The International Writers Magazine: 04.20.2005
THE THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS OF A BUDDHIST AMONG BAPTISTS
• Reverend Father Antonio Hernández, O.M.D., A.B.F.
Founder of the Independent Order of American Buddhist Fathers

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WE LOST AGAIN, BIG TIME: A BRIEF COMMENTARY ON POPE BENEDICT XVI This morning, I awaited with a strange, nervous tension the proclamation that would identify the Roman Catholic Church's new pope. It was 11 a.m. my time (Central, it was 6 p.m. in Rome) when I saw the white smoke emerging from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. A pope had been elected after a record-setting short conclave. They elected him on the fourth ballot, on the second day of conclave.

By coincidence, I wrote two articles for "Hackwriters": one on the 'papal prophecies' of St. Malachy O'Morgan, and one about Aron Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, he man I swore up and down would be our next pope. I've been saying all along that I KNEW Lustiger would be elected.

Instead, I waited for the new pope to emerge onto the loggia, the papal balcony, almost afraid to see him. When I had heard the announcement of the name, which occurs well before the new pope emerges to give his first blessing, I already knew who the man was. We had some dealings in the long ago. I was simply afraid to see him emerge

Pope Benedict XVI, Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, was the horrifying sight that greeted my tired eyes. What do I know of him? I happen to know a great deal. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals, but more importantly he was the Church's Grand Inquisitor. Director of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger indulged in the same subterfuge as all the previous directors: this congregation used to have another name. THE INQUISITION.

Ratzinger is a Bavarian, was in the Hitler youth who was drafted into the German army at age 16. Immediately after the war, emerging somehow unscathed, Ratzinger went to school in Munich, and the rest is Roman history. Pope Pius XII made Ratzinger a bishop, Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal. And Pope John Paul II made Ratzinger the Grand Inquisitor, the doer of the dirty work, the writer of the draconian, Medieval proclamations. All the time that boneheaded reporters were falsely calling Lustiger the pope's right-hand man, they were deliberately missing the Ratzinger Point.

In his 2000 proclamation "Dominus Iesus", "Lord Jesus", Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of the necessity of the conversion of the Jews. He spoke of the people of Israel being "saved" by Jesus, then he did his theological hair, splitting dance and said that only God knew how the Jews would be converted! "Dominus Iesus" is considered one of the most vicious, albeit gently worded, anti-Semitic documents of the modern age. But what does this tell us about the former Nazi, the Grand Inquisitor, who is now Pope Benedict?

In all sincerity, I hope it tells us nothing. Pope Benedict defeated so many odds against him in the conclave that it is scary. He was the media darling, the front runner, and as Cardinal Lustiger faded into obscurity, Ratzinger essentially "went in as pope and emerged as pope", in the words of a television reporter. This has never happened, and indeed, any media favorites are tossed into the trash can. The Church's pre-conclave statements that we would all be surprised by the new pope turned out to be the understatement of the millennium.

What we should all hope now is that Ratzinger will not approach his pontificate as the Grand Inquisitor, the destroyer of heresies, the anti-Semite who once marched to Hitler's drum. We must take him as he seems: a soft spoken, gentle-looking old Bavarian, our new pope, the first pope of the 21st century. We have to force ourselves to see it this way, or lose heart as we go back to the thought that this man could turn out much worse than his predecessor. If the last pope was viewed by so many as a betrayer of Western Catholic trust, how will Benedict be seen? And will the alliance I cherish, the Holy alliance between Buddhists and Catholics to combat tyranny in the world, be destroyed once and for all?

As a smart ass with bitter defeat in my mouth, the only consolation I have is thin. It is that all the right wing fascist Christian screwheads (who have been telling me the next pope would be a Jewish antichrist) can kiss my proverbial. Not only is Pope Benedict not a Jew, he doesn't even like Jews. He is unconcerned with Israel, stating that only Jesus will know when and how to "save" Israel. He's right wing, he was the Grand Inquisitor, he was the Head Cardinal, and he either wrote and/or said all the rotten things attributed to the Catholic Church's stance in the last quarter of a century.
In other words, NOW I REALLY am worried about all that antichrist stuff after all.

Also by Rev Hernandez The RingKing

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