Has there EVER been tension of this magnitude, at this high a level of the Church, in any living memory?
Meeting with the Cardinals has been rescheduled
for June 13 as part of a day/night doubleheader.
Very interesting observation.
The cold war gave rise to its own type of great leaders. Reagan was one; Thatcher was one, and so was John Paul II.
Perhaps Gorbachev was one also.
Now we're in a new kind of war, more diffuse in terms of states, but more intimate, involving every human being and their deepest thoughts about the Creator, their concept of Him and their relationship with Him.
This new war will give rise to great generals and presidents too, but that process may take even more time to shake out than the last one did.
I don't know if Trump will be that President, but I'm pretty sure that Obama will be an asterisk.
Doctrinally I can't think of any similar situation in the last 200 years, although what Paul VI did liturgically to the Mass in 1970 comes close.
You have to go back to the 1300s to find a Pope saying something heretical and being upbraided by the Cardinals for it. And Pope Honorius was posthumously anathematized as a heretic by the 6th Ecumenical Council in the 600s.
This is indeed pretty historic territory we are entering into. And we have Benedict still alive in the wings. I wonder what part he will play in this.
Re : Post #3 ~
* Maybe like Reagan, John Paul II left his shoes too big to be filled by anyone in the immediate future.*
I strongly disagree. JPII was a great Pope, I agree with that - but I believe Benedict XVI would have been an even better, and more Traditionalist Pontiff; if he was allowed to reign without so much pressure exerted on I’m by the College of Cardinals.