In response to the first few posts ,do you think that is really why the last pope retired. I remember hearing this pope talk about bridging the gap of Christians and muslims. Where do you think we will go from here.

Very Obama-ish. As was said in several reports during his visit....."...the two seem to have similar agendas..."

This pope needs to stick to the business of the church or he will be the cause of more catholics leaving the fold.
While in criticism mode, I did not care for the fact he said his first mass here not in english. However he deliverd his speech to congress today in english.
So what does that signal?

He prides himself on speaking the language of the country he visits.
When in America he should have used english.

The gap between Christians and Muslims, at the rate we're going, will be bridged when the Muslims behead the last Christian they can find and the rest are terrorized into following the religion of Muhammed.

Take a look at the Middle east today ... and also look up the history of the jihad in the 7th century AD

Americans are basically too insulated and too ignorant to know what they're up against long term ... plus the secularism and gay culture makes us more vulnerable.

Sounds like you have nominated yourself as judge, jury and God.

Sounds to me like a Regressive - and they always think of themselves as being equal to God and above humankind.

That is right! How dare the pope come before a joint session of congress, and talk politics. Who does he think he is, Netanyahu!

The Catholic Church is dying and this Pope is trying to restore young people's faith in catholicism. Only 22% of the US is catholic, so I think he is attempting to reach a broader audience and attract new, younger people to the Catholic faith by being more open minded and accepting. It cost a lot of money to run a church, so you have to fill those pews...

When you say Regressive, you must be thinking of liberals because they are the ones that think themselves equal to God. Most of them don't believe in God anyway. And of course, they do believe they are the elite so I guess they believe they are above "humankind" also.

I noticed that one poster has read Huffington Post and has started parroting their demand that conservatives be called regressives. I would think that anyone working at a news organization would have a better command and understanding of verbiage, but apparently not.

Everyone knows that liberals want an old style socialist society, therefore they are the regressives. I quit associating liberals with Democrats long ago. There is no resemblance between the two.

I believe Netanyahu IS a political leader. The Pope is a religious leader. I wonder what you would say if Netanyahu were to speak to regarding your religious beliefs. If you have any, that is.

:agree:

The Pope is a major player so please don't dismiss his message. When a KY clerk speaks for God, the government is blamed for not taking her advice. Now when the Pope speaks for God, some of you are telling him to stay out of government business. Really. The Pope is advising us to pay more attention to the poor and not our purse.

Dear Guest: I totally agree with you. However by the very nature of his agenda he is defeating that purpose. First men and women of the cloth seem to represent a naive view of the world. The sexual abuse scandal is prima facie proof. Clearly many other organizations had the exact same scandal and did not deal with it sensible.

However, we have my Church hiding pedophiles because they believed faith would cure them. This coming from a church that preaches that God pronounced "many are called but few are chosen". I do not believe God included pedophiles. And so the Pope's stance on homosexuality is confusing to say the least.

The Pope is misled by climate change and American capitalism and it all goes to the nature of religious teaching of going down to the lowest common denominator and so priest and nuns take the vow of poverty and poverty is a constant state of grace and materialism is simply and always bad. Hence the Catholic Church's dislike of the "Protestant Ethic"

I loathe speaking against my Church because overall it has done substantially more good for this world than not. However what we are witnessing in the Catholic Church is the same continuing battle being waged in America. It is traditionalist vis a vis progressives. Progressives seem to lean toward a sliding scale and while it works in some areas it is harmful to others. One of those harmful areas is morality. There are not in my belief vary shades of gray when it comes to morality. Another area deals with progressives wealth redistribution obsession which falls in line with the Pope's agenda

So a Pope who is trying to message a view that is pleasing to everyone so as not to offend anyone is on a fools errand and only reinforces people like me to react with a "say what you mean"or "mean what you say"

The Pope is a humble man and a good man and he does please me when he demonstrates his genuine humility and I will respect and love him for that fact

Personal Best Regards:

:thumbup:
Well stated.