Pope Benedict XVI

[Corey]

[quote=MSNBC][b]The church's new 'front man'[/b]
[url]http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7575799/[/url][/quote]
[size=1]It was only a matter of time before a thread like this popped up.
I'd like to know what everyone thinks about the new Pope. I'd especially like to hear from any Roman Catholics on the matter.

There have been talks of the new Pope being a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer. I find this to be a load of crap. Sixty-Seventy years ago, what guy on that side of the world didn't have ties to Hitler? You could either support him or die. I would have.
I'm not religious in the slightest, but people need to just accept it and stop trying to find something wrong.[/size]

[Soliel]

[COLOR=GREEN]Well you asked for the opinion of Roman Catholics...

I really don't have a major opinion of Pope Benedict XVI since I really don't know too much about him. The whole thing about him being a Nazi symphythizer is all BS in my opinion. It's just as stupid as the whole thing about John Kerry's anti-war thing during Vietnam.

What many of us don't reliese is how life can be in a dictatorship nation; if you don't do what the boss says, your dead. My grandfather and his family was some of the lucky ones who were able to leave Germany before the war, but aparently, our new pope's family was not so fortunate.

Well, that's my input on this for now.[/COLOR]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]I'm sure he's an all right guy, and not leaning towards Nazism or whatever.

But I don't like him for two reasons.

a) He advocates freedom, yet he is hardline Catholic, against homosexuality, female priests, abortion etc. Freedom for who? Your average white male?

b) I don't like his face. He doesn't have a nice face =\[/size]

[Hevn]

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']b) I don't like his face. He doesn't have a nice face =\[/size][/quote]
[COLOR=DarkOliveGreen][SIZE=1]Lol! I wished for a pope that looks a lot like Pope John Paul. Someone who's got a baby face. Pope Benedict seems fine. There's no use on finding something wrong about him. People just need to give him a chance.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial]I don't like his hardline Catholic stance like Baron... and I think he looks like the Emperor from Star Wars. So did a few others [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Benedict_XVI&direction=prev&oldid=12526972]evidently[/URL] .[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Doukeshi]

[COLOR=DimGray][SIZE=1]Ah, 'Gods Rottweiler'. I believe that this will be an interesting time for many un-orthodox catholics who have a less hardline appraoch to the catholic faith.

Considering his age, 75, and the fact that a decision was made so quickly as to who would become pope, suggests that the conclave chose him as merely a stop gap.

True he is in contrast to Pope John Paul in his affiliation with the Nazi's during the war, but this was when he was a small boy and most of the German population did not know of the attrocities being commited in their name.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Stuart]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][FONT=Tahoma]I don't have many thoughts on our new pope but, I think it's pretty cool he as his own e-mail [/COLOR] [COLOR=Navy]benedictxvi@vatican.va[/COLOR][COLOR=DarkSlateGray] (I kid you not) I was surprised to see this when surfing around on MSNBC. Pretty neat? We can e-mail the pope.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Retribution]

[SIZE=1]Well, he won't read it himself. Millions of people are e-mailing him, if his e-mail is on the internet. Some adviser of his will sift through the millions of e-mails to pick a few out that he'll read himself.

But he's a good guy. He wasn't a Nazi or a Nazi sympathizer. All the Aryan kids in Germany were forced to join the Hitler's Youth. Now, there's a different discussion as to if he was gung-ho about it, but I seriously doubt he was. He deserted his post at the age of 15 or so.

I'm not a Roman Catholic, but I do go to Catholic school, so I know about him. This is all based off of what my Sacred Scripture teacher has told me, but the Pope cannot change doctrine like contraception, abortion, homosexuality, and the like. Apparently, he doesn't have the authority to ordain female clergy either, as it is said [somewhere] in the Bible that only men can be priests. He's also supposedly infallible when it comes to the teaching of faith and morals because the Holy Spirit protects him from error. Pfft.

I'm sure he's a good guy, as you have to be extremely pious to make it to Cardinal. I hope that he does some good in the world, and keeps the Catholic faith ... how it should be run. (Hm... perhaps I should've said something different. Meh.)[/SIZE]

[Koru-dono]

Want to here the dumbest thing in the world? OK, I'm pretty wierd, right--so I see his name in the news one day, "Pope Benedict", and right away I think,
[I]EGGS BENEDICT![/I] Come on, tell me that never entered your mind??? :whoops:

[eleanor]

[i]a) He advocates freedom, yet he is hardline Catholic, against homosexuality, female priests, abortion etc. Freedom for who? Your average white male?[/i]

[color=darkslateblue] The main reason I was sort of 'eh' about this guy. When my mom brought up the topic while we were at a restaurant and I sort of just burst out "it's obvious this guy is probably going to favor your regular white guy!" and stuff. Dumb of me to say since I haven't really looked into this, but whatever. It's probably true. And I just don't like conservative people. Most of the time they make ugly faces at me whenever I walk by them with my cello case (which has a Kerry Edwards sticker plastered on it). :)[/color]

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]You know, some of the kidns at my school, who aren't even Roman Catholic, mind you, are like "He's a going to be a horrible pope!!!!" Geeze. Just wait and see for goodness sakes.

I don't agree with priesthood only for men, the church's views on homosexuality or abortion, etc., but it's the view of the church in general; not only the Pope. Those things about the church hasn't stopped me from being a Roman Catholic.


[quote name='Retribution']He's also supposedly infallible when it comes to the teaching of faith and morals because the Holy Spirit protects him from error. Pfft.[/quote]
Just to clarify - that's for all Popes, not just Benedict - he's not concieted or anything. The Pope is technically suppose to derive his decisions on prayer, the bible, and the Holy Spirit. The idea in general is very laughable to me, personally, but I just wanted to clarify that it's not only Benedict that thinks that.


And actually, I did [b]not[/b] think of eggs benedict, because when I first heard his name, the people on TV said "benedictine" or something more Latin sounding. I also knew the suffix on his name immediately because my old AIM handle used to have those Roman numerals. >_>

And whatever people are saying about him becoming a Nazi is utter crap. I'm not even going to explain why - refer to Retribution's post for it, as he summed it up better than I could.[/color]

[Retribution]

[QUOTE=MistressRoxie][color=#9933ff]
Just to clarify - that's for all Popes, not just Benedict - he's not concieted or anything. The Pope is technically suppose to derive his decisions on prayer, the bible, and the Holy Spirit. The idea in general is very laughable to me, personally, but I just wanted to clarify that it's not only Benedict that thinks that.[/quote]
[SIZE=1]Yeah, I know. I guess it does sound like I meant only him in my post. And I still think that the whole infallibility in regard to faith and morals is complete ... crud. Heh.

I mean, there's plenty examples of Popes in history who clearly taught the wrong things. And during the Reformation, when there were [B]three [/B] Popes at once![/SIZE]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]doukeshi03, I believe that he's actually 77.

He was 'elected' mainly as a stop-gap, whilst the Church "absorbs John Paul's legacy". But his hardline stance does make a big difference. Thats why there was the whole issue over whether to vote in a liberal or a conservative Pope. Changes can be made to the system. There can be female priests, and the Church can change it's view of homosexuality and contraception etc. It depends on whether the leader realises that the Bible is not completely fit for today's society, and changes the Church's attitude to reflect that.

[b]Edit[/b]: Check out the 'heretic' thread poster. How ironic :p[/size]

[JenniKate]

Personally from what I've read and heard in interviews it seems to me that Pope Benedict was elected as a Pope who will not make any major changes to the church during his time.

He is keeping the same administration and has said he wishes to continue to work to achieve unity between religions. Other members of the conclave have stressed he will not be a political pope - as in he will continue to keep religion out of countries politics.
Had they elected other members to the Papcy there was the risk of the world taking it as a political statement and the church does not want that at this point in time.

He seems a respected man with good values and I think we'll see that it was not a bad decision.


just so you know where I'm coming from I have a group of friends and we make it a regular thing to study current affairs and debate the issues so I've read a fair amount about Pope Benedict XVI.

I renounced my Catholisism over 10 years ago and avoid any links to organised religion, I'm an agnostic. Of our group we have 2 Catholics, a Muslim and a non denominational Christian so it's been an interesting discussion.

