I would have thought that since Right of Center Ice has a religious background (studying theology no less) he'd have a better grasp of the CDF's latest clarification regarding the nature of the Church.But alas, no.
He writes:
In a brilliant sign of insecurity Pope Benny (left) "reasserted the primacy" of the Catholic church effectively reminding every single Protestant why they left the "holy" Roman Church in the first place.
Protestants alive today didn't leave the Church. Most protestants weren't baptized Catholic to begin with.
It was the arrogance, corruption, and spiritual tyranny of the Catholic church that drove Martin Luther to post his 95 Theses in the hopes that the papacy would reform and return to it's roots as the early church.
Well, that's an overly simplistic view of history. It wasn't just the corruption of church officials (I'll leave out the arrogance and spiritual tyranny), it was his newly developed hermeneutics of bible alone theory.
I've read quite a lot about the Protestant Revolt. And what reformers perceived to be the "roots of the church" didn't have a firm basis in fact. History was not a very developed area of knowledge. Even faithful Catholics like Thomas More had to figure out why the pope was the head of the church. It wasn't obvious to 15th century believers, much like many Catholic believers are not always up on the why's and wherefores of the faith.
As unsurprising as it was then, it still is today that the Catholic church took nearly 500 years to catch up to mainstream Protestant theology. Masterfully, Ratzinger has outdone all that.
I like that "catch up". Does "mainstream Protestant theology" have the truth?
But I digress.
The Church hasn't changed her teaching on the nature of the Church. Right of Center Ice was sold a false bill of goods when he learned that the Church had developed a different theology.
Once the Church accepts a doctrine, she doesn't reject it. That's one thing all people must understand.
You'd think after experiencing the counter-reformation first hand that the papal relic would have learned that the theological delegitimization and persecution of other denominations doesn't work. Well, I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
The Counter-Reformation was about 400 years ago. He wasn't born then.
"Theological delegitamitization" didn't stop after the Counter-Reformation. What the Church believed in the 16th century, it continued to believe right up until this day.
I don't see too many Catholics thirsting for Protestant blood.
The notion that this is the precursor to persecution is ridiculous.
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