Ratzinger? What the hell were they thinking? A former Hitler Youth is now the pope? Just when I was thinking there was a possibility that the selection of a new, liberal pope might get me back inside a church. There is now almost a 100% chance I won't be seen in church again until Ratzinger dies or I do, whichever comes first.
From cnn:
In the Vatican, he has been the driving force behind crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination.From the Washington Post:
He wrote a letter of advice to U.S. bishops on denying communion to politicians who support abortion rights, which some observers viewed as a slam at Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry. He publicly cautioned Europe against admitting Turkey to the European Union and wrote a letter to bishops around the world justifying that stand on the grounds that the continent is essentially Christian in nature. In another letter to bishops worldwide, he decried a sort of feminism that makes women "adversaries" of men...Well it looks like little Catholic girls will continue to be taught they're not worthy to serve at the alter alongside little Catholic boys. Birth control will continue to be a sin *chortle*, the wind will whistle through empty churches in Europe, and the American church will become increasingly a religious arm of the Republican party....He is a lightning rod for church liberals who see the hierarchy as reactionary. Ratzinger was active in stamping out liberation theology, with its emphasis on grass-roots activism to fight poverty and its association with Marxist movements.
He once called homosexuality a tendency toward "intrinsic moral evil" and dismissed the uproar over priestly pedophilia in the United States as a "planned campaign" against the church.
