Pope Slams Modern Societies For Godlessness

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday that modern culture is pushing God out of people's lives, causing nations once rich in religious faith to lose their identities.

Benedict celebrated a Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to open a worldwide meeting of bishops on the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics.

"Today, nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture," said Benedict, who has been pushing for religion to be given more room in society.

The meeting of 253 bishops, known as a synod of bishops, will run from Monday through Oct. 26. The Vatican said that despite Benedict's efforts to improve relations with Communist China, no bishops have come from the mainland, although there are prelates from Macau and Hong Kong.

"Surely they tried, I mean the Holy See tried but obviously they could not make agreement," Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen told AP Television News as he entered the basilica.

"Maybe the Holy See welcomes someone that they (the Chinese) would not allow," he said, adding that China might try to send a bishop who is not acceptable to the Holy See.

Chinese bishops have not been allowed to travel to similar meetings in the past.

Ties between the Vatican and China's communist government have long been strained. Beijing objects to the Vatican's tradition of having the pope name his own bishops, calling it interference in China.

China appoints bishops for the state-sanctioned Catholic church. In recent years, some of those bishops have received the Vatican's tacit approval.

Still, many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church with bishops loyal to the pope.

A document prepared for the meeting rejects a fundamentalist approach to the Bible and said a key challenge was to clarify for the faithful the relationship of scripture to science. A rabbi will address the conference on Monday in what is believed to be the first time a Jew has participated in such a meeting.

Comments

[Infokronea]

This sounds a tad like al Qaeda, doesn't it?

[whatsthatsound]

When I was a kid, I loved to spend Saturday morning in front of the idiot box, watching Bugs and Batman. I HATED to spend Sunday morning in front of a guy in a robe, as he kissed a book and shovied stale bread in my mouth. I think it might be that simple.

[wadda]

Wadda slams ancient institution for pedo philia.

[Hirnlego]

Personally I think there are too many people thinking or pretending to know that there is a deity..

[spinoza]

Hirnlego has hit the proverbial nail squarely on its head. Indeed, this god-meme which infected our evolvoing brains when we were incapable of understanding Nature and the Cosmos, and been incredibly resistent to otherwise powerful thoughtful reason... and a Universive now naturalized by Science.
If humans are good.. and I mean really good at anything, it is deception, particularly self-deception. The Bushes & Palins of middle-america have bought into this personal god narrative in such a way as to deny it, would be to deny themselves. They are rapture-ready and are totally convinced the War in Iraq to be part of a divinely orchestrated plan. How utterly delusional and sick. Personally, I'll continue to trust the light of reason and dialog among uninfected like minded adults as the arbiter of "truth" versus the dark dogma of blind faith.

[conservativesoncrack]

Lock the Pope up then everything will be fine...

[tomk2434]

How about a parallel headline: "Modern Societies slam Pope for brainlessness."

Secular Subgenius Pope TomK2434 excommunicated the goofy pope with the funny hat, expensive shoes, and serious narcissism problems. Among his blasphemies was taking himself way to seriously, outrageous hypocrisy, bad fashion sense, ostentatious displays of wealth that were not matched with corresponding donations to TomK, and failure to pray to Bob.

Pope TomK2434 said of the excommunication: "Today, cultures once rich in slack and hedonism are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain child molesting death cult that keeps power by fooling people into misunderstanding the phenomena of their own nervous system" said TomK2434, who has been pushing for slack to be given more room in society.

Pope TomK2434's seriousness was shown when he evoked a rarely used sacred papal edict, conferring finality and infallability to his excommunication of Benedict XVI and his condemnation of brainlessness, declaring ex catheter, or from the peehole of Bob, "No Takesies Backsies."

[CHARLESTHETENTH]

Throughout History It is Religion that is the root of many of the World problems and not lack of. In the name of Religion there have been and continues to be more death and atrocities than one can imagine. When it comes to Religion there is no tolerance and having it does not guarantee good. The World would be a better place without it.

[sadbutrue]

There was godlessness when the Vatican coddled their own priests who inflicted horrific abuse on the children of their flock. Who are they to judge others? It is a medieval institution that also runs on avarice and greed on the pretense of disseminating morals and faith.

[KarateKid]

Worry about your own house, your holiness.

[evilzed]

Maybe he should look in his own flock and weed out all the ungodly peodifiles.

[AbrahamSadegh]

Seeing the Pope dressed in all his glory and living as the supreme ruler of his own little country in a palace unparallel in it magnificence and worldliness makes one not to contemplate China and its relationship with Vatican, but instead what took place nearly 2000 years ago and the founder of Christendom whose only possession at the final moments of his physical life was the bloody rag on his shoulders and who had once envied foxes for having holes and birds for having nests but he, himself, no place to lay His head

When I think about the pope I see no resemblance between him and the his power to influence the lives of hundreds of millions of human beings as to how they should conduct their private lives with He whom he is supposed to be a vicar of.

When I think of the power of the Catholic hierarchy, I cannot help but think of our own Los Angles where at the behest of Roger Michael Cardinal Mahoney the $163,000,000 Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, which critics have nicknamed Taj Mahoney, was built in the middle of downtown a few block away from the city's skid row and in city where about 80,000 human beings are homeless.

Then one really wonders who is truly "pushing God out of people's lives!"

[guarumo]

Der Ratz is the former grand inquisitor who got a promotion to CEO of Godco. As more and more people realize how morally bankrupt his organization is, the income of Godco drops.

It's time for Godco to declare Chapter 11.

[Chavista]

huh? The kettle called who what?

[BandsofBlack]

Uh... What's the one about popes in glass houses...?

[DeSwiss]

"Today, nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture," said Benedict.
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Sorry PopeNazi, but once again you've got everything WRONG. Nations haven't lost their identities. People simply no longer wish to be identified with the likes of you and your Patriarchal, hate-filled religious craziness.

And its about damned time too.....

:-|