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Alias
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject: Pope attacks 'culture of death' |
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- Pope Benedict XVI performed the first baptisms of his pontificate on Sunday, using the occasion to launch an impassioned denunciation of irresponsible sex and a "culture of death" that he said pervaded the modern world.
The pontiff, abandoning his prepared sermon, compared the wild excesses of the ancient Roman empire to 21st century society and urged people to rediscover their faith.
"In our times we need to say 'no' to the largely dominant culture of death," Benedict said during his improvised homily in the frescoed Sistine Chapel where he was elected pope last April.
"(There is) an anti-culture demonstrated by the flight to drugs, by the flight from reality, by illusions, by false happiness ... displayed in sexuality which has become pure pleasure devoid of responsibility," he added.
Benedict did not spell out what he meant by a "culture of death", but the phrase was a rallying cry of his predecessor John Paul who regularly used the term to define abortion and artificial birth control.
With Michelangelo's dramatic depiction of the Last Judgment as a backdrop, Benedict attacked the "thing-infliction of mankind", suggesting that people had become little more than objects to be traded, picked up and discarded at will.
He singled out ancient Rome's Colosseum amphitheatre and the gardens of the emperor Nero, where Christians were once martyred, as a "real perversion of joy and a perversion of the sense of life."
"The anti-culture of death was a love of lies and of deceit. It was an abuse of the body as a commodity and as a product. Even in our times there is this culture and we must say 'No' to it," he said.
It was the first time since he became pope that Benedict has ignored the prepared text of his homily, sent to the media beforehand, and instead spoken at length off the cuff.
The official speech focused on the significance of baptism, which marks the admission of a person into the community of Christians.
Benedict was following in John Paul's footsteps by performing baptisms in the Sistine Chapel on the day when Roman Catholics remember Christ's own baptism in the river Jordan.
"This is a 'yes' to Christ, a 'yes' to the victors of death, a 'yes' to life," Benedict said before carefully pouring water on the heads of the babies - 5 girls and 5 boys.
John Paul baptized almost 1,400 infants during his 26-year reign, but was forced to miss the Sistine Chapel ceremony in the last two years of his pontificate because of ill-health.
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This has got me wondering. Is whacking considered to be part of the 'culture of death'?  |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Human trafficking, abortions, sexual irresponsibility, senseless wars.. not really specific to modern times are they. I sympathize with the sentiment but I wish religous leaders didn't always feel impelled to wax apocalyptic. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:23 pm Post subject: Re: Pope attacks 'culture of death' |
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| "...sexuality which has become pure pleasure devoid of responsibility" |
Darn, the Pope sure has a rosy view of it!
"pure pleasure"? Maybe it seems so if you're a celibate old man.
"devoid of responsibility" but don't put on a condom, eh? |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| I like how he blasts secular society for their retreat from reality. This from a guy who was recently "made" infallible. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:08 am Post subject: |
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| Ironic when you consider the fact that Catholics pray to the likeness of a dead man on a cross. |
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Alias
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:45 am Post subject: |
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Maybe it seems so if you're a celibate old man.
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That is another point. How is he contributing to the 'culture of life' when he won't let priests have families? Then they complain about the fall of Catholicism in Europe. |
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red dog
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:27 am Post subject: |
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| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
| Ironic when you consider the fact that Catholics pray to the likeness of a dead man on a cross. |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| Paji eh Wong wrote: |
| This from a guy who was recently "made" infallible. |
He's da most made guy in da hood, forgeddaboudit! |
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fiveeagles
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: Vancouver
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| Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:54 am Post subject: |
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| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
| Ironic when you consider the fact that Catholics pray to the likeness of a dead man on a cross. |
To the likeness? Christ is risen in glory and now is at the right hand of God. 
You know what I love about God...He is in the business of redemption. I look forward to seeing the future of the Catholic Church and it's new direction. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| fiveeagles wrote: |
| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
| Ironic when you consider the fact that Catholics pray to the likeness of a dead man on a cross. |
To the likeness? Christ is risen in glory and now is at the right hand of God.
You know what I love about God...He is in the business of redemption. I look forward to seeing the future of the Catholic Church and it's new direction. |
Risen or not, Jesus as he is represented on the curcifix is dead. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:03 am Post subject: |
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Some background on that bent/twisted crucifix:
http://www.cuttingedge.org/articles/rc100.htm
Seems a little strange that the Head of "the original christian church" should be wielding such a Satanic object.
Hollywood action:
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| Risen or not, Jesus as he is represented on the curcifix is dead. |
A Christian crucifix should not have a figure on it, as Christ is risen. |
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fiveeagles
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: Vancouver
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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Rapier,
They don't worship it, but it's only a symbol. Yeah, they are a little too focused on the death, but they are also focused on his resurrection. |
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Landon77
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Location: Texas, USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:00 am Post subject: The Catholic Faith for the un-learned. |
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First, the Pope isn't always considered infalible; only when he listens to his cardinals and a final decission is reached. I'm not sure, but I think they also wait a long time before going back and saying it was a decission that was infalible and perfect.
Second, Catholic's don't pray to a crucifix. They pray before a crucifix. Neither do they worship a crucifix, icon, or statue. (To pray to someone/something only means you speak to it.)
Third, why in the world would a crucifix have a risen Corpus???!!! He rose from a cave, a tomb, not the cross. Yeah, Catholics do focus on death a lot, but it is just a phase the church entered into and will eventually leave. The first thousand years of Christianity usually utalized an icon of the "Christ Enthroned."
Forth, the teaching of Christianity as found in the traditional churches- Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Roman Catholocisim- is that sex in marriage is good, sex outside of marriage is bad. You know, if people only had sex withing marriage, AIDs wouldn't be a problem.
To the OP, "wacking" is a sin. Yeah, I know, bad news...
And lastly, no, I'm not Catholic, I'm Eastern Orthodox. |
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