← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · kminta
Thread ID: 17614 | Posts: 39 | Started: 2005-04-02
2005-04-02 21:19 | User Profile
[I]Well I for one am glad that it's all over. He's in a better place now, but the world is a poorer place due to his passing.[/I]
[B][URL=http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050402/ap_on_re_eu/pope]Pope John Paul II Dies at 84[/URL][/B]
[B]12 minutes ago[/B]
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY - John Paul II, who led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years and helped topple communism in Europe while becoming the most-traveled pope, died Saturday night in his Vatican apartment after a long public struggle against debilitating illness. He was 84.
"We all feel like orphans this evening," Undersecretary of State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri told the crowd of 70,000 that had gathered in St. Peter's Square below the pope's still-lighted apartment windows.
The assembled faithful fell into a stunned silence before some people broke out in applause ââ¬â an Italian tradition in which mourners often clap for important figures. Others wept.
The crowd, which appeared to grow quickly, recited the rosary. A person in the front held a Polish flag in honor of the Polish-born pontiff.
Prelates asked those in the square to keep silent so they might "accompany the pope in his first steps into heaven."
Later, as bells tolled in mourning, a group of young people sang, "Alleluia, he will rise again," while one of them strummed a guitar.
"The angels welcome you," Vatican TV said after papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced the death of the pope, who had for years suffered from Parkinson's disease and came down with fever and infections in recent weeks.
A Mass was scheduled for St. Peter's Square for 10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. EDT) Sunday.
In contrast to the church's ancient traditions, Navarro-Valls announced the death in an e-mail to journalists: "The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST) in his private apartment." The spokesman said church officials were following instructions that John Paul had written for them on Feb. 22, 1996.
"He was a marvelous man. Now he's no longer suffering," Concetta Sposato, a pilgrim who heard the pope had died as she was on her way to St. Peter's to pray, said tearfully.
"My father died last year. For me, it feels the same," said Elisabetta Pomacalca, a 25-year-old Peruvian who lives in Rome.
"I'm Polish. For us, he was a father," said pilgrim Beata Sowa.
John Paul declined rapidly after suffering heart and kidney failure following two hospitalizations in as many months. Just two hours before announcing his death, the Vatican had said he was in "very serious" condition, although he was responding to aides.
Since his surprise election in 1978, John Paul traveled the world, inspiring a revolt against communism in his native Poland and across the Soviet bloc, but also preaching against consumerism, contraception and abortion.
John Paul was a robust 58 when the cardinals stunned the world and elected the cardinal from Krakow, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
In his later years, however, John Paul was the picture of frailty. Although he kept up his travels, he was no longer able to kiss the ground.
Italy's ANSA news agency said Vatican and Italian flags were being lowered to half-staff across Rome and elsewhere. In Washington, flags over the White House also were lowered to half-staff.
People in John Paul II's hometown in Poland fell to their knees and wept as the news of his death reached them at the end of a special Mass in the church where he worshipped as a boy.
Church bells rang out after the announcement from the Vatican, but it took several minutes for people inside the packed, standing-room only church to find out as they continued their vigil into a second night.
Then parish priest, the Rev. Jakub Gil, came to the front of the church as the last hymn died away. "His life has come to an end. Our great countryman has died," he said. People inside the church and standing outside fell to their knees.
Earlier Saturday, Navarro-Valls said John Paul was not in a coma and opened his eyes when spoken to. But he added: "Since dawn this morning, there have been first signs that consciousness is being affected."
"Sometimes it seems as if he were resting with his eyes closed, but when you speak to him he opens his eyes," Navarro-Valls said.
The pope was last seen in public Wednesday when, looking gaunt and unable to speak, he briefly appeared at his window.
His health sharply deteriorated the next day after he suffered a urinary tract infection.
Navarro-Valls said the pope was still speaking late Friday but did not take part when Mass was celebrated in his presence Saturday morning.
He said aides had told the pope that thousands of young people were in St. Peter's Square on Friday evening. Navarro-Valls said the pope appeared to be referring to them when he seemed to say: "'I have looked for you. Now you have come to me. And I thank you.'"
One of the pope's closest aides, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was quoted Saturday as saying that when he saw the pontiff on Friday morning, John Paul was "aware that he is passing to the Lord."
The pope "gave me the final farewell," the news agency of the Italian bishops conference quoted the German cardinal as saying Friday night.
2005-04-02 21:28 | User Profile
[img]http://www.congressionalgoldmedal.com/PopeJohnPaul%5B2%5D.jpg[/img]
2005-04-02 21:30 | User Profile
[url]http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=1316[/url] Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus; Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the moment of our death. [I]Amen.[/I]
2005-04-02 22:00 | User Profile
I've always admired John Paul II. Although I didn't share all of the Pope's views even when I was still a Catholic (particularly regarding artificial contraception) and have since become an agnostic, I still think JPII deserves great respect for his tireless efforts to stand against tyranny and the oppression of the helpless around the world. Regardless of whether one agreed with him on various issues, the Pope was a man who really did his best to make a positive difference in the world, traveling extensively even while suffering from very poor health to spread the message he felt needed to be heard.
R.I.P. :sad:
2005-04-03 00:02 | User Profile
[SIZE=7][COLOR=Red]R.I.P.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
2005-04-03 01:09 | User Profile
[url]http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02661593.htm[/url]
WRAPUP 1-Pope John Paul dies, world mourns 02 Apr 2005 23:44:14 GMT Source: Reuters By Philip Pullella and Crispian Balmer
VATICAN CITY, April 2 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul II, whose globetrotting papacy inspired millions but left a divided Church, died on Saturday, ending years of painful physical decline for the Polish prelate once known as God's Athlete.
"Our beloved Holy Father John Paul has returned to the house of the Father," said Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, announcing the death to a huge crowd that had gathered under the Pontiff's windows to pray for a miraculous recovery that never came.
The Vatican said the Pope, who reigned over the the world's 1.1 billion Catholics for more than 26 years, died in his apartments at 9:37 p.m (1937 GMT), surrounded by his closest Polish aides.
As the news spread through Rome, thousands of faithful streamed to the Vatican to join those already there, paying respects to a man who helped undermine Communism in Europe while upholding traditional Church orthodoxy.
The slow mourning toll of one of the great bells of St. Peter's Basilica made the only sound to cut the stunning, tearful silence in the Vatican.
The exact cause of death was not immediately given but the Pope's health had deteriorated steadily over the past decade with the onset of Parkinson's Disease and arthritis. Earlier this year it took a sharp turn for the worse.
He had an operation in February to ease serious breathing problems, but never regained his strength and last Thursday developed an infection and high fever that soon precipitated heart failure, kidney problems and ultimately death.
"The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd. The world has lost a champion of human freedom and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a televised address from the White House.
Just two hours after his death, around 130,000 people were in St. Peter's Square, police estimated.
Necks craned up toward the lighted windows of the Pope's apartments where his once vigorous body lay.
"I can't believe that's it. I know God will provide a new Pope but we'll miss him so much," said Adrian McCracken, an Irishman who kept pressing his fingers against his eyes and apologising for crying.
LYING IN STATE
The Vatican announced that the Pope's body would lie in state for public viewing in St. Peter's Basilica from Monday afternoon at the earliest. No date was set for a funeral, but it was not expected to happen before Wednesday.
Italy announced three days of national mourning, while his native Poland will hold six days.
Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano will say a Requiem Mass for the Pope on Sunday at 10.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) in St. Peter's Square.
