Ratzinger is linked to INQUISITION!?

Question

Did you know that before being elected the new pope, Joseph Ratzinger was the dean of the congregation for the doctrine of faith, linked to the roman inquisition both, historically and in its goal? You don't believe me?

It is public information, you can read it at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ratzinger
click on "congregation for the doctrine of faith" to learn about the dark past of this organization.

No wonder why he made such controversial statements. What do you think, both, about his background and his statements?

Though I do not think anyone has the right to kill anybody in the name of any religion, I consider that his statements were ill-intentioned.

for Lt. crumple... I am a Buddhist, so I do not need to defend myself, neither am I defending Islam, I am just creating awareness about the roots of the congregation for the doctrine of faith.

Answer 1

Ok, honey, time to clear the air. One, there were four inquisitions in history, and the one you're thinking of, the Spanish Iquisition, was NOT santioned by the church but started by the king of Spain. Once it was discovered what was going on, the pope of that time ordered it to stop. The doctine of faith and the inquisition squad was put into place to prevent things like the Spanish Inquisiton and the two times they were used, no blood was shed.

Secondly, have you read the whole speech or just that one line? The Pope talked about tolerance and living with each other. He's a great man, one of whom I respect. My mom has had the chance to talk to him before he became pope, as did a non-christian friend of mine.

Answer 2

I am an ex-Catholic (now a non-denominational Protestant), so I'm no fan of Catholicism. However, I think your logic is faulty.

By your reasoning, Angela Merkel, president of Germany, is a member of the National Socialist Party; or perhaps you believe that I, as a white american, am responsible for slavery?

Organizations are guided by philosophies. The evil philosophy that guided Catholics into the Inquisition no longer exists.

Peace.

p.s. -- "Atheist," the Pope was not "part of the Hitler Youth movement. ALL youth were involuntarily conscripted into the Hitler Youth. It is documented that he ran away as a means of preventing himself from being involved in this organization.

Answer 3

He's linked to the inquisition about as much as I'm linked to the Crusades.

Ill intentioned? The Jews, Christians, and Muslims all think that one another's religion is faulted (not so much the Christians toward the Jews.) Why is it wrong for him to disclose something that he believes? After all, he's not running for a political office. He's representing a higher law. If Christianity were subject to elections of the masses (non-Christians included) it would cease to exist.

Answer 4

What ever be his background today he is the religious Head of a billion catholics.In this specific incident I do not think he purposely said any thing to hurt the sentiments of Muslims.It was a discussion and he was only stating what some one has said. Even so he has erred. In his position he had to be more cautious. Caesar's wife has to be beyond all suspicion! Linking him to inquisition in the present circumstances is I think unfair to him.

Answer 5

church history is a bit more involved than what wikipedia has to say....better to get some good books on the subject and study it more in depth before forming an opinion. Consider that is islam during the middle ages was killing Christians like it is now, I think you might change your mind about defending yourself.

Answer 6

How's about the Bush family?


The documents also show that Bush and his colleagues, according to reports from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and FBI, tried to conceal their financial alliance with German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, a steel and coal baron who, beginning in the mid-1920s, personally funded Adolf Hitler's rise to power by the subversion of democratic principle and German law.

Furthermore, the declassified records demonstrate that Bush and his associates, who included E. Roland Harriman, younger brother of American icon W. Averell Harriman, and George Herbert Walker, President Bush's maternal great-grandfather, continued their dealings with the German industrial baron for nearly eight months after the U.S. entered the war. ...>

Answer 7

ah yeah, ya know though, the inquisition was along time ago. most of the world has moved on. muslims and their violence have kept on keeping on until today. they would like to drag the rest of the world back to those days, and perhaps we need to go there to deal with them. Reason does not work, appeasement does not work. islam values death and the only way to end the world wide violence is to destroy every last one of them.

Answer 8

He was also part of the Hitler Youth movement.

His whole point was that religions hould not justify killing - he just used a bad example. He should have used examples in Catholicism to justify his point rather than pinning it on Islam.