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March 27, 2008

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Replying to Thread: Four Myths About Pope Benedict XVI [Feature]
Created On April 27, 2005 3:12 PM by Godspy

Godspy

Posts: 13
Joined: Sep 2003

April 27, 2005 3:12 PM

While some journalists have been quite fair in their reporting on the new pope, unfortunately, they stand as the exceptions. Mostly we've heard a string of inaccuracies and inanities. Here are the four most common myths about Pope Benedict XVI.

Posts: 6
Joined: Feb 2004

April 28, 2005 9:23 PM

This is a lovely piece, much needed. I'll be emailing the link to friends and family. I myself have been a Ratzinger fan since I read Introduction to Christianity in my sophomore theology intro course 16 years ago. And now I'm a Benedict fan, of course. As a theologian friend says of this giant of an intellect, "He has no overarching system. He is simply contemplating the mystery." What a gift to our church after so great a pope as John Paul II1

Posts: 1
Joined: Apr 2005

April 29, 2005 9:07 PM

This article is troubling because it creates a number of false straw men, wicker men which the author, and Ratzinger in fact, fictionalize in order to demonize.

Also, this article is troubling because it exposes the blind spot of Ratzinger and his brainwashed, Stockholm-syndrome-suffering followers. It does not address the catastrophic damage that Ratzinger personally visited upon the Latin American church in his disenfranchisement of clergy sympathetic to so-called 'Liberation Theology', which was conflated by Ratzinger and other U.S. and European conservatives with communist gangseterism.

Ratzinger's reputation was built in part on the disruption of good Christians in Latin America. It did not have to be that way. Will he apologize? Will he truly be humble for rejecting Catholic critics of the mass murdering death squads which killed Romero and thousands of others?

Edited: June 15, 2005 at 11:51 PM by Godspy Moderator

Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2006

March 12, 2006 10:54 PM

Dear Sir,

If you are going to call fallacy and cite the article on Pope Benedict XVI as committing straw-man arguments, you would best have his own house (of cards?) in order lest you lose credibility. Your use of ad hominem ("...brainwashed, Stolkholm-syndrome-suffering followers") does little to persuade and has no logical relevance to the issue at hand. Moreover, while you cite straw man arguments on the part of your opponents, you do not actually explain why the article was fallacy. Argument by assertion and without exposition is, at best, weak, and, at worst, a waste of time.

So, please, sir, as you might indeed have a coherent and worthwhile commentary to add to this discussion, please post again with rational, logical discourse and no fallacious vitriol. You will do your readers a great service, and you might even help your cause as well.

Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2006

March 16, 2006 10:24 AM

All perceptions are contextual. The Pope's writings and actions must be seen in the light of the events that have formed his life! His great uncle was a famous socialist priest, there was a communists uprising in Bavaria a few years before his birth, fascism & communism directly effected his life, and in particular the student uprisings in 1968 (Communist) all left indelible marks on his philosophy.

The Pope probably was somewhat more left of center until 1968. The abuses of Vatican II and the loss of the Latin Mass probably sent him to the right of center. His witness of the politicization of students in 1968 caused him great personal concern. Ratzinger's classes were disrupted with threats of physical violence.

I do find it unfortunate that Liberation Theology was mischaracterized by a few renegade, gun toting priest. The Pope felt that such theology was no theology! It was Fascism & Communism.

Despite his many critics, his critique of the Modern World is on target. The truth is not an individuals opinion. Yet I hope the Holy Father never forgets that Faith without Action is dead!!!

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