Were 2 of the questions about the theories? If so, what were His Holiness’s answers? rw

What are the difference between the news nerds and the cool calm news people?
At every press conference or briefing, everyone is acting like a lunatic to get a blurb, photo, or soundbyte!

We are so blessed to have the POPE visit America.
God Bless His Holiness.

Dear Pontiff, Thank you for coming to America. The ticket sales to see you are a sign that people long to be close to someone who is real, someone who is truly holy. Your smile, your gentleness, your love for people are the gifts that Jesus also presented to the world - many will feel your peace and believe. Your Holiness - be safe, and enjoy being here. We are a country longing for salvation, but don’t know where to look - for it is difficult to trust those in power around us - but you give us hope for you sincerely have the spirit of God within you….thank you for sharing your gifts, and may we become a more loving people of God because of you caring so deeply about us. Thank you for not giving into the worlds ways, but staying committed to God’s ways. Pray for our nation’s people when you return to Rome and always. Thank you your Holiness, and have a wonderful time while you are here.

Sincerely,
Florence Cranney

I don’t know what the big deal about the Pope’s visit is. I mean, the Catholic Church is going through a major exodus of parishoners because it has hung on to the “TAKE” as much as we can principle rather than “Give” as much as we can for the glory of God.

As a recovering “Catholic” I am disgusted at how the Vatican has handled the sex abuse issues, and how the local “Churches” under Vatican rule place more value on the dollars they receive than the services or programs offered to help people here in the states at the local level.

Unless major changes are made at the fundamental level, the Pope’s legitimacy shall continue to decrease along with the Catholic faith. I also believe Priests should be allowed to marry. How could you ever truly understand family values without having a family of your own?

There are many true Christian Catholics out here who would rather follow Biblical principles which includes tithing among others, and place more faith in Christ and his values than those of the Vatican who refuses to open their eyes.

It just breaks my heart to see what is happening. I truly pray changes are made to draw people closer to God rather than push them away.

Dear Pope Benedict, Thank you for coming to America. Thank you for returning us to tradition. Remind us of what being Catholic means. God Bless you and keep you safe while you are here.

A response to the writer Lew

-The Catholic Church is not a democracy. It is a hierarchy. Period.
-Moral guidelines are based upon Scripture, tradition, and doctrine.
Relativism, “cafeteria picking” values, and whining about secular issues is an American version of Martin Luther throwing the whole tub out of the window, along with the bath water. Martin Luther protested against corrupt Church officials, but said, hey, the whole 1500 years of tradition and faith is wrong as well. His premise worked really well, that’s why there is about 45,000 different Christian churches registered with the IRS! If you don’t like one preacher, just go up the road to one who suits you, then move on when he angers you.
All of the moral principles, against birth control, abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, almost all of the Protestant churches have become lax on. The Catholic Church has been the only one to uphold these values.
-Your heart should break, but for your only wishy washy and “herd mentality” outlook on faith, tradition and substance.

As a Lutheran who is confident in my doctrinal differences with the Pope, I welcome him here and pray his time will be productive. I believe he’s doing a splendid job so far and wish him the best. As far as “throwing out the bath water”, it really needed changing at the time.

C.J. I respect your reply. In one sense you are correct, in another, you are so far off base and limit your scope about the realities of the world in your response. You can paint it any color you like, but no matter how you look at it. Though the Church has held true on the issues you refer, holding to these issues does not make the church right or “whole” on these principals alone. I agree with your Martin Luther statement as well; however, In my experience and those of others where individuals have come across difficulties in life, who search within the “Catholic” Church family for help, are the same ones who get turned away because of lack of sincere concern. Wether you accept it or not, the secular world does breach the boundaries of the Christian one, where it needs to be reverse.

Second, you do not hold true based on “traditions” Remember when Christ criticized the Jewish Elders for holding to tradtions that did not glorify the kingdom of God?

Third, Wishy, washy? what on earth does that mean? If you are truly a faithful Christian, and have a relationship with Christ, like the Vatican is supposed to represent, and the Pope at the head of the Hierarchy, then he should step forward and recognize what is happening and make changes to get the Church back on track. I am prayerful, this will come to pass.

There is room to debate your “Cafeteria Picking” statement but in order to make a change for the positive, you have to begin somewhere, and the only reason to make that change is because you have lost track of the path you began on, providing it was right on the first place.

I recall a child being threatened of being not allowed to Graduate Catholic Grammar school because his parents did not hand in their “weekly” envelopes with money to the church. The Pastor in this case did not care about the fact that this family recently lost a father and the mother was on welfare because of loss of income, even though extended family “Paid tuition in full” That is only 1 single example of ineptitude.