[Kamuro]

Before I ever heard anything about this guy, I saw him on TV. I didn't know his personality, likes, advocations, etc, and I didn't like him. I got a bad vibe from his stance to his untrue face and eyes. And after hearing everything people have said, it just confirms my suspicions. He is against basically everything. And as someone said before, thats not freedom, how could you live freely while having to refer to a book/preist every 5 secs to see if what your doing is ok. Popes are supposed to be people you can trust, and its proven time and time again that they're just as untrustworthy, maybe even more, then a normal person. Advocate of god, a joke.

However, I don't believe the choice of a new pope will directly influence my life at all, in any way. He won't be telling me what to do, and I won't be abiding by his unrealistic way of living life. I just felt it necessary for me to post a somewhat different opinion of the "Oh so holy" pope, or even popes in general.

[TheShinje]

I predicted, back in 2002, that Benedict XVI would succeed the Pope, i could tell by his closeness to John Paul II that he wiuld be a most obvious frontrunner.

So I watched this papal election with great interest, for that reason, to see the one I thought would be chosen, and all the religious ceremonies that haven't been practised since I was born.

I became a baptist Christian later on, however, because I disagree with some man being exalted to near-god status, heck, with all the millions of people pouring in to Vatican City see John Paul's lifeless body, you could excuse some people for thinking he was.

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]Okay, how come I didn't notice the replies until now? I'm retarded.

Retribution: I didn't know that there were three Popes at once during the Reformation. Shows you what I know about my own religion. Now there's something they never taught in CCD. >__> But it's no big surprise to me that the Renaissance - political, scientific, and religious re-awakening - occured during such a corrupt time in the church's history (although some people would argue the church has always been corrupt...).

Actually, the theme for next year's Academic Decathalon competition is the Renaissance, so I should be an absolute expert on it by next March! =D (I know, off topic - sorry!) [/color]

[Bloodseeker]

This guy's pusing 80. He'll be dead in a decade or so. He's just a transitional pope until some middle aged guy that looks like he can handle the position to the church's satisfaction shows up.

[dark king]

well when the previous pope died and the funeral and all those public rituals had come by i said to 2 of my friends: what if the new pope was a nazi figure.
and what does rise on the pope`s seat????
Benedictus, the name itself got me thinking, and yes he had served with the hitler jugend and the wehrmacht wich he deserted.
but indeed almost any arian boy was eager to join in, they didn`t know better, they where decieved.
but the fact that he doesn`t know better, can you imagine something wrong with it in a later proffesion??
if he is liberal i see it down the drain, like: we will bring all the people to the church.
ein volk, ein reich, ein vaticaan.
sorry for the cruelty, but if he is really good, wich i hope, then i will consider him a good pope.
but to think of it going wrong and that evil eyed face seizes control over all those who believe, and decieve you with good faith, because deception has been a great part on every day life for most germans in those times.
student might become master.

but enough about that.
the rules about homosexuality and abortion, for instance:
you are not allowed to use condoms, if you get pregnant you may not have your child removed, you will have that child, but in the bible it was allowed to leave your children in a basket floating on a river, heilig oder unheilig.

homosexuality?
with the cardinals priests and high priests being all guys in most cases devoted to the church, what the hell you think what remains????
i have nothing against homosexual people, nothing.
but they say gay is bad, but in the mean while here in holland at least 80% of the catholic followers in a position in the church, is gay, and on top of that another 30% is pedofile.
i don`t know of the statistics in other countries but here it is true to these figures.

having faith?
nothing wrong with it, but faith should be in your own heart.
you and god no one else no brick and concrete, statues or depictions.

church is a no-go for me.
so if they would just cut the bs, but hey it`s only my opinion...

[Raiyuu]

[quote=dark king]here in holland at least 80% of the catholic followers in a position in the church, is gay, and on top of that another 30% is pedofile.
i don`t know of the statistics in other countries but here it is true to these figures.[/quote]
[color=DarkGreen][size=1]Thirty per cent of the clergy in Holland are paedophiles? Is that what you just said? How do you know this? Have you investigated them? You say it like it's an official statistic, but surely if the authorities knew this they'd be down on these people like a ton of bricks.

