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Pope Benedict XVI delivers a blistering attack on the
decadence of today's society:
"Lord, we have lost our
sens
e
of sin...spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of
Satan,
...."
Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston, CLASS
magazine, USAfricaonline.com
and IgboEvents
Pope condemns geneticists 'who play at being
God'
The Times (London) April 14, 2006. By Ruth Gledhill,
Religion Correspondent
THE Pope will deliver a blistering attack on the "satanic" mores
of modern society today, warning against an "inane apologia of evil"
that is in danger of destroying humanity. In a series of Good Friday
meditations that he will lead in Rome, the Pope will say that society
is in the grip of a kind of "anti-Genesis" described as "a diabolical
pride aimed at eliminating the family". He will pray for society to
be cleansed of the "filth" that surrounds it and be restored to
purity, freed from "decadent narcissism".
Particular condemnation is reserved for scientific advances in the
field of genetic manipulation. Warning against the move to "modify
the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God", the Pope will
lead prayers against "insane, risky and dangerous" ventures in
attempting "to take God's place without being God".
The Pope has not actually composed the prayers for the traditional
Way of the Cross, but is certain to have given his blessing to the
Good Friday meditations at the Colosseum.
Their author is Archbishop Angelo Comastri, Vicar General at
Vatican City. The tone of the meditations is striking in its contrast
to the contemporary fashion for feel-good religion.
While some will regard their emphasis on sin and the dark side of
human nature as retrograde, others will welcome them as a sign of the
strong and conservative leadership that Pope Benedict XVI was elected
to provide. All Roman Catholic churches and many others, including
Anglican churches in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, celebrate a
liturgy around the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.
The 14 stations begin with Jesus's condemnation to death, take
Christians through meditations of the "Way of the Cross" and the
Crucifixion and end with the laying of Jesus's body in the tomb. The
Pope wrote the meditations himself for last year's Way of the Cross
in Rome. But today's Catholic prayers, published in Italian this week
and in English on the Zenit website yesterday, go further than most
in their thorough denunciation of contemporary culture.
At the Third Station of the Cross, where Jesus falls for the
first time, Archbishop Comastri has written: "Lord, we have lost our
sense of sin. Today a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an
inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a mindless desire
for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous freedom, exalting
impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights
of sophistication."
At the Fourth Station, where Jesus is helped by Simon the
Cyrene to carry the cross, Pope Benedict and his followers will pray:
"Lord Jesus, our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment
has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society's
incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of
selfishness."
One of the strongest meditations warns against the attack on
the family. "Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a
counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the
family."
There is a moving meditation for the Eighth Station, where Jesus
meets the women of Jerusalem, describing the "River of tears shed by
mothers, mothers of the crucified, mothers of murderers, mothers of
drug addicts, mothers of terrorists, mothers of rapists, mothers of
psychopaths, but mothers all the same".
The Pope will also confront the question of evil in the world in a
meditation that asks: "Where is Jesus in the agony of our own time,
in the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of
poverty . . . in one room they are concerned about obesity, in the
other, they are begging for charity?"
Ruth Gledhill's weblog
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/
CARDINAL
ARINZE
AND THE FUTURE OF THE PAPACY....
By Chido Nwangwu
Special and Exclusive to USAfricaonline.com and CLASS
magazine, Houston. As
the facilitator of inter-religious dialogue, Arinze has seen
and
interacted with differing religionists who, to varying degrees,
embody zealotry and reason, lucidity of thought and rock-ribbed
dogmatisms. By being a major voice for Roman Catholicism in Africa,
he has enriched the goals of the Vatican to win more souls to that
unique section of the Christian community.
In deftly respecting and
showing sensitivity to the cultural contexts for religious
evangelization and work in different regions of the world, Arinze (a
Nigerian, like me, from the south eastern Igbo ethnic group as is the
literary giant Prof. Chinua Achebe) seems a fitting bridge for a
common, shared theology of humankind. Our brother, The Cardinal, is
neither extreme in words nor brash in personal conduct, he also
stands as a role model who should be emulated by many, especially in
the community of his natural origin, the Nigerian community. Among
other qualities, he shows scholarship and a rare balance of reason
and theology. May your pastroral
lineage endure.
