David Ancell / Sunday January 11, 2004
This guy is wrong in so many ways that it is difficult to start. Only in the New York Times . . . .
It starts out well enough. It makes it sound like having an Italian Pope was part of Italian pride. Then, the article begins to rear it’s ugly head.
It starts off by describing the Papacy as a “monarchy.” Even this wouldn’t be bad if it were not for what was to come. The author begins to tell us that we need an Italian Pope so that he can make Catholicism agree with the secular world; oh excuse me, so the Pope will be less “rigid” about sexuality.
The low point comes when this appears about the Pope’s teaching on contraception and the AIDS crisis in Africa:
To these victims John Paul has obstinately refused contraception, for reasons of principle that risk becoming complicity in what could truly be a mass extermination.
There you have it! By upholding the Church’s teaching, the Pope is complicit in mass extermination of African people. Never mind that the Church has reached out more to AIDS victims than any other institution. Also never mind the fact that Uganda, whose program refers to condoms as the last resort, is the country that has succeeded in reducing the incidence of AIDS. Not having condoms leads to mass extermination.
The author could use some brushing-up on his theology. First, the Pope is not a monarch or ruler but a mere guarantor of the Deposit of Faith. Therefore, it is not just JPII, but God himself who has set his laws regarding sexuality. Second, the Church does not have a civic obligation to agree with the secular world on the solutions to our problems. Indeed, when those “solutions” contradict the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must stand against them. So, finally, it is not because the Pope is Polish that he is upholding the teaching, but because he is Catholic.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
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