I'm Right Because I Talk Directly To God, And You Don't...

[sleigh]

Pope Benedict XVI's version of 'forward progress' seems to be a return to a Medieval Catholic Church. His latest bit of 'progress' is to release a Doctrine of Faith stating unequivocally that the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches are 'defective' and that all other Christian denominations (i.e., every Protestant church) are not "true" churches.

I'm sure that's a stance that's likely to help the Vatican's relationships with other faiths. And gee, Pope Benedict, if all the other Christian churches are false churches, then what are churches that aren't even Christian? I'll bet you can't wait to hear all those heathens screaming and writing in the eternal flames of hell, you kindly old man, you.

This reverses a ruling by the Second Vatican Council which met in the mid-60s under Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI in an effort to drag the Roman Catholic religion (kicking and screaming) into the 20th Century and a 'modern' world. (Those damned liberal popes!) Last Saturday, Benedict had revived the old Latin Mass, which had been replaced by 'secular' masses by the Second Vatican Council.

Next week, no doubt, he'll do what no one expects: bring back the Spanish Inquisition. Hide your comfy chairs!

Evidently in his infallible conversations with God, the former Cardinal Ratzinger has learned that God has changed His mind (because Ratzinger's god is most definitely male) and now wants to dismantle all those crazy liberal ideas that He had back in the 60s. (Hey, we all did crazy things back then, and God's pot must be absolutely, well, heavenly. No wonder He was confused at the time.)

In my opinion, the previous pope, John Paul II, had been one of the lesser popes in history due to his staunch conservatism and lack of vision, and had done great harm to the church's standing in the world. Benedict appears poised to become one of the most destructive popes in history... and hey, these guys rule for life. My bet: the Roman Catholic Church's already declining status in the world is going to undergo a crisis under this pope. I wouldn't be surprised to see a separate American Catholic Church after this fool's through.

Comments

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I think you are combining two things here. One is doctrine and one is the sort of interfaith PR. The Catholic Church has been involved in the goal of Christian unity for some time, but it has never compromised doctrine in the pursuit of that goal, and has never given ground on any of the fundamentals of faith and morals, which are infallible doctrine. Christian unity has always been more important to the Catholic Church than to any protestant church, which is sort of obvious when you think about. All protestant churches have embraced at least one of the following ideas: 1) that apostolic succession is irrelevant and only the teachings of the bible matter to true Christianity or 2) that apostolic succession is important, but the Catholic Church went astray at some point and only their specific group has valid succession. The meetings the Catholic church has hosted with other faiths have been primarily oriented toward bringing other denominations back into the fold of the Catholic faith. Secondarily, ecumenical negotiations have sought to iron out doctrinal differences, hopefully to allow intercommunion with some other denominations. It does not seem to me that Benedict has given up at all on these goals, but he is changing the tone of the conversation.

I wasn't alive during Vatican II, so I can't comment on the feelings or moods in the church at that time. The church moves slowly. It took a good four hundred years after the protestant reformation to decide exactly what was and was not a valid christian baptism. It didn't change the truth. It is not that all protestant baptisms before a certain point were invalid, and all those after were valid. It was simply that the church decided that those other baptisms were valid all along. Similarly, some conservative Catholics make what are essentially false claims about church doctrine, and then there is the appearance of "change" when the pope or magisterium come to a decision. One example is the priesthood of women. The official reason that the church does not ordain women is because there were no women among the apostles of Jesus. Does this mean that Jesus intended only men to be priests? No one knows for sure. It could mean that, or it could be a sampling error on Jesus' part. However, many conservative Catholics make much stronger claims than the church itself. They claim that God definitely intends women not to be priests. Thus, if at some future point, it is revealed by the pope that it is okay for women to be priests, it will be seen as a change, when in fact it is only the result of more than 2 millennia of waffling. And really the question has only come up since the modern sexual revolution. If it took four hundred years for the Church to make a decision on protestant baptism, the I don't think we should look for women's ordination any time soon, and if it does come about, it will not be because of protesting or lobbying on the part of the faithful, but through prayer and direct revelation to the pope and/or magisterium. I think the most that human action can accomplish is that as newer leaders move up in the church, they will have grown up with women in the workplace and in positions of authority, so they will be more open to...shall we say...any nudgings of the Holy Spirit in that direction.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

(continuing...)

From that standpoint, Benedict XVI is not the pope who is going to give us women's ordination. He is the product of another time and I seriously doubt he is spending any time at all in discernment of this particular issue. But it's not because he is wrong and someone else is right. It is the proper role of the church leadership to be very very cautious about modifying doctrine or practice in any way. The doctrine of infallibility promises that no one will be led astray by the Catholic church. That means when in doubt, take the most conservative position.