Pope cites Teilhardian vision of the cosmos as a 'living host'

WARNING REGARDING THE WRITINGS OF FATHER TEILHARD DE CHARDIN
Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office

On June 30, 1962, the Holy Office issued a monitum (warning) regarding
the writings of Father Teilhard de Chardin. In 1981 the Holy See
reiterated this warning against rumors that it no longer
applied. Following is the text of both the monitum and the 1981
statement:

Admonition

"Several works of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, some of which were
posthumously published, are being edited and are gaining a good deal
of success.

"Prescinding from a judgement about those points that concern the
positive sciences, it is sufficiently clear that the above-mentioned
works abound in such ambiguities and indeed even serious errors, as to
offend Catholic doctrine.

"For this reason, the most eminent and most revered Fathers of the
Holy Office exhort all Ordinaries as well as the superiors of
Religious institutes, rectors of seminaries and presidents of
universities, effectively to protect the minds, particularly of the
youth, against the dangers presented by the works of Fr. Teilhard de
Chardin and of his followers.

"Given at Rome, from the palace of the Holy Office, on the thirtieth
day of June, 1962.

I continue to have hope when I read that our pope chooses not to close his mind to the scholarship of other great and spiritual minds such as his own (and, of course, Fr. de Chardin). Pope Benedict chooses to follow one of Jesus' greatest teachings: "Be not afraid." Let's all take a lesson of faith from our pontiff.

Aldus

It would appear though that God the Creator has rather "used" creation to His own purposes when, in cases of "miraculous" activity (as in sign predicted and realized through Fatima), He would seem to step out of any recognizable evolution of the Cosmos. Even before the coming Era of Peace (the interim coming as mentioned by the early Church Fathers) there may also have to be witnessed another sort of "Big Bang" to bring an era of "living in the Divine Will" for some period of time (and the recreation of the Garden in its original intent).

At last, at last. Wow and halleluia. We can come out of the closets now.

Great piece, indeed.

Readers wishing to know more about the life and works of Teilhard de Chardin, may find these interesting:

1. http://www.teilharddechardin.org/biography.html

2. The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man; Riverhead Hardcover; 1 edition (October 4, 2007);ISBN-10: 1594489564; ISBN-13: 978-1594489563

It wouldn't be the first time a theologian was "rehabilitated." Nor the first time that such a rehabilitation included a critique of a portion of the thinker's views, necessitated by human experience after the death of his/her theologising. No less a pioneer than Tom Merton saw Teilhard as too optimistic, especially in regard to the consequences of technological advances. John Duns Scotus' star is rising a bit these days. If I may make a pagan allusion, even Homer slips.

This is truly amazing, beautiful and welcome. The reference may have been fleeting, periferal and conditioned, nevertheless the Pope spoke it: "It's the great vision that later Teihard de Chardin also had:At the end we will have a truly cosmic liturgy where the cosmos becomes a living host".

He would not say this in a homily if he was not prepared to let it loose to be taken as Paul wrote it, as deChardin expressed it as we "the little ones" will chew upon it.

The spirit is working....

Teilhard's vision of one Earth moving toward a unitive future seems our one best hope in a world divided by illusory categories of nations, religions, and races. The family of humanity in company with the living web of the Earth and the Universe has a grand destiny, if we do not destroy ourselves and the Earth community before we arrive. The dualism found in most churches is a barrier to our true identity as part of a 14 billion year evolution toward cosmic and Christic consciousness. That a church which identifies itself as Catholic would be troubled by such a vision reveals its true identity as a tribal enclave, worth studying as an historical element but worth little as a lving source of life.

We can hope Benedict can access the vision of John XXIII in Pacem in Terris where this true saint pointed us toward the Earth as our home and toward our humand and non-human brothers and sisters as our family. At this point, we approach the vision of Jesus, who revealed the Christic center of all that is.

For the 75 old European I am, this information on Benedict XVI invocatio0n of Theillard de Chardin is truly miraculous!
Originally Theillard's ideas could only be printed for the public because they were published under the aegis of the queen of Belgium or her sister, which prevented the "Vatican" from censoring everything while the less prudent Congar amd others got treated more roughly.

