Pope is ‘not a true Christian leader,' most British believers say

[ChristusVincit]

Makes me ashamed to be British.

At least I can still sit back and think about the glory days of the empire.

Ahhhhhh.

 

[reginacaeli]

Yeah but to say that the pope is “not a true Christian leader”??? That’s just sickening in my opinion and it smells like pure bigotry.

But a lot of Protestants don’t believe that Catholics are even Christian, so from that perspective that would make sense.

 

[KathleenElsie]

But a lot of Protestants don’t believe that Catholics are even Christian, so from that perspective that would make sense.

As the Holy Catholic Church bends over backward to “include” other religions under the “christian” bannner, many of these other “christian” religions are doing their best to demonize Catholics. :banghead: So this poll does not suprise me. I tend to use the pages from paers that have polls on them in my bird cages.

 

[Statius]

The EU-funded European Social Survey to be published in April 2009 has found that only 12% of British people belong to a church. This is despite the fact that 71% of Britons claim to be Christian.

And of that 12%, Catholics are a tiny minority.

So the overwhelming number of Christians in Britain are…wrong

I’m afraid I can’t remember where I got this information, but I have been given to understand that whilst only a minority of UK Christians are Roman Catholics, Roman Catholics are far more likely to attend church, so our church attendence figures are quite close to Anglican church attendences.

 

[NPC]

A friend of mine has a nickname for ‘The Catholic Herald’. He calls it ‘The Catholic Heretic’.

Have a look at the current issue. Read the headlines only:

• “Treat the suicidal with compassion, urge bishops” [suicide OK]
• “Marriage is not better for children, says official” [marriage bad]
• “Pope is 'not a true Christian leader …”
• “It is not true that you could once go anywhere in the world and understand the Mass.” [Give Vat. II another chance, won’t you?]

No, I would suggest reading beyond the headlines. Your first citation “Treat the suicidal with compassion” in itself does not even imply that suicide is ok - the word is suicidal. All people, especially those going through tough trials deserve to be treated with compassion. If you had read the whole article, you would have seen that the article gives a commentary by Bishop Longley where he states the Catholic position - that suicide is a grave sin, but that a person’s mental state can lessen their culpability since one has to have full knowledge and consent to commit a mortal sin. The Catechism is also quoted on this issue. I cannot see what is heretical about the headline or the article.

“Marriage is not better for children, says offical” : Ed West, the author of the article, is not giving a slant or opinion as you seem to imply that marriage is bad. Clearly Mr Prendergast and the Diocesan agency which continues to employ him are in the wrong as he is clearly expressing views contrary to the Church’s teaching. However, the article itself is balanced - it is reporting the facts: in fact to argue against Mr Prendergast’s erroneous views, three other people have been quoted in this article.

“Pope is not a true Christian leader, most believers say”: again, if you want the news, you have to take the good with the bad. This paper is not publishing the opinion of it’s editor or Mr Greaves, but that of those included in the poll carried out by ComRes. Anyway the report is not all doom and gloom: only a couple of decades ago, I’m sure the results would have been much lower, and while we may not be happy with some of the views expressed regarding the papacy, Christian communities are building better relations with one another.

Finally, to your last citation; “It is not true that you could once go anywhere in the world and understand the Mass”. A letter to the editor. Did you read the letter? Fr Benyon was making what I see as a valid point that even before Vatican II there were certain rites which did not celebrate the Mass of the Tridentine Rite. The priest is evidently not against the use of the Tridentine Rite as he offered it to his parishioners but the uptake was small. I do not see Fr Benyon’s views as heretical, nor is the paper heretical for printing his opinion.

I’m no apologist for the Catholic Herald, it’s editor Mr Coppen or any of the reporters - in fact I had never come across the paper until I read your post. However I would strongly advise you to read beyond the headlines before denouncing a publication as heretical. It would most certainly be so if the newspaper staff were giving their personal opinions which were contrary to Church teaching, but from what I have read, this is not the case.

 

[Layman]

Well, perhaps I was being a bit harsh, reporting my friend’s opinion. Those headlines were … interesting … taken as a job lot. The C.H. isn’t really on my radar. You can get more from blogs these days. For example:

Fr. Z
Hermeneutic of Continuity - Fr. Finigan
Rorate Caeli

Special mention for the Irish publications ‘Alive’ and ‘The Brandsma Review’; they’re quite orthodox and feisty.

I still think it’s a useful exercise; scanning headlines, looking at pictures, getting a feel for the leanings of the editor.

It’s also important to note that because a newspaper calls itself ‘Catholic’ it does not mean it’s free from bias, either liberal or traditional. Like, people often quote ‘L’Osservatore Romano’ as if it’s straight from the Pope’s mouth, but I do not think it is; it’s the newspaper of the Vatican, as far as I know.

e.g. An L’Osservatore Romano’ journalist reviews a book favourably. A mainstream newspaper reporter reads this and reports “Vatican newspaper approves of book”. Joe Catholic reads this and thinks “Pope thinks this book is OK”.
.

 

[estesbob]

I suspect if they had taken the poll 500 years ago they would have had the same result-albeit with those who supported the Pope being hung drawn and quartered after they answered.

 

[NPC]

Well, perhaps I was being a bit harsh, reporting my friend’s opinion. Those headlines were … interesting … taken as a job lot. The C.H. isn’t really on my radar. You can get more from blogs these days. For example:

Fr. Z
Hermeneutic of Continuity - Fr. Finigan
Rorate Caeli

Special mention for the Irish publications ‘Alive’ and ‘The Brandsma Review’; they’re quite orthodox and feisty.

I still think it’s a useful exercise; scanning headlines, looking at pictures, getting a feel for the leanings of the editor.

It’s also important to note that because a newspaper calls itself ‘Catholic’ it does not mean it’s free from bias, either liberal or traditional. Like, people often quote ‘L’Osservatore Romano’ as if it’s straight from the Pope’s mouth, but I do not think it is; it’s the newspaper of the Vatican, as far as I know.

e.g. An L’Osservatore Romano’ journalist reviews a book favourably. A mainstream newspaper reporter reads this and reports “Vatican newspaper approves of book”. Joe Catholic reads this and thinks “Pope thinks this book is OK”.
.

Interesting, I had never heard of the Brandsma Review… I will take a closer look at it later. I agree that Alive is generally a good paper. It’s a Dominican publication which you’ll find every month in Irish churches. For such a small paper (c.20 pages) it gives quite a broad view of what’s happening in the Church in Ireland and across the world. It is particularly strong on reporting on moral issues.