Joseph Ratzinger named new pope-- Benedict XVI

[jdramj]

Originally Posted by MerryPrankster

Just to set the record straight, as a Catholic, I don't believe that good works and money are the source of my salvation.

No worries....I wasn't saying that is how it is now...but rather that was the Lutheran thought process. Sorry to speak of past and present together without proper disclaimers accordingly.


hehehe

[jdramj]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

So you are suggesting Ratzinger carries a centuries old grudge from the reformation?

We may never know...it was just a thought. I have heard something about his possible religious intolerant tendencies, though I believe it to be aimed elsewhere not at other Christian denominations.

So who knows?

[innerSpaceman]

Why has no one yet mentioned his freakily scary sunken eyes?!?!?


What more do you need to know about the man other than to look at his face for an instant and see those skullfaced eyes glaring back at you?


Fortunately for us all, the man looks to be about a thousand years old, and should survive the papacy for a relatively brief stint.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Why has no one yet mentioned his freakily scary sunken eyes?!?!?


What more do you need to know about the man other than to look at his face for an instant and see those skullfaced eyes glaring back at you?


Fortunately for us all, the man looks to be about a thousand years old, and should survive the papacy for a relatively brief stint.

Oh, It's been noticed.

[Claire]

I keep seeing the title of this thread and thinking that Cliff Claven is the new pope......

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Claire

I keep seeing the title of this thread and thinking that Cliff Claven is the new pope......

That's been noticed too.

[€uroMeinke]

He warned about tendencies that he considered dangers to the faith: sects and ideologies like Marxism, liberalism, atheism, agnosticism and relativism - the ideology that there are no absolute truths.

This is the crux of my problem, particularly the last line, for certainly Catholicism (and all manner of orthidoxy) not only claim that there is a absolute truth, but the are the sole possessors of it.

Unfortunately for me, when one claims to have this sort of "absolute knowledge," I cannot help but think that they are liars - arogant liars. To me it reveals an uncertainty of faith, that cannot stand up to different practices. I cannot imagine that a God, an omniscient being, would be so narrowminded - it seems almost blasphamously insulting.

But then I'm an atheist, and one comfortable with some things remaining unknowable - including the very existence of God. And it's clear this Pope (like the last) sees me as a dangerous enemy for holding these beliefs. Sadly, I'll have to continue to view the Catholic Church as potential enemy as it tries to purge such thoughts from its faithfull.