Joseph Ratzinger named new pope-- Benedict XVI

[Ghoulish Delight]

It's things like this that have people worried:

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.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7560325/

It's one thing to not change underlying principals of the church with the times. It's another to ignore the humanity of your followers and to exclude your followers from amecable relations with people of different faiths. It's that kind of restrictive doctrine that people are afraid of.

[MickeyD]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

It's one thing to not change underlying principals of the church with the times. It's another to ignore the humanity of your followers and to exclude your followers from amecable relations with people of different faiths. It's that kind of restrictive doctrine that people are afraid of.

Yep, that's exactly it. I don't remember everything he's done that's made me roll my eyes and say, WTF? But some things do stick out in my mind. I remember that there was a nun somewhere in the Northeast US who was ministering to gay and lesbian Catholic and he ordered her to stop. Also, I remember a letter during the last presidential election that said something along the lines of American Catholics who do not vote pro life should not receive communion. It was amusing to me, because, according to the Catholic teaching on the consistent ethic of life, voting for GWB is also voting against life. So basically any Catholic who voted in the last election should not receive communion.