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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Unloved Pope Benedict a bust in Britain as faithful depart this pontiff

Posted on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 09:05 PM

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Hands up who, in their heart of hearts, believes that this man did and is doing the right thing regarding the Worldwide pedophile epidemic within the Roman Catholic Church? Dear oh dear, I actually see quite a few hands - that's exactly what he was counting on. "suffer the little children to come unto me". Shame.

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2BorNot2B | Oct 01, 2010, 12:06 PM EDT

Niall, I'd call the title of your article nothing more than a wet dream, and your constant haranguing against the CC (your favorite dart board) nothing more than hot air full of wishful-thinking. --- We saw the Pope in Britain being warmly welcomed, so once more you must be grinding your already worn-out and crooked teeth in frustration. Pity you!

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barneyjo | Sep 15, 2010, 06:59 PM EDT

I am old enough to remember the visit of John Paul II to Ireland in 1979. As a 17yr old Catholic fron Northern Ireland, I remember being in Ballybritt Racecourse in Galway, and being told by the Pope that he loved the young people of Ireland. I remember thinking at the time that I would have followed that man anywhere for the joy I felt. Looking back on that day now from 31 years distant I dont remember that joy any more. I remember the shrill tones of Father Michael Cleary and of Bishop Eamon Casey, who were paraded in front of the Irish youth present as paragons of virtue and role models to follow in faith. Well we now know they were not role models; they were as human and as weak and spiritually frail as anybody. Say what you like regarding what this Pope has done (or not done) to right the great evil at the heart of the Catholic Church, but Niall is absolutely right about one thing; we "ordinary" catholics deserve better. This is my line in the sand as regards the journey of faith on which I am now embarked.

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edmundburke | Sep 15, 2010, 03:30 PM EDT

This article misstates the facts and unfairly maligns Pope Benedict. Knowledgeable sources show that this Pope has done more to eradicate clerical pedophilia and duly punish the perpetrators than any of his predecessors. Aside from that, he is a formidable Catholic intellectual and preacher, and his writings will serve as touchstones for Catholic theology for decades, if not centuries, to come. The lassitude of Catholics in Britain will not detract from what I have just observed.

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kilgara | Sep 15, 2010, 12:23 PM EDT

Leave it to O'Dowd , he never misses a chance to bring scandal or disrepute to our beloved church. He's tres trendy in this life but alas, very likely to burn in hell in the next.

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Watereskhill | Sep 14, 2010, 11:41 PM EDT

If you want to be heralds of Pope Benedict (recent attacks) that's your perogative. If I'm a Forrest Gump in your books that's fine too. Several secular priests and the Provincial of a Monastic Order in Ireland enjoy my company. Asterix: Secular priests are the ones with collars. Monks wear sandals and robes. It was marvellous to see each of them again this past August after several years while on vacation visiting my family in Ireland both North and South of the border. An interesting albeit informal concensus came about for they don't know one another: Archbishop Martin of Dublin the only sane voice in the Irish Church. His Holiness a disaster. Okay. I was a bit heavy on the Nazi stuff. I also gave Hamlet a rough going over at college in Wales yet mustered through. Had I been a flat student dick-head moron I could not count among freinds today men such as themselves. I'm by no means an ardent devout Mass goer. Nor do they give a fiddlers. Be at peace. Catholicism is vast and unique. Each of us the pilgrim Church en route. Vatican II informs such "The Church is the people of God" If I'm a mis-fit in the pew I'm convinced God can shuffle a seat when the Final Trumpet sounds. Slainte.

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Carroll09 | Sep 14, 2010, 07:57 PM EDT

Jimgordo1- You are absolutely right to point out the number of Jews saved by the efforts of Pope Pius XII. Rabbi Pinchas Lapide, a former Israeli diplomat, said the following: "The final number of Jewish lives in whose rescue the Catholic Church had been the instrument is thus at least 700,000 souls, but in all probability it is much closer to . . . 860,000". One Jewish figure of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, said the following after the death of Pope Pius XII: "Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty". Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli's election as Pope Pius XII was not greatly welcomed in Germany because he had been so vocal in denouncing Nazism many years before the war. The then Cardinal Pacelli had been Papal Nuncio to Germany, and of the 44 speeches he made on German soil between 1917 & 1929, at least 40 contained condemnations of Nazism or Hitler's doctrines. In 1935, speaking to over 250,000 pilgrims in Lourdes, the future Pope Pius XII said the Nazis "are in reality only miserable plagiarists who dress up old errors with new tinsel. It does not make any difference whether they flock to the banners of social revolution, whether they are guided by a false concept of the world and of life, or whether they are possessed by the superstition of a race and blood cult". After Pacelli's election as Pope Pius XII, Hitler sent an aide to try to convince the Pope to abandon his anti-Nazi stance- the Pope listened to the aide, then opened a ledger-book on his desk and recited a litany of crimes committed by the Third Reich in Poland, naming time, date and place! He remained an unshakable force against the Nazis.

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jimgordo1 | Sep 14, 2010, 05:22 PM EDT

Dennis Q -- For crying out loud -- compare this photo to any other "official" photo and I'll bet you won't find any difference in Charles' demeanor. He's not exactly "Mr. Smiley," especially as his reign (if ever) will be a short one. And, Niall, where id you get this "cozying up with the Nazis" crap? How soon we forget the many Jews that Pius XII saved from the gas chambers. He may not have spoken out publicly about the atrocities; but then how many other world leaders also did not speak out when they had information from intelligence sources but did not want to compromise their sources? So, which was worse' Pius XII remaining silent in order to be able to save the Jews that he could, or world leaders wishing to protect intelligence sources?

