Protestant churches yesterday reacted with dismay to a new declaration approved by Pope Benedict XVI insisting they were mere “ecclesial communities” and their ministers effectively phonies with no right to give communion.
The latest declaration added: “It is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly be attributed to [Protestant communities], given that they do not accept the theological notion of the Church in the Catholic sense and that they lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church.”
The Vatican’s statement had fewer misgivings about the Orthodox Church, which had “true sacraments” and a genuine priesthood. But their failure to acknowledge the Pope’s authority meant they suffered from a “defectus”, politely translated from Latin as “a wound”.
On one hand, it’s always a chuckle to watch sectarians turn tolerance into profanity. On the other, the desperate violence committed by True Believers in much of the world is a deadly affliction that flows all too often from religious sectarians.
In other news, astrologists issued a stinging condemnation of the palm-reader community, denouncing them as frauds …
Bottom line: religion = organized superstition. These people don’t need to be born again, they just need to grow up.
Wasn’t this pope a member of Hitlers Youth?
It’s official…I have righteous anger against Benedict XVI.
Yes, I am a Protestant (Lutheran, to be precise), and while I may be far from devout, I keep in touch with my Creator enough to know that church is not something that can so easily be defined. It is not for us to determine who is and who is not worthy of the love of God…only God can make that determination.
God will decide our fates. I can only do what I can to live morally and trust that my Lord will sort us out in the end.
I can’t believe it. I’m the first to notice the Pope is quoting the Shrub.
37–I assume “everybody” noticed it==what with a nice caption balloon and everything? Yes, it is the most clever thing about this thread so far.—Well, #32 kinda captures this news as well.
pedophile priests and nazi popes. How is that not a wound on the body of Christ.
If you are not a protestant, you can’t be a Christian. We don’t speak to God through a Nazi pope.
I still don’t think is right to call this idiota a Nazi, I still think fascist is better label.
I wonder why Benni didn’t denounce pagans as well.
#38: Catholics do NOT pray to God through the Pope. The Pope is Christ’s representative as the head of the Catholic Church on earth.
#39: give it time!
>>The number of RC priests gets lower all the time.
Well, what the fuck do you expect? There’s a limited number of guys willing to take a job where the only nookie you get is choir boys. And with all the publicity in the last decade or so, even THAT isn’t safe.
My take on this whole brouhaha – it’s a non-issue. The Pope is just re-affirming that Catholics can’t go to a Protestant church and fulfill their obligation to attend Catholic mass. And I’m pretty sure many Catholics will just politely ignore him and keep doing what they are doing (and then go to confession).
At #18 – the Pope does not exercise his infallibility very often, and only for matters of Catholic dogma and morals and such. Basically, as Pope, he gets to make the command decisions on what it means to be Catholic – which is pretty much what you would expect from the head of the Church.
From Wikipedia: “According to ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Catholicism’: “In reality, the pope seldom uses his power of infallibility……rather than being some mystical power of the pope, infallibility means the church allows the office of the pope to be the ruling agent in deciding what will be accepted as formal beliefs in the church.” Since the 1870 solemn declaration of Papal Infallibility by Vatican I, this power has been used only once: in 1950 when Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as being an article of faith for Roman Catholics.”
You may have heard the same rumors that I have, about a magic chair that he sits in when getting his infallible mojo on – turns out the chair is metaphorical. He should really consider getting a literal chair – how sweet would that be?
42–Thats interesting. Only once in 130 years? Pretty conservative use of that power.
I wonder how many pope approved catholics there actually are–once you start substracting all the cafeteria types?
And on that same subject, if he “speaks” without authority, can you just say “well thats your opinion–I’m getting an abortion” or is there a meaty middle ground?
Just wondering.
I’m still a member of the Church of the Presumptuous Assumption of the Blinding Light.
Oh, Light that shines,
Oh, Blinding light,
I cannot see,
Look out for me
Anyone who can cite the source wins some award, but because I’m blind, I can’t find it at present.
30.
I agree. To the Pope and staunch Catholics this is a slam freakin dunk. To everone else, this is a total “Meh……its the Pope…whachagonna do?”
I mean, its quite obvious that alot of people went through the whole thought process of:
Pope = Human, God = Malevolent being who made the universe
and alot of them chose to cut out the middle man.
#12: Hand me the Windex. I need to clean off my monitor. Spit takes are a b*tch.
#40 – Buzzzzzzzz! I’m sorry, you’re wrong, but thanks for playing!
The Pope is the Vicar of Christ, “The word “vicar” means one who serves as a substitute, and is derived from the word “vicarious.””, therefore, the Pope is the only way to recieve salvation through Christ/God.
#47: Sorry, but not one single religion teacher in my 12 years of Catholic education ever told me or anyone else that I had to go through the Pope as an intermediary for salvation. Everyone in my school was taught what I posted in #40 for generations.
I may not know much, but I know my faith, even if I don’t agree with all its tenets.
dammit, dammit … what was #20 saying about the Orthodox church?
i’ll never get a response at this point … but i really didn’t understand it.
was it pro Orthodox or Anti-Orthodox?
I don’t even see why the Orthodox church was brought up at all.
It was like, Oh, wow! What a burn! The pope hates the Protestants more than the Orthodox!
The Orthodox are far more similar to the Catholics than the Protestants will ever be AND we’ve been around a lot longer.
Whatever.
The Pope should declare a Crusade and send the Christian armies into the Holy Land to free the sacred Christian sites from the infidels.
#48 – Do you practise the sacrament of confession/reconciliation? If so then you are receiving absolution through the Pope. Studying modern Catholicism will not teach you these facts.
You see, this is also why Benni has made comments that His Church has to departed to far from the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is why Benni has proclaimed this bull, Catholicism and its orders flow from the primacy of the Pope through Peter (the first Pope) who was declared the “Rock of the Church” by Jesus, and that he should be as Christ on earth. This tradition is continued to this day and is supported by the bishops who derive their power through “apostolic succession”. Evidently studying modern Catholicism will not teach you these facts.
#49 – My take on it is that Benni feels that the Catholic Church has become too liberal in its doctrine and given up too much control. The Eastern Orthodox Church has the same origins as the Catholic church but diverged in that the EOC only recognizes decisions of the first 7 ecumenical councils.
#50 – Bush has already tried this and failed, but then again he is not a ‘real’ Christian. ;4)
48—Did you go to the same catholic school system the whole time? Maybe they edited the curriculum for you? Many american cathollics would be immediately ex-communicated if “The Church” knew of their subversive beliefs. I’m sure you know “your faith” but do you know the Catholic Faith as determined by the Pope? You know, either you take his word for everything, or you ain’t a good catholic==good practice for heaven.
I’m going to get rich quick.I’ll have my “Pope on a Rope” dolls in production within the week. With a name like RATzinger you can guess what they’ll look like.
Hey! Tempest in a Teacup !!! Let’s not forget that ALL RELIGION IS MADE UP !!!