Let us hope and pray that Benedict XVI's Mind opens itself to other theologians his administration mistreated with neither Ratio nor Fides.

francis

There's also a reference to Teilhard in "The Spirit of the Liturgy."

I like the way the Pope speaks of nature having a vocation in paragraph 48 of the new encyclical. I'm sure he'll build on that paragraph in his next encyclical which I'm pretty sure will be on "Faith."

Isn't it odd, and unfortunate, how long it takes the Vatican to come around to accept modern understanding. We might paraphrase what St. Paul said about the "whole of creation groaning in pain" with the idea of the "whole church groaning in pain" for the Vatican to remove its blinders and enter into the modern world.

The Christian tradition boasts few eco-prophets. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is no doubt foremost among them with his "Mass on the World" written in 1918. Here he asserts "I your priest will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labors and sufferings of the world.". He has been followed by Thomas Berry and Sally McFague to name two.

Berry states that "Earth is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects". Also that "the Earth is primary, humans are derivative". McFague proclaims that the Universe is the Body of God. now Pope Benedict seems to be moving ever so slowly in this direction. Moving from a human centered theology where only humans have deep meaning and immortal souls to an omnicentered deep ecology vision of a diversity of subjects imbued with the breath of God will take an enormous leap of faith. But this is surely where we are headed in our evolving understanding of God's infinite love.

Many intelectual findings of brave faithful people become in time standar in the church and in the world. It seems that this is happeming with Theillard's vision and expositions.

With appreciation for your consistently comprehensive approach, Mr. Allen.

Personally, I do not spend any time worrying about evolution and creationism. I was not there at the time and so for me it really doesn't matter.

As for the Pope being praised as the "greenest pope," I welcome that praise. We must be stewards of our planet. Our planet is alive and it deserves protection from predatory opportunists.

I believe that God wants us to make our planet a heaven on earth.

Native Americans saw our earth and environment as a living part of our world. We were to praise the earth for all that it does for us and we must also protect our earth.

Aspects of Teilhardism are very Orthodox, however people much more learned on the subject than me have also said that the Heresy is defined as accepting some aspects but rejecting critical truths of the Faith. Thus the reason why Heresy endures is not due to the innovation that they introduce, but rather because of the truths that they retain. As for the Teilhard's published work, it is common knowledge that some of his key works are still subject to warning (MONITUM) issued by the Vatican.

The following will be of interest:

On June 30, 1962, the Holy Office issued a monitum (warning) regarding the writings of Father Teilhard de Chardin. In 1981 the Holy See reiterated this warning against rumors that it no longer applied. Following is the text of both the monitum and the 1981 statement:

Admonition

"Several works of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, some of which were posthumously published, are being edited and are gaining a good deal of success.

"Prescinding from a judgement about those points that concern the positive sciences, it is sufficiently clear that the above-mentioned works abound in such ambiguities and indeed even serious errors, as to offend Catholic doctrine.

"For this reason, the most eminent and most revered Fathers of the Holy Office exhort all Ordinaries as well as the superiors of Religious institutes, rectors of seminaries and presidents of universities, effectively to protect the minds, particularly of the youth, against the dangers presented by the works of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and of his followers.

"Given at Rome, from the palace of the Holy Office, on the thirtieth day of June, 1962.

Sebastianus Masala, Notarius"

Communiqué of the Press Office of the Holy See (appearing in the English edition of L'Osservatore Romano, July 20, 1981) "The letter sent by the Cardinal Secretary of State to His Excellency Mons. Poupard on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin has been interpreted in a certain section of the press as a revision of previous stands taken by the Holy See in regard to this author, and in particular of the Monitum of the Holy Office of 30 June 1962, which pointed out that the work of the author contained ambiguities and grave doctrinal errors.

"The question has been asked whether such an interpretation is well founded.

"After having consulted the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which, by order of the Holy Father, had been duly consulted beforehand, about the letter in question, we are in a position to reply in the negative. Far from being a revision of the previous stands of the Holy See, Cardinal Casaroli's letter expresses reservation in various passages—and these reservations have been passed over in silence by certain newspapers—reservations which refer precisely to the judgement given in the Monitum of June 1962, even though this document is not explicitly mentioned."

I got this info at: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=3160&CFID=114...

