Vatican Warns of 'Deviant' Sect That Prays to Angels

[Angry Dragon]

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/vatican-warns-of-deviant-sect-that-prays-to-angels/19704253

(Nov. 5) -- In the eyes of the Catholic Church, praying to angels might seem pretty harmless. Compared with all the other vices out there, you'd think the church might even encourage it.

~snip~

Opus Angelorum, which means "work of angels" in Latin, was founded by an Austrian housewife, Gabriele Bitterlich, who died in 1978. She apparently believed she could communicate with an archangel, who rattled off the names of hundreds of angels and demons vying for control of human beings. Her followers would pray to those angels by name, encouraging them to fight their evil counterparts.

~snip~

Last month, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- an office formerly headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became pope -- reopened the issue of Opus Angelorum in a letter to bishops. In the letter, Cardinal William Levada tells bishops that after the Vatican's investigation of the sect in the 1980s and '90s, it sent a delegate "possessing special faculties" to "regularize" the sect's relationship with the church.

~snip~

But Levada also cautions against "a certain number of Opus Angelorum members, including some priests," who seek to restore a movement that "professes and practices all those things which were forbidden." He asks bishops to watch out for "discreet propaganda" and "be vigilant with regard to such activities, disruptive as they are of ecclesial communion, and to forbid them if they are present within their Dioceses."

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/vatican-warns-of-deviant-sect-that-prays-to-angels/19704253


But church created saints is okay

[Submariner]

1. But it's better than raping children and driving some to suicide

Those vatican assholes never learn to shut up.

[Deep13]

4. +1

[FSogol]

2. What about praying to pieces of toast that look like the Blessed Mother?

:shrug:

[Angry Dragon]

6. That is okay as long as a priest has blessed it

[Deep13]

3. Rabbis Warns of 'Deviant' Sect That Prays to "Jesus."

Every religious belief is deviant to someone.

[Poll_Blind]

5. Only Islam and Judaism actually are actually monotheistic religions.

Christianity has always been a dubious interpretation of a monotheistic religion. On the other hand if Christianity hadn't blurred the lines between monotheism and polytheism it arguably would not have gained so much ground.

Judaism suffers from the Rabbi/Messiah syndrome just like Islam suffers from the Imam/Prophet syndrome but for the most part practitioners base their core, well, their core everything around the belief in just one God. In Islam there is so much confusion about why Christians (especially Catholics) worship so many different things when, as they put it with a delicious bluntness: There is no God but God.

I'm an atheist, I believe all religions are bunk. But I don't think it's impossible to be objective when reviewing the level of monotheism actually practiced in a given religion.

PB

[YOY]

7. "Touched by an Angel" versus "Touched by a Priest"...

Decisions...decisions...

[Peregrine Took]

8. Parts of the church suck big time but there is a lot of good, too, like Catholic

Relief Services who help people all over the world.

[Angry Dragon]

9. I think if one cut off the top part of the catholic church

the world would be a much better place.
Long ago the leaders of the catholic church
lost their way and thought the church was
bigger than their god.

[TZ]

10. Highly ironic for many reasons..most of which is the worship of Mary as a

pseoudo-deity. Of all things the Catholic Church could whine about, this has got to make the top of the stupidest list.

[chaplainM]

11. Catholics should read about angels in the Bible

...before trying to cozy up to them. "Flaming sword" ring any bells?

[Angry Dragon]

12. Why should Catholics have any fear of

anything their god created??

[dimbear]

13. Santa Muerte. Now there's a splinter group.

Mixture of Catholic and ancient Mexican religion and now practiced by narcotraficantes.

Maybe not as dangerous as 'angels', I suppose.

[onager]

14. Deviant angel sects?