Conservatives See Win in Rise of New Pope

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Tr0n

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Taken from yahoo news:
Now that Americans have had a few days to absorb the election of Pope Benedict XVI, it's clear that conservative Christians — whether Roman Catholic or not — feel they've won another battle in the nation's culture wars. Liberals seem ready to concede the point, but they aren't happy about it.

The Vatican bells had barely stopped clanging when the Rev. John Thomas, president of the left-leaning United Church of Christ, was denouncing the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Though Thomas once served as his denomination's envoy to other Christians, he abandoned all pretense of the politesse that's expected at such ecumenical moments.

"Cardinal Ratzinger's long tenure in the Vatican has been marked by a theological tone that is rigid, conservative and confrontational," said Thomas, whose denomination will consider a resolution supporting same-sex marriage at its July convention.

The pope has lacked "the warm pastoral heart" that bishops need, Thomas charged, his "harsh treatment" of liberal theologians as head of the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog agency was "profoundly troubling" and his attitude toward non-Catholics has been "narrow," "constrained," "insensitive" and "demeaning."

In other words, this pope is no liberal Protestant.
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Article here.

Ya'll lefties and righties are even bitching at each other about the new pope!
 
I dont care who is pope so I'm not to blame.
 
Im sure most of us here don't even care all that much. I don't.
 
CommunistPenguin said:
And a new Pope matters how?
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Thats what I'm wondering.

Some of the lefts and rights here in america are going at each other over it.The lefts say he won't make a good pope while the rights say he will and it will help them in political matters...

....or something.
 
I could care less about the pope, and the majority of people I know feel the same way. The pope doesn't really seem to have as much pull as he's been given credit for, in the US at least.
 
What people fail to realize is that the terms "conservative" and "liberal" when applied to the Catholic Church really don't have the same meaning as in the political realm.

For example, the Catholic Church is "conservative" when it comes to birth control/abortion but very much "liberal" when it comes to the death penalty (the Church opposes the death penalty)

Economically, the Catholic Church tends to be more "liberal" than other Christian denominiations because it favors more government "social" programs for the poor.

It's entirely possible that a "conservative" position within the Catholic Church is actually a "liberal" position politically speaking and vice-versa.

And I think you all of you need to realize that the Pope is a lot more influential on certain matters than you might give him credit for.
 
SFLUFAN said:
What people fail to realize is that the terms "conservative" and "liberal" when applied to the Catholic Church really don't have the same meaning as in the political realm.
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In America at least. A consequence of the bizarre polarisation of politics over there, where "conservatives" and "liberals" think eachother to be from different species.
 
Lets go back 800 years, you'd be burned at the stake for that remark stern! I'd be scared about conservative pope in the dark ages, but today he has no real power.

"condoms are bad"

great, now stfu.
 
the Pope has quite a lot of influence over the leaders of nations, most of whom have some Christian affiliation. Everyone looks for his approval.
 
"Oooh! We got a new conservative Pope! +1!"

No, this is kind of getting ridiculous now. But I personally couldn't care. The impact of the Pope (in the US at least) is not that great.
 
Absinthe said:
"Oooh! We got a new conservative Pope! +1!"

No, this is kind of getting ridiculous now. But I personally couldn't care. The impact of the Pope (in the US at least) is not that great.
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Sadly he has more influence than you know. Not just among Roman Catholics but amongst more mainstream Christians. He will have to prove himself an understanding, and, well, as good as his predecessor to have a great impact though. People listened to JP II, I'm not so sure about this one yet.
 
i think that this was a smart choice, pick an old pope, with the same ideals as john paul, that way he wont make any radical changes, and wont overshadow JP (as i like to call him )or have to fill his shoes. Since he is old he wont last too long and that will set the stage for someone a tad more liberal, but not much. i think the next major step is allowing priests to marry, or allow women to be priests.

Frankly i think not allowing women to be priests is downright barbaric, and there is a shortage of priests in america (dont know about anywhere else) that needs fixing.

that and allowing contraceptives like condoms in the face of a potential world wide epidemic of AIDs.

Bodacious said:
Ratzinger was elected with an overwhelming majority, too.
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umm since you need 2/3 rds, the only way it would be overwhelming is if he made it on the first vote.
 
kmack said:
umm since you need 2/3 rds, the only way it would be overwhelming is if he made it on the first vote.
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83% of the vote isn't an overwhelming majority? That is 95 out of 115. Ok, whatever.
 
For a moment, I thought this was about the Conservative Party in the UK Parliament, and how support from the Pope could win them the election
 
man, all it is are several universal laws writen in an Good Old Book, people make things so much more complicated, it makes me very frastrated
beauty of life comes from simplisity, not complications
 
Bodacious said:
83% of the vote isn't an overwhelming majority? That is 95 out of 115. Ok, whatever.
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i dont think you understand how the papal election works. you need 2/3, so you have a vote, then if no one has 2/3 you have another. as you do this, in each consecutive vote, people begin to concede, just to get the vote and elect the new pope. after the first round, the pope got more votes because it was apparent he was going to win.

so no, he didnt get an overwhelming majority, taking into acount the way the election is held. had he recieved 95 out of 115 on the first vote, that would be an incredible majority.
 
really? I thought they just drew names out of a hat (albeit a big pointy hat) :)
 
Heh, I think whether the Pope matters or not is a little funny. He only really matters to those that let him matter. I doubt I'll ever think twice about following whatever he says, and I suspect that most "catholics" are exactly the same.
 
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