As we celebrate Christ's institution of the Mass and priesthood tonight, I should probably be praying and meditating upon sacred texts. However, it seems like many Catholics and evangelicals (yes, I've also heard from Benedict's fans among our evangelical protestant brethren) are concerned about the latest media attacks against the Holy Father.
Don't be.
Pray for Pope Benedict. Defend him when you come across unfair attacks against him. But leave the worrying to the Holy Spirit who chose Benedict as successor to St. Peter. Simply put, God is not going to abandon such a faithful servant in this time of hardship. And if it be God's will that the Church's enemies drive the Holy Father out of Rome, there is little we can do to stop it.
However, I would be surprised to see this happen. God raised Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy despite human machinations and conventional wisdom that considered Ratzinger too old, too conservative and too curmudgeony. Some of these human machinations originated from the candidate himself. Soon after he was elected Pope, several sources reported that Ratzinger had hoped to retire when Pope John Paul II died, and that Ratzinger himself attempted to sabotage his potential election by stating and doing things that would make him unelectable. God had other plans.
Thus God dragged Ratzinger, despite the candidate's protests, into the Chair of Peter. And God will keep him there, despite the attempts of his enemies to force his resignation. Of this we should have no doubt. Several temporal powers throughout the centuries, believed in their time to be unstoppable, have attempted to subdue the reigning pope. These attempts usually end badly for the reigning power.
Thus the French have an expression Qui mange du pape, meurt. This loosely translates as 'Whoever eats of the Pope will choke on him.' So don't be surprised when Pope Benedict's current enemies keel over suddenly.
Protected by the Holy Spirit and choirs of angels, none are safer in this crisis than Pope Benedict. For God is watching over His chosen pontiff.
And be sure to pray for the pedophiles. Remember that you and they both crucified Christ, and as you would desire mercy, so they do too. But even if they do not, God wills mercy upon them and obligates you to imitate Him as His adopted son just as His Son did His Will.
I pray for Maciel, BTK, Bundy, and all the other cruel deviants, pedophiles, murderers, etc, who have ever existed throughout time, in every place and in ever situation. As Christians, it is our duty.
We all crucified Christ with our sins. But let's face it, some sins are more horrifying and cruel than others. I believe God intended us to be more horrified by such cruelties, especially against children. If there was no difference in the quality/seriousness of sins, we would not have a distinction between venial and mortal. Some sins hurt Christ more than others. And given Christ's comments about millstones about necks and such, I'd say that we can be horrified and outraged by such cruelties (most especially when done by Catholic priests committing these sins under the guise of doing God's Will) and be imitating Christ at the same time.
Yes, prayers for all of us sinners. But let's not reduce all sins to the same level. There's sin, and then there's depraved and cruel perverted sins perpetrated against innocent children.
I agree, Pete. After seeing Pope Benedict's reaction to the Regensberg speech, I knew he could stand up to a lot. He is very gentle by nature but totally committed to truth and will stand strong for it. We are indeed blessed to have him as our Holy Father.