Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stood for 25 years, until his election in 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI at the head of the "Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith" department - the new name (since 16) of the Office of the Inquisition. * So far he is proving to be an arch-conservative
Pope Benedict XVI will visit the country tomorrow, nine years since his predecessor John Paul II visited here. At least in terms of relations with Israel, the situation is not similar to the sudden visit of Paul VI in the sixties, after which he suddenly forgot which country he visited and thanked Mr. Zalman Shazer, Tel Aviv for the hospitality. This time, as in 16, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and Internal Security are preparing for the visit and also expect that it will cause the revival of Christian pilgrimage in the Holy Land and bring foreign currency into the state treasury.
The Catholic Church's relations with Israel and the Jewish people may be better than before, but there is still plenty of room for improvement, among other things, in canceling the demand to make the Pope who ignored the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust a saint, and canceling the promotion of the Holocaust-denying hegemon in Brazil. But we are not the only ones suffering from the sitting of a Pope, to put it mildly, not the most enlightened on the Holy See. This is a man who is hostile to modernization and joins many fundamentalists all over the world who strive to turn the wheel back to a time when the public obeyed the clergy, the woman was in the kitchen, the homosexuals hid in the closet, contraceptives were outlawed, and holy wars were a matter of routine.
On the throne of the Chief Inquisitor
Did you know that the Office of the Inquisition of the Holy Catholic Church still exists? It was only in 1965, a total of 44 years ago, that its name was changed to the "Doctrine of the Faith Community", and its main mission is to silence the Catholic luminaries such as Hans Koenig and Edward Shilbix, even though it no longer has the power to execute people. Guess who held the role of Chief Inquisitor for 25 years? That's right, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, the current Pope, until his appointment. An extreme conservative and imposes the Catholic dogma. Humans have the right to swallow tyrannical dogmas if they want to, especially after being indoctrinated all their lives by Ratzinger and his crew. But why would they do that? Is it safe to tell each of them that his or her free thought has been suppressed?
Robert Price, professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Scientific Inquiry and author of the book "Analyzing Jesus" and co-author of the book "The Empty Tomb - Jesus Beyond the Tomb" writes in an article he published in 2005 in Free Inquiry magazine under the title: "The Chief Inquisitor sits on the throne of honor" Because Benedict XVI is a conservative arch-pope.
As the head of the "Doctrine of Faith Community" he was among the prominent opponents of clergy marriage and artificial abortion. Among other things, he forbade priests to mention the option of abortion in the ears of pregnant minors who approach them. He opposed any type of homosexual relationship and even laws against discrimination against homosexuals. He also expressed strong opposition to the use of contraceptives. In the sermon he delivered before the beginning of the Hashmani convention, at the end of which he was elected, he surprised when he did not try to show moderation, but firmly reiterated his position that the church should not adapt itself to the zeitgeist and warned against the "dictatorship of relativity", which is not ready to give any idea validity over individualism and the "I".
Price adds to this and states in his article that all that was of interest to the church was that its believers would have as many children as possible to be baptized into its dwindling ranks. He also mentions the scandal of the sexual exploitation of children attending Catholic educational institutions. Even father Bruce Ritter, the founder of "Beit Hamona", was suspected of sexual exploitation. The church did very little, and that too only after receiving criticism from the media, to bring back pedophile priests. The leaders of the church have not yet internalized this, and as evidence, Cardinal Bernard Lowe, who was convicted of fraud in Boston and was removed from his position, moved to Rome and was not handed over to the authorities. In fact the church authorities threw him up. They let him preside over the mass funeral of John Paul II, who, like a successor, slandered the sexual exploitation scandal and claimed that it was anti-Catholic propaganda by the media). His position gave him an important voice in the selection of John Paul's successor.
The editor of the FREE INQUIRY, Paul Kurtz, writes in his article "Back to the Dark Ages" Back to the Dark Ages Because the Vatican's propaganda machine is trying to soften his image as the chief inquisitor. If the church under the leadership of Benedict XVI continues to defend fundamentalism as it has done for the past twenty years, it will be a tragedy when, in addition to Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and believers of other religions claim that all others except their believers will burn in hell and Presidents occupied and Ahmadinejad and regimes like the Taliban have come to power. When Bush visited Ratzinger in the Vatican in 16, requesting support for his candidacy for a second term, Ratzinger wrote a statement to the US bishops in which he demanded that everything be done to prevent Catholic politicians who support abortion from being re-elected. "Ratinger made an alliance between the Vatican and the American right, and this alliance played a part in the strengthening of the right in recent years until the very eve of Obama's election, contrary to the US constitution."
