Skip to main content

The Pope Retires




Pope Benedict XVI has announced his decision to retire.  Let’s hope that the Catholic Church will get a liberal and visionary Pope.

Benedict XVI was one of the most conservative popes of the recent times.  He failed to tackle certain important issues that rocked the church, particularly related to sexual matters.  The Church’s attitude to homosexuality has always remained ultra-conservative and Benedict XVI did not help to understand the issue in any intelligent light.  The issue of priests’ marriage was shelved conveniently even when the misdeeds of many priests, particularly instances of paedophilia, rocked the Church many a time.  The ordination of women as priests was not given due consideration.

A year before Benedict XVI was anointed the Pope, he was described as his predecessor’s “Grand Inquisitor” by theologian Hans Kung.  Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) together persecuted many theologians who advocated liberal and sensible approaches to contemporary problems.  Under their leadership, the Catholic Church remained one of the most obscurantist religions in the late 20th century.

There’s much that a good Pope can do for the Church.  In his history of the Catholic Church Hans Kung suggests that the Church should support:

·         a social world order: a society in which human beings have equal rights, live in solidarity with one another, and in which the ever-widening gulf between rich and poor is bridged;
·         a plural world order: a reconciled diversity of cultures, traditions and peoples...
·         a world order in partnership: a renewed fellowship of men and women in the church and society...
·         a world order which furthers peace

The Church has always remained a very narrow institution with unabashed holier-than-thou attitudes.  A broad-minded Pope can make the Church a meaningful and relevant institution in the 21st century.

Comments

  1. Hope the same for all religions today... The need of the hour is to use the faith that people have in religion, to spread love and more humaneness, instead of antagonism and ill-will...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True, every religion stands much in need of reformation today.

      Delete
  2. I think every religion needs some sensible leaders. We lack that in every sphere ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Aram, the leader does make a lot of difference. Emperor Constantine made all the difference to the Church in his time. A good Pope can revolutionise the Church.

      We lack good leaders in every sphere today; so true.

      Delete
  3. “Let’s hope that the Catholic Church will get a liberal and visionary Pope.” – Who was the last one, the one who did something (Vatican II) in the 1960s? He was liberal only to the extent that he was marginally to the right side [Left is right!] of the entrenched powers.

    “Benedict XVI was one of the most conservative popes of the recent times.” I am not disputing this, but it was only in the fact that his conservatism was of the in-your-face kind – vis-à-vis Muslims, Jews, Liberation Theology, Anglicans – you name it. He learned well at the feet of his predecessor, John Paul II. John Paul II had his reasons, was a product of Poland and Communism. No such easy way out for Benedict XVI.

    EVERY ONE of the things Hans Kung suggests that the Roman Catholic Church support is a NON-STARTER!

    “A broad-minded Pope?” Ouch, that hurts this atheist’s sentiments!

    Raghuram Ekambaram

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John XXIII was the one who started the Vatican II with the intention of "opening the windows" of the church to the world. But the poor man did not live to see the end of the Council. His successor Paul VI was too conservative to implement John's vision. John Paul I wished to combine the large-heartedness of John and sternness of Paul (hence the combined name) but was not allowed to (by nature or by design, I can't say for sure). Shall we look forward to a John XXIV?

      Delete
  4. God knows what tempests raged in the heart of Pope Benedict XVI. Only time will tell if "Broad-minded Pope" will be a reality or an oxymoron.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uma, John XXIII was one such Pope. John Paul I would have been too, I think; but he died before he could prove himself.

      Delete
  5. All religions are good - they teach you to be better human beings - in touch with your humanity. Unfortunately, religious heads have another agenda - to ensure their religion is promoted over other religions come what may. That is why they don't punish the people who are supposed to be the stalwarts but who, instead, make other people's lives miserable by their ugly actions. Great post, Matheikal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, KayEm, it's the hidden agenda that spoil religions.

      Delete
  6. Excellent blog. I concur with what you say; "A broad-minded Pope can make the Church a meaningful and relevant institution in the 21st century."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Gracy. Nice to see you here.

      A leader makes a huge difference, yes!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prelude to AtoZ

  From Garden of 5 Senses, Delhi [file pic] Hindsight gives an unearthly charm and order to the past. There can be pain too. A lot of things could have been different, much better, if only we possessed the wisdom of our old age back in those days. As a writer put it, Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear and a lot of those guys must have thought, “I wish I had known this some time ago.” Life is a series of errors with intermittent achievements. The only usefulness of the errors may be the lessons they teach us. Probably, that is their purpose too. We are created to err so that we learn, I dare to put it that way. I turn 64 in a month’s time. It’s not inappropriate to look back at some of the people whom life brought into my life so that I would learn certain lessons. No, I don’t mean to say that life has any such purpose or design or anything. Life is absurd. People come into your life as haphazardly as vehicles ply on your road or birds poop on your head. Some of these people change the chemist

Why I won’t vote

From Deshabhimani , Malayalam weekly Exactly a month from today is the Parliamentary election in my state of Kerala. This time, I’m not going to vote. Bernard Shaw defined democracy , with his characteristic cynicism, as “ a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve .” We elect our government in a democracy. And the government invariably sucks our blood – whichever the party is. The BJP and the Congress are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee though the former makes all sorts of other claims day in and day out. BJP = Congress + the holy cow. The holy cow has turned out to be quite a vampire and that makes a difference, no doubt. In our Prime Minister’s algebra, it is: (a+b) 2 which should be equal to a 2 and b 2 . There is an extra 2ab which is the holy cow. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm , the animals revolt against the human master and set up their own nationalist republic. Soon politics develops in the republic and some pigs become leaders. The porcine

How Arvind Kejriwal can save himself

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have a clear vision. Eliminate all opposition. Decimate them or absorb them. My previous post [link below] showed a few people decimated by them. Today let’s look at the others: those who are saved by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]. 1. Himanta Biswa Sarma  This guy was in Congress and faced serious charges related to the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. He also faced corruption charges related to drinking water supply in Guwahati. His house was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI]. Then he switched over to BJP and all his crimes just vanished. It’s as simple as taking a dip in the Ganga and all your sins are forgiven. Today he is the chief minister of Assam. Nothing is heard of all the charges that were levelled against him. 2. Amarinder Singh  This former Captain in the Indian Army was a Congressman until Modi’s Enforcement Directorate [ED] started raiding him, his son and his son-in-law. He put an end to all those raid

The Good Old World

Book Review Title: Dukhi Dadiba and irony of fate Author: Dadi Edulji Taraporewala Translators: Aban Mukherji and Tulsi Vatsal Publisher: Ratna Books, Delhi, 2023 Pages: 314 If you want to return to the good old days of the late 19 th century, this is an ideal novel for you. This was published originally in Gujarati in 1913. It appeared as a serial before that from 1898 onwards in a periodical. The conflict between good and evil is the dominant motif though there is romance, betrayal, disappointment, regret, and pretty much of traditional morality. Reading this novel is quite like watching an old Bollywood movie, 1960s style. Ardeshir Bahadurshah, a wealthy Parsi aristocrat in Surat, dies having obligated his son Jehangir to find out his long-lost brother Rustom. Rustom was Bahadurshah’s son in his first marriage. The mother died when the boy was too small and the nurse who looked after the child vanished with it one day. Ratanmai, Bahadurshah’s present wife, takes her

Kejriwal’s Arrest in Modi’s Kurukshetra

For some mysterious reason, Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest reminded me of Haren Pandya. Maybe, because Pandya’s 21 st death anniversary is approaching (26 March). Have you forgotten Haren Pandya? He was the Home Minister of Gujarat before Narendra Modi assumed dictatorial powers in that state. Modi chose to teach humility to Pandya by making him the Minister of State for revenue. Pandya chose not to learn humility from Modi and resigned from that post in Aug 2002. Remember Gujarat of 2002? You should. A fire engulfed a train on 27 Feb 2002 killing 58 Hindu pilgrims who were returning from Ayodhya where they had gone to discover their god, not very unlike Christopher Columbus undertaking a voyage to discover India and messing it all up. What caused the fire in the train? Lord Ram knows probably. The upshot was that there was a riot in Gujarat by Hindus against Muslims. Haren Pandya is one of the BJP leaders who gave statements in many places indicting Modi for the riots. He asser