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DennisQ | Sep 14, 2010, 02:49 PM EDT

The three main figures in the photograph look like they'd rather be anywhere else than where they are. Charles looks particularly glum, as if he and Camilla had just had a spat about having to make nice with the Pope.

To give Benedict credit, he seems aware that the other two don't want to be there. It doesn't look like an occasion for small talk, and even if it were, what do these people have to say to each other? Perhaps Camilla might comment on the Pope's red shoes. Is there a protocol for that?

The cardinal seems to be smiling, possibly because he's glad to be out of the spotlight. It looks like an awful situation for all of them, having to mug for the camera and hating every minute of it.

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irishgenebuf | Sep 14, 2010, 09:25 AM EDT

It is good to see an irrelevant rigid old man and rigid old institution ignored.

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Carroll09 | Sep 14, 2010, 09:15 AM EDT

Southernpride - why would we pray to pictures? I hope you have never knelt down to pray with your Bible in your hands - I could accuse you of worshipping a book. I presume you would tell me that you do not worship the book itself, but rather it is an aid to prayer, a means of meeting God, whom you DO worship. But when a Catholic kneels down to pray with something that helps them focus their prayer, you accuse us of praying to or even worshipping those objects. Indeed, would I rightly assume that you wouldn't have a problem with a man carrying a photo of his wife and children? Or if said man was away from his family for a prolonged period of time would you accuse him of worshipping a photo if he kissed the image of his family before going to sleep? I doubt it, since such an action is clearly an expression of love for those whom the picture represents. I wonder too if you could point readers to a specific date when Catholics started to make what you would probably call "graven images" - because, what we do know from archaeological evidence is that in the earliest days of the Church there were images of Christ, Peter and Paul, statues depicting Christ's miracles (such as curing the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark 5). These are all recounted by the historian Eusebius, and similar images found in an early Christian Church in Herculaneum which was destroyed in A.D. 79 - if the early Christians were engaging in idolatry (as you infer modern Catholics are) then why is there no denunciation of such practices in the New Testament? No, the only inventions are those of the 16th century Protestant "reformers" and their successors who have tried every trick in the book to discredit the truths of the Catholic faith.

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Carroll09 | Sep 14, 2010, 08:51 AM EDT

Marsman- the old "call no man 'father'" charge. Firstly, if the Catholic Church really was blatantly going against Christ's command, why did they not exclude that part of the Bible when they (the Church) were finally settling the canon of Scripture in the 390's? So, in Acts 7:2 Stephen refers to "our father Abraham"; Paul speaks of "our father Isaac" in Romans 9:10. Christ also, going by your logic, contradicted Himself by saying that no one should call any man "teacher" and then appointing the Disciples as teachers in Matt.28:19-20. Paul called himself a teacher: 1Tim.2:7, 2Tim.1:11. He also referred to the function of the Church as teacher: 1Cor.12:28, Eph.4:11. In fact, Marsman, you should refrain from calling a doctor "Doctor" since that title is simply Latin for..."Teacher". Nor can you call anyone "Mister" since this is a form of the word "Master" which Christ has, by your own reasoning, forbidden you to use. So, if we Catholics are guilty for calling our priests "Father", as St Paul's was a father to his spiritual children, then you are just as guilty if you call anyone a teacher, doctor, Mister. Just a few more examples: Paul calls himself father of Onesimus, Phil.10; Paul says he became a father to the Corinthians in Christ through the Gospel, 1Cor.4:14-15; John calls men in his congregations "fathers", 1John 2:13-14. So, were these Apostles of the Early Church wrong - certainly not if you believe that Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit (which, incidentally, you can only accept if you first accept that Christ gave the Church the power to decide what was inspired and what was not).

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Southernpride | Sep 14, 2010, 07:45 AM EDT

Does any of you good people pray to pictures ?

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marsman | Sep 14, 2010, 06:04 AM EDT

Also Jesus, the Lord, would depart the HOLY FATHER as a matter of principle: "And do not call anyone on earth your ‘Father,’ for you have one Father, he who is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘Teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Matth. 23:9

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Carroll09 | Sep 14, 2010, 05:28 AM EDT

Watereskhill- you've thrown out that old Hitler Youth charge against the Pope; we know that 1)membership was compulsory, 2)he never attended meetings, 3)his own father was opposed to Nazism as it conflicted with the family's Catholic faith. Fourthly, if you are going to pass judgement on Pope Benedict because he was forced to become a member of Hitler Youth, how do you judge someone like Oskar Schindler who freely joined (and remained a member of) the Nazi Party in 1939, yet is widely regarded as one of the great heroes of the war, having saved over 1,000 Jews from death. Also, again you are peddling charges of crimes supposedly committed by Cardinal Ratzinger, yet, as I have pointed out several times, it is clear that no one in the Church has worked as hard as Pope Benedict to deal with the abuse problem. It's people like you making false accusations who are compounding the problem, expecting that adding another wrong to a wrong will make a right - well, if that's how you want to see justice, then it's a very skewed vision, and one that will never bring healing, closure or justice to those who truly desire it.

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