This Just In: Pope says, "Dead babies MAY not be stuck in limbo."
VATICAN CITY (April 21) - Pope Benedict XVI has reversed centuries of traditional Roman Catholic teaching on limbo, approving a Vatican report released Friday that says there were "serious" grounds to hope that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven. -- "Catholic Church Reverses Teaching on Limbo," Nicole Winfield - AP
That this should even make the news is laughable. That some Catholics actually believe/d such tripe is tragic. This episode is just another example of the Catholic Church recanting some twisted, perverse teaching cynically calculated to terrorize true believers and rigidly enforce adherence to Church dogma and practice, which stands up to neither enlightened examination nor sensible inquiry -- and most assuredly was one which was never in concert with the idea of a just and loving Creator.
This sort of sickness is embedded in the institution's DNA. There's that nasty, little episode regarding the Copernican model of the universe, which was condemned by the Catholic Church -- which believed that, since Man was made in the image of God, surely the rock on which he resides (Earth) MUST be the center of the universe. Recanted -- after the Church persecuted and tormented poor Galileo and had him jailed for his adherence to heliocentrism.
And then there's Pope Gregory II and that sexist tall tale about Mary Magdalene bein' a ho' -- a former prostitute, to be more specific. Yep. Recanted.
Down the road, there will be more. There's an even bigger one coming up -- the ordination of women. But don't hold your breath; the current paleopope isn't likely to budge on that one. Apparently, the fact that Jesus had a penis instead of a vagina is of momentous importance -- enough for the Church to deny women the priesthood, even in the face of a dire shortage of priests. (Celibacy 'til death seems to discourage many men -- go figure. That's another recantation in the making, but even further down the line.) Even given the fact that many women now are performing many of the duties of the priests, the Word of the Church remains the same: "Sorry, dearie. This is a men-only club."
And what of that old canard about papal infallibility? Given the track record of the pointy-hatted pontifs throughout the centuries, one would think that one would have disappeared down the rabbit hole as well. I mean if popes were infallible, there would be no recantations, no reprehensible silence on the part of the Vatican when church officials go astray, no nightmarish papal PR gaffs. Like the tawdry, downright un-Christian silence of the Church during the Holocaust. Like its looking the other way for only God knows how long when it came to priestly indiscretions with young boys (and girls). Or, like when Joey Ratzinger became pope and then promptly put his foot in it with his decidedly un-pope-like, inflammatory, and extremely ill-timed comments about Islam.
So, with this pronouncement by Benedict, it's just another inane teaching consigned to the dustbin of religious history, another nonsensical tenet of Catholic dogma down the tubes -- with many more to go. Until then, Catholics simply will have to use the innate common sense and spiritual intelligence God gave them and ignore the outright idiocy of some of the Church's teachings.
Frankly, I find this announcement by the Church no cause for surprise, relief or celebration. My immediate response is an impatient, "AND...?"