The conclave to elect a new Pope will start in 15 to 20 days, with 117 cardinals from around the globe gathering in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to choose a successor.
There is no favourite candidate to take over. The former Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was himself regarded as an outsider when he was elevated to the papacy on Oct. 16, 1978.
In his native Poland bells rang out across the country and sirens wailed in the capital Warsaw as news of the Pope's death dashed any lingering hopes of a miraculous recovery.
"I am overwhelmed by pain. I have prayed for two days and thought that a miracle will happen, but it didn't happen and now we can only weep," said Teresa Swidnicka in Krakow.
Wojtyla, who saw his country occupied by the Nazis in his late teens, cut his teeth as a clergyman when Poland was run by atheist pro-Soviet communists after World War Two.
Apart from his battle against communism, John Paul will be be remembered for his unswerving defence of traditional Vatican doctrines, drawing criticism from liberal Catholics who opposed his proclamations against contraception, abortion, married priests and women clergy.
In death, tributes poured in from around the world.
"The world has lost a religious leader who was revered across people of all faiths and none. He was an inspiration, a man of extraordinary faith, dignity and courage," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
VIGOROUS PAPACY
The first non-Italian pope in 455 years, John Paul threw off the stiff trappings of the papacy, meeting ordinary people everywhere he travelled -- 129 countries and territories in all.
But as the years passed, his energy faded.
Once a lithe athlete and powerful speaker, he suffered a series of health dramas, including a near-fatal shooting by a Turkish gunman in 1981. By the end of his life he could no longer walk and his voice was often reduced to a raspy whisper.
Earlier this year, the breathing crises silenced the "great communicator" and he failed dramatically in two attempts to address the faithful last Easter Sunday and again on Wednesday.
The Vatican said the Pope received the Roman Catholic sacrament reserved for the sick and dying shortly before dying.
"The Holy Father's final hours were marked by the uninterrupted prayer of all those who were assisting him in his pious death," a Vatican statement said.
While many people loved the man, his message was less popular. Critics constantly attacked his traditionalist stance on family and sexual issues.
In the United States, there was a widespread feeling that the Pope responded too slowly to sex abuse scandals that rocked the Church in 2002.
But the Pope was also an untiring advocate of Christian unity and inter-religious dialogue. He was the first pontiff to preach in a Protestant church and a synagogue and to set foot inside a mosque.
A decade after witnessing the fall of Soviet-bloc communism, the Pope fulfilled another dream. He visited the Holy Land in March 2000, and, praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall, asked forgiveness for Catholic sins against Jews over the centuries.
"We all feel like orphans tonight but our faith teaches us that those who believe in the Lord live in him," Archbishop Renato Boccardo told the crowd at St. Peter's.
Some Catholics hope the next Pope will be more liberal.
But John Paul appointed more than 95 percent of the cardinals who will elect his successor, thus stacking the odds that his controversial teachings will not be tampered with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[QUOTE]As the news spread through Rome, thousands of faithful streamed to the Vatican to join those already there, paying respects to a man who helped undermine Communism in Europe while upholding traditional Church orthodoxy[/QUOTE].
God Bless ye, Karol Wojtyla, Any man who helped to send Jewish Bolshevism into the scrap heap of history has my undying gratitude.
Rest In Peace.
2005-04-03 01:31 | User Profile
"Anti-Semitism is a sin" stated Pope John Paul II sometime in the past 5-10 years, yet the Jews have continued to emasculate and mock Christians, have not reciprocated an ounce of the good will shown by JPII, continue in their Bolshevik ways and continue to destroy Western Civilization at an unprecedented speed.
May God have mercy on his soul. I think Carol Wojtyla tried his best and lived a great life, helping many along the way.
2005-04-03 02:00 | User Profile
[B]John Paul II (b. 1920)[/B]
Karol Wojtyla first thought about entering a seminary in 1941, after the death of his father. In October 1942 he joined the undercover archdiocesan seminary in Cracow and enrolled in the clandestine Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University. Because of the persecution of Polish priests by the Germans, for the first two years he was forced to keep his vocation a secret, especially after "Black Sunday", 6 August 1944, when the Gestapo arrested nearly seven thousand priests. He lived in the ulica Tyniecka and continue to work as before.
After the end of the war the seminary came out of hiding. While still in the seminary Karol Wojtyla held classes on the history of dogma. On 1 November 1946 he was ordained by Cardinal Sapieha, Metropolitan Archbishop of Cracow. His first mass was celebrated in St. Leonard's Crypt in Wawel Cathedral. Within the month he left for Rome, where he continued his studies at the Angelicum Pontifical University and lived in the Belgian College. After a year of study, during the summer holidays, he worked as a priest among Polish workers in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. Father Wojtyla embarked on his doctoral dissertation on the question of faith according to St. John of the Cross; he defended it on 19 June 1948. It was later published in a beautiful volume in Latin.
In 1948 Father Wojtyla returned to Poland and became a curate in the small country parish of Niegowic. He taught religious instruction to local children, celebrated morning masses and assisted Father Kazimierz Buzala the parish priest. In the evenings, however, he continued his literary work, which he never gave up. He inspired the young people of the parish, and they established an amateur theatre workshop. In March 1949 Father Wojtyla was transferred to Cracow to the Parish of St. Florian. At St. Florian's he established a choir for Gregorian chant, which performed the Missa De Angelis (the Mass of the Angels). He instilled his passion for the mountains in the young members of his choir; they journeyed together through the Gorce, Bieszczady and Beskid Mountains. They also organised kayaking trips in Masuria. During this period Father Karol Wojtyla published his poetry in the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" under the pen-names Andrzej Jawien and Stanislaw Andrzej Gruda.
The doctor's degree in Theology was conferred on Father Wojtyla on 16 December 1948 in the Jagiellonian University of Cracow. Between 1951 and 1953 he obtained leave to write a scholarly work and began his habilitation dissertation. In spite of the fact that it was approved by the Council of the Faculty of Theology at Cracow, it was rejected by the Ministry of Education and Karol Wojtyla could not be appointed a docent (senior fellow), and was not granted this status until 1957. In 1956 he assumed the Chair of Ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin. On 28 September 1958 he was was appointed an auxiliary bishop at Wawel Cathedral in Cracow. This was the time when he created his most famous works, for which he became renowned among theologians: "Love and Responsibility"(1960), and "The Acting Person" ("Osoba i czyn", 1969). In 1962 and 1963 he participated in the works of the first and second sessions of the Second Vatican Council. In January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him to the Metropolitan See of Cracow as its Archbishop, and in November he took part in the third session of the Vatican Council. At that time he received a private audience with the Pope, and was in close contact with him during the following years. They worked together on the encyclical Humanae Vitae, and in 1976 Paul VI invited him to give the Lenten retreat in the Vatican.
On 29 September 1978, Paul VI's successor, John Paul I, died after just thirty-one days in office. On 13 October 111 cardinals gathered in the Vatican for another conclave, to elect a new pope. After three days of voting, on 16 October 1978 Karol Wojtyla became the first non-Italian pope in 400 years. Announced by Cardinal Pericle Felici with the words "Habemus Papam", John Paul II (which was the name he chose) for the first time appeared in the window of St. Peter's Basilica and gave his first Urbi et Orbi blessing.
