Monthly Archives: April 2005
COMMENTARY: Pope-Theologian Well Prepared to Travel With the Real Church, the People
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Pope Benedict XVI may be the most sophisticated theologian ever chosen to head the Roman Catholic Church. As an expert adviser at Vatican Council II he helped the church regain its ancient sense of being “a people of God” on pilgrimage through history rather than a vast, multilayered institution […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service `Justice Sunday’ Event On Judicial Nominees Called `Just-Us’ Sunday (RNS) A “Justice Sunday” simulcast event Sunday (April 24) featuring prominent religious conservatives has drawn criticism from liberal groups. The national simulcast is organized by the Family Research Council to draw attention to Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees, or as the […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: Cardinals Make a Daring Choice in Pope Benedict XVI
By Richard Allen — April 21, 2005
Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ In electing the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the College of Cardinals made a daring choice of a man who, despite his 78 years of age, seems destined to lead a strong, consequential pontificate: Joseph Ratzinger, the intellectual architect of John Paul II’s papacy as the prefect […]
COMMENTARY: What Should Liberal Catholics Do Now?
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) As the cardinal on the balcony meticulously spoke greetings in several languages and then the ceremonial “Habemus … ,” my stomach muscles tightened. With the word “Josephus,” my heart sank a bit. Not in anger or resentment, but in resignation. I was ashamed of being surprised _ of my […]
COMMENTARY: Are Christian Colleges Racist?
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Bob Jones III steps down next month as president of the university his grandfather founded, he will leave behind a difficult legacy. Despite the lifting of the interracial dating ban a few years back, the reputation of Bob Jones University will probably be tarnished for some years to […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: New Pope’s First Challenge May Be a Charm Offensive
By Kein Eckstrom — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Pope Benedict XVI is, depending on whom you talk to, the “Panzerkardinal,” “God’s Rottweiler” or an unassuming and misunderstood man of deep, quiet faith. Before his election as pope Tuesday (April 19), Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was known as a stern disciplinarian, a sort of ecclesial Dr. No who toiled […]
NEWS STORY: Theologians Predict Conservative, Activist Papacy
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) At Pope John Paul II’s funeral earlier this month, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger choked back tears as he delivered a deeply personal sermon about his old friend. Ten days later, the German cardinal stood at the pulpit again, to deliver a stern speech about maintaining Roman Catholic tradition as the […]
NEWS STORY: What Does the Name Benedict Portend? Perhaps a Focus on Europe
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In trying to predict the intentions of a new pope, many religious leaders and scholars agree: Look to his name. When Germany’s Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stood on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday (April 19), he became Benedict XVI, a name that evokes a legacy of defending […]
COMMENTARY: The Disciplined Path to Freedom During Passover
By RNS Blog Editor — April 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In his riveting autobiography, “Fear No Evil,” Natan Sharansky recalled one of the many Passovers he spent in a Soviet prison. When his captors took away the small piece of matzah a fellow prisoner tried to slip him in his punishment cell, Sharansky simply used salted herring as his […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Oregon Supreme Court Invalidates Same-Sex Marriages (RNS) The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday (April 14) invalidated the marriages of 3,000 same-sex couples and refused to decide whether gays and lesbians should have the same rights and benefits as married couples. The decision was a victory for social conservatives who backed […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: Ratzinger’s View of Non-Catholics Likely to Set Tone for Papacy
By Kein Eckstrom — April 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Five years ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger lobbed a theological hand grenade at Christians around the world in a document that said non-Catholic churches “suffer from defects” and are “not churches in the proper sense.” Broadening his critique, Ratzinger, the longtime prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of […]
Liberation Theology Supporters Fear Strife With Pope Benedict XVI
By RNS Blog Editor — April 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The crowds cheering the new Pope Benedict XVI do not include supporters of the liberation theology movement in Latin America. The pope, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, has sharply criticized liberation theology _ a movement advocating the role of the poor in the church’s faith and life _ as Marxist. […]
NEWS STORY: Liberal Catholics Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst With Ratzinger
By RNS Blog Editor — April 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) With the election of a cardinal known as “God’s Rottweiler,” liberal American Catholics are bracing for the worst. Nonetheless, they’re hoping Pope Benedict XVI won’t be as doctrinaire and conservative as advertised, particularly toward women and gays. “We would be very pleased if the new pope would tone down […]
NEWS STORY: Conservative Evangelicals Say New Pope Speaks Their Moral Language
By Adelle M. Banks — April 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The day before Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, he declared in a public Mass that a “dictatorship of relativism” threatens the absolute truth claims of the church. That statement could easily have been made by conservative evangelical leaders in the United States. Despite theological differences, […]
NEWS STORY: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a German, Is Pope Benedict XVI
By RNS Blog Editor — April 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected the first German pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church in almost five centuries on Tuesday (April 19). Describing himself as “a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” he chose to be called Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, who turned 78 […]
