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Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

Whom do you think will replace Pope John paul II? If you do not have an idea you may at least state in which direction you believe the Catholic church will be taken and / or any issues you would like to see covered.

XVI Benedict Pope

I believe it will be important for the Catholic church to continue the movement into non-traditional waters. Pope John Paul II, while embracing traditional Catholic views, used non-traditional means to reach out to the church and the world. The next Pope will need to continue in that direction and possibly move the church away from some of its tradition so that it can be more appealing to more people. The flipside to this is that Catholicism has remained very rigid and traditional for so long that becoming more modernized may take away from its aura and charisma.
Netscape.com had a news article on some of the possible successors to John Paul II. Here is a link to the article:

https://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story...0&w=RTR&coview=

Interesting to note that there are only 3 Italians listed. The rest range from Africa and India to Columbia and Argentina. The article has brief biographies on each one as well. Pretty interesting reading.

Pope Benedict XVI Catholicism Studies

Are you suggesting that they stop teaching certain doctrines because they are not popular in order to gain more followers? If what they teach is true, then shouldn't they continue to teach them rather than risk offending God?

XVI Benedict Pope

I knew that I would be questioned on that comment the moment I made it. My reasoning is not based on what is true and what is not. It has more to do with the traditions in the Catholic church. Traditions such as priests being celibate, and not allowing female priests. Those are traditions that are not very popular, while at the same time, not mandated in the Bible. The next Pope will definitely have his hands full trying to balance the teachings of the Church while at the same time trying to spread Catholicism throughout the world. Many Catholics, both members and clergy, had tried to reason with the last Pope about these very issues, but he would not entertain them. So, it is reasonable to say that there can be change, but not change to the point of throwing away the Church's belief system. I hope this clears things up a bit.

XVI Benedict Pope

There have been many that have stated a desire for a "short term" pope to be elected. This is one issue that the church is going to have to started getting used to, unless it plans on electing 70 - 80 year olds routinely. I can hear the complain already that people of "that" age are too far removed to still be in touch with the younger parishioners. The church will have to decide if they want to start issuing a retirement age or maintain the status quo. I hope they maintain the current path, but are going to have to get used to a LOT of long-lived popes!

I do think that there will be a return to a italian pope. Although the largest population and most rapidly growing catholic populations is latin america, I do believe that there will be a return to a italian pope.

While I absolutely agree that a new pope needs to look at some things that the JP2 did not even want to discuss, I also think that I really liked JP2's stance on the 10 Commandments not becoming the 10 Really Good Ideas to a better life.

In agreement with Malexander, I seriously think the church needs to re-evaluate the requirement that priest do not marry. I think this has caused a LOT of the problems that have faced the viability of the church - ESPECIALLY IN THE US. I also think that this practice was more of a institutional movement rather than that of a requirement from above.

One last thing I will be interested in seeing is how many Saints are cannonized on average by the next papacy. I think this was a good movement started by JP2, but looking at the numbers of new Saints, I am really interested in the criteria and have started studying!

Vincenzo

Pope Benedict XVI

Herein lies a mistake made by a protestant. The Catholic Church does not teach nor believe that all true doctrine can be found in the Bible. That is a protestant position. The Catholic Church has many other writings that they consider just as binding as the Bible. In addition, they consider tradition to be valid. The argument is, we do this because it has always been done this way even from the time of Christ on the earth and his first apostles. Whether or not it is in the Bible doesn't make it untrue. So, it will be difficult for some of this to be changed. Yet, Vatican Counsel II did change much of tradition.

It is a simple matter to allow married priests. Not even the Catholic Church claims that as a necessary part of the faith taught in the earliest days of the Church. In fact, the Church does allow married priests. If an Episcopal Priest is married and wants to become a Catholic priest, it is allowed. He must promise to be celibate only when and if his wife dies before him. He will not be allowed to take a second wife.

I don't argue that perhaps some changes should be made. However, I don't think any change should be made to attract the faith to more people/followers. I think a change should only be made because it isn't a true teaching of the true doctrine and therefore isn't necessary.

Edited: funbikerchick on 4th Apr, 2005 - 10:38am

Pope Benedict XVI

What I find very interesting is the number of people and organizations who are urging the Catholic church to select a more liberal Pope. So very many people who have no part of the Catholic church, and many of them have been openly hostile to the church, want to tell it how to conduct its business. There is all the call for them to allow women to be priests, for priests to marry, etc. There are even those now who claim that John Paul II was the worst choice the church has made in a very long time.

So, why are people so worried about this? Isn't this a case where everyone else should leave the Catholic church alone?

Here is a good discussion about some possible reasons for this interference.
https://americandigest.org/mt-archives/005432.php

What do you think about this?

Pope Benedict XVI Studies Catholicism

Well, doesn't this sound similar to many other churches that want some kind of reform? The world is changing and becoming more liberal in its' thinking - very few places (mostly the Western world and Middle East) wants to keep traditional values that it believes is correct. It all comes down to if the Catholic membership and leadership believes that the way the Pope is called is divine and the very will of God and then whomever says different can just take a hike.