Austrian Priests are not happy.

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Priests in Austria are not happy about the choosing of Rev. Wagner as an Auxiliary Bishop.

Franz Wild, chief church dean of Upper Austria province and pastor in the town of Traun, is among those leading the criticism of Wagner

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Wild confirmed that 31 out of 35 Upper Austrian church deans present during an informal meeting late Tuesday had criticized Wagner by voting for a statement saying they could not support his nomination.

"We just can't imagine Gerhard Maria Wagner as bishop," Wild said. "As bishop, the key is to unite and bring people closer together ... Wagner just doesn't have what it takes."

Something I noticed in the article was that Wagner wasn't even on the list of potential candidates that the Linz Diocese sent to the Vatican. That tells me that either Benedict himself went out of his way to chose this man, or Benedict was grossly misinformed about Wagner. Either way it doesn't bode well for the future of the church.

[Matilda]

1. It almost seems as if Pope Benedict lacks the ability to empathise.

I don't doubt his intellectual credentials, but he doesn't seem to
understand why so many people find some of his statements and some of
his appointments to be insensitive and even offensive.

He managed to offend Muslims very early on, he offended Jews by welcoming
Rev. Williamson back into the fold, and now he's offending thinking
people who can't subscribe to medieval superstition posing as 21st
century theology.

I don't know why such an intelligent man can't see that this sort of
cleric isn't acceptable in a high position today. He doesn't have to
embrace everything trendy, just show a bit of common sense.

Perhaps this kind of thing illustrates the need for a more democratic
approach - if there was more input from other sources, perhaps these
embarrassing situations could be avoided.

edit: typo