Pope beatifies John Paul II before 1.5M faithful

Source: AP



VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before 1.5 million faithful in St. Peter's Square and surrounding streets Sunday, moving the beloved former pontiff one step closer to possible sainthood.

The crowd in Rome and in capitals around the world erupted in cheers, tears and applause as an enormous photo of a young, smiling John Paul was unveiled over the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica and a choir launched into hymn long associated with the Polish-born pope.

"He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope," Benedict said in his homily, referring to John Paul's decisive role in helping bring down communism. Benedict dotted his remarks with personal recollections of a man he came to "revere" during their near-quarter century working together.

Beatification is the first major milestone on the path to possible sainthood, one of the Catholic Church's highest honors. A second miracle attributed to John Paul's intercession is needed for him to be canonized.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110501/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_john_paul_ii

I know he isn't the only pope to give shelter to the pedophiles and ignore the damage they have done, but he was the one in charge during the time that the massive abuse came to light. And, he gave shelter to the major protectors (such as Bernard Law).

Are they rushing this, just to throw up a smoke screen of more revelations that could be coming??

If there is anything to this saint business, and he is as guilty as I suspect, this means nothing, in the cosmic scheme of things. Unfortunately, it does mislead those who take stock in such things.

n/t

:)

2 of the most evil powers on the planet rear up the "magical-thinking" pomp and circumstance for the delusional masses in tandem within 2 days of each other. Utter bollocks.

:thumbsdown:

in a NYT column. Good on her. Ptooey on the Papal Pedophile Protectorate (R) ...

John Paul II will be looked upon as the person who tried to revive that catholic church as political empire, thus leading to it's ruin.

What about the suffering the RCC has brought to the world in religious wars --

the harm to women and children -- and homosexuals -- Jews -- African Americans --

Native peoples all over the globe?

And attacks on democratic governments in trying to influence them for subsidy?

The Beijing conference ... Africa ... the RC church's all-out effort to keep divorce illegal in Chile in this century ... Ireland ... Latin America ...

I wonder how many people noticed that one of the very first things to happen in the new "democratic" Poland -- you know, that democracy-loving Pope's crowning glory -- was that abortion (until then legal and accessible) was outlawed ...

:)

;)

Trouble is, he didn't change the culture of the Church as regards the scandal, and he was in the best position at the best time to do so. Sin of omission.

For that reason alone he does not deserve sainthood.

:thumbsdown:

and does not this go against the commandment of having idols??

To be a saint you have to pull off two miracles in your life.

They're crediting him with Driving Off the Communists as his first miracle.

I'm PRETTY sure they'll be able to find a second miracle to credit him with, like turning water into vaseline or something.

This is little more than a PR campaign. The church under this jerk damaged the lives of millions. For the Vatican, that is simply par for the course. Over the centuries they have killed, tortured, began wars, had multiple crusades, burned and crushed women to get the "devil" out of them, and more. They exterminated indigenous peoples in central and south america, they raped, pillaged . . . hell, the list is endless.

There are few more corrupt, evil, and destructive entities than the Catholic church. For them to celebrate the protector of pederasts and pedophiles reminds me of how W promoted Condi Rice for her horrible failures as NSC chair.

This fucker, as well as the Rat, should have been behind bars. Same goes for Bernard Law, now living a life of easy luxury.

And glad somebody else is noticing the real implications. ;)

and The Vatican and St. Peters Basilica are amazing. Definitely recommend these sights to anyone going to Rome.

Neoclassical?

thingy (this was back in 06). St. Peter's was filling up with people...I nearly panicked and got the hell out...a crowd this size is scary. Same damn thing happened when I was in Venice in 08, in St. Marco's. People packed in. And then the water started rising...who knew San Marco's floods at noon in the springtime? That was the end of San Marco's for me...

n/t

It's 2011! And I really liked Pope JP II, BTW.

as the British royal family members are all mandated to follow the Anglican religion. Yet these two institutions attract the masses...for example in the US about 22 million people watched the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Christianity as the religion of hope? I sure as hell am not hearing too much hope from Pat Robertson, Terry Jones, and the American Christians with the loudest megaphones.

I know it's too much to expect USAmericans to understand, but constitutional monarchies do exist.

The Constitution of Canada, now an Act of the Parliament of Canada, provides that the reigning monarch of Great Britain is the head of state of Canada. There's nothing "obsolete" about a constitution adopted in 1982 that is the model for many modern constitutions around the world since then.

There's no answer to the question of final authority in this world (other than the power that comes from the barrel of a gun) -- the only answer is whatever the consensus of a society chooses. We have chosen constitutional monarchy as the most functional option at present, as have numerous European nations. The head of state stays out of the way and out of our business, and we get on with things.

As we're doing tomorrow at the polls. ;) There's a serious possibility we'll end up with a social democrat government at the end of it (as we have and have had in several provinces). Not bad for some medieval monarchist backwater.

If anybody comes up with a better solution to the age-old problem of the source of authority in a society, I'll be glad to hear it. Essentially, the source of authority is societal consensus, and we're really getting along quite well with our consensus that an irrelevant figurehead head of state represents that consensus.

Oh yes, the difference from the Pope is that there is no consensus of the "governed", other than to vote with their feet by joining or leaving. Nobody has yet asked the adherents of the RC religion/church to vote on their system of governance.

x(

Screw this evil Vatican.

Sorry...but I don't see what this has to do with our world.

More fantasy from those tied up in mythology.

and yet not be of interest to them as a Democrat.

Breaking news about dogs would strike me as kinda the same thing. I'll bet that a lot of Democrats own dogs.

Not that this isn't breaking news, necessarily; it's a world event of public interest. I'd just be careful about saying that because something interests some members of Group X, it should interest Group X as such. That's perhaps a bit of a slippery slope.