Ratzinger (sp?) was the guy who claimed Kerry couldn't/shouldn't

[babylonsister]

take communion? The current pope? Bill Maher on, but I didn't know that.

[Blaukraut]

1. Ratzinger is a stupid creep

He's a conservative who will drag the catholic church back into the middle ages. He has no intelligence, no class, and no tact. He's German, unfortunately (an embarrassment to my fellow countrymen) albeit from Bavaria. That would be like being from Texas.

[beachmom]

5. LOL - Bavaria is like Texas, yeah and the place where

Nazism was born. Bavarians are characters, I must admit -- they talk, talk, talk and are really funny, but given their history there is a dark side to them. Munich is nice and cosmopolitan but it does appear the countryside is full of conservative farmers (they banned Muslim teachers from wearing the veil, while large crucifixes are prominent in Bavarian schools -- I guess the hypocrisy never occured to them).

But maybe we shouldn't blame it all on Bavaria -- it's the fact that Ratzi didn't even ever have a parish. He never had to help people with their lives. Instead he liked being an intellectual, reading and churning out papers. Also may add, that his gay bashing policies are reprehensible.

[wisteria]

2. Not directly, but it was implied and another bishop took it from there. n/

[MBS]

6. the pther bishop

The "other bishop" was the archbishop of St. Louis. He's also in the "punishmentalist" wing of the Catholic Church. Yup, Ratzinger et al have done a lot of damage.
All religions --islam, judaism, protestants, catholics-- are having problems with their "punishmentalist" wings right now. Even Hindus have a violent group. .
A sign of fear all around.

[ProSense]

10. Excellent!

"punishmentalist"


Perfect description!

[TayTay]

3. Yes, but nothing happened

The little Church on Beacon Hill still accepted the Senator and still gave him communion. The pope suggests, but the community priests have the final say on their parishioners. (BTW, that was low class, I think all these Catholics who vote against poverty programs and for unjust wars should be targeted for serious communion talk, but that stuff doesn't seem to matter to a lot of Catholics on the RW side.)

[beachmom]

4. But poverty and unjust wars doesn't involve sex or women

So, of course, the Church isn't all THAT concerned about it.

Yes, Ratzinger was the one, and given the high percentage of Catholics in Ohio, he as much as anyone else can be blamed for throwing the election to Bush. I'm not tactful at all when I go to Germany -- he's a bit of a rock star there now (don't ask), and they're proud he's the pope, and I usually say "no, I don't like him. too conservative". And their reaction is always, "oh". Well, too bad -- he's a lousy pope and mean spirited, too. He doesn't even "get" real people, and would rather be left alone with his books.

[europegirl4jfk]

7. I knew about him for the last 20 years and he wasn't liked back then

I'm not a Catholic but when I grew up in Germany Ratzinger was well known as an ultra-conservative bishop, and people didn't like him very much, except from the Bavarians, I guess. I remember this theological fight between him and a more liberal bishop from my region (Lehmann from Mainz) and how outraged my parents and their friends were about Ratzinger's theological interpretations.

I don't live in Germany anymore and can't really tell how much he is celebrated by the German people nowadays (my parents and friends still don't like him) but I suppose that the fact that many are happy about a German pope doesn't mean that they totally agree his his positions.

BTW, from what region in Germany is your husband? I'm originally from Wiesbaden (near Frankfurt and Mainz and the Rhine).

[beachmom]

8. He's from Karlsruhe in Baden-Wuertemburg

In fact, he's in Stuttgart now on business. Oh, I could really go for a Braetzel . . .

[europegirl4jfk]

9. I drive by Karlsruhe when I go to Wiesbaden from the south of France

I have a college friend who lives there. And I understand your longing for a Braetzel. That's one of the things I miss here in France too! Nothing is better than German Braetzels. LOL

[Blaukraut]

11. Ach, a hessisch' Maedsche!

Your hometown isn't all that far away from mine! I grew up in a cow town up in the Hunsrueck. Loved it. My family is Lutheran (they are actually of Huguenot descent and fled France a few hundred years ago), too, so there is no love lost for the Catholics period, especially Ratzinger.

[europegirl4jfk]

12. The world is small, isn't it?

And we even have the same family history. A cousin of my father started doing family research some years ago and as it turned out, one branch of our family was French Huguenots that came to Germany during the religious wars in France. They came from the region in the south of France where I live now since almost 20 years. Strange coincidence. As I said: the world is small.

Ich freu mich drauf, Dich im Oktober zu treffen. Two weeks from now we'll already be in Boston.:bounce: I'll send you an email with our cell phone number in case you find the time to meet up with us before the Manchester dinner.

[karynnj]

13. This is really NOT true

Ratzinger actually issued a dictate that said:

You could not vote for a candidate BECAUSE HE WAS FOR abortion. You could vote for him, in spite of his position on abortion, if you felt he was the better candidate otherwise.

This didn't to my knowledge mention Kerry and it is clearly not a ringing endorsement, BUT the intent of its issuance had to be refuting those claiming a vote for Kerry was a sin. If he was anti-Kerry he could have stayed silent.

There were only a small number of bishops, including one out of the Colorado area, who said that Kerry should be denied communion. I think the issue was brought up in many places, but there were very few Bishops who ultimately agreed with that. I would guess it was an extra source of stress for the Kerry people who likely had to check out the pov at every church the Senator wanted to attand.