Pope to Pray with Other Religions for World Peace

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Seifer

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Wednesday January 23 8:22 PM ET
Pope to Pray with Other Religions for World Peace
By Crispian Balmer

ASSISI, Italy (Reuters) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites), tormented by the September 11 attacks on the United States, will lead prayers for peace on Thursday with more than 200 representatives from the world's main religions.

It is the third such day of peace organized by the Pope during his 23-year pontificate, and he wants to ram home the message that conflict, murder and violence should never be carried out in the name of God.

Leaders of a dozen religions, from Christians to Muslims, from Jews to animists, will stand side-by-side in this ancient Italian hillside town and pledge that each faith should bring peace, forgiveness, life and love to earth.


The Pope hopes the meeting in the birthplace of St. Francis, the saint most associated with peace, will help promote relations with Muslims in the wake of the suicide plane attacks on the United States and the subsequent war in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

``After the event of the Twin Towers... people were saying this is a war against Muslims. But the Pope wanted to show the whole world that there is nothing wrong between Muslims and other religions,'' said Father Thomas Calleja, a Roman Catholic priest who traveled to Assisi from Malta for the meeting.

Islam will be represented by 31 Muslims from 19 countries, including the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among the Jews attending will be Rabbi David Rosen of Jerusalem, President of the International Council of Christians and Jews.

Many of the religious leaders will travel to Assisi with the Pope during the morning aboard a special papal train from the Vatican (news - web sites) and will return the same way in the evening.

TENT PRAYER MEETING

After a morning session of peace appeals in a huge tent erected in front of Assisi's imposing basilica, the religious groups will then go off to various rooms within the complex for further meditation before joining forces in the afternoon.

``Never again violence, never again war, never again terrorism,'' the 81-year old Pope will say on behalf of the world's almost one billion Catholics in a speech released by his office ahead of Thursday's event.

However, not all Catholics are happy with his initiative and some have criticized him for linking up with, among others, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians and believers in traditional African faiths.

``To pray with heretics, schismatics, rabbis, mullahs, witch doctors and various idolaters creates confusion among Catholic believers,'' Federico Bricolo and Massimo Polledri, members of an Italian government coalition party, said in a statement.


Anyone see the wrong in this? Praying WITH other religions? For, perhaps, but WITH?
 

Kirkland1244

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Originally posted by solo66 man


It is in effect saying all religions are the same. I believe this is way off base and that Christ would NEVER permit this act.

Gee, that's funny, because the Pope has never, and would never, say that. In fact, the Vatican got in a lot of hot water with the press in 2000 for releasing a document that said exactly the opposite of what you're accusing the pope of saying.

The Pope and the Catholic Church work with leaders and members of other religions to promote peace and other secular concerns of the Church. That the Pope and the Dalai Lama are friends does not mean that the Pope considers Buddhism to be a valid religion along the lines of Christianity or Judaism.

Your response is typical of a fundie, though. " The ******** *****at the local Southern Baptist Church always says something to that effect when he rudely refuses to join Catholic, Methodist and Episcopal clergy at National Prayer Day functions at my old parish.
I edited out all derogatory statements. solo66 man
 
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MatthewDiscipleofGod

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I think it's very wrong. Just think of it this simple way. Would Jesus when he was on earth encourage others like the pope is encourage others to pray to false gods and idols? That's one of the reasons why God showed his anger in the bible. Our God is a jealous God. Love your enemies has nothing to do with saying encourage others to sin so that maybe you can have world peace.
 
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solo66 man

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Originally posted by Project 86
I think it's very wrong. Just think of it this simple way. Would Jesus when he was on earth encourage others like the pope is encourage others to pray to false gods and idols? That's one of the reasons why God showed his anger in the bible. Our God is a jealous God. Love your enemies has nothing to do with saying encourage others to sin so that maybe you can have world peace.
[SHADOW=orange]AMEN![/SHADOW]
 
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nyj

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Originally posted by Project 86
I think it's very wrong. Just think of it this simple way. Would Jesus when he was on earth encourage others like the pope is encourage others to pray to false gods and idols? That's one of the reasons why God showed his anger in the bible. Our God is a jealous God. Love your enemies has nothing to do with saying encourage others to sin so that maybe you can have world peace.

Yes, Jesus talked to a Samaritan woman, and even used a Samaritan in a parable, and in a way that reflected positively upon the Samaritan and negatively upon the Jew! If one is familiar with Biblical times, one would see the obvious parallel between the Pope's actions and Jesus'.

Remember, Jesus Christ came for all men. Not just Christians. Not just Jews. All men.
 
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MatthewDiscipleofGod

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Yes I know that parable. That though doesn't relate to what the pope is doing. Also yes, I agree God is for all people, not just a selected few. If you can point to me where Jesus encourage people to sin just like the pope encouraging people to pray to false gods then I would have to change my view. He hung out with prostitutes, he didn't encourage them to sell their bodies. He taught to them who God is so they would find him and pull them from their sinful actions. You can aruge well the pope wants to draw these people to the true God by doing this. Well if he is he's doing it the wrong way. Never did Jesus have someone sin so that they could find God.
 
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Wolseley

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*sigh*

Well, once again, a secular news service (this time Reuters) screws up the actual story, misreports the actual events, distorts the facts, and displays the typical anti-Vatican bias they usually have, and the mangled result sets people all a-twitter.

According to Reuters (from the article in the OP):
Pope John Paul will lead prayers for peace on Thursday with more than 200 representatives from the world's main religions.