If the Church could open its mind to Galileo's Copernican theory of the universe then perhaps it is now open to a cosmic evolutionary explanation of creation that Teilhard Chardin espoused.... and this in turn might have an impact on a theological understanding of Scripture and Tradition which would allow a new appreciation of human co-equality that would no longer limit the role of priesthood to males, and prefer celibacy to marriage in carrying out His admonition...."As often as you do this, (consecrate the bread and wine), do it in remembrance of me."

I hail the Pope's stand on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as well as his new encyclical as works showing that he has more of a capacity for thinking than he has shown for a good part of his life in Rome. However, the problem in Catholicism comes when the beginning and the end must begin in Rome. This idea that unless the Pope is conversant in and understanding of every little ethical, moral, scientific and philosophical incite is incredible. To sanction or excommunicate people on the left or the right of the official Church thinking has been a mistake that has belittled the great Vatican II. Too many of the really great thinkers continue to be sanctioned or the right of communion in the Catholic Church has been curtailed. As long as this type of thinking continues in Rome, the Bishops particularly the one in Rome will not be believable in their leadership. I think what is required is a lot more tolerance of the Holy Spirit as He presents himself to so many other than Bishops at any level. May we all have more peace and understanding,

R. Dennis Porch, MD

Hooray! How wonderful it is when an obvious modern saint who dares to make some original statement concerning speculative theology is at last granted a vestige of recognition. How wonderful it is when truth, manifest truth, is married with the truth of religion, in a mystical but meaningful and spiritual ccntext . How wonderful it is when Paul's inspired words about all cration groaning in the act of giving birth, are married to manifest scientific theory/truth in the mind of a scientific Jesuit theologian. I am myself a product of Jesuit education. Those great teachers of religion invited me to recognize the substantially similar order of creation as per Genesis, to the order of appearance of non-living things and then living organisms. They also pointed out that the very internal evidence of Genesis showed that it was always intended as a poetic account of creation. The Tree of knowledge of good and evil Gen 2;17 is an obvious allegorical tree and reveals the whole story as deliberate allegory, as much fiction as the Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. And there is nothing wrong in using fictional stories to reveal truth. Jesus used fiction all the time - like the story of the Prodigal Son. Jesus tells it to show the potential for forgiveness, if only we will acknowledge The Father as God - or rather that God is like a human father, willing always to forgive His Children once they admit their errors. It is the very clever work of the devil to set us quarreling over literal fundamentalist interpretations of texts which must not be taken in yjat way. Thus the Devil, as real as you or I, manages to distract us from the proper attitude of adoration of a Being so much greater than ourselves, and the proper attitude of humility that we should feel about our own very limited knowledge, and the proper knowledge that we weak creatures have been honoured by God by the free gift of existence separate from Him/Her, but invited to share in His/Her enormous happiness - what we call heaven.

Benedict XVI will go down in history as a truly liberal pope!!!

Liberal in the true sense of the word, he is broad. He has restored the ancient form of the liturgy for those who desire it. He has opened up dialogue with Islam. He has fostered discussion with forbidden topics. He liberalized the process for laicization of priests who left in a "fugitivus" status, or because of a moral problem, he has even permitted a bishop to leave his ministry to pursue secular leadership.

Let's face it, he is a true liberal. But he is a liberal who stands for something and doesn't use the term to legitimize every cultural whim.

"At the end we will have a true cosmic liturgy, where the cosmos becomes a living host."

Does that mean the one we have now is dead?

I don't think so, but if that is the implication of the teaching magisterium, and by the oath of fidelity . . .

Maybe it means it is a fetus waiting to be born?

"Let's pray to the Lord that he help us be priests in this sense," the pope said, "to help in the transformation of the world in adoration of God, beginning with ourselves."

Does this prayer for Our Lord's help include women? The married? Children, of whom someone said of such is the Reign of God?

Does the awkward construction of the translation imply the adoration begins with ourselves (adoration of ourselves, which a homocentric cosmology implies) or the transformation of ourselves, as Our Holy Father Saint Benedict demands for 1500 years now?

Primed for the Times—are you ready for Change?

