A conversation about Benedict and his pontificate with Cardinal Poupard.
In these days illumined in particular by the light of divine mercy, a coincidence occurs that is significant to me: I can look back over 80 years of life.
Benedict, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the church's top enforcer of dogma, said he viewed limbo as a mere "theological hypothesis." Catholic conservatives criticized any effort to relegate limbo to oblivion. They say it would deprive Catholic leaders of a tool in their fight against abortion. Priests have long told women that their aborted fetuses cannot go to heaven, which in theory was another argument against ending pregnancy. Without limbo, those fetuses would presumably no longer be denied communion with God.
[WAR: What makes abortion so bad, is that the potential human life (and God-being) ceases to exist and is gone forever. It was not born - so therefore didn't have the "breath of life" (Gen 2:7) or the "spirit in man" (Job 32:8; Ecc 12:7) - and therefore can't be "born-again" (John 3:3,7) or even resurrected. "It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded." (Ecc 6:4)]
The criminal history of the papacy (part 3)
The history of greed, blood-lust and depravity of many of the popes and the Roman Church hierarchy has been falsified by modern Church historians to present images of piety and humility. The papal office is unique in the history of religion, not only for the high proportion of disreputable men who have sat in the pontifical chair but for the blood it has shed in defence of its power, the dishonesty of its credentials and the record of treason to its own ideals.
Red-herring...
He calls himself the antichrist, wears the number 666 tattooed on his arm and claims a following of 2 million people. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda says he is coming to Guatemala — whether the Central American nation wants him or not. He plans to fly in on a private jet Saturday to celebrate his 61st birthday and hold a global conference with thousands of followers. "It has been predestined and angels will make it happen. He is, after all, God himself," said Axel Poessy, Miranda's media director.
German cities are experiencing a retro boom. Braunschweig has rebuilt its old city palace and Berlin, Potsdam and Hanover plan to follow suit. The new monumental structures require a combination of high-tech skills and a traditional craftsmanship. But is this the last word in kitsch or a return to former grandeur?
Speeches about Germany's past, especially about the Nazi period, can make or break politicians. For much of the past week the premier of Baden-Württemberg has been under intense pressure, after he gave a eulogy at the funeral of one of his predecessors who had in his youth served as a military judge under the Nazis. Why did an experienced politician make such a mistake?
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, the president of Germany's parliament talks about Turkey and the future of the EU as well as the need for a common leading culture in Europe and Germany.
Angela Merkel was accused Friday of planning to smuggle key parts of the failed European constitution into a new slimmed-down treaty after a letter to EU leaders in which she suggested a series of presentational changes was leaked.
Chancellor Merkel welcomed Tony Blair's call for a quick decision on a EU constitutional treaty, her spokesman said Friday. Blair said in an interview published in European newspapers Friday that he wants an agreement on a scaled-back version of the EU constitution at a summit in Brussels late June. In the interview, Blair dropped plans to hold a referendum on the EU constitution, saying a limited new treaty, focused on updating the EU's rules and institutions, did not require a plebiscite.
Berlin is anxiously looking at these elections, the outcome of which will have a direct impact - positive or negative - on the German EU-presidency. Germany's conservative parties - the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union - are quite openly keeping their fingers crossed for French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as he also disapproves of Turkey becoming a full EU member. Of all the presidential candidates, the French Interior Minister comes closest to Merkel's political position.
Scotland is, of course, only one region in which the EU seems to offer new hope to nationalists. Just as Britain has devolved ever-greater powers to Scotland, so Spain has devolved power to Catalans and Basques. Indeed, as power moves upwards to Brussels and downwards to regions, some are hoping that it will be sucked away from national parliaments in the middle, turning the EU or parts of it into a sort of United States of Europe with a lot of autonomous mini-regions. That, you might say, was once the federalists' ultimate fantasy: a Europe that has banished nations, and therefore nationalism, and therefore the terrible conflicts to which nationalism has historically given rise.
German press...
The debate over an anti-missile system to protect America and Europe against possible nuclear attack has not only moved forward with remarkable speed at NATO - it's become a stage for post-Cold-War posturing by Russia and the United States.
Russia's foreign minister rejected US warnings there could be renewed violence in Kosovo if the province is not granted independence soon. "That very much resembles blackmail and cannot be a reason to dismember a sovereign state."
A document recording a conversation between Tony Blair and President Bush about Iraq was so sensitive that an order was made banning copies being made except to a select few, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.
A support package to help African troops in Darfur that includes the deployment of 3,000 UN police and military personnel will not stop the violence in Sudan's war-torn west, a key opposition leader said on Saturday. But Hassan al-Turabi told a news conference Sudan's acceptance of the package was an indication Khartoum could ultimately agree to a larger UN presence.
Sudan's Minister of Defence threatened to fight US and other western powers if they decide unilaterally to send forces into Sudan. The army will prevent them from turning the country into another Iraq, he said. "We will fight it, be it the Americans or Europeans. We will fight it".
Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says Tehran has no desire for a nuclear weapon, but any isolation, sanctions or military strike against his country would worsen the international crisis. "Iran has no desire to possess nuclear weapons. The country does not even think about it. We want to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes only. I can tell you very clearly that developing nuclear weapons does not exist in Iran's military doctrine. We are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
The US administration intensified its pressure on Tehran after a leaked IAEA letter revealed Iran had doubled the number of gas centrifuges installed in an underground hall at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Bush's hypocrisy is breathtaking. Through its reckless preparations for confrontation with Iran, the Bush administration is creating the conditions for a disastrous conflict throughout the Middle East.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has selected a date to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. A source who asked to remain anonymous told RAW STORY that the articles of impeachment would be introduced next week. "The Congressman plans to introduce the articles on Wednesday, April 25th," the source told RAW STORY.
