to all :::::::::::: here is an article well related to this thread; ~~~~~~~~~~ 247438363 Mail @pravda.ruRegister Now! Login: Password: Sign In Forgot? RussiaWorldSocietyScienceIncidentsOpinionBusinessPhotoAdvertisingsectionsOpinion » Columnists Catholic Church Must Change 04.03.2013 Marriage for Priests, Rights for Gays and Women by John Stanton "Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him." If Jesus Christ showed up today he would be appalled at many things in this world none more so than the Catholic Church. The Rock upon which Catholicism is built is crumbling more each day, the foundations are becoming unhinged. It is not the anti-Christ or some demon raising havoc; it is the Catholic leadership in the Vatican and its senior leaders around the globe who have lost touch with the rapid changes in the 21st Century world. Catholic Church membership is dwindling, its financial stability is at stake, it has lost its moral compass making a mockery of Christ's teachings, and in the age of austerity that sees millions out of work and home, Church leaders lead lavish lifestyles. And what the hell is the deal with the Pope Mobile and for that matter all the security that surrounds religious leaders who claim to have a channel to God? What has become of faith and belief? Would not God take care to protect the favored from a bullet? As the Church implodes, national governments/societies are legitimizing gay marriage and stronger rights for women (who will be the first Joan of Arc in the US military?), the universe that is the brain is being explored with new evolutionary cognitive neuroscientific tools, and humanity is beginning to understand that the environment/planet should not be trifled with. The Church's malady of sexual predation by male priests upon children and each other is sickening not just for the act itself but also the notion-still accepted by many around the world--that the perpetrators are supposed to be the Vicars, the messengers, of the Son of Man and God his Father here on Earth. The Catholic Church has strayed a long way from Christ's teachings as set forth in the Gospel According to Matthew. What ever happened to the message of frugality and humility preached by Jesus? Why the massive cathedrals, ostentatious ceremonial garb and the development of fascist sects within the Catholic Church like Opus Dei? Where are the Jesuit Soldiers when you need them? It is *******n depressing for someone who wished to be an Archangel. Mary Elizabeth Williams writing in Salon, says it best, "I am consistently outraged by the corruption and abuse of power that has gone on within the church, and heartbroken over the lives that have been callously shattered because of it. I am appalled when an institution that should be a force for peace and progress instead focuses on promoting intolerance. I'm furious when rigid dogma leads to senseless death. That's why I tackle these issues regularly in my writing. My religious upbringing trained me to speak out against injustice and exploitation, and hey, if that means making a stink about the way the church conducts itself, I guess I can thank Catholicism for showing me how to do it. Because if your whole enterprise was founded by a troublemaking, authority-questioning outsider, you shouldn't be surprised if that's what you get from his followers." Amen Ra to that. Read This! Money Changers and a German Defense Contractor more later; vlad - - - Updated - - -
to all :::::::::::: more of the same ; ~~~~~~~~~~~ Read This! Money Changers and a German Defense Contractor The World Socialists pulled no punches in its analysis of the Catholic Church's self-inflicted pain and it is a read not available from many news outlets. So here are the highlights. "The 85-year-old German-born pope, who as a young seminarian passed through the Hitler youth movement, is stepping down today as head of the Catholic Church, having spent less than eight years in the post... Reports that appeared in Italy's largest-circulation daily, La Repubblica, last week provided a window into the crisis gripping the Vatican. The first report, published on February 21, dealt with the growing proof of systemic corruption within the Vatican that had been produced by an investigation that the pope had ordered into the so-called Vatileaks scandal. The probe was headed by the Spanish cardinal Julián Herranz Casado, a member of Opus Dei, the secretive right-wing Catholic order that was closely linked to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. According to La Repubblica, last October, Herranz Casado informed the pope that the investigation had uncovered a secret faction within the Vatican hierarchy that was "united by sexual orientation. According to La Repubblica, it was on December 17, the date of delivery of the final 300-page secret report-two volumes, bound in red and bearing the seal "pontifical secret"-that the pope made his decision to abdicate. The prospect of another sex scandal at the heart of the Vatican no doubt gave Ratzinger pause. As pope, as well as in his previous position of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (in an earlier epoch known as the Grand Inquisitor), Ratzinger had overseen the Church's handling of an escalating series of scandals involving the sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests that spread across North America and Europe. The scandals have had a direct financial impact on the Vatican, with donations from the US, the most important source of funding, reportedly dropping, even as the Church has been forced to pay out over $3 billion in settlements of sex