“If the first generations that assimilated Darwin's thought were concerned with the origin of species, our own is concerned in an unprecedented way with the extinction of species and, above all, with the threat of extinction that faces the human species. During the 1850s, while Darwin was concluding The Origin of Species, the rate of extinction is believed to have been one every five years. Today, the rate of extinction is estimated at one every nine minutes.… to say that a thing is difficult to imagine is not to say that it is impossible. The current moment merely throws the under-valorized role of imagination within religion into newly stark relief. A problem that religion may well make worse may yet be one that cannot be solved without religion. The challenge, though posed by science, is artistic as much as it is theological, a breakthrough of the imagination in the service of religion, in the service of the human species, in the service of life itself. We would be fools to predict such a breakthrough but worse fools not to hope for it.” Jack Miles, “GLOBAL REQUIEM: THE APOCALYPTIC MOMENT IN RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND ART” http://www.crosscurrents.org/milesrequiem.htm
http://www.secondenlightenment.org/SERVICE%20TO%20RELIGION.pdf

The Primed Times. It is in the nature of evolution to prime time for change. The change required isn’t always obvious; yet in time the need for change may become very obvious — these times are characterized by the obvious need for change, perhaps as in no time before. The more change is put off, the more permanent and consequential damages of delayed change become.

How might the crises of these times be characterized? They are characterized in the happenings of global implosions, in ecologies, in economies and in failed social (moral) relationships—all of which essentially connect to each other. The deficits in one area compound the deficits in the other areas; the collective consequences imposed on nature and potentially on humankind are wholesale disappearances, what is a “Collapse Syndrome”. http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

“Thinking” is original sin but also original grace. [Google: method of evolution: cogitata perficiendo, cogitando sic perfecta) Thinking, in the exploitation of nature (original sin), is bringing humankind and Earth-life to the brink of irretrievable collapse; but ironically, it is thinking and change that might return humankind from the brink. If radical changes are not forthcoming, our fate may be that of the disappearing honeybees.

Ecologists, economists and theologians are alienated from each other in the hubris of their cultured absolutisms (ideologies); as a result, collective thinking is disjointed from reality and in denial of humankind’s radical, self-induced, self-injury and -destruction.

Ready for Primed Time? After 75 years studying the case for change of worldview, from staticism and centrism to transformation and acentrism, I am compelled to go public. www.justifiedliving.gather.com, www.secondenlightenment.org, www.evolution101.org These websites provide resource materials for self-study and change from the self-injury of past cultured absolutisms to an informed sense of nature, self and moral relationships—what religions are (should be) about. http://ncronline.org/news/justice/business-educators-meet-focus-ignatian...

My theology professor in the seminary, Father John Musinsky, SVD, (the first American Superior General of the Society of the Divine Word) wrote to me on December 5, 1999: “...I would like to encourage you in your apostolate. The Church today does not know how to address modern man in such a way that she gets through to him. She will have to find new approaches. Modern man is certainly caught up in science and the approach from within his world is indeed promising.”
[from PRIMARY SCRIPTURE, pg iii] http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=6577

Reading this leaves me speechless in the best possible way. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has always offered compelling reasons to be Catholic and to remain so. It is wonderful to hear of this reference and just what it might mean to the work he left behind and the impact that he can have.

Hats off to Benedict! Instead of remaining in the past, he has decided to make a step forward and, hopefully, to open the Church's thinking in Teilhard's favour. Let us hope that this will not be the last move, and that one day the Church's hesitations may be mollified, and Teilhard finally rehabilitated. So far it is only his Protestant friends who have been publishing his works, if I'm not mistaken.

Teilhardian vision...

I will be happy if Teilhard is "named the patron saint of Catholic ecology de jure, as well as de facto." Indeed, there should be evolution in "church teaching on original sin.

One hopes a positive sign and one better late than never.

You go Benedict the sixteenth ! You're making me a fan more & more each day.

Another important chapter in my NCR education!

Years back I practically shed tears when I missed several weekend conferences on Chardin, just out of my reach financially and physically (50+ miles away); because taking care of my little kids had to come first.

But I do have Phenomenon of Man, carefully guarded in my humble little, wanna-be library.

So now I think I need to dig it out and have another go at it.

Also Ten Commandments (4 t nvrnmnt)....looks good too. Does anybody doing these comments have feedback on that book too? What I really want are the crucial main points. I'm not lazy, just time and money-deficient.