Benedict exaggerates the positions of his predecessor
Kurtz, who wrote the article shortly after Karol Vitale's death is John Paul II, he lists some positive things he bequeathed to Ratzinger. He expanded the dialogue that existed before with the Protestant Church also towards the Jews and Muslims. He also apologized for the Crusades, the Inquisition and Galileo's trial, good things of course, but he was a great opponent of women's rights, at least within the Church, and refused to ordain them as priests. He also opposed divorce, sexual freedom, contraception, abortion and artificial insemination. He had reservations about the movement that calls for "dying with dignity" that seeks to help suicidal people suffering from incurable diseases in order to rescue them from their suffering. He insisted that priests remain celibate even though the church did not practice celibacy in its first thousand years. He also vehemently opposed stem cell research on the grounds that the soul is embedded within the embryo the moment the cells first divide in the petri dish, despite the obvious benefits that might accrue to humanity from stem cell research.
In his many travels to Asia and Africa, he insisted on the ban on using a condom. This policy undoubtedly caused millions of deaths from AIDS and those who survived caused an increase in the population in the poor countries of the third world. Although he criticized poverty and the extreme forms of capitalism that caused it, he opposed the theologians who demand the liberation of Latin America from the tyrannical regimes, because the consequence of this is the continued support of the church in the power structure in these countries. He also opposed dialogue between the Catholic Church and humanists after 1988, despite the fact that his previous three dialogues had been very successful in finding common ground. He also thwarted a plan he had signed called Vatican II, which attempted to bring the Catholic Church into the modern world.
Benedict II continues all these and even turns the wheel backwards, when he reversed his predecessor's decision to recognize that the theory of evolution is a legitimate theory. He also ousted the director of the Vatican observatory, George Cuyon, in 2006 because he showed disdain for the theory of intelligent design.
If we go back to Price's article with which we opened, he points out that among the nonsense that filled the airwaves one dealt with the promise of one of the Vatican's spokesmen that the choice was made democratically among professionals who recognize the giftedness of one of their own. According to him, this figure is incorrect, it took several rounds of voting to convince the cardinals.
For Price, this reminds me of Len Dostoevsky's story "The Parable of the Chief Inquisitor", which appears in his well-known book The Brothers Karamazov, but is sometimes also printed in its own right. In this book, Jesus returns and appears on earth in medieval Spain to heal the sick and help the poor. Shortly after, the chief inquisitor hears about this and he demands that Jesus be imprisoned. He visits him in prison to explain to him why his heirs turned a cold shoulder on him. They seemed unable to forgive him for rocking the ship in the first century. He is considered the one who incited the masses when he gave them the terrible freedom and responsibility to think for themselves, and not allow the authorities to milk them by misleading them through mystery, miracles and authority. But who wants such freedom?
By the way, at the end of Dostoyevsky's story, the chief inquisitor frees Jesus, for reasons of nostalgia, but demands that he leave the city.
Price agrees that after the Sanhedrin passed away from Jesus, his successors, the heads of the Catholic Church, failed to continue his legacy by maintaining the faith as a peacemaker, free from dogmatism, providing all the answers, and allowing all believers to choose their own conclusions.
More on the subject on the science website
- Darwin Boutique Conference on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth
- Pope to Hawking: God directs evolution
- Pope Benedict justified the treatment of Galileo - and his visit to an important university in Rome was cancelled
- John Paul II - the Pope who exonerated Galileo and supported evolution
17 תגובות
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
I would like to address the comment that "the Jews exiled an entire nation"
Self-defense against people who were not ready to live with us in peace and acted violently in the same place gives legitimacy to kick them to hell so sorry we wanted a country to live in. And for everyone who has a problem with this, at least stop being a hypocrite and saying how guilty we are, as if we were a helpless people who did nothing to us.