abuse cases. Given these pressures, the financial operations of the Vatican have become all the more important to maintaining the Church hierarchy. This side of the Catholic Church has long been among its most opaque, but may well have been a major factor in the decision of the pope to abdicate. Over the past two years, the Vatican bank, formerly known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), has been mired in a series of financial scandals, recalling nothing so much as the period in the early 1980s, when the IOR was at the center of a the spectacular collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. This scandal tied the Vatican to the Mafia and the clandestine and fascistic P-2 Lodge. Ambrosiano's chairman, Roberto Calvi, who was dubbed 'God's banker,' was found hanging from London's Blackfriars Bridge on the eve of the bank's collapse in 1982. In September 2010, the Bank of Italy's Financial Intelligence Unit informed the Vatican bank that it was under investigation for money laundering and subsequently seized nearly $30 million in funds that it was trying to transfer out of Italy's Credito Artigiano bank. Investigators had demanded to know whose money was involved, but the Vatican refused to cooperate. Last year, J.P. Morgan closed one of the Vatican bank's accounts when the Church hierarchy would not provide information on the large sums of money being moved in and out of it. And last month, the Bank of Italy closed down all credit card transactions at the Vatican, forcing its commercial operations to go cash-only. In his book 'The Secret Papers of Pope Benedict XVI,' based on the Vatileaks documents, journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi reported that the Vatican bank, with some $8.3 billion in assets, had laundered approximately $280 million on behalf of the Mafia." As his last substantive act as pope, Ratzinger appointed a fellow German, Ernst von Freyberg, an aristocrat and conservative Catholic, to head the Vatican bank. The appointment appeared to be a pre-emptive move, aimed at preventing his successor from picking his own bank chief. Von Freyberg's appointment provoked new controversy; however, after it was revealed that the German shipbuilding company he chairs had manufactured battleships and U-boats for Hitler's navy and is currently producing warships for the German government. A Vatican spokesman responded to questions about the propriety of naming an arms manufacturer to head the Church's bank by insisting that the von Freyberg's main line of work was building luxury yachts and that 'he also organizes pilgrimages to Lourdes, he is a member of the Order of Malta, he takes care of the sick, so certainly he is a person with a notable human and Christian sensibility.'" What to Do? Bring women into the leadership fold. Patriarchal old men in expensive costumes need a lot of help. In October 2010, a new study co-authored by Carnegie Mellon University, MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], and Union College researchers documented the existence of collective intelligence among groups of people who cooperate well, showing that such intelligence extends beyond the cognitive abilities of the groups' individual members, and that the tendency to cooperate effectively is linked to the number of women in a group. Let the men (brothers, priests, et al) marry women and have families. There is just something weird these days about a bunch of guys providing family advice when they know nothing about it. Publically open the doors to the publicans, harlots and gay and lesbian. Seek transparency. Get back to the Gospel According to Matthew. The ideals contained in that document are inspirational, sort of like Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. Message to Catholic Church: Listen to The Music Must Change and Pure and Easy by The Who. John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~ amd more later vlad
to all :::::::::: some comments from the same article; ~~~~~~~~~ Vladimr Budney · Top Commenter · Not interested to pravda administration ::::::::::: I would like to mention that it is very possible to post articles about religion which are not restricted to the western culture./ russia has so many religions. first we do have the russian orthodox church, then we do have the other eastern orthodox groups, and we do have the apostolic church (nestorians), and we do have the old believers; some of whom call themselves the new believers, and then there are all of the various western originated protestant groups (? where did they really originate?) , [[ and please no insulting remarks from catholics about some duhobors in siberia]] and certainly there are a few examples of the hebrew religion in russia, pravovirni and conservative and sefardim and karit and others ; and there are over two examples of islamic religious groups, and there are buddists in russia and many shahistic and anamistic native groups. and we should not for get those who want to study and actout the old russian and slavic pagan relions; it is certainly possible to write about some of these examples of religion in russia. vladimr budney Reply · Like · Vladimr Budney · Top Commenter · Not interested to all westerners :::::::::::: yes certainly news about the vatican is an important part of current global events; however, this is a russian news-paper and a russian chat line. most of us a re familiar with the fact that the byzantin church was the first form of the christian religion ever organized in the roman empire; and that the roman emperor konstantin organized chreistianity to help him