Leaders of a dozen religions, from Christians to Muslims, from Jews to animists, will stand side-by-side in this ancient Italian hillside town and pledge that each faith should bring peace, forgiveness, life and love to earth.

TENT PRAYER MEETING

After a morning session of peace appeals in a huge tent erected in front of Assisi's imposing basilica, the religious groups will then go off to various rooms within the complex for further meditation before joining forces in the afternoon.
(Bolding mine.) To read this report, one gains the idea that the Pope was holding a tent revival with all these different religions present, and he was actually leading the prayers of them all, since everybody is in one spot, shoulder-to-shoulder, praying at the same time. Oh, sure, they go off to other "rooms within the complex for further meditation", but then it's back to joint prayer with the Pope in charge, right?

Let's check a couple other sources not quite so biased.

From ZENIT, one of the Vatican news agencies:
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 23, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Hundreds of representatives of the world´s religions will convene in Assisi, Italy, on Thursday, united for a common purpose: to pray for God's gift of peace and to condemn violence as a profanation of his name.

The religious leaders who go to St. Francis' city will have the same objective, but they will not pray together. Each religious group will pray in a particular place -- including the Zoroastrians, who will light their liturgical fire in an open-air cloister.
From Catholic World News Service:
ASSISI, Jan 24, 02 (CWNews.com) -- An inter-religious day of prayer for peace concluded this afternoon, with the leaders of various religious traditions-- having separated for private prayer-- came together to light candles symbolizing their desire for peace.

The 300 religious leaders and 2,200 invited participants who had traveled to Assisi met outside the Basilica of St. Francis late in the afternoon, after having heard testimonials, prayed in their separate locations, then shared a "frugal" lunch.

(The task of finding appropriate sites for prayer, according to a wide variety of religious traditions, was a complicated one. Muslim participants had asked for a room facing east, toward Mecca. Jewish participants preferred a place that had never been blessed. Zoroastrians wanted a room with a window that could be opened so that they could build a fire. The Christian delegation came together in the Basilica.)

In the day's final ceremony, the leaders of each major religious group was furnished with a candle, and several representatives offered a brief thought. Spokesmen for the Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, Sikh, Confucian, and Protestant traditions each stressed the need to break down barriers of misunderstanding and contempt, and build a shared culture of dialogue.
Again, bolding mine. As can be seen here, the participants did not pray together, and the Pope did not pray "with" them, let alone "lead" the prayers, as Reuters misreported. All the various delegations were completely separate from one another during the time of prayer. (This was the "meditation" that Reuters mentioned.) At the end of the event, candles were passed out to symbolize peace, and several leaders spoke briefly, but did not pray with the others, nor did they lead prayer with the others. (This was the "joining of forces" that Reuters mentioned.)

Basically what you have here is a bunch of people of different faiths coming together in one town in Italy; they have a meeting with the Pope, who says, "Guys, we should all pray for world peace." They all go off to completely separate places to pray in their own way, and at the end, they all assemble again, and several of the leaders make some remarks which basically consist of "People, can't we all just get along?", and then everybody goes home.

Ironically, the only "mixing" of religions during the prayer time was between Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox, who all met in the Assisi basilica. Everybody else was off in other places.

I realize this won't make a bit of difference to those who see the Pope as the Antichrist Who Is Forming The One World Religion To Take Over The Planet And Force His Evil Ideas On Mankind During The Great Tribulation Of Seven Years, but the Pope wasn't trying to say that all religions are equal. (The Vatican has stated over and over again that all religions are not equal. The Council of Trent said this. Vatican II said this. Dominus Iesus said this.) He was trying to get the world's religious leaders to influence people in their homelands to stop killing people.

A sinister objective, without a doubt.
 
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rollinTHUNDER

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This will help my theory out about the next Pope. The next one will be the one to watch out for. But the true church won't be here. I believe the Apostate chuch will be led from Rome, where they will combine all religions probably, including witchcraft, which has already found its way into some churches. Remember when the Catholic church mixxed with pagan traditions, and now we have all these bogus holidays??? The total opposite of the way, the truth and the life.
 
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Wolseley

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Remember when the Catholic church mixxed with pagan traditions, and now we have all these bogus holidays???
Can you give me a cite for where you acquired the information for this hypothesis? Standard bibliographic reference will be fine.

I'd like to corroborate your source. :)

Pax,
---Wols.
 
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Seifer

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But Wolseley, the fact that the Pope gathered these other religious leaders to PRAY (although perhaps not at once), is still bad.


Why waste fuel to fly someone from Zimbabwe to pray? Who they gonna pray to?

Its like saying "Yes, Ahmid, go pray to Allah and lets hope it helps our situation"

What he should have done is gather the Christians together to pray, the other religions is a waste of time, no?
 
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ZooMom

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Originally posted by Seifer
But Wolseley, the fact that the Pope gathered these other religious leaders to PRAY (although perhaps not at once), is still bad.
Ok.


Why waste fuel to fly someone from Zimbabwe to pray? Who they gonna pray to?
A waste? That they all came to the Pope, who with the other Christians present witnessed for their Faith just by being there? You don't know what seeds might have been planted.

Its like saying "Yes, Ahmid, go pray to Allah and lets hope it helps our situation"
Or maybe it's like saying, "Here is the Love of Christ in the hand we extend to you." Seeds.

What he should have done is gather the Christians together to pray, the other religions is a waste of time, no?
Everyone who is not a Christian is a waste of time??? Are you serious?? :eek:
 
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