I am not knocking the man. I just want to see why he is so revered or any pope for that matter. I mean GE Patterson is the head of all of the COGIC churches and I don't see people flocking to see him. The Pope seems like just a preacher of a large religious organization to me. Please enlighten me. THis is not a diss thread, I just want knowledge. Thanks

At the core, not seen by the naked eyes or ears..the pope stands (as a figure head) on a huge religious organization based and operated on Jesuitism.

http://simplestartpage.com/2305J_JESUITISM.HTML
http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionar...TISM&x=19&y=17

@safety
the pope was ineffective in the world of politics. he may have objected to the attack on iraq but i suspect that many r.c's supported it.
certainly many xtians did!
as for communism or socialism being evil that is plain stupid. they are simply economic philosophies. if they are evil then capitalism most certainly is too.
we live in a capitalist world, therefore the evils of the world, such as poverty, hunger and greed, and most definitely war, have more to do with a capitalist economic system than with any other.
so what did the pope do that actually had a good, practical impact on the world?
anything or nothing? i suspect nothing, altho those who believe in that rather weak and very shaky superstition called xtianity, will no doubt disagree.

@HLF

John Paul II's role in the so-called collapse of communism has been greatly overstated by his supporters. First, he does not appear to have been at all exercised over the fact that one out of every six people on Earth still lives under communist tyranny in the People's Republic of China. That indicates that his supposed anti-communism was much more a matter of wanting to see his native Poland liberated than of opposing communism per se. Second, most of what he did was to encourage a revolution already in progress -- following rather than leading.



Third, and most important, the Roman Catholic Church's preferred alternative to anti-Catholic tyranny is not freedom. It is pro-Catholic tyranny. That is why, in the great ideological struggle of the twentieth century among communist tyranny, fascist tyranny, and representative-democratic freedom, the Church allied itself squarely with fascism (the Lateran treaty, the Concordat with the Nazis, the repeated interventions to prop up the Mussolini regime, the direct intervention to assure that Hitler attained absolute power by constitutional means, etc.).



Ultimately, the Church's objective is to establish itself as the dictatorial head of a worldwide tyranny. It is committed to the eradication of all freedom of religion, opinion, and expression. (Those who do not already know this would do well to read Quanta Cura, Syllabus of Errors, and Unam Sanctam. It's all in there, plain as day.) The Roman Catholic Church is a constant threat to the liberty of every human being -- and not one iota less so now than in 1978.

[align=center]IN THE ILLUSTRIOUS WORDS OF REGGAE ARTISTATHONY B;[/align]


[align=center]FIRE PON ROME!!![/align]

Cool people, you got out your opinions, but still no one answered the question on exactly what is the man besides a figure head?

I see the Catholics on TV journeying to see him, I see people crying, heck I have seen people running just to get a glimpse of the man and I just want to know what he means from the eyes of a Catholic person, so I can have a basic understanding of where they are coming from.

@Safetyblitz

According to most Christians who believe the Bible to be the word of God....Jesus Christ is the only mediator between Man and God and therefore revered as their spiritual leader.

Catholics on the other hand as you have observed look to the Pope as their spiritual leader confused3

Well she's 68, and seemingly going strong. People have been known to make their shahada in their 80s, so we still have hope inshaAllah.

I saw nothing in Dr Calder to suggest that she's about to leave Gaza and live a comfortable life back in Australia. Her heart truly belongs to the disabled, mashaAllah.

During this interview we saw Dr Calder's daily routine, from the way she cared for her adopted children [one had severe Cerebal Palsy] to the way she would accompany this blind Palestinian girl in her daily work [the blind girl, mashaAllah, is her translator and has just completed her MA!]

Dr Calder has done so much, and yet she still perseveres, still goes through the gauntlet of endless check-points and so on, and -- from what I saw -- maintained her composure at all times.

As a footnote, for those interested, Dr Calder was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for her humanitarian work among the disabled and disadvantaged.
__________________
"It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad; and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent; but silence is better than idle words."

(Bukhari)

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

(Muslim)

Saftey

You're hip to how Catholics call thier priests "father" right?

Well, Pope = Papa


For most of the Catholic world Pope John Paul was known as Papa John (not the pizzeria) Paul; and he was the father of all fathers.
The Don Dada.

According to Catholic tradition, Popes are supposedly the "successors" of Jesus in the leadership of the Church and Christian religion.

Catholics say Peter was the first pope and the mantle was passed from there on.

@ahmaad

seems there are no catholics here that one can engage with with in some deeper conversation

let it go bro

wabillahi taufiq