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Interfaith Insensitivity

Started by Imperator; Last updated Feb 20, 08 9:47 AM CST by Imperator | View history

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The new pope pulls no punches with his rhetoric

Since he became pope in 2005, Benedict XVI has alternately tried to make friends with other faiths and castigated them -- but mostly the latter. From quoting a Byzantine emperor on the “evil” and “inhuman” nature of Islam to raising the ire of Jews by restoring the Latin mass—and with it, a prayer for their conversion—the Pope hasn't shied away from controversy. Not content to stir up those outside Christianity, Benedict went on to call Protestant houses of worship "not true Churches" and to refer to Orthodox Christians as "wounded."

Stories

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July 2007
- Pope Pounds Protestants
  
  Reuters | Jul 11, 07 5:32 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In a remarkable nod to the 16th century, Pope Benedict XVI’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he once led, said of Protestant denominations, 'it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them." The document restates Benedict's position set forth in 2000 when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. More »
- Vatican Reaffirms Catholic Primacy; Document Cites 'Wound' in Orthodox, Protestant Churches
  
  Washington Post | Jul 11, 07
  
  The Vatican said Tuesday that Christian denominations outside the Roman Catholic Church were not full churches of Jesus Christ. Some Protestant leaders responded that this would hurt interdenominational dialogue. A 16-page document prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict XVI headed when he was a cardinal, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a "wound" because they do not recognize the primacy of the pope.
- Pope Gives Go-Ahead to Latin Mass
  
  Time | Jul 7, 07 5:53 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Four decades after sweeping reforms intended to make the Catholic Church more accessible, Pope Benedict backed off the best-known change today, lifting restrictions on the Tridentine rite, better known as the Latin Mass. The move is already controversial, Time reports, because it's perceived as a sop to traditionalists—and because the Good Friday liturgy includes a prayer many consider anti-Semitic. More »
- Vatican to explain revival of controversial Latin mass. Reference to 'perfidious Jews' absent from text
  
  Jerusalem Post (Israel) | Jul 2, 07
  
  Jewish groups are upset that the mass contain a prayer for the conversion of the Jews. While the Tridentine Mass contained a Good Friday prayer asking that God "lift the veil covering the hearts of Jews so that they may recognize Jesus Christ our Lord," the 1965 version states: "Let us pray for the Jews, that the face of the Lord our God may shine on them so that they too recognize the redeemer of all, Jesus Christ, our Lord."
May 2007
- Pope Backtracks on Muslims
  
  Reuters | May 29, 07 5:31 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Pope applied some salve to wounded relations with the Muslim world yesterday after neglecting and then appearing to slander Islam in a speech last fall. In a surprising reversal, Benedict XVI announced he is restoring the Vatican department responsible for Muslim affairs, which he demoted in importance last year. More »
- Vatican Restores Catholic-Islam Dialogue Council
  
  Washington Post | May 29, 07
  
  n an unexpected about-face, Pope Benedict XVI will restore power and prestige to the Vatican department that oversees dialogue with Islam a year after he controversially downgraded it. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in an interview last weekend with La Stampa newspaper that the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue would again be "a separate department." Vatican sources said on Monday Bertone's comments meant the department would soon get its own head again.
- House Dems Slam Pope's Threat
  
  The Hill | May 15, 07 8:08 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A group of House Democrats bridled at Pope Benedict's recent suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be excommunicated, The Hill reports. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut led 18 legislators in condemning the Pope's comment, which "offends the very nature of the American experiment," according to their statement. More »
- Pope: Marxism, Capitalism Hold Latin America Back
  
  CNN | May 14, 07 6:58 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI blamed both capitalism and Marxism for Latin America's problems in a speech yesterday in Brazil, the world's most Catholic nation. Benedict blamed Marxism for "a painful destruction of the human spirit," but also worried that capitalism gives rise to "degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness." More »
September 2006
- Pope's criticism of the Prophet inflames Muslims worldwide
  
  Evening Standard (UK) | Sep 15, 06
  
  THE Pope was forced to defend himself today after Muslim leaders around the world took offence at comments he made about Islam. Pope Benedict XVI quoted the 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II, who described the teachings of Islam in relation to jihad (holy war) as "evil" and "inhuman". Speaking to 250,000 pilgrims at an open-air mass near Munich, the Pope recalled: "He said, I quote, 'Show me what Mohammed brought that was new, and you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached'." A Vatican spokesman said...
April 2005
- Rabbis, experts laud new pope's relations with Jews, but many Israelis wary of Nazi past
  
  Associated Press | Apr 20, 05
  
  Israelis wrestled with gut feelings Wednesday in relation to the new leader of the Catholic church, recognizing that Pope Benedict XVI has a strong record of dialogue with Jews but unable to ignore that as a teenager, he belonged to a Nazi group. "White smoke, black past," read the front-page headline in the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot. Also, Benedict's appointment received various reactions from Arabs in the Holy Land. A prominent Muslim leader called on the new pontiff to take a more active role in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while a Greek Orthodox official said the very...

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Images (3)
Videos (2)

In this photo released by the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, Pope Benedict XVI appears wearing a wide-brimmed red hat, at the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican,... (Associated Press)

Painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Uffizi gallery. (Wikimedia Commons)

Galileo (Archive Photos)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Byzantine 2006 - Putting Quotes Back In Context (RedSquareEye (YouTube))

Protestants aren't proper Christians, says pope (excatholics (YouTube))

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Background

Orthodox Eastern Church
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Orthodox Eastern Church community of Christian churches whose chief strength is in the Middle East and E Europe. Their members number over 250 million worldwide. The Orthodox agree doctrinally in accepting as ecumenical the first seven councils (see council, ecumenical ) and in rejecting the ...

Counter Reformation
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Counter Reformation 16th-century reformation that arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation; sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. Although the Roman Catholic reformers shared the Protestants' revulsion at the corrupt conditions in the church, there was present none of the ...

Reformation
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

[or Protestant Reformation ] Break with Roman Catholicism and the establishment of Protestant churches in the 16th century. Though reformers such as Jan Hus and John Wycliffe attacked abuses in the Roman Catholic church in the late medieval period, the Reformation is usually dated from 1517, when, ...

Jews
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Jews [from Judah ], traditionally, descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, whose tribe, with that of his half brother Benjamin, made up the kingdom of Judah; historically, members of the worldwide community of adherents to Judaism . The degree to which national and religious elements of ...

Islam
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Islam , [Arab.,=submission to God], world religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad. Founded in the 7th cent., Islam is the youngest of the three monotheistic world religions (with Judaism and Christianity). An adherent to Islam is a Muslim [Arab.,=one who submits]. Believers Worldwide There ...

Roman Catholic Church
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Roman Catholic Church Christian church headed by the pope, the bishop of Rome (see papacy and Peter, Saint ). Its commonest title in official use is Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. "Roman Catholic" is a 19th-century British coinage and merely serves to distinguish that church from ...

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