NYTIMES: In Bethlehem, Pope Laments Israeli Wall
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Pope Benedict XVI spoke Wednesday at a Palestinian refugee camp, expressing his solidarity with “all the homeless Palestinians who long to be able to return to their birthplace, or live permanently in a homeland of their own.”THE OBSTACLE TO PEACE IS NOT THE FENCE - BUT ISLAMO-TERROR.
He reiterated his support for a Palestinian state in the shadow of the barrier that divides Israelis from Palestinians, one of the most contentious issues in the Holy Land.
With Israel’s security fence rising prominently in the background, he criticized the structure that Israel has called key to its security, calling it “a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached.”
“In a world where more and more borders are being opened up — to trade, to travel, to movement of peoples, to cultural exchanges — it is tragic to see walls still being erected,” Benedict said.
“How we long to see the fruits of the much more difficult task of building peace!”
- THE FACT THAT THE HEAD OF THE RC CHURCH CAN SAY THAT THE FENCE IS BAD AND NOT BE CRITICAL OF JIHADISM PROVES HE IS AN OLD USELESS COWARD AND HIS CHURCH A USELESS VESTIGE.
- THE POPE AND THE RC CHURCH HAVE ONE PURPOSE: SPREAD THE FAITH.
- BY APPEASING THE ISLAMISTS - WHO ARE THE TRUE INTERLOPERS AND INVADERS IN THE HOLY LAND - THE POPE ACTS IN A WAY WHICH IS DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO THAT PURPOSE.
- BY FAILING TO FULFIL THIS PURPOSE, THE POPE CONDEMNS HIS CHURCH TO DEATH, FOR UNDEFENDED IN TODAY'S WORLD IT WILL SURELY DIE.
UPDATE/CLARIFICATION:
I HAVE NOT BEEN BIGOTED IN THIS ATTACK ON BENEDICT, JUST BLUNT.
AS BLUNT AS I ALWAYS AM WHEN ATTACKING APPEASERS OF ALL STRIPES: OLMERT; LIVNI; BUSH; OBAMA - AND YES: EVEN NOW THE POPE.
- I DID NOT CRITICIZE THE RC FAITH. OR CATHOLICS IN GENERAL.
- JUST IT'S CURRENT LEADER. WHO IS A FLAWED MAN, NOT A DEMI-GOD.
- BENEDICT IS A DISAPPOINTING POPE WHO IS NOT EVEN DEFENDING CHRISTENDOM.
- AND A POPE WHO AIN'T DEFENDING CHRISTENDOM AIN'T WORTH CRAP.
- THE RC CHURCH NEEDS ANOTHER PJP2 - HE WAS A FIGHTER!
- I PASSIONATELY BELIEVE THAT THE RC CHURCH DESERVES A BETTER POPE. I WOULD NOT FERVENTLY BELIEVE THAT IF I HATED CATHOLICISM OR CATHOLICS.
- BENEDICT IS AN APPEASER.
- THE RC CHURCH NEEDS A FIGHTER.
- AND THE WORLD NEEDS THE POPE TO BE A FIGHTER.
8 comments:
Reliapundit, as a practising Roman Catholic and pro-Israel supporter, I can tell you that my church is not "dead", whatsoever.
Maybe you missed the Regensburg speech in 2006??? Roman Catholics were killed in Egypt, the Sudan, Turkey, Iraq, etc. over his words.
Did you miss Hamas and Islamic Jihad denouncing him in the last couple of days as the most "pro-Zionist" Pope ever?
Did you miss the outrage in Jordan over him not taking his shoes off in the Amman Mosque, not granting an apology over Regensburg and telling the Muslims to "embrace reason"?
Did you miss the amiable welcome provided by Pres Peres and the commitment by the Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem to continue building the bonds commenced after Vatican II and spearheaded by the late Pope John Paul II in '93?
Did you miss him walk out of the inter faith dialogue event in Jerusalem after being told of the hateful remarks made by the Chief Shiek?
Did you miss the negotitions between Israel and the Holy See over 6 (or 5 according to an Israeli source) Holy Sites, so that they do not fall into the hands of the PA?
You are quoting a NYT piece and they even have his direct quote wrong.
