Benedict in Portugal: A different crisis, secularism, and 'Marian Cool' [John Allen]

[Catholic_Press]

As fate would have it, Pope Benedict XVI’s five foreign trips in 2010 are almost laid out in ascending order of difficulty. Last month’s weekend stop in Malta, arguably the most Catholic society on earth, amounted to the warm-up act, while next week’s four-day swing in Portugal, which so far has been spared the sexual abuse scandals which have engulfed the church elsewhere in Europe, should be a fairly smooth ride as well.

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[KC91]

Mr Allen is far too pessimistic in his article.

He claims that the Portugese Catholic Church suffered in it’s institutional credibility because of it’s association with the Salazar regime, yet in the 2007 Portugese TV poll ‘Who is the greatest Portugese?’ Salazar won and thus it is hardly likely that today the Church will suffer from being associated with a politician who has regained popularity. Also it is not generally stated in history books that the Portugese Church’s reputation suffered due to Salazar.

He claims that in the future most EU countries will become more secular, taking away the privileges of the Church, legalising gay marriage and allowing more permissive abortion laws. However this is hardly likely to happen in Italy, Malta and Poland, important countries of the EU where Catholic political influence is strong.

 

[unafraid]

Mr Allen is far too pessimistic in his article.

He claims that the Portugese Catholic Church suffered in it’s institutional credibility because of it’s association with the Salazar regime, yet in the 2007 Portugese TV poll ‘Who is the greatest Portugese?’ Salazar won and thus it is hardly likely that today the Church will suffer from being associated with a politician who has regained popularity. Also it is not generally stated in history books that the Portugese Church’s reputation suffered due to Salazar.

He claims that in the future most EU countries will become more secular, taking away the privileges of the Church, legalising gay marriage and allowing more permissive abortion laws. However this is hardly likely to happen in Italy, Malta and Poland, important countries of the EU where Catholic political influence is strong.

These dire predictions regarding the complete secularization of Europe are always relayed with the same the blase’ certitude of a fait accompli. Of course, in 1938, Chamberlain told the world with similar confidence that Europe had achieved a, “Peace for our time”. We all know how stunningly wrong his prediction was to become within a year of its utterance.

How is this for a contrary prognostication for the future of Europe: A miraculous and profound “new evangilization” shall occur in Europe, wherein a great multitude of its peoples re-convert to Christianity. Why not? Can’t I paint a sun “rising” on a blank canvass with as much validity as they can paint one “setting”? Who can know for certain, save God Almighty.

 

[the_phoenix]

I love your outlook, unafraid.