John Paul II is often called the Pilgrim Pope. For the first time in the history of the Church he held prayer meetings attended by representatives of all the major religions. He established a dialogue with members of the Judaic religion and has made 100 overseas apostolic visits, a number of times to Poland. Under the leadership of the Polish Pope, the Church achieved significant changes: he reformed Canon Law (1984), compiled a new Catholic Catechism (1992), reorganised the Rome Curia, has published numerous encyclicals, and carried out several hundred canonisations and beatifications. The most important messages of John Paul II's pontificate are respect for human life from conception to natural death, for human rights and the working-man's rights, the struggle for peace, opposition to totalitarianism, a new evangelisation and worldwide renewal, especially among young people. On 13 May 1981 he was severely wounded in an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square but survived and recovered.
The most famous works of Karol Wojtyla are "Love and Responsibility" (1960), "The Active Person" (1969), and "Issues on the Subject of Morality" (1991). His literary works include the plays "The Jeweller's Shop" and "Our God's Brother" (authorised English translations of his dramatic works by Boleslaw Taborski), and his poetry ("Easter Vigil" etc., authorised English translations by Jerzy Peterkiewicz), with a collected volume of his poetic and dramatic works in 1980. His most recent book of poetry, "Roman Triptych", was published in 2003. > > > [url]http://poland.gov.pl/?document=1975[/url]
[IMG]http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1310000/images/_1310347_pope_ap_150.jpg[/IMG] * * * [IMG]http://hp.msn.com/5P/OODU0IZB@@3JY4P0LRC0OQ.jpg[/IMG]
2005-04-03 04:50 | User Profile
It is always a tragedy when the world loses a truly "good man." I believe Pope John Paul II was truly a good man. Wisdom, Grace, and Kindness were his trademarks. Although I am a Protestant... I am truly saddened by his passing.
God Bless You Pope John Paul II.
You will be missed.
:)
2005-04-03 05:29 | User Profile
[QUOTE=xmetalhead]"Anti-Semitism is a sin" stated Pope John Paul II sometime in the past 5-10 years, yet the Jews have continued to emasculate and mock Christians, have not reciprocated an ounce of the good will shown by JPII, continue in their Bolshevik ways and continue to destroy Western Civilization at an unprecedented speed.
May God have mercy on his soul. I think Carol Wojtyla tried his best and lived a great life, helping many along the way.[/QUOTE] I agree. I am not Catholic, probably not much of a Christian and I disagree with many things he did including the direction he took the Church in when he did such things as declare "anti-semitism" to be a sin. But as strange as it is to say, I think somehow he did that with what he saw as the right intentions. A couple of months ago when it started to appear that he was probably not going to live much longer, I never would have thought that I would feel as saddened by his death as I do.
2005-04-03 06:01 | User Profile
I think there have been actions, and decisions, made by this Pope that have puzzled or even angered different parts of his flock at different times for different reasons but that's probably the clearest sign that he was fit for the job in the first place. Were I a believing Catholic (and my opinion is probably as valid as any A & P Catholic's) I'd want my Pope to be someone who serves, and answers to, only God as sincerely as he possibly can, and that always means making life inconvenient for some of the parishioners.
RIP to the only Pope who was ever shot. If his finest contribution to the world he leaves behind wasn't forcing people to confront the idea of [I]a culture of death[/I], it is certainly his most significant.
2005-04-03 06:37 | User Profile
[QUOTE=il ragno]I think there have been actions, and decisions, made by this Pope that have puzzled or even angered different parts of his flock at different times for different reasons but that's probably the clearest sign that he was fit for the job in the first place. Were I a believing Catholic (and my opinion is probably as valid as any A & P Catholic's) I'd want my Pope to be someone who serves, and answers to, only God as sincerely as he possibly can, and that always means making life inconvenient for some of the parishioners.
RIP to the only Pope who was ever shot. If his finest contribution to the world he leaves behind wasn't forcing people to confront the idea of [I]a culture of death[/I], it is certainly his most significant.[/QUOTE]
Well put, and thanks for that.
He was a great man - a man who really tried with every breath he took to live in the ordinances of God. He wasn't perfect, of course, but he makes the rest of us lukewarm types look like the spiritual blobs we are.
He accomplished a great deal. From a political point of view, his biggest contribution was his pivotal role in the demise of Communism. He was also a champion of international law, and called the Empire to task for its many violations of international legal norms, including most recently the Empire's illegal war on Iraq.
But his influence on the broader culture far outweighs any mere political contribution. As you allude to Ragman, he invented the vocabulary for analysing the problem of modernity. JPII was in this respect a philosopher as influential as, say, Marx. He really set the terms of the debate of the major issue of his day, and that I submit is perhaps the most influential thing anybody can do.
As to internal Church matters, he drove through a rewrite of the entire Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These are extremely important documents for the internal life of the Church, and accomplishing even one of them would have made him a great Pope.
He will be remembered as Pope John Paul the Great. He will take his place with the great Popes of history.
Not that I agreed with everything that he did, including especially his sucking up to Jews, but then again he was a man of his times. He was in Poland during those horrible times, and I acknowledge is vastly more immediate experience of the Jewish problem.
I also am critical of his dealing with the sodomite scandal in the American church, and I think that history will judge him harshly for that. This was indeed a black mark on his name.
But he was a man, an imperfect man.
I do not doubt that he strove with every fiber of his being to live in absolute harmony with the Mind of God. He prayed constantly, as St. Paul instructed us, and when he wasn't praying he was serving the Church in faith and love. It can truly be said that his entire life was a prayer. He was a holy man.
My father has died. I mourn his passing.
May he rest in peace.
2005-04-03 09:21 | User Profile
The POPE Encyclopedia
by Matthew Bunson
ISNET Homepage | MEDIA Homepage | Program Kerja | Koleksi | Anggota
ASSASSINATED PONTIFFS
Over the centuries, many popes have been murdered or assassinated. The first to receive this dubious honor was Pope John VIII, who in 882 was first poisoned and then clubbed to death by scheming court menbers. Most murders happened in the Middie Ages, especially during a period described by a scholar named Cardinal Baronius in his Annales ecclesiastici as the Iron Age of the Papacy, from 867 to 964 when powertul families such as the Crescentii or Theophylact had pontiffs elected, deposed, and killed to advance their political ambitions in Rome or as vengeance for some action taken by the pope that might have offended them or inconvenienced some plan or plot. Of the twenty-six popes during this era, sexen died by violence. In modern times, fortunately no pope has been assassinated so far as any official record has proven. This has not stopped conspiracy theorists or the highly imaginative from speculating on the worst. Theories and claims of murderous cabals blossomed in ghoulish fashion following the death of Popes Clement XIV in 1771 and the sudden passing of John Paul I in 1978.
Pope Clement was reportedly so racked with guilt over disbanding the Jesuits that he spent his last years terified of being poisoned. After his death, so prevalent were stories about his possible murder that a full postmortem was conducted. It found nothing, but enemies of Jesuits spread lies that they had done the dirty deed.
In the case of John Paul I, some theorized that he had been killed by Soviets; other more exotic and even laughable proposal placed possible guilt with the Jesuits again (the pope was supposedly planning to disband the order), the Freemasons and the secret organization in Europe called P-2, officials at the Vatican Bank, or even high-ranking members of the Curia. These were dismissed out of hand by the Vatican, which brought in its own investigatior, who found no evidence of a plot or even a cover-up. (See John Paul I.)
Pope John Paul II was nearly murdered in St. Peter's Square in 1981 by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish gunman who perhaps working for Bulgarians and the KGB.