It's about time! Having read everything Teilhard wrote and those written about him this gives me hope.I think St. Augustine would embrace re-examining some of his writings with the acceptance of Evolution in mind.

What a breath of fresh air - but one breath is not enough to sustain life. Let's hope this breath continues and grows until the entire universe breathes in rhythm to the glory of God.

I think your interpretation of this Mr Allen is not very helpful. That Chardin was quite remiss in an adequate theory of evil or original sin cannot be denied. But that he had a deep Eucharistic devotion and understanding of the teleology of the Universe becoming ordered to Christ and the will of the Father is also compelling to anyone who reads him with an open heart and mind. In fact there really is noone in the 20th century who sensed this truth at the level he did. A man can be "heterdox" and still be holy and filled with great insight. Isnt that what we think of Origen?
Your reminder of the "mutation" reference is excellent and mindful of another favorite Benedict image--Christ as the new center of gravity. That is a good image to explain walking on water and very much a Chardin Omega point notion.
THis however has very little to do with being green or accepting modern materialistic non teleological accounts of evolution. Both Chardin and the Pope swim in much deeper waters. That is the part of your article I find unhelpful and a real distraction. You are usually very good at finding the deeper context which goes beyound the left-right debate. I sugest you read or reread Phenomenon of Man or the Mystery of the Univerese and then remember that this was a Jesuit devoted to Eucharistic adoration and the long view of natural history. These two(Pope Bendict and father Chardin) are swimming somewhere way beyound apologists for evolution and the hydrocarbon reduction crowd. Please help us go with them out to the deep.

When I Read these words'"Benedict's line nevertheless triggered headlines in the Italian press about a possible "rehabilitation" of Teilhard, sometimes referred to as the "Catholic Darwin"' I just smiled.

The ideas presented by people like Copernicus, Galileo, and Chardin, were so far ahead of their time that the Church, regarded them as heretical. The problem lies not in the ideas that these men advanced, but in the mental blindness that impares the understanding of these ideas.

Galileo took Copernicus' concepts and carried them to their fullfillment. The official church then, challenged by the evidence presented, just condemned Galileo's ideas as wrong, dangerous, and heretical.

It took centuries for the church to realize that it was wrong and Galileo was right. And it wasn't so long ago, that the official church 'rehabilitated' Galileo---a very inept term.

Now, because Pope Benedict XVI, who has a keen theological mind, is beginning to grasp Chardin's ecological constructs (and his theological/spiritual ones as well), Teilhard is being 'rehabilitated' (as though he was some criminal who was finally fit to be released into society once again).

Let us hope that because of Benedict's understanding, the blinders so often on the Church universal, will begin to fall off. And let us hope that the gifts and visions of men and women will be respected and treasured. Let us hope that our understanding of God-among-us in our cosmos and in our souls will grow. And that our positive responses to God will continue to evolve as a 'living host'--an offering acceptable to God.

The pope's musings seem to show a narcissitic, arrogance, as if he wants to make himself sound so scientific and relevant and educated. Yet he is the one as Prefect Silencer who did so much damage to so many great Catholic theologians, scientists and thinkers. He also rather recently silenced a very gifted astronomer Jesuit who was featured in the 2003 documentary, ironically and aptly titled, "Galileo's Sons".

The church tormented Teilhard de Chardin and so many other theologians, thinkers, scientists, clergy when they are alive , then long after their death , claims ownership of these wise geniuses and canonizes them. The popes thus seem so hypocritical, shortsighted, ignorant, abusive for destroying these wonderful brilliant visionaries good works and lives when they were alive.

Perhaps those who regard Teilhard as pantheistic have not considered the subtle difference between pantheism and panENtheism. If my understanding is correct, Pantheism speaks of God being the natural world--God and the world are one. Panentheism speaks of the universe as being in God, part of but less than God. Teilhard would more precisely be a panentheist, which would present no conflict with Catholic teaching, especially today.

As for the Piltdown Hoax, Teilhard has been exonerated by a careful look at the timeline of his association with Charles Dawson as well as the personal testimonies of those who knew all the scientists involved, some of whom were involved in other forgeries. Some (like Stephen Jay Gould) who had problems with Teilhard's 80-year-old science continued to refer to Piltdown to discredit Teilhard. Whose thought has not been improved upon as knowledge has evolved? Teilhard, it seems to me, would be the last to insinuate that his thought was static.

