WGNNews.org Posted 1:05 P.M. April 19, 2005
By Kenneth Martin
New Pope Elected
Pope Benedict XVI
Today around noon our time, approximately 11:15 A.M., in
the United States. We heard as the rest of the world listened as
we learned who was chosen as the New Pope. Thousands gathered in
St Peters Square to await the results of who the New Pope was.
When the white smoke rose from the chimney, Catholics and others
such as myself waited to see who had been elected. As I watched
the news and listened, I read and gathered from the information
he did not approve of the homosexual life style. From what
little I have read and heard he seems to be as Pope John Paul
II, a Defender Of The Faith ( Which Also Means Protector Of The
Church, He Will Protect The Church, As All Christians Should) .
He will stand strong and hold the line for Christ Jesus.
Born Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Germany
April 16, 1927
*********************************
Pope John Paul II
May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005
Pope John Paul II, officially in
Latin Ioannes Paulus PP. II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła
[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II#fn_pronunciation)
(May
18,
1920 –
April 2,
2005),
was - as a Bishop of
Rome
- Pope
for almost 27 years, from
16 October
1978
until his death, ruling
Vatican City and leading the
Roman Catholic Church and
Eastern Churches in
communion with the
Holy See. By virtue of his office, he was formally addressed
by Catholics and many non-Catholics as
His Holiness. He served the
third longest papacy following
Saint Peter and
Pope Pius IX. He was the first non-Italian to serve in
office since the
Dutch-German
Pope Adrian VI assumed the papacy in
1522.
His reign experienced a rapid decline of Catholicism in
industrialized nations and expansion in the
third world.
Pope John Paul II emphasized what he called the
universal call to holiness and attempted to define the
Catholic Church's role in the modern world. He was a strident
supporter of
Papal infallibility and opposed the concept of
collegiality. He spoke out against
communism,
imperialism,
relativism,
materialism,
Nazism,
racism,
oppression,
secularism,
feminism,
poverty, and unrestrained
capitalism. Although he was on friendly terms with many
Western heads of state and leading citizens, he reserved a
special opprobrium for what he believed to be the corrosive
spiritual effects of moderm Western
consumerism and the concomitant widespread
secular/hedonistic orientation of Western populations.
He defined Catholic teachings on human life by opposing
abortion,
contraception,
capital punishment,
stem-cell research,
human cloning,
euthanasia and
war.
He also defended traditional teachings on
marriage,
sexuality, and
gender roles by opposing
divorce,
same-sex unions and
ordination of women. He opposed the full
separation of church and state by calling upon Catholics to
vote according to their religion. Simultaneously, he strongly
discouraged clergy on all levels from engaging in political
advocacy, arguing that the Church has no calling to exert
temporal influence in modern democratic states.
Pope John Paul II became known as the "Pilgrim Pope" for
having travelled greater distances than had all his predecessors
combined. According to John Paul II, the trips symbolized
bridge-building efforts (in keeping with his title as "Pontifex
Maximus", literally "Master Bridge Builder") between nations
and religions, attempting to remove divisions created through
history. The Vatican asserts he canonized more people than did
all his predecessors during the last five centuries, from a far
greater variety of cultures.
Pope John Paul II died on
2
April
2005
after a long fight against
Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. The public viewing
of his body in
St. Peter's Basilica drew over four million people to
Vatican City and is most likely the largest single
pilgrimage in the
history of
Christendom.