P.S. The Palestinians were not even really a people but defined themselves as a people after the establishment of the State of Israel.
Well done. A very interesting article, and especially historically the aspect concerning the Pope in his inquisitorial role is interesting.
A.:
First of all - you opened your words by saying "as a Christian I find your article insulting, etc." so please don't come now and tell us that this has nothing to do with your Christianity.
If you were not a Christian whose Christianity is important to him you would also see that everything said in the article is true and an enlightened person is not offended by the truth. After all, it is all about the Pope and not about you, and this Pope is truly forgiving towards the Holocaust denial phenomenon in a way that no seeker of truth and justice can accept!
All his stupid opinions about homosexuality, abortions and the like are indeed shared by him and all the dark leaders of all religions - including Judaism, but as I mentioned - the leaders of Judaism also come down here on these issues and even much more.
Then you wrote this lie:
"Since the Jews ceased to be a persecuted minority (immigrating to Israel) they have killed, looted and exiled an entire people (and this in the modern era"
This is a baseless and anti-Semitic blood plot.
It doesn't matter at all whether you learned it from someone or invented it yourself.
Not only has nothing similar ever happened, but all of the Israeli actions that you generalize in this fabricated framework were necessary actions of self-defense against an attack that began even before the founding of the State of Israel and continues to this day with an incessant trickle of Qassams and terrorist attacks (a trickle that, had we not acted in Lebanon and Gaza, would have really flood).
This is not about opposition to the actions of the government, but about the reversal of creationism and opposition to things that never happened, and this is in a sense similar to the Christians' persecution of the Jews since time immemorial.
Arabic:
It really doesn't matter how the Pope was recruited to the Nazi youth.
It was the most successful youth movement at the time and many youths (including Jews) were recruited into it (no one was recruited against their will). What is disturbing is his attitude to the subject in times when he was no longer a foolish ten year old.
The comparison between the Pope and Robodia is stupid.
The Pope's education was supposed to allow him to be an enlightened person and it turns out that despite his education he is no less dark than this idiot.
Of course, this does not belong to Lieberman voters at all, who of course acted rationally a million times more than Hamas voters.
To the Arabs - I know some of Lieberman's voters, including enlightened people, who did so, among other things, because of the incessant attempt of certain Arabs (Hamas, Hezbollah, Ahmadinejad) to challenge the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel. I wish this thing didn't exist no one would vote for him.
As for the 12 languages of the Pope, you gave an excellent comparison. There are also parrots that speak many languages. This does not make him more enlightened than Obadiah Yosef or Mahamanai. The world would be better if the three of them did not interfere in the politics of their nations.
The Pope was recruited into the Nazi youth against his will.
But every adult who voted for Lieberman did so freely.
The Pope has several doctorates and knows more than 12 languages.
But Ovadia Yosef, for example, does not even know how to speak Hebrew properly.
Mmmmmmmmm……………..
Peace,
Further to my response on 7, and in response to the esteemed readers 8, 9, 10:
The Christian religion has nothing to do with my last comment about Jewish morality. As an Arab who lived in the country, and studied the history of the country in both versions, I came to the final conclusion. And so to those who wanted and blamed Christianity, you are wrong. I didn't study in church and the priest didn't say it.
I was not talking about Israeli wars but about the era after the wars as required by the international treaties (regardless of whether Christians drafted them or not 😉 ).
What I meant was that the use of condoms, abortions, the status of women in the conduct of religious ceremonies and other perspectives are common to you and us.
In addition to this, it is important to note that anyone who is not Jewish and does not agree with the behavior of the Israeli government is not necessarily anti-Semitic.
And in my last question about who is more moral, the intention was that all of us: nations, religions, etc., have something to improve.
I wanted to protest that I was offended and I ended up offending... I apologize to everyone who was offended by my words.
7,8 You are both laymen
There is no attempt here to harm Christianity or attempt to empower Judaism...
When will you understand that extremism in religion is always a bad thing, and in the name of Judaism as well as in the name of Christianity, many people died...
As a mat in every religion there is (and certainly in Christianity and Judaism) there is an emphasis on tolerance... why don't you think about it a little instead of fighting over which religion is the best!!!
