bigmacbear | Is a bear Catholic? (On the Election of Pope Benedict XVI)

My reaction on hearing of the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI:

MATT (co-worker): Did you hear who got elected Pope?
ME: No.
DON (another co-worker): Some German guy.
ME: Not Cardinal Rat's Ass? [my pet name for Ratzinger for many years]
MATT (at the same time): ...Ratzenfelder or something like that.
ME: Ratzinger. Shit!
DON: That's no way to refer to the Holy Father.

Somewhwere in the conversation immediately preceding or following this, Matt and Don were discussing the concept of Catholic guilt. Don (who is a Roman Catholic) essentially said that as Catholics we are ingrained from infancy with the notion that we're all going to Hell no matter what we do. Matt (who is Jewish but does not keep kosher) responded with "In that case, what's the point?" I couldn't agree more, and mentioned the popular "Recovering Catholic" T-shirts.

The new Pope is infamous for his overreaching statements on the ordination of women and the bulk of his writings toward the end of the previous papacy which found their way into Pope John Paul II's more inflammatory pastoral letters. It's clear that in his papacy all dissent is to be squashed without mercy and by all means necessary. This is as unhealthy for the church as it is for any secular state.

In a way I am very happy the temporal power of the Church has been curtailed in the last couple of centuries. I fear this Pope, if given the opportunity, would like to see the Inquisition (not the department of the Roman Curia more currently known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the job of Cardinal Ratzinger prior to the papacy, but the Bad Old Days of the Spanish Inquisition) rekindled, complete with tortured confessions and burning at the stake.

But it leads me right back to the same old question Matt raised. What's the point of even trying to maintain faith in a church that all but denies your very right to exist? Up until now, my considered opinion was that the point was not to let the bastards kick us out. Now I'm not sure this is wise. Perhaps it's better to make a clean break, to say to the Roman Church: "You have no power here. Begone! before someone drops a house on you too."

This isn't to say I've lost my faith in Jesus Christ. I've just lost my faith in the Roman Church, and it may be said that it was lost a long time ago. I suppose a good deal of thought and prayer will have to go into this. But right now I'm not finished being angry.