After a right-wing coup crushed the reforms of Vatican II, one scholar says the last two popes are illegitimate. It comes near the end of a thousand-year history of the Vatican’s global rise to power, ambiguous flourishing and rapid decline. It also comes after 40 years of internal counterrevolution under the previous two popes, during which a group of hardcore right-wing cardinals have consolidated power in the Curia and stamped out nearly all traces of the 1960s liberal reform agenda of Pope John XXIII and Vatican II. A handful of intellectuals, both inside and outside the church, quietly believe that means Pope Francis isn’t a legitimate pope at all.
posted by Glibpaxman
on Mar 17, 2013 -
118 comments
I still call him Ratzinger. That fits him better. But that is just a personal bias ... The nuns that I talk to aren't really afraid, because they can't see or they can't imagine what he would do to change us. I mean, like, excommunication? That is a thing of the past. You can't excommunicate hundreds of nuns. Wouldn't that be kind of funny? Excommunicate the whole order! It is irrational. Sr. Brigid McDonald, of the Sisters of St. Joseph,
speaks the truth to power (single link interview, but delightful).
posted by TheShadowKnows
on May 5, 2012 -
86 comments
Papal gymnastics. Just your typical day at the Vatican. Topless muscle-bound gymnasts perform for the Pope, appreciative cardinals and waving nuns. Make your own jokes.
posted by illy
on Dec 15, 2010 -
45 comments
The Benedict Condom: The British Government has apologised to the Pope over official documents that mocked his forthcoming visit to the UK by suggesting he should bless a gay marriage and even launch Papal-branded condoms.
[more inside]
posted by aqsakal
on Apr 25, 2010 -
59 comments
The source
Fr. Amoth refers to, according to
Fr. Fortea, is the demons who are being
exorcised. Of this, the Spanish priest wrote that knowing whether or not the
demon is telling the truth "is in many cases impossible." "We can know with great confidence when a demon tells the truth in the subject directly related with the exorcism. That is, the number of demons, their name and similar things. But we cannot be confident in what regards concrete news relating to people."
[more inside]
posted by ServSci
on Mar 16, 2010 -
57 comments
The Catholic Church is traditionally not seen as a progressive institution, but when it comes to global warming, Vatican City is aiming to become the
worlds first fully carbon-neutral state, and the Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations next April to
deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
posted by stbalbach
on Sep 22, 2007 -
81 comments
Catholic rebels with a cause Two days ago, on a boat on the St. Lawrence River, nine Catholic rebels did something in direct defiance of the Vatican and now face the real prospect of
excommunication by the
Inquisitor Cardinal Formerly Known as Ratzinger. What crime did they commit, you might ask? Were they participant in something blackhearted, vile and fully deserving of society's wrath, like,
say child abuse or pedophilia? Heck no. The white-haired guys at HQ in Rome
will look the other way on that business. They might even
reward duplicitous attempts to
cover up that sort of thing. These malcontents did something much, much worse in the eyes of the Holy See, among
others.
These are Catholic women, you see. And they had themselves
ordained, some as priests and some as deacons.
If you've followed Ratzinger's career, you'll recall his
response the
last time this issue surfaced, so the conclusion to this saga is all-but-foregone.
At least he's consistent in what he thinks ought to be the
correct response of an individual in the face of a rigid, autocratic institution bent on order.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism
on Jul 26, 2005 -
93 comments
Articles of Faith "By inviting articles that covered different sides of disputed issues,
Father Reese helped make
America Magazine a forum for intelligent discussion of questions facing the Catholic Church and the country today."
Thomas J.
Reese's policy -- to present both sides of the discussion -- apparentlly "did not sit well with Vatican authorities".
Reese, a Jesuit and a political scientist, had made a point of publishing both sides of the debate on a range of subjects, some of them quite delicate for a Catholic magazine -- gay priests, stem-cell research, the responsibility of Catholic politicians confronting laws on abortion and same-sex unions and a Vatican document (the
Dominus Iesus declaration) which outlined the idea that divine truth is most fully revealed in Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular.
Reese, who had described last month the Vatican as behaving like the cranky owner of a good restaurant, resigned yesterday as editor of the magazine. More inside.
posted by matteo
on May 9, 2005 -
17 comments
BenedictXVI.com registered a few weeks ago by our very own
rcade. He hedged his bets by registering six domains in all, and now is being called out for popesquatting.
posted by riffola
on Apr 19, 2005 -
64 comments
'Bad' Catholics "...From President Bush seeking the Vatican's help on social issues to the decision by some Catholic bishops to deny communion to pro-choice (but not pro-war or pro-death penalty) politicians and their supporters, some on the right are actively trying to portray John Kerry and others on the left as "bad Catholics." But such attempts could well backfire, as it appears the majority of Catholic voters dislike the selective and political co-opting of their faith. .."
posted by Postroad
on Jul 5, 2004 -
30 comments
The latin lover Father Reginald Foster, the Pope's own Latinist has a weekly show on Vatican radio, they are always informative and often hilarious (Real player required).
posted by johnny novak
on Dec 19, 2003 -
6 comments
The value of disobedience. [note: nytimes] "Ignoring the reactionary policies of the Vatican, some local priests and nuns quietly do what they can to save parishioners from AIDS." So: when and why do people choose to quietly disobey, rather than leave and promote change from outside their social institutions...or vice versa? Should dissenters just leave, or stay and fight? Anecdotes from Republicans and NRA members are especially welcome ;-)
posted by stonerose
on Nov 26, 2003 -
15 comments
Vatican declares fresh Death all around. It seems the Vatican is telling people in countries with high AIDS infection not to use condoms, because the virus is small enough to pass through the porous latex. The World Health Organization believes condoms do reduce the risk of AIDS transmission. To which the Vatican's Cardinal Trujillo replied: "They are wrong about that... this is an easily recognisable fact."
posted by the fire you left me
on Oct 9, 2003 -
93 comments
Axis of Medieval? Hot on the heels of Bush's announcement that his adminstration is seeking ways to ban gay marriage, the Vatican has issued a
document condemning same-sex unions as "deviant" and "gravely immoral." One Bishop has
warned Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien (a Catholic) that "his eternal salvation is in jeopardy. He is making a morally grave error and he's not being accountable to God."
Are we witnessing a coordinated attack on the burgeoning campaign for broader gay rights? What is the relevance of the Church's edicts, in combination with Bush's announcement? Are we about to see "the backlash" that some gay rights activists have warned of, or is this the (almost) last gasp of self-evidently outmoded thinking?
posted by stonerose
on Jul 31, 2003 -
160 comments
Vatican to test if trainee priests are gay. As if the Catholic Church doesn't have bigger concerns. They seem to be trying to throw dirt onto their own graves. Organized religion is SO last millennium. If a gay person really wanted to be a priest, wouldn't it be simple to "pass" a psychological screening? And what self-respecting gay person would want to be a part of something that seeks to exclude him?
posted by archimago
on Oct 25, 2002 -
77 comments
Scalia: Think the dealth penalty wrong? Resign In particular, he says, any Catholic jurist who agrees with the Vatican's anti-death penalty stance should resign. One to raise an eyebrow over, given that Scalia - a jurist who just happens to be Catholic - has been a consistent foe of
Roe v. Wade and legalized abortion. He says his opposition to
Roe, however, is mainly legal, and adds that his religious views should play no role in his decisions.
posted by raysmj
on Feb 7, 2002 -
24 comments