with his political needs and ambitions. at first byzantium was in charge of (west) rome. then much later, after the lombards took control of rome from the byzantins, and after the lombards declared the kingdom of lombardia in firenza; after that the bishop of rome became independent and started the vatican religion. vladimr budney Vladimr Budney · Top Commenter · Not interested thank you administration and face book for overcomming whatever it is that prevents me from posting on pravda without any trouble. ·Brad Mosman · Oklahoma State University The behaviour of the hierarchy in the Catholic church proves one thing: that human nature, with all its weakness and tendency toward evil, is found everywhere. And wherever human nature is found, redemption is required. This fact casts doubt on scientific discovery as well. The question still has to be asked: will humans use science for good or evil? · Mohit Mago · FollowFollowingThe thing that should change is people should accept Jesus is not real. · Unfollow Post · 14 hours ago Timothy John Bancroft-Hinchey · FollowFollowing · Top Commenter · Works at ЗАО "Правда.ру" · 216 subscribers Nonsense Mohit. Jesus existed. · 13 hours ago.Edit...Delete... Vladimr Budney · Top Commenter · Not interested Timothy John Bancroft-Hinchey ::::::::::::: we do not all believe that; not in the same way. existed as what ?????? vlad · Timothy John Bancroft-Hinchey · FollowFollowing · Top Commenter · Works at ЗАО "Правда.ру" · 216 subscribers It is easy to take pot-shots at the Vatican and to tar all priests with the same brush. The question is to separate knee-jerk pieces like this, post-prandial ravings full of invective but without any substance at all, in my opinion, from the reality. And the reality is that like any Institution, the RC Church has its percentage of rapists, paedophiles, homosexuals and so on. The reality is also that being gay or homosexual or whatever you want to label it does not mean that one is a paedophile. Now let's concentrate on the other side of the coin. The vast majority of the priests in the RC Church are NOT paedophiles or gay, the vast majority of priests act in an honourable way which follows all the norms of the office they have chosen to accept. The RC Church also does a lot of good in a lot of countries around the world. CARITAS, for example, takes care of MILLIONS of people. The RC Church feeds them, clothes them, educates them, cures them... but where is the mention of this? · Unfollow Post · 13 hours ago Aggie Klepl · FollowFollowingThank you Timothy, the international community needed your comment.You are a great man.I like your articles - most of the time. · 7 hours ago. Timothy John Bancroft-Hinchey · FollowFollowing · Top Commenter · Works at ЗАО "Правда.ру" · 216 subscribers How kind Aggie. Well you are free to disagree with the articles and to discuss them. I do not have a monopoly of the truth or knowledge and enjoy being corrected when I make a mistake. · 6 hours ago Vladimr Budney · Top Commenter · Not interested Timothy John Bancroft-Hinchey :::::::::: hey timi ; there are times such as this that i wonder if you are with the russians at pravda or the westeuropeans at the vatican. ? have you ever heard of the anti-pedophile rebellion (halitske postanya) in the formerly russian parts of poland after the third partition? this historic memory is something very important to us and totaly unknown to the west. vladimr. that is all for a while; vlad
to all ::::::::::: here is a good article which is not from the vatican ;;; ~~~~~~~~ Sex, Lies and the Vatican by Barbie Latza Nadeau, The Daily Beast 07 March 13 Longtime Vatican reporter John Thavis’s new book is full of revelations about the last papal conclave, on the pope’s jet, and the sex scandals under Benedict’s reign. atican insider John Thavis always had a hunch Pope Benedict XVI would retire. But he had no idea it would coincide with the release of his book Vatican Diaries, which was published on February 21. "I'd like to say I had planned it that way," he told The Daily Beast in the Vatican's press office days after the papal resignation. "But it was just a happy coincidence." Thavis's book is a notebook dump of sorts gathered from 30 years working as a Catholic News Service Vaticanista-the official term used for Rome journalists who have personal cellphone numbers for cardinals and high-ranking Roman Curia prelates. While his book would have been interesting for Church watchers before Benedict's resignation, it will surely become a veritable handbook on all things Vatican now that the world is watching who the cardinal electors choose as a new pope. The book begins with a bit of behind-the scenes gossip about the last conclave eight years ago, when Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. As is the practice, the cardinals vote in secrecy in the Sistine Chapel and burn their ballots after each vote. When they have not reached a conclusion, the smoke that comes from the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel is black; when they have elected a new pope, Thavis describes how a chemical substance is added to turn the smoke white. That signal, in conjunction with the ringing of St. Peter's bells is how the cardinals announce "Habemus papam." But, as Thavis describes, not only did the cardinals have a difficult time lighting the stove, making the scene akin to a bunch of men around a barbeque, but at one point the back draft filled the ancient chapel with thick smoke, no doubt a secret they were hoping to keep from the art historians who monitor Michelangelo's ceiling masterpiece. Then, once