You might want to go here:
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2009/05/selectively-hearing-popes-words.html
or
http://carlosechevarria.blogspot.com/2009/05/pope-calls-for-palestinian-homeland.html
This Pope has committed himself, just as John Paul II, to re-commiting ourselves to broaden our relations with the People of the Book and Covenant.
Rabbi David Rosen of the Chief Rabbinates Office of Israel has been quite instrumental here, as has the Pave the Way Foundation in NYC.
Are there still oustanding issues like the names of WW2 orphans given to Catholic families, the Yad Vashem Pius XII entry, tax and property issues, etc, of course.
Did you know that the Vatican was allowed to place a church in Qatar? That there are negotiation with the Kingdom of Saud to place a Roman Catholic Church in the land of Mecca and Medina????
Last Easter, '08, he personally baptised a prominent Italian Muslim himself who had converted to Christianity.
Did you read the latter half of his speech today???
Too much Roman Catholic blood has been spilled over 1500 years fighting Islam in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, for you, respectfully, to condemn my church...
Check the Crusades...
Spanish re-conquest...
Battle of Lepanto.
Battle of Vienna..
28 years ago today, a Muslim tried to kill Pope John Paul II a man who personally risked his life to save hundreds of Jews in Poland.
I agree with you about the tentacles of Islamo Fascism and I wish the Palestinians would go live in Jordan or Egypt but is that going to happen???
Even Bibi (remember 96-99) is looking for some sort of deal, albeit not the type the UN, PA, EU or others would want.
A couple of thousand votes difference and Livni would be PM and she is even further to the left on that issue.
Lastly, from a personal perspective the Bishop of Rome is not a coward.
He is a man forced into the Wermacht anti air defense forces and actually abandoned his post, which was treason, punishable by immediate death and was luckily captured by American GIs.
CARLOS:
AS MY PREVIOUS POST ON THIS MADE CLEAR, BENEDICT HAS RETREATED SINCE REGENSBERG.
THE PRESENT POPE IS IN NO WAY FIGHTING FOR CHRISTIANITY OR CHRISTIANS WHO - AS YOUR POSTED VIDEO SHOWS - ARE BEING PERSECIUTED AND JMURDERED ALL OVER THE OPWLRD.
HE IS A FAILURE. A COWARD.
SINCE HE RUINS THE CHUIRCHM IT MAKES THE CHURCH USLESS.
I HAVE NOT ATTACKED CATHOLICS.
MANY CATHOLICS ARE LIKE YOU AND ARE WILLING TO DEFEND THE FAITH.
IT IS A FUCKING PITY THE POPE WON'T.
MANY CATHOLICS SUCK: LIKE THOSE WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA.
SINCE REGENSBERG - AND THE TUMULT WHICH FOLLOWED - THE POPE SOUNDS
LIKE A CATHOLIC FOR OBAMA.
SORRY.
I CALL THEM AS I SEE THEM.
REMEMBER:
I AM CRITICIZING THE CHURCH NOT YOUR FAITH.
THE SMALL POSITIVE INSTANCES YOU CITE, CARLOS, PALEIN COMPARISON TO HIS GLARING DEFICIENCIES.
SORRY.
WE NEED A COURAGEOUS CRUSADING POPE - LIKE PJP2.
shame on you carlos:
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-proof-rc-church-is-dead-benedict.html
I wanted to alert those of you to this ugly posting.
Posted by: Carlos Echevarria | May 13, 2009 at 08:34 PM
shame on you!
of the pope can't stand up and fight islamism then the rc church is uselss.
if the poper canlt fight against religious persecution of christians in the wolrd then the pope and the church are useless.
I'm a devout Catholic conservative blogger and like you a believer in God and the our Constitution. I'm thankful that you have such a passion for the Catholic Church, it is good to see. But I'd like to address this article and perhaps bring some light to a few points you made.
We, both you and I, are entitled to our opinions and to freely express them. But as you know with all rights come responsibilities. We cannot run into a theater and scream fire when there is none and equally so we cannot say the Catholic Church is dead when it is not.