The following is a list of murdered pontiffs and the way in which they are thought to has been removed:
John VIII (872-882): Poisoned and clubbed to death Adrian III, St. (884-885): Rumored poisoned Stephen VI (896-897): Strangled Leo V (903): Murdered John X (914-928): Suffocated under a pillow Stephen VII (VIII) (928-931): Possibly murdered Stephen VIII (IX) (939-942): Mutilated and died from injuries John XII (955-964): Suffered a stroke while with a mistress or murdered by an outraged husband Benedict VI (973-974): Strangled by a priest John XIV (983-984): Starved to death or poisoned Gregory V (996-999): Rumored poisoned, probably malaria Sergius IV (1009-1012): Possibly murdered Clement II (1046-1047): Rumored poisoned Damasus II (1048): Rumored murdered Boniface VIII (1294-1303): Died from abuse received while a captive of the French in Anagni
N.B. This list does not include the antipopes, who routinely died by Violence or execution such as Boniface VII (974, 984-985), who was murdered by a mob and left under a statue of Marcus Aurelius to be stabbeb by passersby.
(sebelum, sesudah)
THE POPE ENCYCLOPEDIA - Matthew Bunson Published by Crown Trade Paperbacks 201 East 50th Street, New York New York 10022, USA ISBN 0-517-88256-6
2005-04-03 13:59 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Reuters] But John Paul appointed more than 95 percent of the cardinals who will elect his successor, thus stacking the odds that his controversial teachings will not be tampered with. [/QUOTE]"Controversial teachings"? What in the world does this mean?
I suspect it is a reference to the Pope's "preaching against consumerism, contraception and abortion" and his "proclamations against contraception, abortion, married priests and women clergy".
In this, the Pope was only upholding the traditional teachings of the Church. But, in a world turned upside down, like ours, it was a controversial move. How sad.
Requiescat in pace.
2005-04-03 14:43 | User Profile
I also am critical of his dealing with the sodomite scandal in the American church, and I think that history will judge him harshly for that. This was indeed a black mark on his name. I know little of the details of this, but my impression was that whatever efforts were exerted by the Pope were completely stymied by the US bishops.
2005-04-03 16:48 | User Profile
[QUOTE=SteamshipTime]I know little of the details of this, but my impression was that whatever efforts were exerted by the Pope were completely stymied by the US bishops.[/QUOTE]
He can transfer a bishop to any nonexistant diocese (say, St. Augustine's old see in Algeria) anytime he wants. I'm sure that bureaucratically it's not that simple, but I think most would agree that he was very reluctant to exercise his full authority as head of the RCC's HR Department, if you will.
The fact remains that he allowed some very failed personalities remain as shepards of large flocks in America up to the moment of his death.
I will say nothing further on this point until a decent interval has passed.
I do sincerely mourn his passing.
2005-04-03 20:18 | User Profile
[img]http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje22/popeyv.jpg[/img]
Pope John Paul II at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, March 23, 2000
JOHN PAUL II - JAN PAWEL II
[indent]*Pope's speech in English *
*and in Polish translation *
Przemowienie Papieza w oryginale angielskim i w polskim tlumaczeniu [/indent]The words of the ancient Psalm, rise from our hearts: "I have become like a broken vessel. I hear the whispering of many - terror on every side - as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O Lord: I say, 'you are my God.' " (Psalms 31:13-15) **
**In this place of memories, the mind and heart and soul feel an extreme need for silence. Silence in which to remember. Silence in which to try to make some sense of the memories which come flooding back. Silence because there are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Shoah. **
**My own personal memories are of all that happened when the Nazis occupied Poland during the war. I remember my Jewish friends and neighbors, some of whom perished, while others survived. I have come to Yad Vashem to pay homage to the millions of Jewish people who, stripped of everything, especially of human dignity, were murdered in the Holocaust. More than half a century has passed, but the memories remain. **
**Here, as at Auschwitz and many other places in Europe, we are overcome by the echo of the heart-rending laments of so many. Men, women and children, cry out to us from the depths of the horror that they knew. How can we fail to heed their cry? No one can forget or ignore what happened. No one can diminish its scale. **
**We wish to remember. But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to ensure that never again will evil prevail, as it did for the millions of innocent victims of Nazism. **
**How could man nave such utter contempt for man? Because he had reached the point of contempt for God. Only a godless ideology could plan and carry out the extermination of a whole people. **
**The honor given to the 'just Gentiles' by the state of Israel at Yad Vashem for having acted heroically to save Jews, sometimes to the point of giving their own lives, is a recognition that not even in the darkest hour is every light extinguished. That is why the Psalms and the entire Bible, though well aware of the human capacity for evil, also proclaims that evil will not have the last word. **
Out of the depths of pain and sorrow, the believer's heart cries out: "I trust in you, O Lord: 'I say, you are my God.' " (Psalms 31:14) **
**Jews and Christians share an immense spiritual patrimony, flowing from Gods self-revelation. Our religious teachings and our spiritual experience demand that we overcome evil with good. We remember, but not with any desire for vengeance or as an incentive to hatred. For us, to remember is to pray for peace and justice, and to commit ourselves to their cause. Only a world at peace, with justice for all, can avoid repeating the mistakes and terrible crimes of the past. **
**As bishop of Rome and successor of the Apostle Peter, I assure the Jewish people that the Catholic Church, motivated by the Gospel law of truth and love, and by no political considerations, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place. **
**The church rejects racism in any form as a denial of the image of the Creator inherent in every human being. **
In this place of solemn remembrance, I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the 20th century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews, but rather the mutual respect required of those who adore the one Creator and Lord, and look to Abraham as our common father in faith. The world must heed the warning that comes to us from the victims of the Holocaust, and from the testimony of the survivors. Here at Yad Vashem the memory lives on, and burns itself onto our souls. It makes us cry out: "I hear the whispering of many - terror on every side - but I trust in you, O Lord: I say, 'You are my God.' " (Psalms 31:13-15) **
[url="http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje22/text18.htm"]http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje22/text18.htm[/url]
2005-04-04 16:34 | User Profile
Raimondo has an interesting column on the passing of the Pope at antiwar.com . He shows how the same voices that are now praising the Pope's 'unique moral authority' were lambasting him just two short years ago.
[url="http://antiwar.com/justin/"]http://antiwar.com/justin/[/url]
John Paul II was a great man who was blind to some of the evils of our time, but who saw many others very clearly, indeed. May he rest in peace.
2005-04-04 18:56 | User Profile
According to [url="http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005040414340002831097&dt=20050404143400&w=RTR&coview="]this article[/url], some French politicians and labor union leaders are denouncing the flying of flags at half-staff in France to honor the Pope, because it (yup, here it comes) --
* Violates the separation of church and state!
*
What is this world coming to?
2005-04-04 19:11 | User Profile
[quote=xmetalhead]"Anti-Semitism is a sin" stated Pope John Paul II sometime in the past 5-10 years, yet the Jews have continued to emasculate and mock Christians, have not reciprocated an ounce of the good will shown by JPII, continue in their Bolshevik ways and continue to destroy Western Civilization at an unprecedented speed.
I noticed that as well. Limbaugh was bloviating earlier about the Pope being the only one who had ever "visited a synagouge" or "prayed at the wailing wall in Jerusalem." I couldn't help thinking that at the time JPII was doing said activites, Jewish religious leaders were spending all their time in the media lambasting the Catholic Church for "collaborating" with the Natzeesâ⢠or at the very least, not doing enough or speaking out enough against the Holocaustâ⢠and I thought it a very good illustration of "Jewish Gratitude."
