Mr. Ratzinger to Resign

The church will never change all that much. It can't If for 2000 years they have believed these things are from a god how can they change up now and say oh shit we were wrong god said this? hugs

 

I support you as replacement

(!!)

 

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Joseph Ratzinger wasn't a friend of LGBTQ people anywhere in the world, and he certainly continued the Papal tradition of ignoring the scandal the church faced with regard to pedophilia. He also ardently opposed the use of contraceptives in parts of Africa where HIV/AIDS are rampant, instead advocating for abstinence. He was stubborn and ignorant of the truths that society at large has come to accept. I believe the world is a better place today than it was yesterday, but whether the Catholic church continues to embrace blind ignorance or finally accepts that they must become tolerant and accepting remains to be seen. The former seems much more likely despite the clear need for change.

 

the front runner is considered to be just as conservative.

 

Apparently there's a prophecy saying the next Pope will be the last. All I can say is: THANK GOD.

 

If the prophecy is anything to believe, the next pope might take the name Peter. Btw, I don't believe in prophecies, but apparently popes do, so it comes to the same thing.

And of course the next one will be the same. John Paul II and Benedict XVI were the same (the latter working for the former for almost the whole duration of his papacy) and between the two of them, they've appointed all members of the College of Cardinals.

 

We like to think of the Catholic Church as this never-changing line of pope sausages, but that's not so true. JPII and Benedict were relatively similar, but their predecessors (John XXIII mostly, Paul VI & JP I) were really sending the Church somewhere good. The untimely death of JP I was unfortunate for the direction that Rome was going, and Benedict ultimately put the brakes on this.

We can only hope that the next Pope will usher in the continuation of Vatican II, but I doubt it. I've said for a while now that I think the next Pope will be more socially conservative than Benedict. He's going to have that distance from Vatican II that hasn't been had for the past 50 years, and I think that this is going to mean a blind spot towards the most important points that the council made. And Roman Catholicism is still absolutely huge, so I doubt this guy will be anywhere near the last.

 

Ratzinger has stacked the college of cardinals with a bunch of very old, ultra conservative men.

The mess in the catholic church is going to continue for quite a while.

 

Well Catholicism is a very old, ultra conservative Church.

I've heard people say the Catholic Church will come around when it comes to gay rights, but I'm finding that hard to believe, at least for a while

 

Can we name one that is not a conservative? You can't be liberal and that high up in the catholic church.

 

True.

 

The biggest problem is the Catholic Church does not consider it's teaching to be conservative or liberal. They are the word of god and can't be altered to meet the needs of specific groups.Even if attendance if dropping everywhere how do they change. We may call then conservative but we would be wrong.

 

That's not really true. The Church made several major changes to its teachings after Vatican II, including a declaration that non-Christians could go to Heaven.

 

I saw this joke from another site:

Everyone quit harassing him, he's just being a good Catholic and pulling out early.

 

I agree and I wonder how possible that is. This is just a thought and I don't know how true it is. I doubt such a change will come from the majority since they are taught to follow the church w/o question. Following without question seems to happen more in certain countries (such as not having access to birth control because the church has too much influence over the govt. resulting in lots of babies resulting in chronic poverty). I could see a push for change coming from some countries, but I wonder if the Vatican would care as long as they have enough people following without question and under their control. The Vatican certainly isn't going broke anytime soon.

Anyway, I do hope someone sensible becomes pope since the Catholic church impacts so many lives and could do a lot of good if they'd get on the right track.

 

The Vatican Two changes came after teaching the same things for 1900 years. The wheels of church grind slowly. The few changes that were made after 1900 years really are not much. How long did it take the church to decide that Galileo was correct?

What changes do people expect them too make?
Abortion is now fair game? Not even in the bible but they stand behind that pretty well.
Same sex marriage is now okay? The church will not stand for that
Contraceptives including a condom? The Catholic church will not change on that.

What kills me is that most of the pew sitters do all of the afore mentioned things well it would be same sex relationships.
They break every rule they can but when it comes time to vote they stand for the nonsense they hear and never vote for what they do.
How many people here on EC would be welcome in their church if they made an announcement that they were in a same same relationship?
They would be ostracized by those who commit adultery, take the pill and have abortions.
The church changes can be put in a thimble in comparison to the harm there teachings have done over the 2000 years.

 

It was widely expected during Vatican II that the Church would permit contraception, came as a big surprise when they didn't.