Benedict XVI

[arisbe]

The Romans have a new Pope. What this means for my own Church remains to be seen.

JP II and Cardinal Ratzinger were a team, the good cop and the bad cop, when, by all reports, the good cop role would suit Ratzinger's private character better. If he can make the transition from sheepdog to shepherd, my friends on the right will be seriously disappointed.

But let me state for the record that I am personally prejudiced in favor of Bavarians.

Comments

[rengal.livejournal.com]

Nice commentary. :)

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[winegodeatsyou.livejournal.com]

I hope you are right, I hope he does disappoint the right and the left. I tend to doubt to it since I have followed his carear for so long.

[baranoouji.livejournal.com]

Can you provide me with some links about Pope Benedict XVI's kinder and gentler mien? I need to do some research!

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

See the documents archived here (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/).

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Your last paragraph offers a ray of hope. Adam Weishaupt, thou art avenged!

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I turned on CNN at once after reading this and other announcements.

Ratzinger looks happy and a little stunned. Who wouldn't be?

This has been quite a journey for the Catholic Church, this last few weeks. I hope the cardinal will have a blessed and peaceful and productive time as Pope. He has already been very close to JP II, so the transition might be easier for him.

But even so it is bound to be overwhelming to walk suddenly into the pages of history.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

I would be stunned. Maybe not so happy.

Bavarians?

[kali-ma.livejournal.com]

I shall heretofore expose you as an Illuminati agent! :))

*confusion*

[kali-ma.livejournal.com]

"my own Church"

You are not Catholic?

Re: *confusion*

[naqerj.livejournal.com]

I think "Catholic, but not Roman Catholic" is the official catch-phrase. :) arisbe is an Eastern Rite Catholic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Rite).

Re: *confusion*

[kali-ma.livejournal.com]

oic!

Re: *confusion*

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I thought you said "Confucian!" And most of the time I would rather be Taoist.

To be specific, I am a member of the Russian Catholic Church sui juris, formed by a small number of Russian Orthodox who wanted to affiliate with the Roman Catholic Church without becoming Roman Catholics, that is, while keeping the Orthodox ways, except for church governmnent. (Not that the Russians had an Orthodox form of church government -- Peter the Great had imposed a Lutheran system which lasted until the Revolution.)

Re: *confusion*

[naqerj.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the Russian Catholic Church. When? Where? Who? Why? How? There's a very brief mention of them in the Eastern Catholic entry in the Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, but not much other than a tiny bit about Nikolai Tolstoy and Vladimir Soloviev, and a mention of some Old Believers.

(Would you be willing to write about this for OrthodoxWiki?)

Re: *confusion*

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

If you dan't find somebody better. How many words do you think you need?

Re: *confusion*

[naqerj.livejournal.com]

Well, the great thing about a wiki is that there is no limit to how many people can work on a topic (the more the better... usually!). I'd love it if you'd come on board.

I'm quite curious about all things Eastern and Christian, so whatever you might wish to contribute would be helpful.

Re: *confusion*

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Love to.

How are the permissions set?

Re: *confusion*

[naqerj.livejournal.com]

You just have to register (which is free) and login (which is also free!). You can find me there as ASDamick.

Re: *confusion*

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

OK. Let me explore it a little.

[joffridus.livejournal.com]

I recall a not-so-long-ago entry about some prophecy about the next popes. Could you re-point me to it? I seem to recall a prediction about a pope named Benedict. I'd like to see if it was indeed this one.

(And did our new Papa know about the prediction when he picked his name?)

I've heard some weird reactions to Ratzinger. I don't think he would have been my first choice had I been raised to the purple, but...well, obviously many american Romans are disappointed because, well, he's Catholic for crying out loud (for shame!). But I'm surprised at several people who I thought were more "conservative" who think he'll be too conservative.

Personally, I think he'll be just fine.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Here (http://www.catholicplanet.com/articles/article41.htm) is the site on St. Malachy's prophecy, which is back up.

