Mike Riddell's 200-word version...
What's going on in the Vatican? The normally conservative John Paul II seems to have become positively draconian with the issue of Dominus Iesus, a decree drafted by Cardinal Ratzinger, which reasserts Roman Catholicism as the One True Church, and everyone else a bunch of try-hards. Could it be that Ratzinger, the Schwarzenegger of doctrine, is actually running the Vatican these days?The release of Dominus Iesus, along with other disturbing signs, seems to indicate a swing to the right within the Catholic Church. Difficult as this might be to imagine, it represents an ongoing reluctance on the part of the ageing male Curia to have any truck with contemporary culture. The attitude seems to be one of battening down the hatches, without recognition that the ship they're on is remarkably like the Titanic.
There are at least two problems with this approach. The first is that looking over your shoulder and trumpeting the past is a lousy approximation of faith. The second is that, increasingly, few of the remaining Catholic faithful give a toss what the Vatican says anyway. Time for the Church to wake up to the 21st century, or else for the good Cardinal Ratzinger to take up swimming lessons.
For the full-length article by Mike Riddell, go here.
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