Filum Romanum - A Thread for the Catholic Church

The view with regards to Satan and the Devil is still seen as such here. Because even before the Spaniards came and "evangelized", the locals already have roughly similar beliefs (in terms of the evil side being actively against humans). You can say that those evil creatures in our oral history are "merely" the Devil in varying physical appearances.

edited 14th May '14 8:03:00 AM by entropy13

Yea exorcism is not treated as a joke. Pretty secretive in fact to

In what you would call its "basic" form (evil entity forced out of a human being), exorcisms is being done by local uh...shamans I guess would be the closest word, for centuries already.

edited 14th May '14 8:43:57 AM by entropy13

I won't pretend I don't find the whole concept a little odd, but it's Catholic doctrine and he's the Pope. The story of Francis's papacy seems to be "Pope says standard piece of Catholic dogma; liberal world shocked". From my own - atheistic and socialist - perspective, Francis has said a great deal of stuff that makes excellent sense on inequality and capitalism. If he wants to emphasize the machinations of Satan in the world then let him.

More news

• The Patriarch of Jerusalem is annoyed with the Israelis.

• Paul VI is to be made "Blessed" in October.

• Ireland resumes diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

And for a laugh

Stephen Colbert attacks Francis for being foreign and socialist.

Ireland: the barometer the See should always look to when it asks itself the question, "Are we being too bug-nuts on this?".

That was my point. <_<

edited 14th May '14 9:12:34 AM by Euodiachloris

It was institutional arrogance and corruption that cost Rome her relations with Ireland; it was the Vatican actually conspiring to thwart the Cloyne Report into sexual abuse in its children's homes. Nothing to do with doctrine, just run-of-the-mill venality.

Francis is putting the shop back in order, which may be why Ireland is now mending fences.

edited 14th May '14 9:12:39 AM by Achaemenid

What about Poland?

"If you have good reason to believe in an active Satan plotting against humanity, then it is your duty to do something about it."

The only thing we're supposed to do is resist temptation. Which is what you do if you believe in Satan or not.

Pope Francis: Martians have the right to baptism.

Papa be cool. He was making a more serious point about the inclusiveness of baptism.

edited 14th May '14 11:42:36 AM by Achaemenid

What about dolphins?

As and when they ask for it.

Does a dolphin need to personally ask for it? Or is it enough that its dam requests for it?

edited 14th May '14 4:07:34 PM by Qeise

X4 Hasn't that been policy for a while now? I swear that a few years back the official papal astronomer said something similar.

Indeed it has.

That raises an puzzling question: if we end up colonizing other planets and Catholicism follows in its wake, I wonder what the ecclesiastical province and leader would be called. A planet-wide group of dioceses would probably rate something even higher than an "archbishop" or "metropolitan," but there'd still be only one Pope. Maybe the title of "Patriarch" should be revived in a Roman post-Schism context.

Don't Venice and Jerusalem have Catholic Patriarchs?

Or a planet could simply be a single diocese, converted into multiple dioceses if the population gets large enough. It works for Earth.

Alternatively, they could have independent dioceses, with the bishops coming together in a council to discuss issues, like in the US.

Maybe ... I'm not sure. I don't think the Catholic or Eastern churches always have a totally systematic way of naming their hierarchies and sees, and a lot of places seem to grandfather in terms that aren't used elsewhere. If I remember correctly, some Balkan and north African flocks are actually led by "popes" (as opposed to Popes)!

edited 15th May '14 11:29:23 AM by Jhimmibhob

I'm reasonably certain it'd just be dioceses formed on the basis of "whenever it's big enough to need a new one."

Pope Francis to visit Israel and the West Bank.

Pope Francis offers prayers at Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem.

I thought this guy had iron balls, but they're made of a titanium alloy.

Francis is a brave man. St John Paul II would be proud.

Thankfully he's no politician.

I'm hearing that the Palestinians have accepted the offer.