Anti-Pope protesters in Spain

Explete away!

edited 11th Nov '10 5:18:58 AM by RawPower

The temptation now under control, I would rather ask how is the Pope an ex-Nazi.  ^_

edited 11th Nov '10 5:25:55 AM by lordGacek

Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth — as membership was required by law for all 14-year old German boys after December 1939[9] — but was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings.[10] His father was an enemy of Nazism, believing it conflicted with the Catholic faith. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and killed during the Aktion T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics.[11] In 1943, while still in seminary, he was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps as Luftwaffenhelfer.[10] Ratzinger then trained in the German infantry, but a subsequent illness precluded him from the usual rigours of military duty. As the Allied front drew closer to his post in 1945, he deserted back to his family's home in Traunstein after his unit had ceased to exist, just as American troops established their headquarters in the Ratzinger household. As a German soldier, he was put in a POW camp but was released a few months later at the end of the war in the summer of 1945. He reentered the seminary, along with his brother Georg, in November of that year.

So... it's not like he had a choice in the matter, apparently...

You know, it irritates me when people make silly jokes that only contain the bits of the story that are convenient to them. I feel ashamed to have fallen for such a Did Not Do The Research. Please forgive me for being such an ass.

Still, growing up in such an environment must not have been good for the guy's mentality...

edited 11th Nov '10 5:38:19 AM by RawPower

Wow. That part I did not expect.  ^_

Which part?

What are these guys afraid of?

The spanish inquisition?

Well, more seriously, the Pope's commments against secularization, gay marriage, contraceptives, and the church's cover up of child abuse in the ranks (while reaction from the church ranges from calling the critics "nazis", to blaming Jews [1] for it)

I expected you to have already known about this involuntariness stuff and disregarding it, instead of simply being unaware.

Spanish inquisition

edited 11th Nov '10 7:29:02 AM by lordGacek

The spanish inquisition?

Of course not. You'd have to expect it to be afraid of it.

Damnit, that'll teach me to make references to things I've never seen.

edited 11th Nov '10 8:11:53 AM by Deboss

You mean expect. Perhaps you mean the Exquisition?

I might have felt inclined to let the pope off for being in the Hitler youth had he not tried to blame atheism for fascism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGBHfXPqbgI

Has the Hyphen too.

Some of the early Popes were African. Like Victor I.

Yeah, that was back when North African =/= Muslim, AFAIK. I don't know if there were Catholic churches under Islam and if the priests therein were allowed to go up in rank in the Church.

You know, of all places, I didn't expect to find in Vampire The Requiem that one of the main reasons some crazy bishop pushed the King to expuls all Muslims from Spain was because of the freedom of consciousness they had had for centuries, and which to him, Catholic, in the middle of the Counterreform, was unforgivable.

Basically the Moors were in danger of becoming new Protestants themsleves. And make the great leap from the middle ages. And allow condoms.

edited 11th Nov '10 10:24:20 AM by RawPower

Based on current Church politics, it appears that the next Pope will either be African or from South America. The current forerunners appear to be:

• Francis Arinze (Nigeria)
• Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga (Honduras)
• Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Argentina)
• Angelo Scola (Italy)

While any of these men would make interesting Popes, my personal favorite is Lubomyr Husar (Ukraine, but educated in the US). Unfortunately, he is rather unlikely to win.

Any of them a Liberation Theologian? Any of them not a fountain of anachronistic Values Dissoance? What are the criteria for being Papabile exactly?

I'm not trying to be annoying here, I am asking these questions earnestly.

edited 11th Nov '10 3:06:28 PM by RawPower

The more extreme forms of liberation theology are regarded as heretical now, but relatively left-wing views on economic issues are common among Catholic leaders. Your other questions are tougher.

^^ Godfried Danneels, a very liberal and witty man, would have probably been your best bet. He was seen as a Dark Horse candidate, but since his retirement earlier this year his election is unlikely. According to Church Doctrine, any member of the Catholic Church can elected Pope, however I do not think anyone outside the active ministy has ever been selected.

Although Pope Benedict condemns liberation theology, there are many elements of it in Catholicism. I think that the major reason for the condemnation is fear of Communism and the anti-religious sentiment it inspires. As stated above, members of the clergy tend to be more economically liberal but socially conservative.

edited 11th Nov '10 4:00:45 PM by Pentadragon

... Hm... So, like Arab Socialists?

The fact that Benedictine was also the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, previously the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, I think, speaks poorly of the College of Cardinals' attention to the niceties of public relations.

^ You have just made my day. I didn't expect him to be in The Inquisition  ^*

edited 12th Nov '10 6:12:54 AM by RawPower

NOBODY expected that.

Of more recent significance, those were the folks responsible for policing child-molestation cases within the Catholic Church.

ಠ_ಠ

Yes. He is (or rather was) a member of the Inquisition. There were some members of the Church who were unhappy about this, hoping for a more liberal Pope after John Paul II.

There is an old adage that says, "For every fat Pope, a thin one". Pope Benedict is what is probably what would be called a thin Pope.

edited 12th Nov '10 4:53:14 PM by Pentadragon

I wouldn't say that the majority of Spaniards are atheists. Nominal Catholics like the rest of Catholic Europe, sure, but not actually atheist.

And regardless of the PP's provenance, with all due respect, they seem to be more or less an old-school Christian Democratic party these days. You could call them reactionary, but no more than the Christian Social Union.

And re: liberation theology, it's less arguing for social justice that's the problem, or even being an activist for said social justice positions, but it's the Marxist trappings, shallow or deep, that make it so risky from a Catholic point of view.

edited 1st Dec '10 11:07:47 AM by Cojuanco