The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! “Father, the atheists?” Even the atheists. Everyone!…We must meet one another doing good. “But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!” But do good: we will meet one another there.Pope Francis, proclaiming that even non-believers will be redeemed by Christ, as long as they “do good” (not all Christians subscribe to this theory). source
BREAKING NEWS: New pope is Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.
Benedict’s resignation becomes official February 28—and a successor is likely to be chosen by Spring. He has been in the position for nearly eight years. The Catholic Church has been quick to emphasize that he is not resigning due to any scandal—though he certainly was beset by one, with child abuse controversies casting a pall over his papacy.
We know that we’ve done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren’t so, and regret that hurt.
We know that we dearly love our family. They now consider us betrayers, and we are cut off from their lives, but we know they are well-intentioned. We will never not love them.
We know that we can’t undo our whole lives. We can’t even say we’d want to if we could; we are who we are because of all the experiences that brought us to this point. What we can do is try to find a better way to live from here on. That’s our focus.
Up until now, our names have been synonymous with “God Hates Fags.” Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what we did. We hope Ms. Kyle was right about the other part, too, though – that everything sticks – and that the changes we make in our lives will speak for themselves.
The Daily Dot got a response from Phelps-Roper’s aunt, Margie Phelps, who is perhaps the most-known figure of the church outside of founder Fred Phelps. In a statement, she criticized them for going down this path. “Given the zeitgeist of proud sin that permeates the land,” she wrote in an e-mail, “the miracle is the young people who do the opposite – who serve God, and reject the filthy manner of life of this nation.”
Paul Haggis says leaving Scientology was ‘a treasonous act’
(Photo: Rock Center with Brian Williams)
In an exclusive interview with Rock Center’s Harry Smith, ex-Scientologist and famed Hollywood director Paul Haggis discusses the controversial church of which he was a member for more than 30 years. He calls the religion a ‘cult’. Haggis is part of author Lawrence Wright’s new book, “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.” Wright talked to Rock Center about his new book and Scientology’s controversial history. Rock Center’s two-part report airs Thursday, Jan. 17 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Hey Harry, did you ask him about the Atlantic ad?
Meet U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema, from Arizona’s 9th district. Labeled by her Republican opponent as an anti-American “pagan hippie,” Sinema is both the first openly bisexual member of Congress and the first member of Congress to publicly describe her religion as “none.”
Sinema, a former social worker and criminal defense lawyer, proves that honesty about one’s beliefs and identity does not doom one to political irrelevance.
This, in 2012, seemed both long overdue and increasingly inevitable. A lot of really big, really important “firsts” in our politics last year, in the forms of some very worthy and exciting new figures.
It will change the way you think. What they are teaching is inherently spiritual, it’s just inappropriate therefore in our public schools.Encinitas, Calif. mother Mary Eady • Discussing why she pulled her children out of a yoga class taught at the Encinitas Union School District, out of a belief that the classes would indoctrinate her children in an Eastern religion. Eady and other parents are considering lawsuits to stop the program. So yeah, there’s that.
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Things the Pope Didn’t Really Tweet, Vol. 1.
Wait, what are you apologizing for, ION? This is great.
The Pope tweets: So convinced he was going to start out with a Spotify link to a Smoking Popes song.
A Vatican official told CNN the pope will be composing the tweets for the new account himself. For the first tweet from the account, the pope will also press the button to send the tweet himself, but after that others will send the tweets on his behalf.
In June 2011 the pope sent his first tweet from the Twitter account for the Vatican news site, @news_va_en, to launch the new site www.news.va. He wrote, “Dear friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.”
His first tweet on the new account should be ”Just had an amazing mocha.” He’ll fit right in.
I am confident that I am there for a reason for one more year. I don’t think I would have been on the show if God hadn’t kind of pushed me into it. Because otherwise I genuinely didn’t want to do another year of the show.Actor Angus T. Jones • Apologizing for his comments regarding “Two and a Half Men” — saying that “I apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed” — and claiming that God told him to accept an $8 million salary to do another year of the show. That above quote is worth at least two and a half WTFs. Oh yeah, Charlie Sheen chimed in, saying: “With Angus’ Hale-Bopp-like meltdown, it is radically clear to me that the show is cursed.”
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