The man did nothing right in his life. He was obsessed with male prostitutes and Wall Street. I knew the truth would come out eventually.
Do I think he is retiring because of health? Yes. You've got to be joking. I find the obsession in the media to defame Pope Benedict nothing short of myths and gossip. There is no dignity in the USA media anymore. It is a shame. Pope Benedict has done great work in his lifetime as well as outspoken to bring an end to senseless killing and violence. I suppose his willingness to attempt to reign in war is not appreciated in some political venues.
Pope Benedict opposed pre-emption. He stated it was not within Christian doctrine. Never hear about that, did we? Only abortion.
April 10, 2007
Richard John Neuhaus
In the context of his Urbi et Orbi address on Easter Sunday, Pope Benedict observed that "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees." An Italian-speaking friend tells me a better translation would be, "There is no good news from Iraq." I'm not sure that makes much difference.
From the few public comments he has made over the years, and from those who are presumably familiar with his thinking, it seems evident enough that Benedict has been very skeptical about the policy of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Much quoted is Cardinal Ratzinger's response to a question back when the war was getting under way that the category of preemptive war is not to be found in The Catechism of the Catholic Church
.
He was obviously right about that. Talk about preemptive war was part of the Bush administration's less than careful (others would say arrogant) strategic language, most assertively expressed in the statement on national security of September 2002. Language about preemptive war was provocative and entirely unnecessary. As George Weigel has explained in the pages of First Things, traditional just-war doctrine adequately provides for the use of military force in the face of a clear and present threat of aggression. Such a use of force is more accurately described as defensive rather than preemptive, and it is worth keeping in mind that in 2003 all the countries with developed intelligence services agreed that Saddam Hussein had or was quickly developing weapons of mass destruction that he intended to use in aggressive war....
Iraq was never a threat to the USA national security. I am sure every Pope at one time or another has spoken out about human rights and the atrocities of some regimes in the world. Catholic priests and missionaries suffer mercilessly at the hand of these regimes, but, that doesn't provide an impetus to war, though. No Pope expects a free nation to be martyrs, but, they do expect them to be just in their actions.
In the context of his Urbi et Orbi address on Easter Sunday, Pope Benedict observed that "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees." An Italian-speaking friend tells me a better translation would be, "There is no good news from Iraq." I'm not sure that makes much difference.
From the few public comments he has made over the years, and from those who are presumably familiar with his thinking, it seems evident enough that Benedict has been very skeptical about the policy of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Much quoted is Cardinal Ratzinger's response to a question back when the war was getting under way that the category of preemptive war is not to be found in The Catechism of the Catholic Church
.He was obviously right about that. Talk about preemptive war was part of the Bush administration's less than careful (others would say arrogant) strategic language, most assertively expressed in the statement on national security of September 2002. Language about preemptive war was provocative and entirely unnecessary. As George Weigel has explained in the pages of First Things, traditional just-war doctrine adequately provides for the use of military force in the face of a clear and present threat of aggression. Such a use of force is more accurately described as defensive rather than preemptive, and it is worth keeping in mind that in 2003 all the countries with developed intelligence services agreed that Saddam Hussein had or was quickly developing weapons of mass destruction that he intended to use in aggressive war....
Iraq was never a threat to the USA national security. I am sure every Pope at one time or another has spoken out about human rights and the atrocities of some regimes in the world. Catholic priests and missionaries suffer mercilessly at the hand of these regimes, but, that doesn't provide an impetus to war, though. No Pope expects a free nation to be martyrs, but, they do expect them to be just in their actions.