2005-04-04 19:50 | User Profile
[QUOTE=MadScienceType]I noticed that as well. Limbaugh was bloviating earlier about the Pope being the only one who had ever "visited a synagouge" or "prayed at the wailing wall in Jerusalem." I couldn't help thinking that at the time JPII was doing said activites, Jewish religious leaders were spending all their time in the media lambasting the Catholic Church for "collaborating" with the Natzeesâ⢠or at the very least, not doing enough or speaking out enough against the Holocaustâ⢠and I thought it a very good illustration of "Jewish Gratitude."[/QUOTE] Last night on the news, they had some Jew talking about what a great leader John Paul II had been, which was based solely upon what he had done for the Jews, of course. If I'm not mistaken, however, Pius XII was conferred the title of 'Righteous Gentile' by Israel (a term whose condescension always irks me) after WWII, yet Jewry turned on him in the 90's in a ferocious way. I wonder how many years it will be until John Paul II is vilified for 'not doing enough' for the Jews.
2005-04-04 19:51 | User Profile
[QUOTE=MadScienceType]I noticed that as well. Limbaugh was bloviating earlier about the Pope being the only one who had ever "visited a synagouge" or "prayed at the wailing wall in Jerusalem." I couldn't help thinking that at the time JPII was doing said activites, Jewish religious leaders were spending all their time in the media lambasting the Catholic Church for "collaborating" with the Natzeesâ⢠or at the very least, not doing enough or speaking out enough against the Holocaustâ⢠and I thought it a very good illustration of "Jewish Gratitude."[/QUOTE]
Yea, MST, I think you're exactly right. And in my post I wasn't knocking the Pope for trying to establish better relations with the Jews, although I definitely don't agree that "anti-Semitism is a sin". However, JPII was sincere for reconciliation, the other party only concerned with revenge. I'm not saying Christians should ever be unwilling to have dialogue with opposing institutions or religions, nor should we ever be belligerent aggressors, but by God, we must be [I]defenders of the faith[/I] and not capitulate to our enemies when the pressure is applied. And, of course it goes without saying that it's not only the Catholic church that has fallen short. Other Christian denominations have even been worse offenders in that regard.
There was a reason the Catholic (and Protestant) church kept Jews in check for century upon century as the West grew to greatness, but when you break tried and tested traditions in favor of "free thinking", your formerly grand institution is severely compromised at best, or doomed for extinction at worst.
2005-04-05 00:38 | User Profile
[QUOTE=MadScienceType]I noticed that as well. Limbaugh was bloviating earlier about the Pope being the only one who had ever "visited a synagouge" or "prayed at the wailing wall in Jerusalem." [/QUOTE]And I bet Limbaugh was praising the Pope for having done such things. Am I right? The Pope's goodness as a man and as a Christian is in direct proportion to his attitude towards Jews. That seems to be the principal measure of the man.
Christians are judged on how willing we are to bow on bended knee to organized Jewry, while whites are judged on how willing we are to prostrate ourselves before the Negro. :thumbd:
2005-04-05 01:21 | User Profile
[size=4]The Judas Iscariot of Our Time[/size] [url="http://www.revisionisthistory.org/christian1.html"]http://www.revisionisthistory.org/christian1.html[/url] by Michael A. Hoffman II
The late Pope John Paul II was a crypto-rabbi and his pontificate represented, for diabolical infiltrators, a supreme coup. He became the first pope in the history of Christendom to enter an accursed synagogue, the den of the Talmudic Pharisees. Orthodox Judaism esteems the Talmud as its supreme guide. The Talmud states that Jesus Christ was a sorcerer and the son of a whore named Miriam the hairdresser. The Talmud declares that Jesus Christ is in hell being boiled in hot excrement. The Talmud gloats over Christ's crucifixion and early death and says He got what He deserved. John Paul II was delighted to engender scandal and confusion and enter the very temple of the Pharisees that espoused these mortal sins of calumny and blasphemy. He considered it one of the crowning "ecumenical" achievements of his papacy, along with encouraging the practitioners of Voodoo in Benin, Africa to remain in their bloody cult of demon worship and ritual sacrifice, by declaring that Voodoo contains the "Seeds of the Word"! (Cf. L'Osservatore Romano," 10 February 1993). Thanks to John Paul's recognition of the "Seeds of the Word" in Voodoo, three years after his visit, the government of Benin conferred upon Voodoo the status of "an officially recognized religion." (cf. Associated Press dispatch, January 11, 1996).
But it was in the matter of Judaism that this Pope earned his immunity from the media of the West, who might quibble about his refusal to priest women, but sat in unabashed awe at his unprecedented Talmudic statements and doctrines. For example, in Vatican City on Halloween, 1997, John Paul II declared:"In the Christian world -- I am not saying on the part of the Church as such --the wrong and unjust interpretations of the New Testament relating to the Jewish people and their supposed guilt [in Christ's death] circulated for too long, engendering sentiments of hostility toward this people. This contributed to a lulling of consciences, so that when Europe was engulfed by a wave of persecutions inspired by a pagan anti-Semitism...the spiritual resistance of many was not what humanity had a right to expect from the disciples of Christ."
Could any more fraud be packed into one paragraph than the palimpsest of Halloween masquerade that the late John Paul II managed in the preceding statement? There is no ignominy to which this prelate would not stoop in his obeisance to contemporary Talmudic Pharisees, who are the direct spiritual heirs of the assassins of Jesus Christ.
2005-04-05 04:36 | User Profile
Under this pope, hasn't there been a large number of beatified and sainted done in a fashion that indicates a strong degree of Political Correctness (e.g. lots of non-whites).
2005-04-05 04:54 | User Profile
[IMG]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20050403/s/r2455140489.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050403/lthumb.sge.djo08.030405032549.photo01.photo.default-255x384.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050403/lthumb.dv11104030145.vatican_pope_dv111.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20050403/s/r4226176584.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050403/lthumb.sge.djn64.030405030823.photo01.photo.default-384x256.jpg[/IMG] St Peter's Square in the Vatican City
2005-04-05 14:15 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Happy Hacker]Under this pope, hasn't there been a large number of beatified and sainted done in a fashion that indicates a strong degree of Political Correctness (e.g. lots of non-whites).[/QUOTE] I don't know about the percentages of new saints by ethnicity, but I do know that JPII canonized more people than all his predecessors combined. That is a cause for concern, in my opinion. Traditionally, the process for canonization was slow and painstaking. This rush to make masses of saints smacks to me of 'I'm OK, you're OK' feel-goodism.
2005-04-05 14:42 | User Profile
VATICAN CITY Apr 4, 2005 ââ¬â Pope John Paul II's funeral will be held Friday morning, and his remains will be interred in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica where pontiffs throughout the ages have been laid to rest, the Vatican said Monday.
Chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the announcement after the College of Cardinals met for 2 1/2 hours in its first gathering since the pope's death and ahead of a secret vote later this month to elect a successor to John Paul.
[IMG]http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/XQUIR10104031357.jpeg[/IMG] [FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2]Italy's president Carlo Azegli Ciampi pays respect to the body of Pope John Paul II lied in state in the Clementine hall at the Vatican[/SIZE].[/FONT]
2005-04-05 15:27 | User Profile
[quote=Stuka]And I bet Limbaugh was praising the Pope for having done such things. Am I right?
Correct.
[quote=Quantrill]If I'm not mistaken, however, Pius XII was conferred the title of 'Righteous Gentile' by Israel (a term whose condescension always irks me) after WWII, yet Jewry turned on him in the 90's in a ferocious way.
