My darling wife wonders why I like Pope Benedict as much as I do. Having imbibed snippets of misinformation -- some from friends and some from random media reports -- she thinks Benedict is a bad man. I say "by their fruits, you shall know them."
This pope has made mistakes, of course -- they all do, except when teaching officially about doctrinal matters -- but the old guy remains a formidable and humble servant of God. Two more reasons why:
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Pope Benedict XVI in their joint effort to salvage and nurture Christianity in those precincts where it has withered lately.
In other hopeful news, Cardinal Walter Kaspar sparred with then-Cardinal Ratzinger over the history of the church some years ago (Ratzinger had the better argument), but in an address that Pope Benedict undoubtedly either approved in draft form or had a hand in, Kaspar recently pledged to open the extensive wartime archives of the Vatican, spoke candidly of when Catholicism was "too feeble" to resist the persecution of the Jews, and reaffirmed the mutually supportive relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
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3 comments:
I believe that everyone has the right to say what he thinks, I also believe that all people deserve respect.
What mistake has the Holy Father made? Beyond my simple awe of him as the Holy Father, he seems like a swell guy.
Mack, I agree with you about the pope's character. I wish he took a firm hand with the editorial staff at L'Osservatore Romano, though, so we wouldn't have to read tripe about hwo the church forgives John Lennon for saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, or other tripe about which rock albums are actually appreciated by a few elderly clerics.
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