Stalin dismissed the influence of the Roman Catholic church with the famous line "How many divisions has the Pope." We tend to remember this ironically when the Polish Pope went to Warsaw and rallied his countrymen against the Soviets. Now, GWB has complained to the Vatican that US Catholic bishops aren't condemning Kerry quickly enough.
Of course, it's appalling that Bush should urge churches to tell Americans to vote for him. It's tragically comical that some RC bishops actually will urge voting for a heathen (Bush) over a Catholic (Kerry) based on the fact that Bush agrees with them on two issues (abortion and gay rights) while Kerry agrees on only four (death penalty, Iraq policy, poverty, hunger), and neither agree on contraception or divorce. It shows what I mentioned in another post, that many conservative RC bishops would rather align with a conservative heathen than a liberal member of their own flock.
Apparently Bush has also forgotten that the Vatican is an independent country and the Pope is head of state. He is urging a foreign government to take part in US elections!
Another issue, largely untouched by the media, is that the position of the Roman Catholic church is not ecumenical at all. The pope does not think Bush is going to heaven. He's a Methodist, which is to say he's not a Christian, in the pope's eyes, and is damned for all eternity unless he confesses the true faith in the one true church. On this, the Roman Catholic church is even more fixed than on abortion. In a declaration of September 2000 (Dominus Iesus) the Roman Catholic church reminded the world that there is no salvation outside of that institution, and that it is wrong to call other churches "Christian" because unless they recognize the pope they are "not a proper church." GWB may give the pope a medal, but the pope still thinks Bush is going to hell. Indeed, given that the pope claims the keys to heaven and the throne of Peter, to "bind or loose" whom he chooses (Matthew 16:17-20) the pope is putting him there.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
How Many Electoral Votes Has the Pope?
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 10:16 AM
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4 comments:
I'm wondering what Bush was thinking in this case. Did he honestly expect that he could have a political strategy confab with some Cardinal in the Vatican in secret? Did he really think that the Irish Catholic politicians in Boston don't have back channel contacts in the Vatican?
Also, not only is the Pope the head of a foreign government, it's a monarchy to boot!
What's the cash value of a Presidential medal? Perhaps the Pope would count it as an indulgence payment and let Bush out of Hell for a week or so.
I wonder if Bush thinks the Pope is going to Hell? I bet he does. Perhaps they are both right.
How many times have you heard Evangelical Protestants ask "Are you Christian or are you Catholic?" There was a famous case (famous in the upper Midwest anyway) about a single mother from Wisconsin or Minnesota who moved to Mississippi. Her sons were called "devil worshipers" at school because they were Lutherans.
Oh, by the way. Isn't it funny that both Bush and the Pope are convinced that God tells them what the best policies are. But somehow they disagree on a bunch of stuff. One would think that would give at least one of them pause.
I can just picture Bush thinking to himself how sad it is that the Pope thinks he knows what God wants when in reality it is Bush himself who really knows.
I just heard on the news that the Pope is leaving it up to Bishops in the United States to decide if American candidates who violate Catholic doctrine should be excomunicated.
Is this a federalist respsonse from the Church? A feudal response? Or just a punt?
I think it's a punt and my guess is that they shanked it. By the way, college football season is just months away!
I realize this is a very old post, but your understanding of "no salvation outside the Church" is very ignorant and is not meant to refer solely to the institutional Church. We do not see Protestants as "heathens."
http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com
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