Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Roman Catholic Faithful Pray for Pope

Well apparently the recent ordeals of the Pope concerning his health has caused much anxiety among Catholics the world-over as Yahoo news has reported today. Almost every kind of religious activity it seems is being done, from simple prayers to special masses, in honour of the Pope.

I certainly wish no harm upon the Pope, but as a Traditionalist Catholic I simply cannot ignore the great damage he and his followers have exacted on the church, too much to even be outlined briefly here. Only in areas of sexual morals (particularly on abortion) has the Pope shown any true strength. Even if the Pope does die (which is certainly not too far off), I sincerely doubt much will change at least at the institutional level. The clergy has been captured by the forces of the Cultural Revolution, and the drive to return the church back to its age-old traditions will largely fall upon the laity. Even if the next pope is another Pius X, which is highly unlikely, he will still face considerable obstacles to implementing any real change. As Father Benedict Groeshecl frankly explained on EWTN, "It took us 30 years to get into this mess, it will take us 30 years to get out of it."

Possibly the most shocking element I read in this article was how the organizers of the Oscar awards said they would have paid homage to the Pope during the event if he happened to have died. This is of course a complete sham since Hollywood is well known for its anti-Catholic attitudes, and the way they snuffed Mel Gibson's film out of the awards, except for in minor categories. This alone shows the hypocrisy of Hollywood, and its amazing that so many people take them seriously.

What does this have to with Third Positionism? Well I think Cardinal Julian Herranz of Spain probably makes an interesting statement in his interview with the newspaper La Stampa and recorded at the end of the Yahoo article:
John Paul, the cardinal said, is "proving that in a world that only seems to appreciate youth, strength, beauty, power, hedonism and wealth, old age and sickness are also values."

Disrespect for elderly people has become rampant in our age. Traditional societies on the other hand value the wisdom that comes with old age. But I hardly think John Paul is a good example of eldery wisdom, since he's always tried hard to be "relevant" to young people. This included at one point allowing break dancers to perform at the Vatican. Then the World Youth Day celebrations, which are nothing more than Woodstock-style gatherings trying to cloak themselves in Catholic truth.

No its not disrespect for the eldery that's at the heart of the matter here really. In my opinion, the real issue is that spirituality still has a strong force in the world, despite all attempts at eradicating it. Third Positionism believes in the primacy of spirituality in the social order, and we're seeing outbursts of it the world-over in response to the Pope's illness. So strong is this spiritual outburst, that even the secularist outpost of Hollywood had to bow to it in a way. Now of course much of this outburst is over a Pope who has done much to cripple the true Catholic tradition, and many elements of these outbursts are clearly hypocritical and a total sham. Nevertheless, the power of the spiritual impulse cannot be suppressed or erased from the hearts of man. We can at least be hopeful knowing this truth, as we struggle against the rampant materialism and other forces that wish to destroy spirituality, which lies at the heart of any truely great culture.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home