Italy's Jews: Pope Benedict negating 50 years of interfaith progress

[IndianaGreen]

The former Hitlerjundgen is spreading the love around, from his use of an analogy of pruning the forest to describe how to deal with LGBTs, to the latest chipping away to what the Polish Pope did to redress centuries of anti-Semitism in the RCC.

Italy's Jews: Pope Benedict negating 50 years of interfaith progress

Italy's rabbis said Tuesday they were pulling out of the Italian Catholic Church's annual celebration of Judaism, saying recent decisions by Pope Benedict XVI were negating 50 years of interfaith progress.

The chief rabbi of Venice, Elia Enrico Richetti, cited the pope's decision to restore a prayer deemed offensive to Jews in Easter Week services of the old Latin Mass.

<snip>

In 2007, Benedict relaxed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass, also known as the Tridentine rite, which was celebrated before the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s paved the way for the New Mass used widely today in local languages.

In doing so, Benedict restored to prominence a prayer for the conversion of Jews that is recited during Good Friday services of Easter Week. Jewish groups had long criticized the prayer, and they expressed dismay that the pope's decree would allow it to be celebrated more broadly.

In a bid to stem the criticism, the Vatican issued a new prayer last year. But Jewish groups said the changes were equally disappointing since the language still suggested that they needed to convert to Christianity to find salvation.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055202.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. People are abandoning the church already.

Between this latest nonsense and the other reversions to the 13th century Ratzi has instituted, there oughtta be about 40 of them left by the end of the decade.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. The Pope Now Eligable To Give Benediction At Obama Inauguration nt

[ZombieHorde]

13. Bwahahahahaa!

[skepticscott]

3. What exactly is

"interfaith progress"? Is it just progress in getting the leaders of different religions to get together and glad hand and make phony smiles at each other? The black letter doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is that IT is the One True Church and that all other faiths are false and do not lead to salvation. They haven't budged from that position and will not, no matter how many bridges they pretend to build or dialogues they pretend to open. And I doubt that Judaism and Islam are much more flexible when you get down to brass tacks. If religious groups can just manage to coexist without slaughtering each other, that's about as much "progress" as reasonable people can hope for.

[razors edge]

4. You got that right.

And if they can't, bring back the asylums. We have the right to a secure society.

No treatments can be allowed to help them though, I don't want to listen to all that reeducation camp bullshit.

[Sinistrous]

5. It is not the "black letter doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church"

that all other faiths are false and do not leas to salvation: This link gives a reasonable description of the actual position of the RC Church on the subject of "No salvation outside the church."

[trotsky]

9. Ah, far more reasonable.

:sarcasm:

So long as someone remains in "invincible ignorance" of Catholicism, but still observes "natural law" (what is that?), they can have "eternal life." :eyes:

According to this, "Ignorance is said to be invincible when a person is unable to rid himself of it notwithstanding the employment of moral diligence, that is, such as under the circumstances is, morally speaking, possible and obligatory. This manifestly includes the states of inadvertence, forgetfulness, etc. Such ignorance is obviously involuntary and therefore not imputable."

So as long as you've never heard of Catholicism, but still live a life that the Catholic church approves of, you're covered. But what about those who have heard of it, and reject it for another sect or religion? What about those who reject Catholicism, have an abortion, get divorced, then remarried?

[skepticscott]

14. Yeah, the Catholic Church says a lot of things

when it's trying to save face and avoid a PR disaster over what they really do believe. And maybe tortured theological inventions like "invincible ignorance" will save your ass if you belong to one of those lost tribes in the Amazon (though the Catholic Church is most certainly not saying that their religion leads to salvation), but as far as the issue at hand is concerned, how many Jews and Muslims have never heard of Catholicism?

[Meshuga]

8. "And I doubt that Judaism and Islam are much more flexible when you get down to brass tacks."

Judaism doesn't see itself as the only true religion and there is no equivalent prayer to the Catholic prayer causing this controversy.

While there could be "phony smiles" in the relationship of religious leaders I don't think it is a all or nothing. I know of personal friendships between rabbis and priests that I doubt they are phony.

[Dorian Gray]

10. I agree

I am friendly with a number of priests. One runs an Interfaith Healthcare Chaplaincy in NYC while another is good friends with many different religious leaders in our neighborhood. Their friendships are more than "you are wrong/I'm right." And our pastor is consumed with learning about other faiths and finding common ground to work for the good of our community.

[skepticscott]

11. As I said

as long as they get along without killing each other, I don't have a problem with a little hypocrisy. But all of those priests either have to deny the tenets of their own faith, or honestly acknowledge their firm conviction that they are going to heaven but their Jewish friends are not. Doesn't mean they can't be friends, just that they can't be totally honest with each other.

[Occam Bandage]

6. I knew that fucker was a mistake the day they chose him.

"Placeholder" my ass; it's years later and he's still going strong with his back-to-the-middle-ages viewpoint.

[IndianaGreen]

12. He was the head of the former Inquisition Office

His hostility to women priest and LGBTs borders on the psychotic.

[TankLV]

7. What did you expect from a NAZI Pope?!?! I mean, really...

Just think, out of all the possible catholics available, they CHOSE this NAZI to become pope...

that says it all...

[elshiva]

15. He is a disgrace. I don't care for the papacy, but

at least JPII actually got that prayer out of the service. It's offensive and it's not essential. :(