Pope Francis I - Jorge Bergoglio

A new Pope has emerged from a conclave .... leader of the Roman Catholic world, and the most powerful figure in the Christian world.

HABEMVS PAPAM

"I bring you news of great joy ..... we have a pope" 

Pope Francis I - Jorge Bergoglio

A momentous day for South America, Argentina, and the south, and the first time the old pope has witnessed his on successor being enthroned in hundreds of years.

No doubt reams of press and coverage will be about, but this is one of the first posts .... 1.2 billion Catholics and the world are expectant. He takes over at a time when the Christian world is under assault by another 'world religion', and where in the developed world, belief in religion has fallen (except where immigration has brought Islam lapping at the door), in fact to the point where Western governments (including the UK), legislate against Catholic beliefs ..... indeed Argentina is one of these countries where the secular law has clashed with those church teachings e.g. Gay Marriage.

A time of change for the Church in the West, but not in the South ..... maybe the centre of the church is about to move away from Europe for ever, as this Popes age means that there will likely be another conclave inside the next decade, and that may mean another South American or African Pope.

Rebellious Nuns

We have discussed before on this Blog the impact of feminism amongst nuns .... 

Rebellious US Nuns On The War Path  ....

..... especially those in the North American continent, on the Catholic Church, and especially on the concept of 'Papal Authority'. 

Pot Calls Kettle Black

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost "all credibility" over the way it had dealt with paedophile priests.

Anglican Pot Calling Catholic Kettle

I'll say this, for a man who is presiding over a church that is breaking up over the issue of homosexual priests, female Bishops, and eventually a female or homosexual Archbishop, Dr Rowan has a real nerve to criticise any other church over the manner in which it handles sexual matters.

The words 'Hypocrisy' and 'Religion' are never far away from each other.

Pope Makes His Move On Church Of England

It just had to happen, after decades of drifting in to a creed less state, the Church Of England has been given a real jolt, by the sudden decision of the Pope to offer conservative Anglicans a safe theological haven within the Roman Catholic Church.

The offer is of a chance to join the Roman Catholic Church as full members, but hang on to many of their Anglican traditions and practices - and indeed preserve much of their "Anglican identity". Now, Anglicans have converted to Catholicism on a case by case basis for centuries, but now a special section of the Catholic church will mean essentially they can walk across (married or not) en masse.

It's predicted that between 600 and 1500 Anglican clergy will make the move, either immediately or in the next year or so.

As one of those likely to leave, Father Geoffrey Kirk said. "The Church of England is, in the view of many of us, ceasing to be the church of Jesus Christ and becoming the church of political correctness, not only the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate - to which we object - but also in many attitudes to human sexuality from divorce and remarriage, to homosexuality."

So what does this all mean for my favourite shambolic religious establishment?

Well it could mean the end of the civil war inside the C of E, with either the conservative wing much weakened or disappearing completely. Good news you would have thought for the Protestant "reforming" wing of the C of E who will feel less pressure over issues they espouse, such as homosexual and women clerics (including Bishops and above), as well as interpretation of the theology.

But maybe not.

The Church of England has never been a wholly Protestant organisation (because of historical reasons over its formation) and traditionally has housed both a conservative 'catholic' and more radical 'protestant' wing. Until the last few decades, these two schools of faith balanced and centered the church, and led to a middle theological course being steered.

But recently the rudder has been seized by the feminists and others, and the C of E has set off in to uncharted theological waters. This latest move, is also likely to permanently break the historical ties with the Roman Catholic church, and leave the C of E a much more "Protestant" organisation.

It would be very easy for this new "Protestant" church to drift ever more in to the new theology of PC'ism and indeed become "the church of political correctness."

Whatever happens, its sure to be funny, and I for one will be watching the ensuing fun and games with undisguised glee.

All Roads Lead Where?

A strange story this.

The Vatican is apparently trying to reaffirm Papal Authority over US Nuns who have become rather lax in their belief systems ..... or at least from a conservative Vatican point of view. This attempt is apparently meeting with some resistance from ladies who don't like the idea of male authority.

Now forgive me for laughing, but isn't this just the problem? After all these women are meant to be serving as Holy Nuns, not as Catholic social workers, and wouldn't the Roman Catholic Church collapse if there wasn't any acknowledgement of overarching Papal Authority? After all they are not Episcopalians or in the Church of England, where everyone believes what they want, does what they want, anyway they want.

These Nuns have become so infected with US feminism that one of them, Sister Mary Mackay is quoted as saying "The culture encourages everyone to be very tolerant and open-minded," she said. "To imagine that a dictum sent by somebody we don't know, who lives very far away would take hold in this culture, to imagine that, is really a stretch."

That person she 'doesn't know', who lives 'very far away' is called "His Holiness, the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI", who last time I checked, was still head of the entire Roman Catholic Church.

Now I don't know what sort of religious teaching Sister Mary got, but I am pretty damn sure that it involved a short mention of Popes, and very certainly included a vow of obedience to his authority, even if he is "very far away", and Sister Mary "doesn't know him".

The report states that many nuns believe the investigation is intended to rein them in, while others warn that a 'male hierarchy' wants to regain control of them as 'women' and as a 'free workforce'. Ahh, US Feminism in full flow amongst the Nuns ..... They are not a 'free workforce', they are Roman Catholic Nuns, under vows of obedience, next they will want women priests, to be able to get married, and for the Church to be run by a female Pope!

All sounds very familiar, but the Vatican in Rome, isn't the Arch Bishopric of Canterbury, and a previous attempt by US Nuns to refuse to obey the Papal Authority, resulted in the expulsion of a number of Nuns who are now lay workers in the the 'Immaculate Heart', a community of former nuns, who had to leave the Church 40 years ago, because they refused to obey the Vatican teachings.

I shall watch this story with interest .... is the Catholic Church still able to withstand the winds of PC Feminism, or is it doomed to decay like the Episcopalian church?

Naughty Popes

The Most Controversial Popes.

The Roman Catholic Popes in general have been as much politicians as religious leaders ...... so perhaps its not surprising that violent times produced violent Pontiffs. More modern times have led to more philosophical disputes, but through out history the Popes have always been controversial.

The Mediaeval Believe Was That Hell
Was For Emperors, Popes, and Princes.

The Collapse of Anglicism & Other Christian Faiths

I have recently had a bit of a 'Blog Spat' with a Reverend of the Church of England who had ‘back linked’ to a post on my blog as an example of a “Right wing Daily Mail reader” …..or worse! 

 

The Dreaded Daily Mail Reader - Despised By Fat Vicars

Mainly because of my backing of the Bishop of Rochester's stated views on the formation of Muslim 'no go' areas in inner city Bradford.