Fools
A.:
Religion, whatever it is, is a harmful phenomenon and if you follow what is happening here on the site, you know that the main religion attacked here is Judaism.
It is indisputable that most of Christianity's nonsense was copied from Judaism.
On the other hand, your response indicates that you are also brainwashed as a result of your religion and you are simply anti-Semitic.
After all, the article does not discuss Christianity at all and the things that appear in it do not belong to either Christianity or Judaism, but you decided to respond without reading and to add a new blood plot against the Jews. It turns out that the Jews are still persecuted by people like you.
For number 7, shame on your comparative intelligence,
The Jews fought for their lives in wars that were forced upon them,
The Christians persecuted, expelled, murdered and burned peoples all over the world - and especially the Jewish people - just because they existed and without any threat from them.
Your low insulting answer and below any criticism, in which you compare Israel's wars with the deliberate and constant murder of Jews throughout history which was led by the Church of "Grace and Mercy" - only proves how much anti-Semitism nestles in your heart.
Peace,
As a Christian, I find your article insulting, low and beyond criticism.
I will not comment on your article nor on the racist responses of some readers here, but I would like to emphasize that most of the approaches you criticized here are common to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And some of the approaches even shape the modern Zionist movement.
It is also worth noting that since the Jews ceased to be a persecuted minority (immigrating to Israel) they have killed, looted and exiled an entire people (and this is in the modern era). And so the question arises: Are the Jews more moral than Christians or Muslims? Hint: no.
Regarding 1. Darwin also heard this claim and I don't compare, God forbid. Why do you, you are so good at describing nature and wrote such magnificent books about snails and pigeons, why do you need to put a healthy head in a sick bed and just annoy the religious. I am not making this up in his autobiography, although not in these words but in this spirit. I will look for the exact quote when I get the chance.
2. Not true - today the Chinese scientists are a thing and even in science you will find several Chinese names, although currently from American universities, but they are also working on it - their universities will be the best in the world.
In any case, we have already discussed the issue several times and it was decided that science without the explanation of its soul does not exactly help the advancement of humanity. The dose is not high, nor is it determined by us - but as a response to one or another event.
In my opinion, an arrest warrant should be issued against him and he should be prosecuted for the crimes of Christianity against Judaism. This is the least we can do for the thousands of Jews who gave their lives for the sanctification of God over 2000 years of history. The time has come for Judaism's revenge on Christianity.
And this was also done on behalf of our Muslim cousins who also suffered badly at the hands of the Christians.
We will shock the world with a historic trial, compared to which even Eichmann's trial will look pale.
And if he is found guilty (he will be found guilty!) we will execute him in a very impressive auto-de-fa ceremony (put him on the stake) as was customary in Spain.
As for the defenders, there will be no shortage of defenders who would be happy to defend him and thus make a world name for themselves.
And I always thought that democracy was invented in ancient Greece (which was not really monotheistic...)
He is anti-Semitic and he must be judged for it.
Peace to my father
Although I agree with the spirit of your article, I would like to raise two points
1. A scientific magazine, like the one you edit, should focus, as a policy, on scientific and technological matters. In my opinion, polemics and confrontations against people and concepts that negate the scientific idea, freedom of thought and freedom of expression should be avoided and this, for a very simple reason, is useless (!).
True, your position is outrageous and extremely dangerous, however,
The solution to the problem of religious conservatism is not in these squabbles, only in a ceaseless pursuit of progress, achievements, quality and freedom of thought and choice. These are the best and most convincing "proofs". I am sure that in the Pope's quarters there is electric lighting, an electronic computer, an electric air conditioner and all the Christian countries of the world are democracies.
All these were created thanks to progress and freedom and not thanks to Christian conservatism. Rest assured that Christians know this too.
2. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the human "spike" of democratic and humanistic scientific progress grew and rose from Jewish culture and from Christian culture. And all this, despite and in contrast to the positions of the religious establishments of these two religions. The conservative religious establishments have no better answers for humanity than the benefits provided by science and science-based technology.
You forgot to mention that he was also a Nazi!! He also supported holocaust deniers and brought back to Christianity old prayers that speak against and the Jews and call to "redeem" them from their suffering as Jews