinians. I don't lightly criticize the Pope, but this is just such a wrongheaded position for him to take. I would've thought that events such as the Passover seder bombing would've driven home the gravity of the situation.
I suppose we'll have to wait until the Muslims begin specifically attacking Christian targets on a "9/11" scale for the Church to admit what the worldwide problem really is. Does the Vatican have an anti-aircraft defense system? Or are the Swiss guards just for show?
This is squirrely.
"from whichever side it comes"? The terrorism comes from one side, and one side only, and Navarro-Valls knows that. And the Pope does too.
If being an Anti-Christian means criticizing people who turn a blind eye to terrorists who blow up children, then yep I guess I'm an Anti-Christian.
Yes, the jews must of been humiliating the Nazis.
This is what happens when a religious entity involves itself into high stakes international politics. Religion has a bias of wanting peace, and it links to closely to "peace at all costs", which leads to "relativistic" analysis,,,,,,so on and son. I mostly ignore it, but when it's a high visibility issue like this I feel compelled to criticize the Catholic Church and point it back to the internal problems which are tearing the Church apart right now.
Perhaps, but give Our Holy Father some slack. He's 82. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and continue to pray for him. His days truly are numbered.
Further evidence to me that the Catholic Church is drifting farther and farther to the left.
As far as the Vatican referring to "humiliating", it should clean up its own backyard. Humiliation is what the millions of decent Catholics and the majority of decent priests have been subject to as a result of the failure of the higher ranks of the Catholic Clergy, including this Pope, to expunge perverts from their midst.
Not to the Pope -- those would be personal representatives -- but to the Holy See: the Vatican City State, which is a sovereign country. Apart from a 59-year period when the Popes were the prisoners of the Vatican, the bishops of Rome have been sovereign rulers with secular responsibilities since the sixth century. They inherited this role by default, when secular rulers made plain their inability and unwillingness to take responsibility for law and order in Rome and the Papal States.
Oh great!! The Egyptians have begun to cut ties!! I'm crying a river over that one! (Cut ties with Israel..not us..BUMMER)
On a more serious note, the indiscriminate killing of civilians, by suicide bombers atrocious. How could anyone consider that legitimate?
No, I won't. As a world leader, his opinion is important, even if wrong or ill-considered.
He'd do better just keeping his mouth shut or figuring out a way to address the pederast problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.