The Brawl at St. Paul's (Jesus' General writes to Pope Ratso)

[Ian David]

Thursday, March 08, 2007

The Brawl at St. Paul's

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
Bishop Of Rome And Vicar Of Jesus Christ
Successor Of St. Peter, Prince Of The Apostles

Most Holy Father, [e-mail]

Recently, American evangelist Rick Warren traveled to Syria and spoke out against both the current war in Iraq and the inevitable war with Syria. He's also made the need for an ecumenical reformation a central feature in his sermons and declared that Christians should be concerned about the environment.

While Warren was gallivanting around the globe preaching peace, your old friend, Giacomo Cardinal Biffi, was telling the world via Vatican Radio that "the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist." Think about that for a minute. While Warren was adding the descriptor "pacifist" to "ecologist" and "ecumenist" in his vita, Cardinal Biffi was warning us that these same characteristics describe the Antichrist.



Coincidence. I don't think so. Surely, God touched (appropriately) Cardinal Biffi and prompted him to give us this warning just when we needed it.

So what do we do about it? Well, I think this provides the Church with a tremendous opportunity. You know better than I that there's been a big fall-off in priest and nun recruiting over the last couple of decades. Megachurches like Warren's Saddleback Church, on the other hand, have shown tremendous growth. Where there were virtually none twenty years ago, they are now as ubiquitous as poppers at CPAC. The secret to their success is they've learned to be hip. They pack the parishioners in by offering contemporary music and light shows.

You can do the same thing. I'm thinking along the lines of an extreme fighting cage match between you and Warren--the Pope vs the Antichrist. Sure, he's a lot younger than you, but don't you have one of those pope scepter things you can use as a mace? And I'm sure Prada could add a little kevlar to your pope hat. That should even things up nicely.

More:
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2007_03_04_archive.html#4236030473869796435

[struggle4progress]

1. "Jesus General" is often brilliant plus laugh-out-loud funny. But I think he misses the mark here.

The published remarks are apparently from a larger unpublished conversation, the general drift of which might perhaps be indicated by the following excerpts:

... The 78-year-old cardinal said that if the church were to speak about only those values that it shares with others it would find great acceptance "on televisions shows," but "we would have renounced Christ" ...

"Christianity does not have a precept to love the believer but rather to love your neighbor, because he already is an image of Christ" ...

Antichrist tempts Christians to place dialogue above Jesus, Cardinal says at Vatican retreat
By Cindy Wooden
3/1/2007
Catholic News Service
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=23229

So Cardinal Biffi chatted with the Pope; the Vatican released some of his remarks; whatever press covered the story clipped the results further; and then "Jesus General" and I came along and pulled out whatever suited our individual purposes.

I'm guessin that don't provide a real accurate picture of what wuz said ... :shrug: