What do you think of Pope Benedict XVI???

Question

What do you think of his appointment to Pope? The man itself? His opinions? His actions/statements recently?

Someone just posted this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6656081.stm
And I can't believe he said that. It made me angry and I'm not even from that region.

What about any of these:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5349808.stm
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/11/news/pope.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/pope/benedictxvi_1.shtml

Answer 1

I think he is anti-christ.

- - As Vicar of Christ, he is Antichrist, who allegedly comes in the name and authority of Christ as His earthly representative. In truth, however, he opposes Christ in word and deed.

- - As the Absolute Monarch of Vatican City-State (the smallest nation in the world), he is the little horn religious king, while at the same time claiming the title of ruling Bishop - Papa or Pope - who oversees and rules the Christian Church.

- - As the sinful, scarlet colored bloody Beast (not the gentle lamb he pretends to be), he is the one responsible for decreeing and enforcing the slaughter of millions of humble, innocent saints of God, including the prophets whom God sent to warn and rebuke the Church of Rome of His imminent judgment.

- - As Pontifex Maximus (i.e., Supreme Pontiff), he is that lawless Man of Sin who sits as ruler of the Christian Church, that high priest and living god as were the Roman Caesars before him, whose place he took, once the Roman Empire fell.

Answer 2

Catholics believe the desire for God is written in the human heart, because each person is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw each person to himself.

This includes every human being whether they are European, Asian, African, or North or South American. The Pope was just expressing what Catholics have believed for almost 2,000 years.

Here is the relevant paragraph of Pope Benedict's speech at the Inaugural Session of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sunday, 13 May 2007:

Yet what did the acceptance of the Christian faith mean for the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean? For them, it meant knowing and welcoming Christ, the unknown God whom their ancestors were seeking, without realizing it, in their rich religious traditions. Christ is the Saviour for whom they were silently longing. It also meant that they received, in the waters of Baptism, the divine life that made them children of God by adoption; moreover, they received the Holy Spirit who came to make their cultures fruitful, purifying them and developing the numerous seeds that the incarnate Word had planted in them, thereby guiding them along the paths of the Gospel. In effect, the proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbian cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture. Authentic cultures are not closed in upon themselves, nor are they set in stone at a particular point in history, but they are open, or better still, they are seeking an encounter with other cultures, hoping to reach universality through encounter and dialogue with other ways of life and with elements that can lead to a new synthesis, in which the diversity of expressions is always respected as well as the diversity of their particular cultural embodiment.

Here is the entire speech: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2007/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20070513_conference-aparecida_en.html

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 27: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1.htm#chpt1

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

I'm your typical American Catholic,what you might call a moderate progressive,but we had John-Paul II for twenty-five years and the Church isn't just for liberals. The current Holy Father is highly traditional but he's no ultramontane. He's conservative,but no radical. I think the media will always take a negative attitude because he's German and because like all youths of his generation he was drafted into Hitler Jugend. His family was quite antinazi. I'm happy enough with him. The only thing I've really balked at was dredging up the old bone of contention between Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The two churches were always administratively separate anyway and the primacy issue may have seemed urgent a thousand years ago but today I would let it slide and work for a better relationship. Other than that,I'm happy enough with him.

Answer 4

oh goodness...he should be expelled from the papacy...he also made the statement that there is no true church beside the Catholic Church... he said that Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church, which is stupid, because we all know that the Catholic Church was founded by a man after the Dark Ages...the pope is way to old to see that. I know that Christ did establish a church before he ascended to heaven, and if I had to pick a church, I would say the one he established was named after him...The Church of Christ...just a thought. but i agree with you, that old tart really makes me mad because he is too senile to know what he is talking about. In that same speech, he said the other churches were sacreligious and are blasphemous to God. its absurd.
God Bless

Answer 5

angel: first I don't trust much to BBC.
second: Pope is human like everyone else.
his statement: hm...Pope stand oh steady ground. He wants to change the way church goes, since church is loosing ground.

Answer 6

Like all popes, not a very nice man. However, he does seem particularly bad.

Answer 7

His actions seem to be that of deseration; that he knows his church is losing ground, and rather than doing the hard work of self-reflection, he is looking to latch onto past "glories" of the days when the Church ruled with an iron fist.

I think he is dooming the Church to obsolescence.

Answer 8

having looked at the top one I think I have already repyed to a question on it. I think he is out of tuch and arigant. he was not around then and to claim they were willing to die when there secretly wonted to convert is rediculas. the way he is carrying on he will frive a huge wedge into the catholic believers not to mention those who already see its evil.

Answer 9

He certainly isn't afraid to say what's on his mind. Personally I like that. We spend far too much time worrying about every little thing we say. I would rather him say exactly what he thinks and disagree, than have him lie like most leaders do.

Answer 10

Go to Africa, where people are told "don't use protection" by their priests, thus allowing the AIDS viris to spread more and more.

He is head of an evil orginization.