dictatorship of relativism

PAPALISTIC
* everyones distressed about the newpope. worse than the last pope. apparently that 'go in a pope, come out a cardinal' canard doesnt hold...
"Pope Watch Is Over
Oh boy, watch out for the Catholic Church now.
Progressive Catholics will probably start committing suicide any day." LINK
suicide is a sin.

* " A poll taken by DER SPIEGEL earlier this month found that 36 percent of Germans outright opposed the selection of Ratzinger as pope compared to 29 percent who supported him." LINK
... and thats the home team.

* how often in the last 2 years have we been reminded 'better the devil ya know'? ashcroft/gonzales. powell/rice. oldpope/newpope. ridge/chertoff. mpowell/martin. tenet/goss. etc. etc. etc.

* via americablog, newpope channels cornyn: " neither the church nor society at large should be surprised when (fags) gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase" and (shorter newpope): 'fags are culpable'

* i guess the good news is that we wont be getting dragged thru the media conclave for another week... altho im sure we'll get the first mass, and the first sunday thingy (woteva they call it), and perhaps a review of all the losers. and maybe some more oldpope stuff. and a comparison between oldpope/newpope. and a look at whether oldpopes legacy will be carried on by newpope, and whether thatll in/decrease the legacy of oldpope. and. and. and.

* andrewsullivan (catholic): " It would be hard to over-state the radicalism of this decision. It's not simply a continuation of John Paul II. It's a full-scale attack on the reformist wing of the church. The swiftness of the decision and the polarizing nature of this selection foretell a coming civil war within Catholicism. The space for dissidence, previously tiny, is now extinct. And the attack on individual political freedom is just beginning." LINK

* ""We are moving," (newpope) declared, toward "a dictatorship of relativism . . . that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final measure."" LINK

* "(newpope) was appointed by the (old)pope to investigate the entire sex abuse scandal in the church in recent days. But when approached by ABCNEWS in Rome last week with questions of allegations against [Father Marcial Macie], Ratzinger became visibly upset and actually slapped this reporter's hand.
The accusers say Vatican-based Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican office to safeguard the faith and the morals of the church, quietly made the lawsuit go away and shelved it. There was no investigation and the accusers weren't asked a single question or asked for a statement." LINK

* "In a June 2004 letter to US bishops enunciating principles of worthiness for communion recipients, Ratzinger specified that strong and open supporters of abortion should be denied the Catholic sacrament, for being guilty of a "grave sin."
He specifically mentioned "the case of a Catholic politician consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws," a reference widely understood to mean Democratic candidate Kerry, a Catholic who has defended abortion rights.
A footnote to the letter also condemned any Catholic who votes specifically for a candidate because the candidate holds a pro-abortion position. Such a voter "would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy communion," the letter read." LINK
astonishing for a few reasons - ill take the easy option and simply highlight the altar-boy-fucking (and cover-up) - which surely qualifies as 'formal cooperation in evil'. actually, lemme add another: newpope's main strong point is that he objected to the war, but he did his best to make sure that warcriminal blinky was 'elected'.

* i wasnt gonna touch the pope/nazi thing - but aravosis makes this point: "The thing is, I feel like some are exonerating Ratzinger's past SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE OF his past. It's almost as if the fact that he was in the Hitler Youth and the Nazi army somehow means "of course he wasn't a Nazi." That logic is a bit weird." LINK

* and brave Ron has done some dirty work and checked out some nazi sites for their thoughts.

* and heres the nashuaadvocate on newpope. worth a read. they also point out that newpope wasnt just a HitlerYouth, but "he was drafted into a Nazi anti-aircraft unit as a helper" although this tidbit is suspiciously missing from most other accounts.

* the AP makes this claim: "Web sites, presumably propelled by Ratzinger supporters, churned out articles in his defense, including one by the Jerusalem Post seeking to knock down much of the Times' harsh description of the cardinal's background." which i thought was kinda curious. so i went to have a look - it appears they were pointing to this pre-ordination article - which wasnt even about newpope - it did contain this quote: "No cardinal is suspected of harboring anti-Semitic views, or of threatening to undermine John Paul II's revolutionary work in Jewish-Catholic relations." - altho i think AP's observation is a helluva stretch...