AmericanPapist Comments
It just makes for a good headline Thomas. Your comments are right on. What attracts more people to a website?
1) Pope says "God loves everyone and this is how he showed his love"
2) Pope condemns modern science
The media is just itching to jump on Benedict XVI's back. Remember the Cardinals elected a 'conservative' Pope afterall.
Don't ever think that noticing these things are a result of oversensitivity, or constitute overreacting. A lot of people simply do not know how to think unless it is in binary (either-or, one-dimensional).
It counfounds me as to how this happens, but I have my suspicion: Perhaps the punchline-oriented sensationalism so prevalent in the media has stylized the way people think? People want a punchline, and they want to put people, things and ideas into binary either-or buckets. Everything and everyone must have only one dimension, or they become confused and say/write stupid things. If they observe something that doesn't fit into their one-dimensional idea of someone or something, they can't/won't attempt to incorporate the two. Rather, they'll merely say that the person or thing has CHANGED. Incredible, isn't it? Someone needs to do studies on this phenomenon.
Teaching someone how to think critically is a charitable act. As long as the motivation is in line with God's, I don't think any of what you thought/did is wrong, let alone an overreaction.
Lost on all of this is the fact that Pope Benedict did not write the meditation! Surely he agrees with the prayers and the meditations, but again he didn't compose them so he not actually the one delivering the "rebuke of satanic society". A hearty thanks to Archbishop Comastri for his beautiful and forthright meditation of the Via Crucis!
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