Pope Vows To Keep Tough Abortion Stance

Fox News ^ | May 7, 2005 | AP

[MisterRepublican]

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he will resist attempts to "water down" Vatican teaching, indicating he will uphold Pope John Paul II's unwavering stands against abortion and euthanasia and will work to guarantee obedience to Church doctrine.

Benedict outlined his vision of his papacy in a homily during a ceremony in which he took his place on a marble-and-mosaic throne of in the ancient Roman basilica of St. John in Lateran. The ceremony is the last formally marking Benedict's assumption of the papacy.

The pope "must not proclaim his own ideas, but ever link himself and the Church to obedience to the word of God, when faced with all attempts of adaptation or of watering down, as with all opportunism," Benedict said.

"That's what Pope John Paul II did, when ... faced with erroneous interpretations of freedom, underlined in an unequivocal way, the inviolability of human beings, the inviolability of human life from conception to natural death," Benedict said.

"Freedom to kill is not a true freedom but a tyranny that reduces the human being into slavery," the pontiff said to ringing applause from the congregation.

[goldstategop]

The Left will be disappointed in the Pope's "rigidity" and refusal to be "flexible" on social issues.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[dufekin]

What's so tough about the Church's abortion stance? I don't understand. I thought that the Church simply taught that God endowed each of us with the certain, inalienable right to life when He created each of us. (Okay, I know that's the Declaration of Independence, but it doesn't get much clearer.) And He creates a baby at conception, not at birth. Just that simple, nothing tough.

[pollywog]

To adhere to the Holy Scriptures is not only the RIGHT stand to take, it is the ONLY stand to take!!! There can be no other.

[Always Right]

As if this is any surprise.

[MisterRepublican]

Amen!

[jocon307]

You are right, yes it is the Declaration of Idependance, but it is also the doctrine of the Church.

Who can be against this?

Well, we've seen 'em, haven't we? And they don't look too purty, do they?

[onyx]

The headlines created my MSM, even Fox, --- screwballs.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Actually, the Catholic church has indeed "grown" over the centuries, by moving away from politics and toward religion, which is what Christianity is all about, after all. Which leads me to wonder: if Martin Luther were alive today, what is there about this institution that he would protest?

[NeoCaveman]

Breaking news "The Pope is still Catholic, film at 11"

[Bahbah]

if Martin Luther were alive today, what is there about this institution that he would protest?

Well, that is a thought provoking question.

[Winston7000]

Not good news, at all, for the apostate Catholic Democratic politicians and their weaselly "moderate" Repubican clones. Now, with spinal injections for some of our vacillating Catholic American prelates, we might see a stonger stand by the Church here on what constitutes that sacredness of all human life.

This will, of course, be interpreted by the mainstream media that the raging theocrats among are saddling our horses, sharpening our swords, and about to conduct a holy war against the wonderfully pure secularists. They may start sleeping with their lights on and their passports handily lying on their dressers.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Their ban on bigamy, adultery, polygamy, etc. for starters. Luther penned his signature in agreement, along with six other "reformers", to the following dealing with the bigamy of Prince Philip of Hesse:

"We declare under an oath that it ought to be done secretly . . . It is nothing unusual for princes to have concubines . . . and this modest way of living would please more than adultery."

(Document dated December 10, 1539 / Luther's Letters, De Wette -- Seidemann, Berlin, 1828, vol. 6, 255-265)

When that document became public knowledge, Luther explained:

A secret yes must remain a public no and vice versa.

(De Wette, vol. 6, 263)

Here's some more gems from the German monk.

I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture.

(De Wette, vol. 2, 459)

What would it matter if, for the sake of greater good and of the Christian Church, one were to tell a good, downright lie?

(Lenz, Luther's Letters, Leipzig, 1891, vol. 1, 382)

I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture.

(De Wette, vol. 2, 459)

Chastity is not in our power. All are created for marriage. God does not permit that one be alone.

(De Wette, vol. 2, 637 ff.)

Libidinousness cannot be cured by anything, not even by marriage; for the greater part of the married live in adultery.

(Luther's Works, Erlangen, 1868, "Opp. Exeg. Lat.," I, 212)

Schizo Luther would have found plenty to complain about.

[solitas]

Would he also have complained about the "church"-sanctioned child molesters (i.e. the bishops that hid them from parish to parish, or the Il Papa that looked the other way)?

[NYer]

Pope Benedict XVI waves inside Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome May 7, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI pledged on Saturday to follow the strict line of his predecessor and defend traditional Catholic teachings from 'fashionable' ideas that threaten to destroy the faith. REUTERS/Max Rossi

In office only 3 weeks, consider the accomplishments:

* Ejected a Polish monk for subvert activities
* Requested the resignation of a Jesuit priest, editor of America Magazine for anti-catechetical articles
* 'Reminded' US bishops that Rainbow Sashers should be denied communion

He's keeping the liberal media on their toes :-)

EWTN will rebroadcast this Mass, tonight at 7pm EST. Check cable listings for channel.

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Hand em their arse]

"Breaking news "The Pope is still Catholic, film at 11"


: ) In other news, a bear has also been seen s**ting in the woods...

[wagglebee]

'fashionable' ideas that threaten to destroy the faith.

It was the practice of "fashinable ideas" that resulted in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The "fashionable idea" that murdering the unborn is a "choice" has resulted in more than 40 million deaths in the last three decades.

I think the closing words delivered by Jonathan Edwards in his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" are quite relevant here:

Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: "Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed."

[Frank Sheed]

I am very curious whether he will:

(1) hold the "portfolio" of CDF personally while perhaps changing the Secretary to Levada (to keep him under close scrutiny and to change the Archbishop of San Francisco to a man like Chaput, for example),

(2) accept the legion of resignation letters coming up soon and fill the open positions with dogmatic Bishops like Sheridan, Burke and Vasa, and

(3) see that the Apostolic Visitation of Seminaries is done by a group to include at least 5 former Marine Chaplains.

That would be too much to ask. Sigh!

Frank

[warsaw44]

"Requested the resignation of a Jesuit priest, editor of America Magazine for anti-catechetical articles "

My mother sent me a subscription to this magazine. As its a weekly publication I can barely keep up with the reading of each article. A few articles I have read seemed a bit left wing. Any idea which articles resulted in the request for resignation?

[livius]

I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture.

Interesting. Luther appears to have been very similar to Mohammed in this respect.

The thing that has always amazed me is how many self-proclaimed "prophets" - ranging from Mohammed to Luther to Joseph Smith (Mormons) - obsess on what were obviously very early practices of the Jewish tribes that were described in the Old Testament. Considering the age of the early parts of the Hebrew scriptures, this is not surprising, and the fact that they had actually set up some legal standards to deal with this indicates that God was preparing them for monogamy.

By the time of Jesus, Jews did not practice polygamy, nor did they do so at the time of these later "revelations" (aka "delusions"). But for some reason, polygamy has been a constant among people who wish to reject the Church and standard Christian teaching.