Global Politician - Vatican and Churches

The Vatican’s Nietzschean Moment
Kenneth Houston, Ph.D. - 3/4/2010
The Vatican communiqué issued following the February meeting between Ireland’s Catholic hierarchy and Pope Benedict XVI, which highlighted the Pontiff’s conviction that a ‘crisis of faith’ and the ‘weakening of faith’ were significant contributing factors in the abuse of children, was revealing. Some traditionalists and conservatives might well agree that a weakened faith among Catholics, and not just clergy, contributed to the catastrophic failures of morality outlined in the Ryan and Murphy reports, which documented horrendous abuse of children by priests. More critical commentary will dismi...

Pope seeks privileged status for the RCC in Europe
David Ben-Ariel - 10/23/2009
The pope is a head of state, a politician, and not just a religious leader. He again made that abundantly clear with his preposterous claim to Yves Gazzo, new head of the delegation of the Commission of European Communities to the Holy See.: "when the Church recalls the Christian roots of Europe, she is not seeking a privileged status for herself " (Pope Urges Europe to Recall Christian Values).

The God Issue And The Pope's Advice To Missionaries: "Only Catholics Make Heaven"
Angelique van Engelen - 12/28/2007
If one thing has become clear in recent days, it is that the G-issue is highly unpredictable. God triggers debate when you least expect it. All the more so, because the Almighty is generally not easily scheduled for public discussion.

Vatican Parchment Detailing 14th Century Trial Of Templars 'Discredits' Da Vinci Code, Proves Maltese Writer Spot On
Angelique van Engelen - 12/21/2007
The Vatican's release of a historic document revealing the 14th Century trial against the Knights Templars sheds new light on books such as the Da Vinci Code. Large parts of the Templars' history has been unequivocally determined.

Catholic Church: Celibacy Is Not The Problem
Telesphor R. Magobe - 9/5/2006
What has prompted me to share my views on the above subject are two articles that appeared in recent editions of a popular local Kiswahili weekly that specializes in analytical and investigative features. In the first piece, the author called on the Roman Catholic Church to abolish the discipline of celibacy to her clergy. He took sexual scandals among the clergy as a basis for his arguments but he doesn't really go further than that.

Eclipse of God: Gay Marriages and Vatican's reaction
Antonio Fabrizio - 6/17/2006
On Tuesday, June 6th, in a document titled “Family and human procreation”, the Pontifical Council for the Family asserted its strong commitment to traditional family and emphasized the risks related to a misuse of abortion and in-vitro fertilization, stating also that feminism contributed to shape the crisis of the current society1.

Vatican Flirting With China?
Luis Figueroa - 6/6/2006
The Vatican excommunicated two catholic bishops who were ordained by the official Chinese catholic church -which is controled by the socialist regime of Hu Jin-tao- without the Pope's authorization. The Pope also excommunicated the prelates that performed the ordinations.

Just What Is Christmas?
Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye - 1/27/2006
“Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church … the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt.” – Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1911 edition.

Now that the din and vulgar, riotous, gin-soaked and licentious bacchanalian revelry of the Christmas celebrations are at last over (I hope so, really), I think there is enough sanity in the land for me to ask this very simple question, namely, what really is Christmas?

The Family of Jesus Christ
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 9/12/2005
Was Jesus born 2002 years ago? Was he born in year zero? The first year AD was 1 - so, Jesus could not have been born in year zero. The very concept of zero was invented much later. Numerous historical minutia in the gospels indicate that Jesus must have been born before 4 BC. For example, He was said to have been born during the reign of King Herod, who died in 4 BC.

The Pope and and "Dictatorship of Relativism"
Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye - 6/10/2005
I spent quality time in the morning of Tuesday, April 19, 2004, reading up any thing I could find on the internet about Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, and by noon that day, I was almost certain, and had even begun to say it to those around me, that Ratzinger would most likely replace late John Paul II as pope of the Roman Catholics. Perhaps, I was not just guessing, but merely expressing some latent wish, tucked away somewhere in the inner recesses of my mind. Indeed, after examining some portions of Cardinal Ratzinger's pre-conclave homily delivered at St. Peter's Square the previous day, I becam...

The New Pope: Ratzinger Much Better Choice Than 'Liberation Theologians'
Luis Figueroa - 5/3/2005
What was the advice that Billy Elliot received from his mother? Be true to yourself. And I think that it is one of the best advices that a parent can give to a child, or a mater et magistra can give to its herd. It is in that sense that I find the election of Joseph Ratzinger, as head of the Catholic Church, a wise election. Wiser, lets say, than the possibility of having elected Oscar Rodriguez , from Honduras, or any other Latin American or African activist. One who may have been celebrated by the Comissão Pastoral da Terra in Brazil.

Will Next Pope Come From The Third World?
John Mangun - 4/10/2005
Pope John Paul II begins his eternal rest and the world ponders who will be his successor. Virtually within hours of his death, commentators in every language raised the question and contemplated the possibility of the papacy held by someone from the Third World. They deliberated that a man of color, a man of poverty, a man from a 'marginalized' country would bring a new perspective to the Roman Catholic Church. In their enthusiasm for change, these pundits ignored the fact that the chair of the Holy Father has been occupied by a black man, by many poor men who remained poor even through th...