Holiest Father
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity."
Pope Francis, in an interview in which he said the Roman Catholic Church had become "obsessed" with gay people, abortion and contraception.
Immediately after he was elected, Pope John XXIII was approached by two women from his family, seems to me it was elderly aunts. They came up to him hesitantly and fell on their knees at his feet, reaching for his hand to kiss his ring. Not one for putting on airs, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli said, “Get up, get up, it’s only me.” That pope, who is quoted as often saying it was time to open the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air, convened Vatican II, which brought the church momentarily out of the dark ages into the light of hope. Myself no Roman Catholic except by pre-Reformation heritage in Germany and England, had hoped to see his likeness again in popes that followed him, but not so. Even Pope John Paul II, with saintly qualities of humanity without, brought little refreshing within, the church.
And the mettle of Joseph Ratzinger, staunch German pontiff who was never even a parish priest, was shown when he was prefect for the doctrine of the faith from his bastion in the Roman curia. In years after Vatican II the church seemed to long for the good old days of The Inquisition. Comes to mind recent cases of nuns chastised and disciplined by Rome or their bishops for giving too much attention to caring for the poor and hungry instead of to the church's primary cultural programs against abortion, gays, and contraception.
Who would have thought it? No one could have thought it much less begin to innovate, implement and change it but a Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He is the second breath of fresh air of which Roncalli spoke. Pope Francis: may God grant him long years.
Do I, not Roman but Anglican, have a right to express these sentiments? Indeed. Though not under controllng authority of Rome since Cranmer and Luther, we are under Rome's strong influence, because almost every thought word and deed from the Vatican flows over onto us and affects us in some way, sooner or later. So, yes, I'm entitled.
And the mettle of Joseph Ratzinger, staunch German pontiff who was never even a parish priest, was shown when he was prefect for the doctrine of the faith from his bastion in the Roman curia. In years after Vatican II the church seemed to long for the good old days of The Inquisition. Comes to mind recent cases of nuns chastised and disciplined by Rome or their bishops for giving too much attention to caring for the poor and hungry instead of to the church's primary cultural programs against abortion, gays, and contraception.
Who would have thought it? No one could have thought it much less begin to innovate, implement and change it but a Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He is the second breath of fresh air of which Roncalli spoke. Pope Francis: may God grant him long years.
Do I, not Roman but Anglican, have a right to express these sentiments? Indeed. Though not under controllng authority of Rome since Cranmer and Luther, we are under Rome's strong influence, because almost every thought word and deed from the Vatican flows over onto us and affects us in some way, sooner or later. So, yes, I'm entitled.
TW+