If cleanliness be next to godliness, is conscientiousness a workable alternative to Catholicism?
Pope Francis (or Francesco as he refers to himself in the Italian papers) was asked whether God forgave those who chose not to believe.
"Given – and this is the fundamental thing – that God's mercy has no
limits, if He is approached with a sincere and repentant heart," the
pope wrote, "the question for those who do not believe in God is to
abide by their own conscience. There is sin, also for those who have no
faith, in going against one's conscience. Listening to it and abiding by
it means making up one's mind about what is good and evil."
There it is, you see. Sort of, I guess. God's mercy has no limits. Let's start with that. Then there's the bit about how you can sin against your conscience. Even if you're a heretic, you have to listen to your conscience, decide what is good and what is evil, and then do the right thing. Fair enough, I can live with that.
Since Pope Francis has settled in there's also talk of reforming the Church including the 800-pound Vatican gorilla, celibacy. The pope's new Secretary of State, archbishop Pietro Parolin, says that celibacy is merely a "tradition" and isn't carved in stone.
"We can talk, reflect, and deepen on these subjects that are not
definite, and we can think of some modifications, but always with
consideration of [church] unity, and all according to the will of God,"
he was quoted as saying.
7 comments:
doublespeak gobblygook
faith without evidence is foolish & leads to abuse by those with power
Greetings fellow Philistine. Of course faith is faith-based, not evidence-based. It is the irrational rejection of the suspension of disbelief. That is also the modus operandi of our Conservative government. It is faith-based government.
A classic example came when Harper addressed his caucus on his prison fetish. He explained that they should reject the statistics showing a steady decline in crime rates over the past three decades and, instead, go with their gut instincts. He wanted them to have faith that we are beset by a massive crime wave requiring more severe criminal laws and construction of ever more prisons.
Pretty fucked up, eh? Welcome to Harperland.
What a bunch of blather!!
New pope is quite an improvement on his predecessor. He trying to bring people together and advocating peace. That part I like.
Isn't the reason for celibacy so that the cleric class doesn't produce potential heirs and instead the Vatican gets to keep all the stuff, forever?
On those prisons--the "faith based" part is for the suckers. For those in the know, it's all part of the 'stick strategy', where as they mess up the economy more and more for those not on the top, they make sure there's plenty of downside to dissent. So, less and less EI, plenty of unemployment, the criminalization of public idleness, and lots of jails for anyone who causes trouble. I commend you to an interesting book called
Cops, crime and capitalism : the law and order agenda in Canada / Todd Gordon
That and I'm sure there are some contractors looking for payoffs in return for their brib--uh, campaign contributions, by many independent concerned individuals.
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