The term has always irritated me as well in that it reminds me of nothing so much as a good dog bestowed a pat on the head by its benevolent master, which probably isn't far from the way the Rabbis see it.
[quote=Quantrill]I don't know about the percentages of new saints by ethnicity, but I do know that JPII canonized more people than all his predecessors combined. That is a cause for concern, in my opinion. Traditionally, the process for canonization was slow and painstaking. This rush to make masses of saints smacks to me of 'I'm OK, you're OK' feel-goodism.
Agreed. But the Pope was a man, and thus under pressure of the times he was living in. Certainly, some of those pressures included an attempt to force more feelgoodism into the church. The Vatican still has a lot of power and influence, though it's of a more subtle nature. (ref. Stalin's dismissal of Vatican complaints re. Commie depredation in E. Europe, "The Pope? How many divisions does he have?") However, it's still a threat to Jewish Supremacism and I have a feeling that the media frenzy on the pedophile priest scandal (while ignoring/memholing pedophile Rabbis) was a warning shot to the Vatican to become more pliable, though I in no way think this reduces the seriousness of the housecleaning the Catholic Church needed/still needs to do.
[quote=xmetalhead]And in my post I wasn't knocking the Pope for trying to establish better relations with the Jews, although I definitely don't agree that "anti-Semitism is a sin". However, JPII was sincere for reconciliation, the other party only concerned with revenge. I'm not saying Christians should ever be unwilling to have dialogue with opposing institutions or religions, nor should we ever be belligerent aggressors, but by God, we must be defenders of the faith and not capitulate to our enemies when the pressure is applied.
Didn't think you were, for my part. Agreed with your sentiments, turning the other cheek can only go on for so long.
2005-04-05 21:46 | User Profile
Early this year, an article in World Journal caught my eye. The topic was: "Big prophecy for 2004". I am not a superstitious man. But five pictures with the article attracted me. They were: Eiffel Tower of Paris; Senator Edward Kennedy; Pope John Paul; Prince of Monaco Albert; ruin of ancient Rome.
It said, Canadian Anthony Carr, viewed as a modern Nostradamus, predicted that Eiffel Tower would collapse after an attack, Rome of Italy and California of US would have strong earthquake in 2004.
The following are the successful prediction he had made: 1. On 1/1/2001 and 8/14/01, Anthony twice said "There will be airplane crashed in New York. Hundreds of people will die." That was 9/11 attack.
Same day on 1/1/2001, he said George W. Bush would bring war to the world soon after he became president. We all saw it.
In February 2002, he said Princess of Margaret would die in 2002.
In August 2002, he said Mad Cow disease would attack Canada and rapidly swept across US. All these prophecy came true. And also he had predicted the death of Princess Diana.
If someone had made the above prophecy one hundred years ago, or 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago, I would admit it was a prophecy. Because there were too much variables in a long period. But check these achievements. It came true within a year, some even within a month. It's much more a proclamation of a project of intelligence then an astrology. Assassination of celebrities; terror attack; war. All the work capable done by government inside group.
I talked about mad cow, alleged it was a bio-attack from intelligence in December 2003. (see "191. Framing a case in December (12/26/03)") I talked about for many times that government knew 911 attack in advance. (see "68. Ashcroft's revenge (5/31/02)") All these were written before January 2004 when I knew there was such an Anthony Carr and his prophecy from newspaper.
In the books of of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, former counter terrorism adviser Richard Clark, Bob Woodward, Joseph Wilson we know from beginning when Bush entered White House, he determined to activate war. Outsiders observed phenomenon, insiders knew the detail. That's how Anthony Carr could make a prophecy. Or rather, to announce the plan of inside group in advance.
Now we go back to the great prophecy of 2004 by Anthony. It's still the assassination of celebrities, (Pope Paul, Edward Kennedy, Monaco Prince Albert) terror attack (Eiffel Tower), natural disaster (earthquake which could be induced, or created by modern technique).
Then why did they let out their plan by Anthony Carr? It's a psychological manipulation. Quite a lot of people believe in God. Prophecy will attribute all these events fatal. The prophecy will make that part of people believe what happens is natural.
You can also see Bush did the same thing. He always said what he did was God's will. As a matter of fact, media play the same role too. When brand name ABC, CNN, USA Today, Gallup..... constantly issued poll that Bush has an approve rate around 50% and leads over his rivalry despite Bush is a proved big lier, they are giving a prophecy too. This time it is for the rigged election. To make you believe the output of election is reasonable.
Anthony Carr doesn't need any reason to support his prediction. That's the advantage of a prophet. I predict sometime too on the purpose it won't happen. (such like the framed drug case even with specific date 6/19 , 9/2......) I always gave the reason why I thought in this way and with my analysis. I remind people from time to time "beware of pick pocket" so the thief won't steal for the time being.
I hope my revelation can prevent Anthony Carr's prophecy from happening.
2005-04-08 04:47 | User Profile
Mugabe defies ban for Pope burial
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Rome for the Pope's funeral on Friday despite a European Union travel ban.
Italy is obliged to let him enter under accords with the Vatican, which is legally a separate state.
Mr Mugabe is a Catholic and often attends Mass in Harare's cathedral.
The trip was denounced by one of his leading critics - the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube. Mr Mugabe's party is accused of rigging last week's poll.
Mr Mugabe and about 100 of his associates were banned from the EU and the US after being accused of using fraud and violence to ensure victory in the 2002 presidential election.
He has nevertheless attended several international summits in both EU countries and the US.
"That man will use any opportunity to fly to Europe to promote himself. The man is shameless," Archbishop Ncube told the Associated Press news agency.
AP also reports that Mr Mugabe used a service for the Pope in Harare's cathedral to denounce his western critics on Monday.
Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party won a two-thirds majority in parliament after last week's elections - enough to enable it to change the constitution.
He denied accusations that the polls were rigged as "nonsense".
But on Wednesday, the main opposition party released figures it said proved the elections were tainted by "massive fraud".
The Movement for Democratic Change said that in 11 constituencies, ballot box stuffing accounted for Zanu-PF victories.
It notes that these candidates were mostly ministers or senior party officials.
For example, in Mutare South, it was initially announced that 14,054 votes had been cast, the MDC says.
But the final results showed 28,575 ballots, with 16,412 for Zanu-PF and 12,163 to the MDC.
The MDC says it has been unable to get the breakdown of results countrywide, but this has been denied by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
The results were endorsed by Southern African observers but a local group of monitors and western countries said the poll was seriously flawed.
Mr Mugabe says he is the victim of a Western plot, led by the UK in opposition to his seizure of white-owned land.
Story from BBC NEWS: [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4419445.stm[/url]
Published: 2005/04/07 11:41:18 GMT
[QUOTE] Mr Mugabe is a Catholic and often attends Mass in Harare's cathedral.[/QUOTE]
This is taking "universalism" to the absurd, but sadly, most Protestant churches would also welcome this piece of :dung: .
[QUOTE]Italy is obliged to let him enter under accords with the Vatican, which is legally a separate state.[/QUOTE]
They are proud as hell for murdering Mussolini, but they turn a blind eye to this walking turd! Better off to invite the Vatican to move to "Zimbabwe".
