Desperation
[tag]Desperation[/tag] is the last act of the[tag] irrelevant[/tag]. The [tag]Catholic church [/tag]has been steadily becoming increasingly more irrelevant to the lives of Europeans. As this trend progresses we see each Pope becoming more fundamentalist. The current [tag]Pope[/tag] is, quite frankly, if one listens to his pronouncements, an idiot. Remember this one?
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.
The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering. [emphasis mine]
I take that back, he’s not an idiot, he’s a[tag] moron[/tag]., and now we have this
Ritual of Dealing With Demons Undergoes a Revival
POCZERNIN, Poland — This wind-swept village is bracing for an invasion of demons, thanks to a priest who believes he can defeat [tag]Satan[/tag].
The Rev. Andrzej Trojanowski, a soft-spoken Pole, plans to build a “spiritual oasis” that will serve as Europe’s only center dedicated to performing [tag]exorcisms[/tag]. With the blessing of the local Catholic archbishop and theological support from the [tag]Vatican[/tag], the center will aid a growing number of Poles possessed by evil forces or the devil himself, he said.
“This is my task, this is my purpose — I want to help these people,” said Trojanowski, who has worked as an exorcist for four years. “There is a group of people who cannot get relief through any other practices and who need peace.”
Exorcism — the church rite of expelling evil spirits from tortured souls — is making a comeback in Catholic regions of Europe. Last July, more than 300 practitioners gathered in the Polish city of Czestochowa for the fourth International Congress of Exorcists.
About 70 priests serve as trained exorcists in Poland, about double the number of five years ago. An estimated 300 exorcists are active in Italy. Foremost among them: the Rev. Gabriele Amorth, 82, who performs exorcisms daily in Rome and is dean of Europe’s corps of demon-battling priests.
“People don’t pray anymore, they don’t go to church, they don’t go to confession. The devil has an easy time of it,” Amorth said in an interview. “There’s a lot more devil worship, people interested in satanic things and seances, and less in Jesus.”
Amorth and other priests said the resurgence in exorcisms has been encouraged by the Vatican, which in 1999 formally revised and upheld the rite for the first time in almost 400 years.
Although a Vatican official denied reports in December of a campaign to train more exorcists, supporters said informal efforts began under Pope [tag]John Paul II[/tag] — himself an occasional demon chaser — and have accelerated under Pope [tag]Benedict XVI[/tag] [again emphasis mine]. A Catholic university in Rome began offering courses in exorcism in 2005 and has drawn students from around the globe.
Keep them scared, keep them ignorant and you may have a chance.
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