Wishy washy? You confuse wishy washy with genuine love for others and humanity. Either way, you need to get your priorities right because traditions alone are not going to save you. There must be a genuine effort to “Reach Out” to others, not just the ones who can “currently” pay your bills. Infact, this does not even save you, it only confirms your commitment to Christ.

In closing, I do continue to believe the Catholic Church has a continued importance within our world, I only feel many of us truly want to see the Church get back on track, make things right in the eyes of GOD, and “Serve” God’s people, not the other way around.

We pray that as Americans, we are able to appreciate what an opportunity we have before us to witness such a man as Pope Benedict. This is history in the making and I hope all eyes will be upon our Christian/Catholic faith and its commitment to the truth. Great work Greg Burke and thank you.

In response to Lew:

Yes Lew, traditions such as when Paul tells the Corinthians, “I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you” (1 Cor. 11:2), and he commands the Thessalonians, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:15). He even goes so far as to order, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6).
To make sure that the apostolic tradition would be passed down after the deaths of the apostles, Paul told Timothy, “[W]hat you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). In this passage he refers to the first four generations of apostolic succession—his own generation, Timothy’s generation, the generation Timothy will teach, and the generation they in turn will teach.
The early Church Fathers, who were links in that chain of succession, recognized the necessity of the traditions that had been handed down from the apostles and guarded them scrupulously

As far as the secular world breaching the boundaries of concern for others, that the Church lacks. You’re kidding me right? The secular world that upholds the wiping out of 50 million babies since 1973? The secular world that has been titled a “culture of death?” That’s the secular world that you’re patting on the back for reaching out to the downtrodden right? Whatever hang up you have with some priest at a local level that was stingy at some Catholic Grammar School, get over it! I’ll keep you in mind every week at when I place my envelope in the collection for a poverty stricken area of Haiti, a soup kitchen in Alaska, or the numerous amount of causes we give to for 52 weeks.

Thanks Lew for the responses, and I do uphold your Christian brotherhood with me….

Today Pope was at the White House for our ceremony on the East lawn. I did not get to see this and I was wondering if it would rebroadcast at some time in the future. Thank you very much

In response to Brad;

As a practicing Catholic, I would like to thank you for welcoming the Pope. I also agree; “the bath water” did need to be changed. Our Christian beliefs far out weigh our differences in doctrine.

Thank you to Fox News for giving all of us the opportunity to see and hear about the trip of the beloved Pope Benedict. Special thanks to Bill Hemmer and Mygan Kelly for their coverage. Mr. Hemmer, you have been an inspiration–just wait to hear and see your expressions on this story! God Bless you all at Fox.

I was told today that the Pope is receiving a tremendous amount of security measures from the CIA, FBI and local Police forces (actually more than the facist idiot in charge oh sorry The President). It’s interesting that our tax dollars are going to pay for protecting a man who not everybody believes in, or follows. How come my tax dollars arent being spent on a man who is control of multiple hundreds of billions of dollars. Im sure he has his own security force, I mean he does ride in a bullet/bomb proof vehicle. Im sad to see that our government which is suppose to be supporting all the people is not its just supporting a sector of religious people. Seperation of Church and State is still in the works, when the word god is removed from our money and other government agency titles and documents, then we will be a true Democratic society who takes all people of all faith (even if your faith is in yourself and you understand the natural laws of science and how our world operates, sorry I feel people who believe in God are uneducated and are insecure. Do you believe in unicorns? lepricons? no because they dont exist. So go read a textbook on how things work perhaps you will feel better about yourself and stop relying on a theory that doesnt exist.

I do not care for Sen. Ted Kennedy but I wanted to say, it was awesome the way Senetor, refrained from Holy Communion. I wish other Catholic politicians had the guts to practice there faith with the respect Sen. Kennedy did. Instead of bringing scandle he brought class. (at least this time)
Tacia in RI

I loved seeing the Pope and I’m not Roman Catholic. I’m an Episcopalian. The Pope is a Holy Man and a Holy leader in our times. I watched His Holiness celebrate the Mass twice and the thing that irritated me - the thing I was disappointed in was the fact that the news reporters could not refrain from TALKING throughout the services. They even had invited guests to talk to and split the screen so that we couldn’t hear either properly. Please news media - - - The people at home who are watching are not tuned in to watch you! I wanted to hear the words of the service and I wanted to hear the music… But, I thought the whole 3/4 day event was just wonderful. This Pope makes me want to join the RC Church. Maybe I will one day.

REPLY TO KEN:

If you wish to watch a replay of any of the Pope’s events, they’re on this website:

http://www.uspapalvisit.org/

What a wonderful visit from the Holy Father and how lucky we are that he chose a week in which he celebrated his birthday and papal anniversary!