A lot of my friends took one look at the new Pope and drew what I dubbed [i]The Nazi Conclusion[/i] (which could be the title of a Robert Ludlum book, lol). It's a lazy opinion to have and I say let him [b]do [/b]some things, then I'll form an opinion based on those things. I'm not happy with his no-contraception-not-even-for-people-who-know-they-have-HIV policy but that was Catholic doctrine before he arrived, so I'm not judging him on that one.
[/size][/color]

[Retribution]

[SIZE=1][quote name='Zenju']I became a baptist Christian later on, however, because I disagree with some man being exalted to near-god status, heck, with all the millions of people pouring in to Vatican City see John Paul's lifeless body, you could excuse some people for thinking he was.[/quote]
Catholics don't elevate him to near-godlike status. They, as far as I can tell, revere him as a father and their shepard on earth. He is supposedly the closest person to God on the Earth at the time. Imagine your father died. I'm sure you, as well as the rest of your family would go to the funeral. They, by no means, regard him as divine. He is another man, a pious one, but still a man. When he dies, [i]that's[/i] when he's elevated up to divine status, being cannonized and all.

[QUOTE=dark king]well when the previous pope died and the funeral and all those public rituals had come by i said to 2 of my friends: what if the new pope was a nazi figure.
and what does rise on the pope`s seat????
Benedictus, the name itself got me thinking, and yes he had served with the hitler jugend and the wehrmacht wich he deserted.
but indeed almost any arian boy was eager to join in, they didn`t know better, they where decieved.
but the fact that he doesn`t know better, can you imagine something wrong with it in a later proffesion??[/QUOTE]
What are you talking about? He [I]did[/I] desert the Nazis after realizing they were wrong. Like you said, he was [I]tricked[/I] as a kid. So, if he was tricked, how is he responsible for doing the wrong thing? Imagine you had been fooled into thinking one thing, but later figured out you were terribly wrong and then renounced your views immediately. That's exactly what happened. He was a boy, and now he is a learned man. There's a huge difference, and the comparison you present is a sinking ship.

[quote]if he is liberal i see it down the drain, like: we will bring all the people to the church.
ein volk, ein reich, ein vaticaan.
sorry for the cruelty, but if he is really good, wich i hope, then i will consider him a good pope.
but to think of it going wrong and that evil eyed face seizes control over all those who believe, and decieve you with good faith, because deception has been a great part on every day life for most germans in those times.
student might become master.[/quote]You really don't know what you're talking about. How about you go read a book about what happened to the pope, and [i]then[/i] step back to the plate when you're done. Liberal? It doesn't matter. The pope can't change Catholic doctrine. Because it's doctrine. It's like trying to change the fact that the Virgin Mary wasn't a virgin. It's permanent. He's not evil. How could such 'evil' rise to be so pious, so god-devoted, so heaven-ward? He's [I]devoted his entire life[/I] to God, to his faith. If he were some Nazi like you claim, he say "To hell with the Church!" just like Hitler did.

[quote]but enough about that.
the rules about homosexuality and abortion, for instance:
you are not allowed to use condoms, if you get pregnant you may not have your child removed, you will have that child, but in the bible it was allowed to leave your children in a basket floating on a river, heilig oder unheilig.[/quote] Burning ignorance... >_<

He cannot change doctrine such as contraception and abortion. The pope is so-called 'infallible,' and if you're a Catholic, you must believe he is. If you don't, you're not really Catholic. The rules laid out by JP2 are set in stone. No changes. No matter how unpopular that'll make the Church.

Moses' life was [i]saved[/i] by putting him in a basket. Here... lemme tell you the story. A pharohe in ancient Egypt issued the order to kill all the male jews. The reason was because there were too many jews for the Egyptians to repell in case of a mass-rebellion, so he decided to fix the problem. Anyway, God told Moses' mother to put him in a basket on a river to save him from being killed by the soldiers coming to stab her baby through the stomach. She followed obediently, and God protected the basket, delievering it to Pharoe's daughter, who took up Moses and cared for him until he was grown. Again, you've made two comparisons that really don't make any sense.

