Habemus Papem
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the most conservative papal candidate, who gave a brilliant homily* at the start of the papal conclave, is the new Bishop of Rome--Pope Benedict XVI.
This will not make Izmud happy. Ratzinger is zealously orthodox.
It makes me happy, though, regardless of any differences with Catholic doctrine. Ratzinger is the most intellectually rigorous of the candidates and I love his bold, unabashed condemnation of moral relativism. I also appreciate his opposition to the "subjectivization" of religious experience--it mirrors Francis Schaeffer's thinking on the subject (as well as my own). Ratzinger rightly points out how this leads to "easy believism" (although John MacArthur calls it that, not Ratzinger) and compromises Christian work in the world.
He also has this going for him: he really ticks off lefty Euroweenies.
So ... congratulations to the new Pope. Now, get busy sweeping the American Council of Bishops clean!
Monk
* Favorite excerpt: "How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking… The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves – thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching', looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."
This will not make Izmud happy. Ratzinger is zealously orthodox.
It makes me happy, though, regardless of any differences with Catholic doctrine. Ratzinger is the most intellectually rigorous of the candidates and I love his bold, unabashed condemnation of moral relativism. I also appreciate his opposition to the "subjectivization" of religious experience--it mirrors Francis Schaeffer's thinking on the subject (as well as my own). Ratzinger rightly points out how this leads to "easy believism" (although John MacArthur calls it that, not Ratzinger) and compromises Christian work in the world.
He also has this going for him: he really ticks off lefty Euroweenies.
So ... congratulations to the new Pope. Now, get busy sweeping the American Council of Bishops clean!
Monk
* Favorite excerpt: "How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking… The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves – thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching', looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."
posted by Monk | 16:59
