Well, I'm no seminarian, let alone a priest. - Edit 1
Before modification by Joel at 13/11/2010 10:47:51 PM
Precisely; as long he's consistent I can respect his position whether or not I agree with it (conveniently, I do agree on these issues, but that has zero bearing on doctrine). What's frustrating is when good Catholic friends fall back on canon law to oppose abortion but completely ignore doctrine when defending capital punishment.
What Catholic doctrine is that, pray tell? The Pope's opinions are dogma, unless stated ex cathedra, and so far as I know, capital punishment is officially acceptable in principle.It was only a couple months ago that I made a similar comment about dogma to a Catholic friend, only to be informed (basically) that dogma has equal standing with doctrine. I'm no priest, but since he has two brothers who are, I'm inclined to accept that assessment until I see a strong counter-argument.
There's nothing wrong, in principle, with cherry picking which parts of Catholic doctrine you accept; there's even a word for it: Protestantism.
Agreed. Nancy Pelosi & most of the Kennedys spring to mind here...Some of us consider that a selling point....
Applying the same rule when it suits you and then ignoring it when it doesn't though is just basic hypocrisy, IMHO, and I believe most Christian denominations are pretty clear that's unacceptable.
Yeah, I seem to recall hearing something about how Pope Benedict gets annoyed at you US Catholics for precisely that reason.
Yet it often seems to me that US Catholics do a better job than most at balancing conflicting obligations there. Bottom line is Pope Benedict has as much right as anyone to his opinion, though the Spanish government has an equal right to dismiss it. Famous people are still people.
Where's Franco II when you need one?Yeah, I seem to recall hearing something about how Pope Benedict gets annoyed at you US Catholics for precisely that reason.
Yet it often seems to me that US Catholics do a better job than most at balancing conflicting obligations there. Bottom line is Pope Benedict has as much right as anyone to his opinion, though the Spanish government has an equal right to dismiss it. Famous people are still people.I can't think of a time when I or anyone other decent person needed the first one, so I'm not sure what we'd need with a second. If even Franco himself thought that a good idea the answer would be "reigning as Juan Carlos".