By Chido Nwangwu,
Founder and Publisher, USAfricaonline.com and recipient of Journalism
Excellence award (1999).
CLICK
on Arinze's picture or here for full report of this essay first
written online on April 7,1999, updated on April 25, 2002 and April
1, 2005
Millions yearned: it's time for an
African or Latino as Pope. By Dr. Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
DEMOCRACY
WATCH: What Bush Should Tell
Obasanjo.... By Chido
Nwangwu (Founder and Publisher of USAfricaonline.com): Today
March 29, 2006, at the White House, where Bush also met a few days
earlier with Liberia's Sirleaf, new face of Africa; welcomed
Nigeria's President 
retired
General Olusegun Obasanjo, an old face of Africa, to thank him for
regional support of the U.S.,discuss "strengthening democratic
institutions, and the need to bring Charles Taylor to justice." (Both
presidents are seen in this 2004 USAfrica news archive picture). The
visit comes against the current background of the outrageous nonsense
parroted by hangers-on and political idol worshippers, the
philistines of Nigeria's politics who have since become the domestic
and international canvassers of the indecent baloney that: Nigeria's
constitution must be amended for one man, retired General Olusegun
Obasanjo, to govern for a 3rd 4-year term (12 years!). This they,
shamelessly, claim is for Nigeria's survival. Worse, they add
that without Obasanjo, there will be no progress, criminality of the
political economy will abound and the polity will collapse. Good
heavens! The
sheer hubris that Nigeria can only move forward only by the "divine"
and eternal governance of a 74-year former dictator Obasanjo is
simply stupefying and immoral, to say the very
least. Hence, the enabled executors and conductors of this
folly on behalf of Obasanjo only remind me of the infamous words of
the 17th century French monarch, Louis X1V (1638-1715) who
reportedly said "L'État, c'est moi" meaning "I am
the State." If only Obasanjo could drive us back to the 17th century;
only there was no Nigeria, at the time.
In comparison, while Liberia's Madam President Sirleaf represents
the manifestation of the triumph of popular constitutional methods
and emerging institutional democratic values in Africa, retired
General Obasanjo's imperious, know-it-all, emerging project for a
sit-tight presidency in Nigeria remind us all of the 1970s
old Africa where constitution-tweaking soldiers (his colleagues) and
power drunks funnily believed their country's sun rose and
shone at their hideous and idiosyncratic say-so. We won't go back
there; no; not now that we have the great Nelson Mandela
as our icon, historical benchmark and reference point. Obasanjo makes
it difficult for Obasanjo to be a statesman; no doubt, he's a
regional leader.
As a specialist on US. and Africa public policy and cultural
issues, here are things I'll suggest President Bush tell President
Obasanjo, in a short, sweet but realistic summary: Full
commentary here
CNN
International interview with Nigeria's
President Obasanjo and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu on
Democracy
and Security Issues
SPECIAL EVENT: 2006 BEST OF AFRICA Awards FRIDAY May 5, and
SATURDAY MAY 6, 2006, at the Hilton Towers Westchase in Houston.
CLASS magazine, USAfrica and USAfricaonline.com (characterized by The
New York Times as the largest and most influential African-owned,
U.S-based multimedia networks), will hold the USAfrica 14th
internationally-acclaimed 2006 BEST OF AFRICA Awards annual dinner in
honor of African professionals and its annual Mothers' Day Honors on
FRIDAY MAY 5, and SATURDAY MAY 6, 2006. It will be, as usual, an
invitation-only event. The Banquet and Honors event will hold on
Friday May 5, 2006. The USAfrica forum on "Obasanjo, 2007 and
Nigeria's 3rd term politics: implications for Nigeria's future'
USAfrica was founded in May 1992, in Houston, Texas by television
broadcaster and multimedia media executive Chido Nwangwu.
NOMINATE
some professionals and community builders with brief reasons they
should be considered for an award. Contact USAfrica/CLASS event
managers Alverna Johnson, Mercy Okorie and Chuck Obazei at
713-270-5500. or cellphone 832-45-CHIDO (24436) - E-mail:
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