You say in your title "more proof RC church is dead", then later go on to say "THE POPE CONDEMNS HIS CHURCH TO DEATH, FOR UNDEFENDED IN TODAY'S WORLD IT WILL SURELY DIE." Which is it, dead or condemned? And defend how? Destroying our enemies? Who are our enemies? You do realize that you cannot conquer evil with a greater evil, right? You can only conquer evil with a greater Love and no greater Love hath any man than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.
The Catholic Church dead? Nothing could be further from the truth. I found no proof in your article, no cited references, just your dissatisfaction with the current Pope. But not so much with what he has done and said, but with what you think he should do and say based on your opinions and misunderstanding of the office of Pope, the current man in the office, the Catholic Church and perhaps even Christianity.
Does the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church exist to do the bidding of one man and his opinion? Most certainly not. Not for you, not for me, not even for the Pope. She exists according to God's plan and His will alone.
It is most emphatically NOT the "Pope's Church" as you said. The Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ gave all of us and she is the one true bride of Christ, his living body here on earth. As a bride can only have one husband, so must the bridegroom have only one bride so we know that this is the same Church that Jesus proclaimed will prevail against the very gates of hell. That said, I'm not worried about the fate of our Church.
This article might help:
http://catholicconservativeamerican.blogspot.com/2009/05/if-i-were-not-catholic.html
The Pope is not now, nor has he ever been revered as a "demi-god". To do so would be blasphemy of the highest order and any Catholic who thinks otherwise needs to be properly catechized and should talk to their priest. Though selected from his brethren as the most devout, learned, holiest and capable leader of the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, he is still just a man. A sinner like the rest of us, not every thing he does nor every word from his mouth is infallible. As God knows, and Protestants love to constantly remind us, we've had some sinning Popes in our Catholic history.
Pope Benedict did not appease anyone as he gave them nothing. The world does not need a Pope to be a fighter, but to be more full of Christ and His merciful Love than ever before!
Tell me something. How is saying this:
"Hey Pope! Aren't you the leader of the Catholic Church? Why don't you use your Papal power to force your will upon those who persecute you!"any different than this:
"Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." Luke 23:39I agree that Islamic terror is a very real threat, but did not Jesus tell us to bless our enemies?
Yes, the Church is indeed to spread the faith as Christ told us; by teaching all the nations and by Loving one another as He loves us. To spread that faith by Love. I would say that His Holiness is most certainly doing just that and there is absolutely no diametrical opposition to the church's purpose whatsoever. They are fully aware of the teachings of Jesus and willfully reject those teachings at the peril of their own eternal souls. Should we force it upon them? No, we shake the dust off our feet and move on, as commanded.
God's Blessings,
Bob
http://CatholicConservativeAmerican.blogspot.com
THANKS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL COMMENT BOB!
BUT YOU ARE WRONG.
POPE JP2 DID NOT SIT BACK AND BLESS THE COMMIES: HE FOUGHT THEM - AND WITH HIS COURAGEOUS HELP WE BEAT THEM.
ALL I WANT IS THE CURRENT POPE TO DO THE SAME.
You're welcome, but I disagree that I'm wrong. ;)
JP2, whom I had the honor of hearing in the Vatican and receiving his blessing, was an incredible man who most certainly did bless and pray for his enemies as commanded by Christ. He was such a faithful and obedient servant that as Christ forgave his persecutors on the cross, he forgave Mehmet Ali Ağca who shot him in an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.
Can you imagine forgiving your sworn mortal enemy who shot you in an assassination attempt? I couldn't do it being filled with myself, only by being filled with Christ!
JP2 fought the communists not on his own or with weapons and political propaganda or even an agenda, but by calling upon the full power of God through prayer and blessing his enemies!
Make sense?
bob: pjp2 did a lot morte than pray to end the ussr!
ask lech! ask maggie! ask gorby!
he confronted them woith words.
pb16 has not since regensberg - when he did.
a pope wothout a spine is worthless.
i pray he fionds his footing before it's too late.
really i do.
i had high hopes for this pope.
if you google search nbenedict at this blog you'll find a dozenm posts of support.
but not anynore.
until he finds his courage.
many saints chose to die die couragelously for their beliefs.
so far - it seems to me - pb18 has not demonstrated the same courage. or even commensurate courgae.
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