[quote]homosexuality?
with the cardinals priests and high priests being all guys in most cases devoted to the church, what the hell you think what remains????
i have nothing against homosexual people, nothing.
but they say gay is bad, but in the mean while here in holland at least 80% of the catholic followers in a position in the church, is gay, and on top of that another 30% is pedofile.
i don`t know of the statistics in other countries but here it is true to these figures.[/quote]Like Blackjack said, I don't know where you found those figures. And the Catholic clergy aren't forced into the job. They take a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Meaning, they won't have sex, they are to live humbly, and obey the will of the Lord. Catholics believe that gay is bad if gays choose to act upon their impulses. Again, I'm not Catholic, and I don't believe in some of their doctrine, but these are the facts. I hate to see a group horribly misrepresented as you've done.

[quote]having faith?
nothing wrong with it, but faith should be in your own heart.
you and god no one else no brick and concrete, statues or depictions.

church is a no-go for me.
so if they would just cut the bs, but hey it`s only my opinion...[/quote]The first commandment says not to worships gods of wood or stone (false idols). God is represented to Christians in such things as statues and stained glass windows so as to remind us of His omnipresence. We don't worship them, you iconoclast. Jesus was a man (so I believe), and there is nothing wrong of showing things to remind us of his eternal sacrifice that saved our poor ***** from sin and eternal damnation. A crucifix isn't made to show off -- it's made to remind.[/SIZE]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=darkviolet]Man, this is an old thread.

I heard about the pope election on my way to Watertown....My mama and I really wished they had elected the Afican guy instead. It would have been a nice change from all the pasty old white guys. But alas her prayers to St. Theresa and my hopes weren't answered.

It doesn't suprise me nor make me fear that Pope Benedict had ties with Hitler (if he did of course) There are a few reasons for this

1.) The majority of people in Germany whether they believed what Hitler said or not was in Hitler YOuth or something to save their butts. It's really amazing what people will do to save themselves.

2.) He wouldn't be the first pope who indulged in less than holy beliefs. Pope John XII turned his residence at Lateran Palace into a brothel, The majoprity of popes bvetween 872 CE and 1012 CE were killed by other popes. They had iligitamate children, authorized the killing of other Christians, raped murdered, began Crusades and established the inquisition. Being or not being a nazi would just be following in legacy.

Okay, so therer were only two sections. The 2nd was long.

I'm honestly not overly enthralled with mainstream religion and the new pope doesn't help matters much. What is so bad about allowing women to be preists? I'm not going to start the great gay debate, I just want to know what's wrong with women priests since throughout history the mainstay of the church has been women. [/color]

[Retribution]

[SIZE=1][quote name='ChibiHorsewoman][color=darkviolet']I'm honestly not overly enthralled with mainstream religion and the new pope doesn't help matters much. What is so bad about allowing women to be preists? I'm not going to start the great gay debate, I just want to know what's wrong with women priests since throughout history the mainstay of the church has been women. [/color][/quote]
I'll tell you what my teachers have told me.

They can't give the sacraments, because Jesus first gave the sacraments. In order to 'mimic' Jesus' actions, Catholics believe that you have to be a man (like Jesus). Most prevalent is during the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They believe that you're not confessing to a regular dude, that you're in a mysterious way, confessing to Christ, because the priest is [i]in persona christi[/i], and acting as Christ did. I'm assuming this holds true for the rest of the sacraments.

And it's the whole "we can't change doctrine" thing they're also arguing. It's not 'not up for debate' anymore, as far as the Church is concerned.[/SIZE]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[QUOTE=Retribution][SIZE=1] They can't give the sacraments, because Jesus first gave the sacraments. In order to 'mimic' Jesus' actions, Catholics believe that you have to be a man (like Jesus).

And it's the whole "we can't change doctrine" thing they're also arguing. It's not 'not up for debate' anymore, as far as the Church is concerned. [/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[color=darkviolet]Jesus was a woman I have proof:

1.) He had to provide food for 1000s of people

2.) He had to fix everything

3.) Even after he was dead everyone expected him to get up.

But all joking aside I think that in order to survive the church needs to change some of its doctrines and what better place to start then allowing women to give the sacrememnts. Of course I think we'd sooner see married priests than female ones any time soon.[/color]

[DeathBug]

Retribution made the point I wanted to make: Catholic dogma is what makes Catholocism Catholocism. If you disagree with Catholic tennents, then don't be Catholic. Religions don't change to suit you; you change to suit them.

I know nothing about Pope Benedict as a person, but I know enough of Pope John Paul to trust his judgement. If he thought Pope Benedict was a good guy, I do, too.