Mayachy's phrase, Gloria Olivae, has been interpreted as a reference to the spirit or even the Order of St. Benedict, and a good many people have seemed to think that the Olive Pope would be called Benedict. The olive is also a symbol of peace, and the last Benedict tried to end the war which was the beginning of the end of European civilization.

[joffridus.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing it out.

[tiwonge.livejournal.com]

See, that's what I'm saying.

His role in the CDF is different than his role as pope. There, he was playing the conservative drag force to progressives. Now, he's not in the same role.

I'll let time pass before I judge his papacy. He's only been pope for what, 2 hours?

[uncreatedlight.livejournal.com]

I so adore Bavarians. I lived among them for three years. Bavaria is to Germany what Texas is to the US, or what Quebec is to Canada.

...they have better beer, too. :D

[joffridus.livejournal.com]

they have better beer, too

Doesn't take much, does it?

*snort*

[uncreatedlight.livejournal.com]

Would our gracious host permit a beer rant? O_o

Heh. As a general rule, North American beers aren't very good. We have some high quality microbreweries, to be sure. But the stuff that comes out of Milwaukee and St. Louis is, um, less than stellar.

Bavarian beers are very close in character to the lovely beverages that flow from the British Isles.

Re: *snort*

[joffridus.livejournal.com]

Ah. How pleasant it is to trace one's heritage to such a "green and pleasant land."

You know the Monty Python joke about American beer, right?

Re: *snort*

[uncreatedlight.livejournal.com]

Uh, if it is one of their cleaner jokes, sure, I'd love to hear it.

Re: *snort*

[joffridus.livejournal.com]

It's not. So I won't repeat it.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

You know, I'll have to see Texas. Did you try the beer at Andechs?

[uncreatedlight.livejournal.com]

No. My trinken days were centered more in the Bamberg/Nuremberg area. Did some time in Lower Franconia, too.

But after looking at their website, the Mrs. and I just might add the monastery to our itenerary. I'll say prost to your health and knock one back for you. ;)

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Please do. Glad they have a website (http://www.andechs.de/englisch/brauerei/index.html#). Stop by Ettal (http://www.kloster-ettal.de/) too while you are at it.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

So he was the anti-Vatican II priest? You must pardon me, I've been resisting watching tv all day. Not that I'd learn more from them than you anyway.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Actually, he was very active in the original Vatican II reforms, but later decided that the revolution had gotten out of hand.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

Which will come first...female priests, or married male priests? Or the end of Catholicism?

[naqerj.livejournal.com]

Well, considering that married male priests both have existed and continue to exist within the churches in submission to the Pope of Rome, I imagine they're more likely (though I have no idea if the new Pontiff is in favor of them). I don't see Catholicism ending any time soon.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

We have married priests, just not very many in North America, because the Irish didn't want them around. I think we will soon see more and more Eastern Catholic churches served by married men.

I am sorry to say that the ordination of women would destroy any hope of good relations with the Orthodox.

Maybe there will always be a Catholic Church. But the Church my father grew up in is pretty much gone already.

my terms are screwed up again.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

By Orthodox you mean what I think of as Greek or Russian Orthodox, or are you talking about the traditionalist/ fanatical element?

How is it that the church of your father is gone? I realize that's probably a huge question, but if you feel like answering, I'm interestested.

Re: my terms are screwed up again.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

My fault. When I say Orthodox, I generally mean the Greek, Russian, Antiochian, and so on.

My father was born in the pontificate of Leo XIII, Latin Mass, priests and nuns walkkin around like alien overlords. Suddenly, when he was already old, the American Church became, outwardly at least, more Protestant than my mother's (Eiscopal) Church.

Would it have killed them in Rome to allow an old man to continue to receive communion on his knees?

Re: my terms are screwed up again.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

Well surely they didn't forbid it. They just changed custom. It was the local Priest's responsibility to leave the options open, wasn't it?

Re: my terms are screwed up again.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

forbid it(?) typo.

Re: my terms are screwed up again.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

No, though some of them removed the cushions to make kneeling harder.

Re: my terms are screwed up again.

[nandan.livejournal.com]

Heh, institutions exercising control in the name of being more responsive to the people. They were probably just happy to save on the laundry bills. Gotta love it.