NP my anti-Catholicism

[alfredjprufrock at club-internet.fr]

hi bandwraith,
have you ever heard of opus dei, also known as "the vatican maffia", "the
white maffia"?
this group was founded by a franquist abbot, José Maria Escriva de
Balaguer (who, conveniently enough, was beatified by good ol john
paul, barely 17 years after he died... that's fast for catholicism). their aim is to promote catholicism. they've been funding all sorts of hardcore
conservative groups, entered many a european government (some of their
well-known members were part of french (balladur, was our prime
minister at one point...) and spanish governments). john paul's been
naming opus dei members in positions where their ideas on catholicism
were threatened, for example in peru where the "theology of
liberation" (to put it simply, it's a socially-conscious and
liberal kind of catholicism)is strong. lately they've been infiltrating
international bodies like the UN.
i know you might think this sounds like yet another conspiracy theory,
but the opus dei is live and well. it is considered a cult in france
(we have laws against cults here, i know this will sound shocking to
the americans and don't ask me how they make a difference between a
cult and a religion, but cults are watched closely by the government).
anyway, if you read french here's a bunch of articles about them:
http://membres.lycos.fr/tussier/opusdei.htm#1
and an interesting website that gives positive and negative views on
them in english    and links and stuff
http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/

all this to say: don't believe the hype. the old man might have been
the first pope to recognize that the earth is round, that doesn't
make him a progressist. i don't call somebody who travels thru the
most aids-stricken countries in the world preaching against condoms
somebody who's trying to be a good person.
or should he try harder? he could learn from, say, well, anybody. but
maybe he should just start with jesus.

greg

Bac> I'm not Catholic (not even a christian) but this old man in the
Bac> funny costume strikes me as one of the more heroic figures
Bac> on the current world stage. Apart from the superstitious aspects
Bac> of his creed- not unlike the similar rubbish of all the other
Bac> religions, the need for which seems fairly universal, and will
Bac> probably hasten our collective demise by distracting us from
Bac> the impending environmental melt-down- it would be hard to
Bac> name other religious leaders who have tried harder to bridge
Bac> the gaps that separate the peoples of the world. He is an
Bac> old, fallible man, whose actions, like anyone in a position of
Bac> great power and authority, might have unintentionally harmed
Bac> many people, but he is trying to be a good person, and I 
Bac> respect him for that. 

Bac> In a message dated 8/7/02 2:20:35 PM, ottosell at yahoo.de writes:

Bac> << Where can I find any critical article on this unbelievable story of the 
Bac> Pope

Bac> who calls these Stasi-indios ("informelle Informanten") holy who have

Bac> betrayed their own people?

Bac>  >>



-- 
Best regards,
 alfredjprufrock                            mailto:alfredjprufrock at club-internet.fr