Awesome Sullometer, Ace. Just fucking awesome.

I like that you have it pegged in the red zone.

He Who Shall Not Be Named will not, in fact, be named.

That's really very good. Take a victory lap.

Ace,

What is striking to me is the use, or abuse rather, of the term "conservative" when referring to then Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, and now, His Holiness Pope BXVI.

It seems to me that the Church as a system, must rely on its orthodoxy to maintain its system.

Here: Via The Corner, Josef Cardinal Ratzinger:

"... Christianity is not "our" work; it is a Revelation; it is a message that has been consigned to us, and we have no right to reconstruct it as we like or choose. "

If one wants to claim membership or identify themselves with some system, then surely they must respect, understand, and follow the rules of that system. Otherwise, they are part of their own system, which is no doubt fine, but not the same as being part the original system to which they claimed membership.

This type of systems problem has for several centuries now played out amongst the Jews, beginning, more or less, in the nineteenth century and continues today.

And no, there is no "resolution" here to be found. Rather, there will be those who adhere to the orthodoxy of their religious faith and those who do not.

But let's be honest, we all could do without the gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands. The sky is not falling. And yes, the Pope is Catholic.

So, the new Pope didn't like the Bader-Meinhoff Gang?

What? OChub doesn't like the Pope?

MeTooThen, great post.

Yesterday, that was the first thing that needed to be corrected in the comments is that he's not "conservative," Pope Benedict (please, folks, that's his actual naame now; there's no more "Ratzinger") is "Orthodox."

Orthodox.

It's not a political affiliation.

I have plenty of disagreements with the church. But I've been going crazy reading all of the pundits try to break the issues down into "liberal" versus "conservative". It just doesn't work that way. The pope is operating (or at least he thinks he's operating) in a theological plane which is really something different from the latest categories of our intelligensia.

He believes he's accountable to God. I can't even begin to imagine the effect it would have on a devout Catholic to be chosen as pope. But I'm quite sure that there simply isn't any way to predict it, now, despite all of the nonsense from pundits.

I hope he's a good pope. The world needs guidance. We're hungering for it. Will Pope Benedict XVI provide it? I desperately hope so.

Don't these people get it -if they want a Pope-less church that ordains women, celebrates gay marriage and hands out condoms, there's a ready made church just waiting. It's called Anglicanism (or Episcopalianism for the Yanks in the crowd). You can even become a freaking bishop without even believing in the tenets of the church as long as you are a "theologian". It's a liberal's wet dream with wheels on...

Too bad all their churches are empty these days....

Which is basically Ratzinger's point. Though the Catholic Church hasn't been doing too well numbers-wise on the old continent, it's still doing better than the various state-sanctioned prod churches in Europe. Religion is supposed to be (morally) a bit hard. It's supposed to provide high standards, standards which you will often fail to meet - but hopefully you'll become a slightly better person by trying.

When a church says "anyting goes, dude" then the congregation pretty much goes and doesn't come back. What's the point? Better to play X-Box then mumble of bunch of words nobody takes seriously anyway.

I've written it before and its got to be spread around to these libs. The Church is consistent and the politcal world occilates around it. The Church transcends the merely political.
It believes that it is the caretaker of the TRUTH, and that is not something that can be debated or negotiated. It just is.
It can't be changed or modified to suit "the times", it is a constant standard to be striven for.

The libs think that since perfection is impossible to achieve, the standards should be dumbed down to what they are comfortable with. Totally missing the point that it is not the standard that is important in and of itself, but our struggle to live up to that standard. We're supposed to fail. It is only through God's love and mercy that we can succeed.