After the twelve month period of natural disasters a few years ago -- the Boxing Day tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan and India, and of course Hurricane Katrina -- many wondered if God might be exercising His wrath on the world. In the Christian tradition, we dismiss that as crazy talk, after all one of Jesus' apostles said "The Lord does not deal with us according to our iniquities."
But some Christians and some who claim to be Christians think God does take an inventionist approach to the world and causes such disasters on purpose to "punish" us for our sins. Televangelists. The Westboro Baptist Church. Armstrongtists. And -- the Rev. Gerhard Wagner, a Catholic priest in Austria. He said in 2005, in a parish newsletter, that Katrina was retribution for brothels in New Orleans.
Not surprisingly, this is the kind of guy the present Pope, Benedict XVI (Joe Ratzinger), loves. So earlier this month he appointed him to the position of auxiliary (i.e. assistant) bishop in the Austrian city of Linz. Normally, parishoners just accept this with the typical Gallic shrug -- he's the bishop, there ain't nothing we can do about it, especially if he's an outsider (i.e. someone from outside the diocese). But in this case, Catholics in Austria were incensed and revolted. Chastened, Wagner asked Ratz to withdraw the promotion. Wagner's done his church a big favour by doing so.
Some of conspiracy theorists have long claimed the anti-Christ will arise from the Vatican -- and they claim Ratzinger (a former member of the Nazi Youth) is the perfect candidate. Well, one who clearly associates himself with Christ cannot be the anti-Christ -- which means the anti-Christ has to be someone who is not just non-Christian but an outright atheist.
The conspirists have also claimed this could be a huge year for the Church, especially in terms of EU elections where Catholic candidates are expected to make huge gains. Uh, yeah -- Catholics in Europe actually aren't that much different from Catholics in North America, they don't like church interference in politics any more than we do and aren't about to take orders from anyone.
And with two major media embarrassments in just a couple of weeks, the Vatican looks like it's in damage control mode and not as if it's planning to swallow up the European Union under its direct control. Keystone Cops aren't exactly viable candidates to be the anti-Christ.
I don't know what goes on at the Roman Curia on a daily basis -- they guard their secrets better than the CIA -- but you'd think they'd do better background checks. First, a Holocaust denier slips through the cracks, and now this? Catholics like myself have every reason to be concerned and outraged. Ratzinger needs to get a handle on things or he might may well be the Pope that saw his Church break up; there's only so much even conservatives in the Church will take.
The response to a Holocaust denier is not to silence him but to let him speak his fallacies then throw the truth back in his face. The response to someone who believes natural disasters are God's punishment is to withdraw donations from such narrow-minded people and redirect them towards disaster relief -- even if it is your own parish church that's caused the verbal ruckus.
UPDATE (8:12 am, 1312 GMT): Silly me, I forgot the link -- it's there now!
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1 comment:
Well, one mild critique on your post is your assertion that the anti-Christ would have to be atheist.
Actually, I would think the anti-Christ would not be an atheist. Atheism is rooted in the belief there is NO God. On the contrary, the anti-Christ would believe in Christ, even know full well of his existence, and despite that fact would work against Christ's teachings diligently using their own powers of persuasion and manipulation.
Personally, I just think the current Pope is a despicably small man in thought and deed. I refuse to give him any credit beyond that.
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