Ross Douthat writes in the New York Times:
On Saturday, Benedict addressed Britain’s politicians in the very hall where Sir Thomas More, the great Catholic martyr, was condemned to death for opposing the reformation of Henry VIII. It was an extraordinary moment, and a reminder of the resilience of Catholicism, across a gulf of years that’s consumed thrones, nations, entire civilizations.
This, above all, is why the crowds cheered for the pope, in Edinburgh and London and Birmingham—because almost five centuries after the Catholic faith was apparently strangled in Britain, their church is still alive.
I think that’s absolutely right. And while grace will lead Britain home, the pope didn’t talk about the obligations of every vocation in life for his health. He was calling on the bishops and the priests and religious, yes, and the politicians, yes, to lead a revival in Britain. But every Catholic man and woman—the laity don’t get to rest on our kneelers—too.
As a priest friend summed up the visit this morning: Pope Benedict “built the foundation for something monumental, but whether it actually becomes monumental depends on what happens from here, whether it inspires Brits more than ephemerally to build on those foundations. I’m praying that it does.”
So am I. And that we learn here, too. When he addressed everyone, he was really addressing everyone.
September 20th, 2010 | 1:16 pm
Thomas More was a traitor to the nation and was involved in Affairs a revolt that was about to explode and deserved the death penalty.
September 20th, 2010 | 1:50 pm
King George writes:
“Thomas More was a traitor to the nation and was involved in Affairs a revolt that was about to explode and deserved the death penalty.”
How’s that working out for you, that I can-be-my own-Pope-Henry-VIII thing? Here’s a comparison that may clarify your thinking. At the end of each line–Henry’s and Rome’s–we find:
Prince Charles
Pope Benedict XVI
I think the Catholics got the better of that deal. Apple does not fall far from the tree, as they say.
September 20th, 2010 | 3:38 pm
On the secular side, putting religion before nation is treason. On the spiritual side, putting nation before religion is idolatry. One serves Mammon, the other serves God. As St Thomas More said, “The King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
September 21st, 2010 | 12:55 am
I believe that in time this state/pastoral visit of Pope Benedict XVI will be seen in similar light to Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Poland in 1979.
Do not misunderstand my point here. Great Britain, the royal family and democracy will remain. What will eventually fall is the fundamentalist secularism in GB and in varying degrees throughout the West, even in our own country.
The handwriting is on the wall for fundamentalist secularism as it was for communism in 1979:
Mene Tekel Peres Daniel 5.25
Certainly the Archbishop of Canterbury’s closing words to the Pope will also be prophetic-how through the Pope’s visit, ‘we’ have drawn closer to the Rock.
It took ten years from the Pope’s first visit to Poland til the collapse of the Soviet stranglehold on Europe and even the end of the Soviet Union and communism in Russia itself. What could be so different about fundamentalist secularism?
Next step???? A “Solidarity-like movement’ to undermine the ideology of fundamentallist secularism. Any ideas? anyone want to step up to the PLATE?
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