Respect for Religion

In a letter, dated November 11, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI addresses Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for “respect in each person's relationship with God as an essential part of building a just social order and real peace, as being vital for peace in the Middle East.” A summary of this letter appeared in the National Catholic Reporter dated November 12.


While this blog is not intended to diminish the serious nature of this announcement against a background of increased persecution of Catholic minorities in the Middle East the letter from the Pope did justifiably prompt this uncensored response by Justina Collini to the National Catholic Reporter on Nov. 12, 2010.

“1. The pope lacks respect for RCC religion. He suppresses theologians, clergy, religious men, and women, anyone who does not lockstep with his own bizarre idea of the RCC faith.


2. He lacks respect for Jesus as he refuses to be the image, the vicar of Jesus as he will not tolerate requests of the people, will not allow dialogue or discussion therefore that makes him not at all like Jesus.


Read MATTHEW and other books of the bible. Jesus states we are to make requests; Jesus encourages discussion, arguments, dialogue. He praises the Phoenician woman for requesting he heal beyond the children of Israel, "Woman, how great is your faith." He praises the theological questioning and sincere arguments of the wonderful Samarian Woman Apostle. He disrespects Jesus by considering girls and women too "different" too" unclean" and "not man-like" enough to be in the sacred part of a church or to touch anything sacred, when Jesus invited women to do exactly that and healed, allowed "unclean" hemorrhaging woman to touch his sacred self.


3. The pope lacks respect not only for freedom of religious inquiry, scholarship, freedom of conscience.


4. This pope lacks respect for all other Christian churches, calling them non-churches. Ridiculous and severe lack of respect for religion is what this pope BXVI is about. He is very damaging and does great disservice to the RCC and the world.


5. He lacks respect for our brothers and sisters of the book, the Jews, and had reinstated prejudicial prayers against Jews in the Latin mass.


6. He showed his lack of respect for Muslims in his remarks a few years ago. It is so hypocritical for him to try to pretend he respects religion.


7. The pope lacks respect for women and treats them as breeders of priests and laity, as grunt free labour for the church, as subhuman beings not at all as good as men or boys are. He does not respect the creations of God who are female.


8. He lacks respect for religion by not respecting homosexuals. He has self-loathing for any but hidden, secretive homosexuals. He denies human rights to homosexuals and is cynical and hypocritical, His idea of chaste celibate priesthood is no sacrifice at all as most have no sexual interest in women, and by his condoning and hiding, enabling abuse of children and seminarians, he shows he actually understands, allows and condones pedophilia of these really non-celibate priests if it is kept quiet and hidden.”

While I believe that the Pope was correct in asking the leaders of Iran to respect the religion or beliefs of non Muslims in their country, Benedict must also offer that same respect to those Catholics who challenge his ideas of what it means to be a member of his fold. In recent years the Catholic hierarchy seems bent on reversing the advances of Vatican II and implement changes without consultation or dialogue with any of its faithful followers. Accordingly the Roman Catholic hierarchy is creating a religion devoid of God’s mystery, a religion based on absolutism, a religion that continues to celebrate the glories of a medieval past and therefore unable to serve its people in the present, a religion that exists strictly for the purpose of ‘pomp and circumstance’, a religion unable to learn from and come to terms with its dark past, i.e., persecution of pagans, heretics, Jews and gays. A religion bound in legalism from which it can pronounce those who belong and those that don’t - a religion that interprets ‘ecumenism’ to the exclusion of all other faiths and religions in the world. A religion that insists that repentance is the way to reform but unable to recognize and accept its own shortcomings. A religion that speaks of dialogue, freedom, hope, compassion and peace at the exclusion of those it serves - a religion that fails to listen and respect people like Justina Collini and more than one billion faithful Roman Catholic followers.