By J Nichols, Staff writer: As a practicing Roman Catholic, I must say, that I am becoming Very Disappointed with the leader of my church, Pope Benedict the 16. His Holiness who upon his succession to the papacy after the death of John Paul the second was known to be a little worried. Hear he was, an old man who was following in the footsteps of one of the longest raining popes, and one who is almost certain to be elevated to saint-hood for his almost endless list of great works. Recently, I learned from my parish priest that Benedict had a dream as I suppose all popes for the last thousand years have held of reuniting the Roman and Greek Orthodox churches. what many may not know, is that Benedict against all the odds, has made notable progress towards this goal, which if accomplished, would give the combined church a population of over 1.35 billion members. He has agreed to yield on some previously important issues for the Romans, which has greatly pleased the Orthodox, and has convinced the Greek Orthodox to do the same on some other long held points of disagreement.
What a great thing it would be for this old German, if he could accomplish an act that hundreds had worked for over the past thousand years, especially, since his rain how ever long it might be, will always be in the shadow of John Paul. And yet, even if he is able to accomplish his goal, so far as the world is concerned, it might not really matter, at least so far as MR. Benedict is concerned.
During the rain of John Paul II, a English bishop, Richard Williamson was excommunicated from the church, which means, that he was not only no longer a bishop, one of the highest ranking officials in the Catholic church’s hierarchy, but that he was no longer even to be considered a Roman Catholic. This was done in part for Williamson’s beliefs regarding the Jewish Holocaust. Williamson argued repeatedly, that the gas chambers never existed, and although many Jews were killed, that the number was not around six million, but was somewhere between 2-3 hundred thousand.
I have read several studies that claim that the gas chambers did not exist, and all have argued that the number of Jews murdered was much lower than six million, but nearly all of them agree, that the deaths did number in the millions, And a recent study conducted in Poland and Eastern Europe, has discovered considerable evidence, that the numbers of Jews murdered was not six million, but more like seven million. For the pope to take a stand such as this, at this time, is not just premature, it is insulting.
For political reasons, Pope Benedict the 16 has seen fit to reinstate Bishop Williamson to his former status. This is certainly his right, who am I to argue that someone can not be a member of my church. But to give Williamson back the position of Bishop, and the duties that entails, is beyond observe. This act was done we are told so as to heal some rift with Roman traditionalists.
I don’t know the reasons for the rift, and to be honest, I don’t care.
To return a man to a position of this status, is nothing lessthan criminal in my opinion.
The pope we Catholics believe, can sin just as all people sin, but in issues of religion, he is suppose to be infallible. If his election was legitimate, then we Catholics believe that the pope gets his religious guidance directly from God himself. Each religious directive is suppose to have been reached after lengthy prayer, and from a religious stand point, should not be seriously questioned. However, if God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to give the Roman Catholic Church a leader that ordains not only one of the greatest crimes in all of history, but to seriously argue that this atrocious act claimed a rediculacely small number of lives, then we practicing Catholics deserve to be informed about the message Benedict received from the Heavenly Father.
The Bishop’s re-appointment has special significance for me, as my great uncle was held for years in the concentration camp on the island of Rab in Croatia. Jews were not the only ones that suffered at the hands of the Nazis, at the very least, hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics were murdered as well, for nothing more, than believing the pope was closer to God than Hitler.
For Benedict to allow Williamson to return to his duties, is not just insulting to the world’s collective intelligence, nore is it just the apparent denial by one more elderly German about their country’s past atrocities, it is an insult to Roman Catholics as a whole, and to all peoples that suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
How can the head of our church even indirectly, denied the hell that millions of his own faith went threw under the rain of Adolf Hitler.
I have never put cereous stock in Benedict’s involvement with the Hitler Youth. At the time, in Nazi Germany, boys had two choices, join the Hitler Youth, or if they were lucky, go to a hard labor camp. But this reappointment razes Very Cereous questions, that the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics demand answers to.
Pope Benedict will undoubtedly have to answer many of these questions later this year, when he travels to Israel.
It is my honest prayer, that Benedict will answer most of those questions well before his trip, and that he will keep his trip. If he keeps his trip, then he will have a chance to explain to one in six people on earth what in the hell he was thinking, or if he does not do that, then he will undoubtedly, be shown by Jews and
Roman Catholics alike, that he has not just disappointed us lowly walking lumps of clay, but he has disappointed his boss, God himself.
And what of the possible re-unification with the Greek Orthodox? If this was somehow a move to reach out to that great church, then I for one say NO! The price of re-unification is Far to high. And if it was just some stupid move to make some old straight-laced Vatican One people happy, then, there is no doubt, that he has just un-done all the great work he has done so far.
Pope Benedict the 16, may have started his papacy with great hope, following John Paul II, We might have gotten two sainted popes in a row. But now, he is running the risk, of inbarising the church, by following John Paul with a describe. One that would be a disappointment t and disgrace not just for Roman Catholics, but also Greek Orthodox, Jews, Germans, and all that have suffered either threw the actions of the Nazis, or from genocidal acts by Turkey, Stalin, and everywhere in the world.
Pope John Paul died beloved by billions, Benedict is running the risk of dying despised by billions.
Just one man’s words.