My understanding also is that Jesuits were/are very proud of Teilhard but transferred him and prohibited publication of his work to comply with directive from Rome. Carefully tiptoeing around the monitum imposed on Teilhard, Jesuits like Thomas King, SJ (recently deceased), Thierry Meynard, SJ, Henri Madelin, SJ, and others have continued to encourage study of Teilhard's thought, helping many others to discern the meaning of Teilhard's vision.

At the time of the Vatican Council, Benedict (then Joseph Ratzinger) included Teilhardian thought in several speeches he delivered. In ensuing years Cardinal Ratzinger seemed preoccupied with defending all the old understandings, but he would often include Teilhard's concepts of Christianity, not always mentioning the source. I am interested in Benedict's recent reachout to various groups of Catholics that have had different views. Perhaps such overtures are genuine effort to broaden inclusiveness in the Church, to find a way to permit speculative thought and even disagreement. Perhaps the Pope feels the Catholic Church is healthy enough for diversity. I hope he is not just teasing..

Benedict XVI hardly speaks out for "Justice". If he spoke out for justice, it would begin with ACTIONS that put some backbone to his words. Ordain women, drop mandatory celibacy for priests, bishops and popes, bring the church's teaching on human sexuality into this century instead of locking it in the twelfth century, open the Roman branch of Catholicism to inter-communion with ALL Christian believers and call for a Third Vatican Council to complete the work left unfinished by the Second Vatican Council and I will believe Benedict XVI is speaking out for JUSTICE. Again, John Allen is living in a dream world when he writes articles that try to persuade readers that Benedict is an example of a leader who "has amassed a striking environmental record". Oh, please, John, do come down to Earth. Earth to John, this is REALITY calling you!

Dear God help us, the Holy Father again praises an evil heretic. First the evil lying heretic Kung and now the evil lying heretic and forger/swindler, Teilhard de Chardin.

May God have mercy on us. May God be pleased to relent in His punishment of us, may He send us Catholic prelates. May God convert His prelates to the Catholic Faith.

Chardin was one of my heroes in the 60's. I hope the Church of today will come to embrace his vision of hope and stewardship.

Now if the Church would only re-examine its condemnation of REINCARNATION at the Council convened by the Emperor Justinian which the Pope did NOT ATTEND.(Justinian had the Pope imprisoned.)
Origen's teachings were regarded as being the premier theology of the early Church and he espoused REINCARNATION!

Little Bear should read up on the real history of the Catholic Church, Copernicus was never regarded as a heretic, Galileo was only condemned because he insisted and persisted in presenting his work as being theological and not scientific in nature, and de Chardin was a priest faithful to his vows until his dying day happy that he had never once been accused of heresy

The Pope makes one comment on one particular element of de Chardin's writings and the majority of those posting here have gone ga ga, and are too enamored by Teilhard's optimism.

Lets get real. The great Catholic philosopher Dietrich Von Hildebrand, once met Teilhard at Fordham, and found his stultifying metaphysics wanting. In "The Trojan Horse in the City of God," Von Hildebrand describes the heretical problems of Teilhard's thought. Some of de Chardin's errors include:
1. The difference between the human mind and animal mind as one in minimal degree
2. A fusion of all human consciousnesses into a super-consciousness
3. The jettison of the hierarchy of being
4. Ambiguity between the material and immaterial
5. love is energy
6. An imposition of ideology upon reality
7. denial of free will
8. God made in the image of man
9. Rejection of grace and the supernatural realm
10. communitarian totalitarianism and dehumanization of man

And, this is the short list!
Teilhard's version of Christianity is neither orthodox nor Catholic.

Ho hum. Instead of all the contraversy, may I suggest that people read the appropriate and approved beautiful books and materials coming from our Holy Fathers, Mothers, and Doctors of the Church. Also, read Holy Scripture and the Lives of the Saints. It is with these that one will become enlightened and be able to live appropriate, good, pius, and holy lives.

Pope Benedict XVI is the last numbered pope prophecied by St. Malachy. Maybe God is doing us a favor if there is not another pope.

