Benedict does it again

Benedict has done it again. How does he manage to alienate so many leaders of society? It must be a special gift.

Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

The commentary repeated church teaching that says the Catholic Church ''has the fullness of the means of salvation.''

''Christ 'established here on earth' only one church,'' said the document released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy's Dolomite mountains.

The other communities ''cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense'' because they do not have apostolic succession -- the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles -- and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid, it said. (Source)

Charming, absolutely charming. That's exactly what we need at the moment, a religious figure sowing dissent. Wars of religion have been among the most savage and in the current conservative climate, another reason to fight is not what we need.

Remember the joy and sense of hope in the 1990s when the Berlin Wall came down, the Cold War was over, lefty governments were in power and there was a real sense of hope that finally peace was breaking out all over the world. Flash forward to now and

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. - WB Yeats

sums the situation up quite nicely. Now right-wing nutjobs are in power, war is raging, terrorists are striking, racism is on the rise, and the religious divide is expanding horribly.

And it is in this climate the Pope Benedict XVI approves a document to say "nyah nyah nyah nyah. I'm right and you are wrong and you'll burn in the fiery pits of hell". What ever happened to "love thy neighbour" or "judge not lest you be judged"?

Benedict is dividing in a world of extremes, where Christian and Muslim fundamentalists that prize their version of the truth over morality. It is profoundly irresponsible and dangerous to fan the flames of intolerance. Build not destroy should be drummed into his head once he takes it out of the sand.