Posted on 09/16/2012 2:27:03 PM PDT by marshmallow
The Holy Father met with Lebanese political and religious leaders in the Baabda Presidential Palace, where he was welcomed by the country’s President Michel Suleiman and his wife
The Pope’s second day of his three-day Apostolic Visit to Lebanon is being marked by a series of political and institutional meetings and an encounter with a group of young Middle Eastern people in the afternoon. After lunching with Lebanese patriarchs and bishops in the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia, Benedict XVI will move on to Bkerke, to meet with Lebanese and Middle Eastern young people.
Thousands of people waving Lebanese and Vatican flags gathered this morning in Beirut to greet Benedict XVI, who left the Apostolic Nunciature in Harissa (north of the capital) at 9:30 am to visit the Presidential Palace in Baabda.
The Pope was welcomed by Lebanon’s Marronite Catholic president, Michel Suleiman, in person, who invited locals yesterday to gather in the streets to greet the Pope. Today was declared a national holiday in Lebanon on the occasion of Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Visit to the country. A part from the President, the Pope also met with other State officials and leaders of the Muslim communities.
The Pope planted a Lebanese cedar tree (the country’s national emblem), together with President Suleiman in the Baabda Presidential Palace. The brief ceremony was held before the Pope addressed his speech on peace to Lebanese political, intellectual and religious figures in the May 25th Hall (the date of the Israeli retreat from Lebanon after the war in 2000) of the Baabda Presidential Palace. When Benedict XVI entered the Hall he was greeted with applause and music by Mozart in the background.
In an inflamed Middle East, Benedict XVI has called for collaborative action and “authentic dialogue bearing....
(Excerpt) Read more at vaticaninsider.lastampa.it ...
It was all predestined and therefore something we should be thankful for.
And then,what did Jesus say to Peter? I believe He said,"those who live by the sword will die by the sword",didn't He?
It seems to me that since this was Christs last night on earth that the conversation was more than some casual back and forth between Jesus and Peter,just maybe He was telling Peter about the futility of fighting and killing. Maybe Benedict XVI follows Him,just as He asked Peter (in perpetuity) to do.
And maybe Benedict XVI is obedient and understands what Christ is telling him to do today. And maybe we all ought to pray and think a little more about what our Triune God wants.
I am interested in anyone's thought. I feel that we are just like those people that lived at the time of the Crucifixion.half asleep but eager to help and more often than not do the wrong thing because we forget what God has taught us.
Who was acting “...in disobedience to their own authorities”,..in the murder and virtual annihilation of “heretics” in France? In fact were not officials and citizens threatened with punishment themselves for any lack of cooperation? Was it not by papal decree?
“In retrospect” who sees such acts as abhorrent? Or are justifications offered up?
“Why do you think that Jesus picked up the ear of the centurion and placed it back where it came from? I am talking about the ear that Peter, roused from his sleep,and seeking to help save Jesus,lopped off.
And then,what did Jesus say to Peter? I believe He said,”those who live by the sword will die by the sword”,didn’t He?”
Actually it was the ear of a slave belonging to the High Priest and Jesus added to that comment that Jesus could call upon legions of angels for assistance if he choose.
So he didn’t need Peter’s sword or ours to protect or extend the church.
He also asks Peter in both gospels to put the sword away and in the one I had referred to He says those who live by sword shall perish by it.
I only mentioned it to draw attention to the fact that despite some of the comments questioning what the Pope was doing and saying there are many good reasons to believe the Pope was "following" Truth (Jesus) and Jesus believes it necessary to warn His slumbering people that they should at least be very careful lest their actions cause even more grief.
I just wanted to thank you for so many of the great articles you have posted such as this one as well as the many concise and clear comments,right now I'm referring to the comment you made to a responder.
That is an excellent point! It is Almighty God who calls all men to repentance and faith in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who is in the world to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. All we are called to do is speak the truth, preach the Gospel, be instant in season and out, and trust the Lord to open hearts to receive the truth. No soul was ever won to saving faith in Christ at the end of a sword. Jesus said all would know we are his disciples by our love one for another. This should be a HUGE clue to those who might be considering conversion to Islam.
As Peter amply demonstrated,we can make people very hard of hearing depending on how we wield the 'sword'.(Ephesians 6:17,1 Peter 3:15)
Of course, the immortal Oscar Wilde.
As for Pope Innocent III, I am not a student of the era but I do know that although he was one of the most influential Popes in history, he is far from being considered a saint.
Furthermore, somebody who IS a canonized saint --- St. Lutgarda of Brabant -- received a vision of him being in the fires of purgatory on the very day he died. Engulfed in flames, he declared to her, “I am Pope Innocent”. He continued to explain that he was in purgatory for three crimes grievously offensive to Our Lord. He said --- according to St. Lutgarda--- that he had repented on his deathbed and was saved by the grace of God, but still had to make reparations for his grave faults.
"Alas! It is terrible; and will last for centuries" he is reported to have said to Lutgarda.
So do not make the mistake of supposing that evil men and their henchmen---- even wicked Popes --- are regarded as "true believers."
"Great men's" lives -- and I am unable to use the term"great men" without conscious irony, always --- are often a mixture of great good and great evil. Just today I was reading 1 Samuel 27, which recounts David's massacre of every human being, men and women alike, when he was raiding tribes and seizing cattle and booty and on the run from Saul. Sin of every sort, and surely murder, is deadly if not repented; and as the admirable American Catholic Dorothy Day said, "You can go to hell by imitating the vices of the saints!"
As for the ex-sword-wielding Peter: no, he didn't go out and burn and torture heretics. He went out and repented instead. And Jesus was good to heal the man he maimed, and the soul of Peter as well. May it always be so.
If I may say: Some yes; some not so much.
As always. Think of the Twelve: one betrayed Him; one with oaths denied Him three times; nine headed for the tall grass and abandoned Him; leaving only John at the foot of the Cross.
Is there some weird Jehovah's Witness Scripture interpretation which says that Catholics and Orthodox getting a good kicking from the Muslims, is all part of God's plan to punish the "Harlot of Rome"?
Still waiting.......
“So do not make the mistake of supposing that evil men and their henchmen—— even wicked Popes -— are regarded as “true believers.”
Then would it not follow that their wicked directives should have not have been obeyed by those who were believers?
On what basis could a Catholic refuse to follow a decree by “the Vicar of Christ”?
Islam is evil and must be eradicated. Been my tag line for years.
Questioning the motives of posters, myself or others, is irrelevant and not pertinent to the subject of the thread. So wait you will.
Questioning the motives of posters, myself or others, is irrelevant and not pertinent to the subject of the thread. So wait you will.
I'm asking you........ a) if you consider the Pope's mission to be a worthy one and b) if Jehovah's Witnesses see the suffering of Catholics and Orthodox as some sort of Divine retribution?
How is that questioning you motives? Hmmmmmm?
I"m asking you to clarify your point.
Is it that (i) the Pope has no business doing this (i.e. someone else should do it) or (ii) who cares if the Muslims bash the Catholics?
No one is ever obliged to obey a sinful command, by anybody. But I think you already know that.
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