Now and again when the dream turns into a nightmare, America proves how well it can grieve. But what lessons, if any, can we learn from their pain? Does the Virginia Tech massacre reveal anything about the American psyche - its strengths, weaknesses and glaring contradictions? In the midst of the tragedy and the confusion, America leaves its distinctive and often conflicting signature.
In the hands of fanatics with a radical socio-political agenda, there is no more lethal weapon than religion. History is quite clear about that, and history is again repeating itself as the leaders of the Christian Right muster their well financed organizations to work toward their ultimate socio-political goal: Dominionism.
God knows the French can be provoking. Yet to take pleasure in what a Frenchman once called their société bloquée — blocked society — would be stupid. Who but a political primitive would want to see the most beautiful country in Europe, with huge reserves of culture and intelligence, fall into decline, or social mayhem?
European officials said Friday that the absence of public support from Washington and Tokyo was harming their efforts to curb the euro's relentless rise against the dollar and yen. The president of the European Central Bank repeated a warning to currency traders that they could get burned making one-way bets on the euro.
Carlyle group forecast on liquidity, profits, interest rates, but what will bring about the end? News of rising foreclosures on homes, frauds, while the Supreme Court softens consumer protection laws. News of California leading the nation with home foreclosures.
As the dollar sinks to near-record lows against the euro and the British pound, the stock market has returned to record highs, but investors are being advised to anticipate a worldwide downturn and the US economy may have already entered a recession.
America's 2007 Very Great Depression has indeed begun; and represents the US dimension of the phase of impact of the global systemic crisis anticipated early 2006, knowing that the US is the central pillar of the global order created after 1945.
The Dow is actually crashing, but if you have not yet educated yourself on the insidious ravages that inflation can have on your portfolio, you can't see it. Anytime that it looks like everything is going up, stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, and virtually every kind of investment there is, you have to stop and ask yourself, "why?" The only reason the Dow looks like it is going up is because the Fed has pumped so many more dollars into the currency supply, that all asset classes are rising.
Two years ago, anyone who wrote about the housing bubble was dismissed as a conspiracy nut. Now hardly a day goes by that the headlines aren't splattered with the details of the massive meltdown in the real estate market. What changed? The facts are essentially the same today as they were back then. In fact, the "Economist" - as well as many independent journalists - had already shown that the Fed's low interest rates had inflated the biggest equity bubble in history which could potentially bring down the entire economy. Now, all of a sudden, the media are acting as if the problem sprouted up overnight? Why?
Paranoid or prepared?...
On Mr Chávez's order, 17,000 communal councils have now been set up across the country, and an estimated £1 billion earmarked to fund them. But as well as grappling with the grim conditions in slums, members of these voluntary groups will constitute a nationwide militia, schooled in Cuban-style tactics for both guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency.
For centuries now, the debate between public religion and secularism has been fierce. But with the newly perceived "problem" of Islam in "secular" Europe, George W. Bush's faith-based initiative, and the recent duel between Pope Benedict XVI and the philosopher Jürgen Habermas, it's safe to say that the level of "separation anxiety" has reached new heights.
The debate over creation and evolution, once most conspicuous in America, is fast going global.
Last September, when a tiny asteroid drifted into Earth's vicinity, our planet's gravity captured it. The meter-size object is now making its 3rd wide swing around Earth. When it makes its final and closest pass in June, "threading the needle" and dipping just inside the Moon's orbit, astronomers will get their best view of it for years to come.
Stargazers and birders have a lot in common. Life is short and the body of human knowledge is immense; there's only time to do so much. The important thing (in my book) is to keep an open mind, to be on the lookout for new things, alive to the world around, not going through life with blinders on.
[WAR: Speaking of stars and birds - and an open mind on the lookout without blinders on...
Jeremiah 8:7: "Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of YHWH." (NIV)
* "...only for my people the divine appointment passes unobserved." (Holy Bible from Latin Vulgate - Knox)
* "They all return at Elohim's appointed time each year; but not My people!" (The Living Bible)
Isaiah 1:13,14: "New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them." (NIV)
Isaiah 24:5: "The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed (passed over) the ordinance (statute), broken the everlasting covenant." (Isa 24:5 - Exegeses Ready Research Bible)
* "... they have transgressed teachings, changed statutessg, broken the age-lasting covenant ..." (The Original Bible Project)
Exodus 12:14,17: "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to YHWH - a lasting ordinance. ... Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." (Exo 12:14,17)
Exodus 13:9,10: "This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of YHWH is to be on your lips. For YHWH brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year." (NIV)
Exodus 13:9,10: "This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of YHWH is to be on your lips. For YHWH brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year." (NIV)
Jeremiah 8:8: "How can you say, 'We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,' when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely." (NIV)
Psalm 19:1,2: "The heavens declare the glory of Elohim; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." (NIV)
Genesis 1:14: "And Elohim said, 'Let there be lights ("specifically, a chandelier" - Strong's) in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.'" (NIV)
So according to the stars ("lights") and moon, the true/real Feast of Unleavened Bread starts on "May 3rd" (in the morning at first light) - which makes the Passover the previous evening (between sunset and dark). Will you be doing the right thing at the right time, or just blindly following men and their traditions/theories? And since this may very well be the last Passover/UB before Jacob's Trouble, it would behoove you to get it right!!]
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