2005-04-08 06:33 | User Profile
[QUOTE=MadScienceType]I noticed that as well. Limbaugh was bloviating earlier about the Pope being the only one who had ever "visited a synagouge" or "prayed at the wailing wall in Jerusalem." I couldn't help thinking that at the time JPII was doing said activites, Jewish religious leaders were spending all their time in the media lambasting the Catholic Church for "collaborating" with the Natzeesâ⢠or at the very least, not doing enough or speaking out enough against the Holocaustâ⢠and I thought it a very good illustration of "Jewish Gratitude."[/QUOTE] Exactly.
JPII's relationship with the UN was equally troubling.
The UN bureacracy did everything it could to spread spiritual diseases like feminism and socialism and abortion on demand throughout the world, and excoriated the Vatican for its often heroic efforts to save the world from the UN's influence, and yet JPII always took pains to talk about what a wonderful idea the UN is and how it can bring peace to the world and blah blah blah.
He was just tone deaf sometimes. Which is odd because at other times he had the most finely tuned political perceptions imaginable.
And enigmatic man in many ways.
2005-04-08 07:37 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Blond Knight]They are proud as hell for murdering Mussolini, but they turn a blind eye to this walking turd! Better off to invite the Vatican to move to "Zimbabwe".[/QUOTE]Just when this Ibo's packing to move into the Vatican?
[img]http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/c/4/newspic42525d6baa736[/img]
Arinze could be the first black pontiff
|
[color=#747474]April 05 2005 at 11:49AM [/color] |
By Daniel Balint-Kurti
Lagos, Nigeria - Pope John Paul II promoted African bishops to the ranks of cardinals and gave them prominent roles at the Vatican, recognising the importance of a continent where crops may fail but the Church's harvest of souls and vocations has not ceased to multiply.
Many say an African pope now could anchor the Catholic Church among the world's poor - signalling its aim to lead the fight against inequality and disease and offering a hope of salvation in this world as well as the next.
Even as Africans mourn the loss of a champion in John Paul II, streets and churches are filled with speculation surrounding the possibility that the first non-Italian pope in several centuries could be replaced by the first black pontiff of modern times. [url="http://ads.firstgrand.com/adserver/adlog.php?bannerid=98&clientid=18&zoneid=54&source=&block=0&capping=0&cb=e676534cd9c33dce4ae5da5ab8eb36fa"]http://ads.firstgrand.com/adserver/adlog.php?bannerid=98&clientid=18&zoneid=54&source=&block=0&capping=0&cb=e676534cd9c33dce4ae5da5ab8eb36fa[/url]
| John Paul 'did increase the chances of seeing an African pope' |
While John Paul did not increase the overall number of African cardinals from his immediate predecessors - there are 11 now compared to 12 before John Paul was crowned - he has greatly boosted their profile by calling several to the Vatican. Arinze, for example, was entrusted with mediating interfaith relations - one of John Paul's favourite projects.
"John Paul strengthened Africa's role in the church," said Mario Aguilar, dean of divinity at the University of St Andrews "John Paul gave the tools to the African churches to become more central to the church."
Aguilar said that by giving Africans a greater Vatican role, John Paul "did increase the chances of seeing an African pope."
Yet many in Africa have doubts about whether church elders are ready to elect an African pope.
"I doubt that the white man will allow a black man to become pope," said Chinyere Osigwe, a 40-year-old Nigerian - one of the 135,6-million African Catholics who make up nearly 17 percent of Church's congregation worldwide.
Working to Arinze's advantage is the fact that he has deep personal affinities with John Paul - who named most of the cardinals who will elect the next pope.
Arinze has more than a streak of social activism, and shares John Paul's conservative views on abortion, contraception and homosexuality - which tend to play well in Africa
Nigerians still remember Arinze's work during the Biafra civil war in the late 1960s and early '70s, when missionary schools in the young archbishop's domain were transformed overnight into camps filled with starving refugees.
John Paul II, who made 13 tours to the continent, indicated the importance it held for him by calling last year for a second synod of African bishops, years before one was due.
When the pope made his first visit to Africa in 1980, many countries still suffered under Marxist regimes that persecuted Catholics or military and civilian dictatorships, Zimbabwe had just become independent but South Africa and Namibia remained under white rule.
John Paul visited countries like Guinea-Bissau, where more than 90 percent of the population is Catholic, but he also reached out to Muslim Africa, visiting nations - such as Burkina Faso and Senegal - where less than 5 percent of the population is Catholic.
The Catholic Church's influence in Africa goes way beyond its congregations, with Catholic schools educating millions including several current leaders; hospitals and clinics serving many more times the people than the Catholic population and work by Catholic charities making the Church known in villages where there often is no following.
An explosion of demands for democracy in the 1990s freed many nations on the continent, but the loosening of the dictatorial reins also let loose tribal and ethnic rivalries that erupted into civil wars and regional conflicts that drew in several countries.
Many believe that a man like Arinze - with his expertise helping to ease discord between religions - would have a chance at inspiring democracy in a similar way that John Paul contributed to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
Former Anglican Archbishop and fellow Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu praised John Paul for speaking out against the evils of apartheid and seeking to unite humanity. He also called for the next pope to be African.
"We hope that perhaps the cardinals when they meet will follow the first non-Italian pope by electing the first African pope," Tutu said from Cape Town, South Africa. Sapa-AP
[url="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1112675581600B211&set_id"]http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1112675581600B211&set_id[/url]=
2005-04-15 19:32 | User Profile
Another two of great prophecy of Anthony Carr came into true. The death of Pope and a big earthquake. (Though the earthquake didn't take place in Italy, it took place in Indonesia and caused a tsunami.)
In World Journal, there were five pictures. Anthony Carr made many prophecies. But those five with pictures obviously were particularly picked up by intelligence to impress people. I think these were the most important projects of Inside Group. (The collapse of Eiffel Tower; earthquake in Rome; the death of Pope, Senator Edward Kennedy, and Prince of Monaco - Albert.
I found four out of five were related to Iraq war. Senator Edward Kennedy, Pope John Paul and France were three strong opposers to the Iraq war. An earthquake in Rome would also affected Vatican. Inside Group intended to create a situation that Vatican were punished by God with the suffering of natural disaster and death of Pope. John Paul expressed his anti-war opinion as early as in 2001.
Re: Ex-envoy: Pope was champion of peace Eric Gorski Denver Post Staff Writer
Coloradan Jim Nicholson met with Pope John Paul II on Sept. 13, 2001, at Castel Gandolfo, the pontiff's summer palace outside Rome. During that summit, the pope decried the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as an attack not just on the United States but on humanity, Nicholson recalled. But John Paul II vociferously opposed a U.S. strike on Iraq, sending an emissary to Washington in the run-up to the war in a failed attempt to sway President Bush.
[url]http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2797231,00.html[/url]
Since then, Roman Catholic had a three years long intensify trouble in US. Many sex scandals were revealed. Roman Catholic were humiliated. Priests were sentenced and fined. When I read such kind of news one after another, I realize it was a revenge and blackmail. Those sex scandal cases were mostly happened decades ago. Now all of a sudden, they were poured out like a big wave. But Pope didn't bent. He insisted his opinion.
Pope to Bush: Go into Iraq and you go without God By CHB Staff and Wire Reports Mar 5, 2003, 07:18
Pope John Paul II has a strong message for President George W. Bush: God is not on your side if you invade Iraq.
Laghi came bearing the pope's message: A war would be a "defeat for humanity" and would be neither morally nor legally justified. The Pope also questioned the President's statements invoking God's name as justification for the invasion. "God is a neutral observer in the affairs of man," the Pope said. "Man cannot march into war and assume God will be at his side." "It's illegal, it's unjust," Laghi told reporters after the session with Bush.
