Archibishop Romero was part of liberation theology - and most liberation theologists have been excommunicated by this 'liberal' pope. (When they were not killed by their fraternal Catholic military friends...) Liberation theology - which this latest missive borrows from - was destroyed intentionally by the Office of the Inquisition that this pope used to head. It was too mixed up with Marxism, you see.

So why is "El Papa" borrowing some of the liberation theology terminology, while retaining his extreme cultural conservatism towards gays, abortion, contraception, child abuse and women? The answer is there has got to be a lot of pressure in the poorer parts of the world - the present real base of the Catholic Church - for something to answer the economic misery inflicted by imperialism. So he's trying to stay ahead of the curve, while actually doing nothing to promote social change in an organizational way, except charity work.

Is Benedict a 'liberation theologist' now? Ha Ha Ha Ha. Does even one Catholic archbishop in the U.S. even promote these views? Ha Ha Ha Ha. They are too busy excommunicating people who approve of abortion and Obama.

A better title: Pap on the pope.

As many have pointed out, this pope is NOT liberal.

What did he have to say about a woman's right to choose, Andrew?

Another F-.

But there's nothing "communistic" about Catholicism or Christianity.

Christ talked about how good people should live, and that included things like feeding your neighbor when he's starving.

That's a PERSONAL responsibility--it's not something to be offloaded onto "the government." And that's what distinguishes "communism"--the notion that the government is the *agent* of social welfare.

Christian teaching is full of fables/parables/examples of the guy with nothing doing and giving all he could to help others. That is the theme of the teaching--it is not that "to be a good Christian you should elect people to positions of government office so that they can enact laws to do what YOU SHOULD BE DOING ALREADY, YOU LOUSY HYPOCRITES."

(Born and educated Catholic for about 13 years, myself, gave it up when I finally realized I couldn't become a believer by going through the motions.)

. . . if you are thinking of really small communities (think farming towns of the 1800s).

Christ talked about how good people should live, and that included things like feeding your neighbor when he's starving.

That's a PERSONAL responsibility--it's not something to be offloaded onto "the government." And that's what distinguishes "communism"--the notion that the government is the *agent* of social welfare.

Christian teaching is full of fables/parables/examples of the guy with nothing doing and giving all he could to help others. That is the theme of the teaching--it is not that "to be a good Christian you should elect people to positions of government office so that they can enact laws to do what YOU SHOULD BE DOING ALREADY, YOU LOUSY HYPOCRITES." -- blunderdog

But we don't live in small farming communities (thank God - pun intended) any longer, and most people aren't really Christians (I haven't read too much that say Jews or Muslims are any better at this), so "Christian charity" as it has been seen in the U.S. historically doesn't have much meaning any more.

Even if all the churches in the U.S., especially all the hypocritical Evangelical mega-churches, many rolling in money, decided to dedicate most of their efforts to social mission, there are simply too many people needing help.

So, regardless of whatever form of government you want to tee-off on, the state needs to step in because private citizens by themselves or even in groups can't get it done and, naturally, corporation mostly couldn't care less (seen their health plan these days?) nor do they exist for this purpose. Many corporations do positive things in their communities, but it's mostly window dressing or support for the arts.

The government is the only entity large enough to undertake social welfare, and citizens have a vested interest in supporting this for the betterment of their communities and the nation. Can it be done better than it is being done now? Probably. Is there waste? Undoubtedly. But, regardless, education and health care are appallingly underfunded in this country, and I'd rather see money "wasted" on these than wasted on weapons procurement.

And, yes, there is a place in all this for religious organization to participate, but only if they keep their religion to themselves and refrain from discriminating, two things most of them seem to have a great deal of difficulty with.

-

I think religion has often played a very positive role. Take western civilization, the Catholic Church has played an honorable role in helping those in need. In contrast, the US carried out a virtual war against the church in central America in the 1980's primarily because prime elements in the church were working with great courage and honor to help those in need. And to organize them to help themselves. It is more than symbolic that the decade opened with the assassination of an archbishop and ended with the murder of 6 Jesuit intellectuals, in both cases by military forces armed and trained by the US government.

--Noam Chomsky

http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1990----.htm

why not when Obama is about to appoint the 6th catholic on the 9 member Supreme Court?

You can't choose your age, race, gender, or sexual orientation but you can choose what religion you are.

These catholic justices made a conscious decision to belong to an organization that systematically abused and raped thousands of children in Ireland.

These catholic justices made a conscious decision to belong to an organization that actively campaigns to take away other people's rights.

These catholic justices made a conscious decision to belong to an organization whos leader said (AIDS) "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".

These catholic justices made a conscious decision to belong to an organization that consistently interferes with governments around the world, especially in the United States by telling it's followers "that Communion must be denied to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion.” (in effect telling their followers who to vote for).

These catholic justices made a conscious decision to belong to an organization that is headed by a former member of the Luftwaffe AA battery of the Hitler Youth Corps.

Granted one member of a church is not responsible for the actions of the other members but what they are responsible for is giving legitimacy and money to an organization that not only committed the above actions but then covered them up (in some cases for decades).

It is this lack of responsibility and the acceptance of the illegal actions of their own church that makes this such a troubling issue.

And it speaks volumes to what these justices view the role of the church to be and how much they are willing to over look criminal actions in the quest for their own personal jesus.