Both atheist ‘rationalism’ and Catholic triumphalism betray Mary MacKillop’s legacy
I had mixed feelings last night about whether to watch the canonisation ceremony for Blessed Mary MacKillop on ABC News 24. In part, but not exclusively, those feelings related to the way the ceremonies would be covered, and I’m afraid [...]
The PM and Il Santo Padre; and world capitalism
If Kevin Rudd wanted to impress Pope Benedict with his support for Blessed Mary MacKillop’s canonisation, he might have picked the wrong topic. In the lead up to the G20 meeting, the Pontiff had other things on his mind – [...]
Hell ain't a bad place to be
Hell does exist according to Pope Benedict. Not so much fire and brimstone and demons with hot pokers (as erronously reported in the media) but a place of torment for those that reject God. Not that it will sway those [...]
Sheiken not stirred
Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali and his frequently embarrassing and sometimes offensive comments seem to open some strange fracture lines on the right of politics, if Catholic blogger John Heard’s op/ed in The Australian today is anything to go by. Heard [...]
Pope Benedict Beer
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/benedictbeer.jpg" From the Curt Jester.
Iraq’s unmentionable religious conflict
From today’s Crikey email. As debate over Iraq erupts again in the Australian parliament, there’s one aspect of the seemingly intractable conflict which doesn’t appear to have been mentioned in the domestic stoushing, even after Kevin Rudd made a prominent [...]
Athens and Jerusalem: A guest post by Michael Carden
In my now closed thread on Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address, Katz challenged four of Benedict’s arguments, including this one: “Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult [...]
What, then, does Pope Benedict mean?
Update: [19/9] A shorter version of this article was published in today’s Crikey email. The reaction – from all sides – to Pope Benedict’s remarks in Regensburg has been typical. And typically disappointing. Neither loud agreement nor violent disagreement with [...]
Greenhouse Denialism – unChristian as well as unscientific
In his latest Sunday sermon, Pope Benedict has issued a call for Christians to work to save the environment. Amongst other things, he states – correctly – that environmental damage hurts the interests of the poor. This is not the [...]
Islam, Modernity and the Jesuits
Every year Pope Benedict XVI holds a seminar with his former Doctoral students – something of a German academic tradition. The Ratzinger-Schülerkreis seminar began when Ratzinger was a Professor in Regensburg, and many expected it to end when he became [...]
Pope Benedict and Israel
In an earlier post on The Pope and Islam, I noted some remarks that Benedict XVI made regarding terrorism. As it happens, a condemnation Benedict made of terrorism in the immediate aftermath of the second attempts at public transport bombings [...]
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