In a May visit to the Vatican, Bush told the pope he was "concerned" about the Catholic church's standing in America, where the church has been rocked by sex-abuse scandal.
[url]http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=15&num=1883[/url]
You can see how Bush extorted Pope with sex scandal.
So when the newspaper reported the Anthony Carr's prophecy, I knew it was the project of inside group. They think they are the real God and punish people who do not obey to them. There was trace that Pope was poisoned and suffered EM wave shooting in his final days. My condolence to John Paul. He is the victim of Inside group.
2005-04-16 01:04 | User Profile
Being a Lutheran of arch-conservative, views I rarely feel the need to defend a pope, but it should be remembered that most of John Paul II's bowing and scraping toward the Jews was done very early in his reign. Later in his pontificate his enthusaism cooled quite abit and he said some nice things about the Palestinians and told the Israelis to "blankity-blank" themselves when they tried to interfere in the appointment of eastern-rite bishops in the Holy Land.
JP2 could have been better on the Jewish question, but he could have been much worse.
2005-04-16 03:53 | User Profile
Stigmata,
I am sick of this nonsense. [QUOTE]the first black pontiff of modern times.[/QUOTE] There has never been a one of them a Pope.
From what I have been reading a German may well get the job.
2005-04-16 07:39 | User Profile
[font=Arial][size=5]Cardinal Ratzinger Divides Germans[/size][/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif][size=2][url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4940479,00.html"]http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4940479,00.html[/url] Friday April 15, 2005 10:01 PM[/size][/font] [font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif][size=2] By MELISSA EDDY
[font=Garamond][size=4]TRAUNSTEIN, Germany (AP) - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has alienated some Roman Catholics in Germany with his zeal enforcing church orthodoxy. But in the conservative Alpine foothills of Bavaria where he grew up, he remains a favorite son who many think would make a good pope. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Ratzinger, a rigorously conservative guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy who turns 78 on Saturday, is considered a leading candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II at the conclave that begins Monday. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Only someone who knows tradition is able to shape the future,'' said the Rev. Thomas Frauenlob, who heads the seminary in Traunstein where Ratzinger studied and regularly returns to visit. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]But opinion about him remains deeply divided in Germany, a sharp contrast to John Paul, who was revered in his native Poland. A recent poll for Der Spiegel news weekly showed Germans opposed to him becoming pope outnumbered supporters 36 percent to 29 percent. Another 17 percent didn't care. The poll of 1,000 people, taken April 5-7, gave no margin of error. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Many blame Ratzinger for decrees from Rome barring Catholic priests from counseling pregnant teens on their options and blocking German Catholics from sharing communion with their Lutheran brethren at a joint gathering in 2003. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Ratzinger has clashed with prominent theologians at home, most notably the liberal Hans Kueng, who helped him get a teaching post at the University of Tuebingen in the 1960s. The cardinal later publicly criticized Kueng, whose license to teach theology was revoked by the Vatican in 1979. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]He has also sparred openly in articles with fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper, a moderate who has urged less centralized church governance and is considered a dark horse papal candidate. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]He has hurt many people and far overstepped his boundaries in Germany,'' said Christian Wiesner, spokesman for the pro-reform Wir Sind Kirche, or We Are Church movement. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Ratzinger himself, in his autobiography, sensed he was out of step with his fellow Germans as early as the 1960s, when he was a young assistant at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Returning to Germany between sessions, I found the mood in the church and among theologians to be agitated,'' he wrote.More and more there was the impression that nothing stood fast in the church, that everything was up for revision.'' [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Ratzinger left Tuebingen during student protests in the late 1960s and moved to the more conservative University of Regensburg in his home state of Bavaria. [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4]Catholics and Protestants each account for about 34 percent of the German population, but Bavaria is one of the more heavily Catholic areas. What Wadowice was for John Paul, Bavaria is for Ratzinger,'' said Frauenlob, referring to John Paul II's hometown in southern Poland.He has very deep roots here, it's his home.'' [/size][/font]
[font=Garamond][size=4] [/size][/font]
[/size][/font]
2005-04-16 07:45 | User Profile
Ratzinger being touted as a 'transition' front-runner By FRANCES D'EMILIO Thursday, April 14, 2005, Associated Press
German cardinal, 77, tops list if cardinals prefer older pope after John Paul's long run VATICAN CITY -- In the name dropping ahead of the secret vote for the next pope, that of rigorously conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is making the biggest buzz among those betting that cardinals will go for an elderly pontiff after John Paul's 26-year run. Cardinal Ratzinger, who will be 78 on April 16, two days before the start of the conclave, is dean of the College of Cardinals. In that role, he had the duty of announcing the Pope's death to foreign governments.
"The only candidate that newspapers, especially German ones, are widely talking about is . . . Ratzinger, seen as a possible 'transition' pope," Marco Tosatti, a veteran of Vatican coverage, wrote in the Turin newspaper La Stampa.
Since 1981, when John Paul appointed him to one of the Vatican's most important posts, guardian of the church's doctrinal orthodoxy, Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the key men the Pope depended on in his drive to shore up the faith of the world's Roman Catholics.
2005-04-26 18:27 | User Profile
Another great prophecy of Anthony Carr in early 2004 was the death of the Prince of Monaco - Albert along with the death of Pope. If it was an intelligence project, the likely motive is to loot the treasure of Monaco Royal family or to control the economy of that country. Monaco, though being a small country, is a rich state with its gambling business, tourism industry and financial institution.
On 4/6, Prince Rainier died at the hospital treating him for heart, kidney and breathing problems. It was just four days after Pope John Paul's death.(4/2) They both had health problem a month ago. Pope had breathing problem in February and had a surgery to insert a tube in his windpipe. Prince Rainier was first admitted with a lung infection to a heart and chest clinic one month ago before his death. It could be a coincidence. It could also be that the action teams got the "OK to start" order at same time.
Someone argued with me that Pope died not of a conspiracy but of his age. (Re: 302) I would have believed so if I hadn't read Anthony Carr's prophecy. I don't believe astrology. Carr's prophecy came with strong motive of US Inside group. And they have ability to do it. Modern technique can create earthquake, tsunami; change climate and murder people covertly, make the death look like a natural one.
The passing away of Prince Rainier alarmed me that intelligence started to act their projects. On 4/10, I heard another news. "The marriage of Monaco royal family was imprecated?" (World Journal) It said that Ernst(translate from Chinese. I don't know his English name), 51, Prince of Hanover, husband of Princess Caroline, was sent into emergency room for pancreas infection in early morning on April 5th, just one day before Prince Rainier's death.
"He is under intensify observation. His condition is serious. He needs a long time cure. Bio and radiology examination is done. Now is doing scan." The insiders of hospital and royal family said that he is in coma.
Ernst's serious sickness once again touched off a saying that the dynasty of Monaco was cursed. It said the marriage of the royal family was imprecated and wouldn't last long and happy.
Prince Albert is 47 years old, still young. So Carr's predict was he would die in a car accident like his mother. After other obstacles were eliminated, Albert will be the next. Likely among Princess Caroline's close friends there are some candidates ready to be her next husband in her fourth marriage.
The modern pirate loot in the name of "democracy". For a big country such like Iraq, they started a war. For a small one such like Monaco, they steal through murder, marriage and heir. Of course, they do a lot of propaganda to convince people. From "WMD", "war against terrorism" to "prophecy" and "spell". Psychological preparation is always an important part of their plot. That's why when Pope John Paul didn't co-operate with them for the war, they punished him with death.