they got it lit, the white smoke did not coincide with the ringing of the bells, which sent mixed signals to the masses who were expecting the chimes to confirm that the smoke was white. Thavis went to the bell ringer in Vatican City to find out just why there had been a long delay. Turns out, the jamming devices in the Sistine Chapel to prohibit electronic eavesdropping on the cardinals had actually made it impossible for anyone to call the bell ringer to tell him the smoke was white. Thavis writes how there was a moment of panic while Archbishop Piero Marini, the head of the liturgical ceremonies, tried to find a landline to call the bell ringer: "Find a telephone!" he ordered the guard. "Tell them to ring the campa(*)none! Habemus papam!" But when they finally did reach the bell ringer, he wouldn't ring the bells unless Marini himself told him to, according to Thavis. That meant an even longer delay until the bell ringer could trust that indeed they had a pope. All the while clerics were working to vest the new pope and there was a growing concern that Ratzinger would come out on the balcony to greet the world before the bells had rung. The explanation of the bell-lapse fiasco is a little-known detail that was certainly on the minds of those waiting in St. Peter's Square that day and watching it on television, but now it means so much more in the context of the impending conclave that is starting soon. Thavis also takes his readers on the papal plane, describing in rarely heard detail what it's like to fly on the Vatican chartered flight with the pontiff. But rather than focusing on the pope's public appearances, he gives details about the very unglamorous life of a Vaticanista and the often contemptuous relationship between the media and the Vatican warden, who Thavis describes as sardonic in his control over the press, effectively getting them up at the crack of dawn and herding them like cattle to waiting pens and shuttle buses. He also spotlights the pressure the Vatican press corps is often under to walk the fine line between interpreting the pope's message without becoming a true bullhorn for the church. He gives context to the miscommunication that has dogged Benedict's papacy by explaining how this pope's handlers spent more time correcting "what the pope meant" than previous popes. On one papal trip, the Vatican press spokesman actually reworded a statement Benedict made on abortion and excommunication that Thavis felt crossed the line. "Editing Pope Benedict's extemporaneous comments had been a com(*)mon practice from the very first day of his pontificate," Thavis writes. "Vatican officials jus(*)tified it on the grounds that the pope's Italian might need cleaning up, and an imprecise or inelegant phrase should be quickly amended. The idea of a midlevel bureaucrat fine-tuning Pope Benedict's language may sound strange, but it reflects a deeply entrenched conviction that the actual words a pope pronounces are not definitive until the 'official version' is published. Usually the editing was merely annoying, but in this case it was an attempt to rewrite reality." Thavis wastes no words on his condemnation of the Vatican's handling of the various sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the church in the 30 years he has been covering the Vatican beat. He dedicates several chapters to the unsavory sex-abuse cases the Catholic Church has been involved in, and manages to explain in laymen's terms the very complicated Legions of Christ scandal by walking through a series of investigations and interviews by high-ranking church officials including the Vatican's promoter of justice. He focuses on the lurid life of Legions founder Father Marcial Ma(*)ciel Degollado and paints as vivid a character profile of the disturbingly strange man as has been written to date. Father Marcial, as he is referred to, was a favorite of Benedict's predecessor Pope John Paul II, despite a myriad of allegations of sexual improprieties and financial corruption. Benedict, as pope, finally put an end to Marcial's reign amid his apologies to seminarians he sexually abused and his admission that he had fathered several children with different women. "Nowhere was there any hint that the order itself bore any responsibility for a cover-up; on the contrary, the Legion's highest officials were portraying themselves as victims of Maciel's duplicity," Thavis writes. "And while the Legion was admitting to the founder's extramural heterosexual affair-he was human, after all-it re(*)fused to touch the more serious allegations that Maciel had turned his own seminary into a pedophilia camp." Thavis may not have known that his book would coincide with Benedict's sensational resignation and a historical conclave when there is still a living pope, but he certainly was prophetic in his last chapter, which is a succinct and unapologetic tribute to the former pope. He wades through the various incarnations of Benedict's papacy, from his gaffes to his more meaningful moments, painting a human portrait of a man who shocked the world with his resignation. "When an organ is tuned and well played, he said, it produces wonderful music," Thavis recalls of Benedict's trip to Regensburg. "Dissonant notes are a sign of problems. In both cases, he explained, "an expert hand must con(*)stantly bring disharmony back to consonance." This was the real Benedict. A man who saw himself as maestro. Faith was the music that never disappointed. He knew this music well, and he knew the consolation and satisfaction it offered." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ vlad
