Tuesday, November 03, 2009

my enemies enemies

From Salon:

Pope Benedict XVI has made some Anglicans an offer he thinks they can't refuse. The pope has opened his arms to welcome, en masse, Anglican and Episcopalian priests, bishops and even whole congregations into full communion with the Catholic Church -- so long as they disagree with Anglican decisions to accept women priests and gay bishops. The Anglican priests and bishops can even bring their wives and kids with them. [..read more..]

and from closer to home - well a tiny bit closer - WA. From WA Today:

Pope Benedict has shown himself to be the ultimate short term thinker. He has dealt with his putative partner, Anglicanism, the third largest church after Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, with such sleazy opportunism that he has killed off all hope for a more unified wing of the European higher churches.  
... 
What has he done? After decades of gentle negotiation and muted love calls between these two behemoths, he made a desperate grab for a fringe of Anglicanism – the bells and smell sector. He has offered a deal to the small number of Anglo Catholics to come within his Roman fold (who in Australia will bring no property or assets). As my wry wife observed, this will increase the average IQ of both Anglicanism and Catholicism.

Benedict has shown himself to be a naked empire builder whose friendship cannot be trusted. His avarice is palpable and reveals him to be untrustworthy.