Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting the United States April 15 – 20, 2008.
He is scheduled to visit the White House, speak to Congress, perform not one but two giant public stadium Masses, visit Ground Zero in New York and address the UN on Hitler's birthday. Plus, he will celebrate his own 81st birthday, meet with many of the high and mighty, both religious and political, and receive the adulation of the humble.
Yes, quite a busy week for His Holiness, to be sure.
But apart from wearing the nice white suit, does this man really deserve this attention?
For those who think not, there is the BOYCOTT BENEDICT campaign.
Before he became Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which at one time had been called the Holy Office of the Universal Roman Inquisition. Yes, that Inquisition. The one that silenced Galileo and burnt Bruno. It was also the one that kept the lid on clergy sexual abuse for over 400 years.
As head of the CDF, Ratzinger deliberately cranked the clock back to the Middle Ages. Or at least long before the Second Vatican Council. He personally helped squash most of the progressive hopes that he himself had promoted during the Council. It reads like a litany of the damned. Among them are:
- Liberation theology, taking the "preferential option for the poor" of the Gospel seriously, was condemned. Along the way, so too were his old friends and allies from the Council, including Leonardo Boff, Hans Kung, and Karl Rahner.
- Women's ordination hopes were dashed by raising the doctrine of verismilitude – that possession of a penis like Jesus, even if unused, was somehow vitally important to the office of priest – to near-dogmatic status.
- Gays were denied any participation unless totally celibate. Quite a bit of hypocrisy there as many experts reckon that well over half of the clergy itself is homosexual, and most of them are active.
- Ecumenical flowerings withered on the vine by suggesting that any Christian denomination denying the pope were somehow lacking. It is, by the way, now an offense worthy of automatic excommunication and a secret trial for any priest who participates in a Mass with non-Roman Catholics – on the same level as a Black Mass or sexual abuse.
- Inter-religious relations haven't flourished either, especially with the Muslims, whom Benedict managed to insult by calling Muhammad an evildoer. Nor have the Jews been pleased by his promotion of the idea that Catholics continue to pray for their conversion.
And the main reason:
Clergy abuse cases are once again handled secretly, with automatic excommunication incurred by anyone who violates it. For more information see Why The Pope Is To Blame For the Sex Scandals.Not only that, he is simply one evil-looking dude.
To join the campaign is simple:
- Don't participate in any papal events.
- Don't contribute to any special papal monetary collections – including the Peter's Pence drive.
- Do something pleasant instead.
- Do show your feelings!
