British Catholic bishop slams 'billions' spent on Iraq war

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041224/wl_mideast_afp/iraqbritainreligion&cid=1514&ncid=1473

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's most senior Catholic bishop was due to use his Christmas message to criticise the "billions" spent on the war in Iraq (news - web sites), saying the money could have been better used on poverty relief.


Such a misuse of money was a "terrible thing", said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, according to an advance copy of his address.


"How is it that peace has not arrived?" went the message to more than 2,000 people expected to pack into Westminster Cathedral in central London for Friday evening's Christmas Eve service.


"How is it that there is war in Iraq, violence in the Holy Land, and the horror of pain and death amongst the poor and deprived who suffer from injustice and thus do not find peace?" he was to say.


"What a terrible thing it is that billions -- and I mean billions of pounds -- are being spent on war in the Middle East which could have been spent bringing people out of dire poverty and malnourishment and disease.


"How can one wish a happy Christmas for our fellow Christians in Iraq or in the Holy Land or those who suffer in Africa unless you and I, in whatever way is open to us, say and do what makes for peace?"

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[NYC]

1. Gold star for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

Must be a true Christian.

[Mr Creosote]

9. He certainly is.............

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2581885.stm

[NYC]

17. Oh.

I guess a nice Christmas sermon doesn't make up for that.

Thanks for the information. I guess he still gets a gold star for his Christmas speech, but I wouldn't classify him as an overall good guy.

[TheFarseer]

2. We need more people saying this.

[cliss]

3. So why is it that the

Catholics overwhelmingly supported Bush? Help me out here. I'm sure I read something to this effect, right after the "selection".

This could have been catholics in the US? This was a head-scratcher to me, considering that Kerry himself is a catholic.

Why would they suppport the warmonger BeelzeBush?

[TyeDye75]

4. British bishops are fairly liberal (politically of course) /nt

[DrDebug]

5. Nobody listens to the pope anymore

The problem with the pope is that he was always talking about contraception and how evil that was, so they stopped listening to him when he did make sense and told people that * was down-right evil.

[VegasWolf]

6. Exactly, they think the billions could be better used for lawsuits. n/t

[Southsideirish]

10. Sad but true in some cases but there are many wonderful

Catholic clergy that I have known over the years that have dedicated their lives to helping people and its not fair to lump them all together.

I have been volunteering at a Catholic Home for the Aged run by the Little Sisters of the Poor and they are so wonderful to these residents it really chokes me up when I see the level of their care and love for them.

[leftchick]

12. all of the Catholics I am friends with voted for Kerry

including myself. I find that poll as suspect as the ones giving chimpy* glowing poll numbers before the selection.

[alcuno]

13. Amen. Catholics did not "overwhelmingly" vote for *.

It's a myth, a lie, a canard. Catholics in blue states voted for Kerry and Catholics in red states voted for *.

[leftchick]

14. Merry Christmas alcuno...

and Peace in the New Year! :)

[marew]

7. AMEN!!!!

The obligation to help the poor is mentioned repeatedly in the bible. But we have major tax breaks for the rich while cutting services to the poor. If the chimp(who had the nerve to say "If people are poor, it's because they're lazy" while he bought his way through college and after being born into a fortune)is a Christian, I'm a frigging tree.

[JohnyCanuck]

8. So true

Anyone claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ has a very high standard to live up to. Christians are supposed to love everyone, their enemies included, without exception. That means loving Iraqis. It means speaking up when “our troops” kill and maim them. Christians are supposed to be truthful and avoid even the appearance of evil. That means Christians shouldn’t lie about the existence of weapons of mass destruction. It of course follows that Christians shouldn’t give the Medal of Freedom to the creators of those lies.

Jesus said that it isn’t possible to serve two masters. That means rejecting Bush hush money, also known as the Faith Based Initiative. Like most offers of help it comes with a non-disparagement clause. You can’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Christians believe that everyone in need is their sister or brother. That means they must protest when Alberto Gonzales, the architect of torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, is nominated to serve as Attorney General.

Christians love to say that they are superior to non-Christians. They generally don’t say those words, but going on endlessly about being different from people who are “in the world” has the smell of superiority. Curiously, the same people who use their religious belief to constantly proclaim their moral superiority suddenly lose all powers of speech when the powerful run afoul of God’s laws.

www.blackcommentator.com/119/119_freedom_rider_christ_pf.html

[yorkiemommie1]

11. rated a '5'

if only more were like him

[NYC Liberal]

15. Email him and thank him!

[e-mail]

[0007]

16. I did send a nice Christmas e-mail. Thanks for the address.