I still have problems with the current pope, but he is an extremely intelligent individual. My opinion of Ratzinger has gone up now in reference to what he said about one of my beloved figures in Catholicism, Pere Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. It's only now that so many, Catholic and non-Catholic are discovering his ideas, his speculations, his vision. Even Wired featured an article on him and said if the Internet gets a patron saint, Teilhard is it! Physicists have used his Omega Point concept (e.g. Tipler, The Physics of Immortality, science writer John Gribbin's "The Omega Point: and so on) and even the Global Consciousness Project (check it out online!).
And if you like literate, erudite science fiction, there's Stephen Baxter, who mentioned him in his book "Transcendent" but in a big way there's works by Dan Simmons - "The Hyperion Cantos" series, set about 4000 years from now. The Catholic Church is prominent and Teilhard's vision plays a big role, especially in the first book, and there's even one of the popes takes the name of "Teilhard I"!
Pere Teilhard continues to motivate so many people, including me, around the world today.

Sabourah.......sounds like you are so filled with hate, resentment and judgement. These words are truth ..."you will know them by their fuits" and "let the one without sin cast the first stone". I suppose you are sinless and by the way which gift of the Holy Spirit does hate come from?

Teilhard was as controversial in his philosophical ideas (that I personnally find strange and utopist) as it was in his scientific works. The Piltdown man discovery proved to be a pitiful hoax and Teilhard fell in the trap. His works in China are competely outdated.
Liberal, yes, modernist, yes certainly he was. But at least 5 popes warned (sometimes harshly) against modernism and liberalism. Now that the Church opened the doors wide to modernism and liberalism, Pope Paul VI suspected that "Through some unnoticed fissure the smokes of Satan have entered the Temple of God"
Are modernism and liberalism the future of the Church? Seeing her current bad state bordering to autodemolition, hopefully I don't think so. If not "will the Son of Man find the Faith on Earth when He will come back?"

I totally agree that in Benedict XVI, we have a liberal pope. However, the last time I checked, liberalism was and is condemned as a sin in the practical order, and on the doctrinal order the serious sin of heresy. As evidence of this I would only offer a book entitled "Liberalism is a Sin" by Fr. Felix Sarda Y Salvany (1844-1916); Nihil Obstat F.G. Holweck, Censor Librorum; St. Louis, June 26th, 1899. Imprimatur: John J Kain, Archbishop of St. Louis Missouri June 30th 1899. It was recently republished by TAN a third time in 1993. By using Teilhard as the example, there can be no doubt that the liberalism ascribed to the Holy Father and that condemned in the 1899 Classic carry the same meaning. Mention was also made in the article the pope's excellent ecology record. I worry when the Holy Father links the good news to the pseudo-science of ending global warming. The Catholic warning or monitum or caveat on Teilhard still stands: His work "abounds in such ambiguities and indeed even serious errors, as to offend Catholic doctrine."
I will say that the Pope's endorsement of Teilhard stands with Teilhard at least in its ambiguities if not its offensiveness: "Let's pray to the Lord that he help us ...to help in the transformation of the world in adoration of God, beginning with ourselves," says Benedict. Is that "transformation - beginning with ourselves or adoration of God - beginning with ourselves as gods? Reading Teilhard, you just can't tell. Maybe just the translator messed up and misplaced the modifying phrase. Nothing new under the sun. Ambiguity - all hail.

Also......make sure to go to WWW.CHRISTIANANSWERSFORTHENEWAGE.ORG and see what happened to Marcia and how she finally escaped. This is where hate for the Catholic Church is home grown!!!!!

Well he might just as well canonize Marx. Teilhard was a liar and fraud. He participated in two frauds. The Piltdown Man and the Peking Man. It appears The Bark of St. Peter is rudderless.

I have, for some time, suspected the present pope of being an agent of Freemasonry. His recent encyclical in support of globalism and the New World Order increased my suspicion. Now that he has promoted the heretical work of Chardin, I no longer wonder if my suspicions were well-founded. Chardin's 'noogenesis' theory is an absolute nonsense which tries to reconcile the absurdity of Darwinism with the Holy Catholic Faith. Benedict may be pope, but he is also an apostate Catholic. According to a number prelates who were shown the real Third Secret of Fatima, and not the bogus message given by Ratzinger in 2000, it contains Our Lady's warning of the onset of the great apostasy which will begin at the highest levels of the Church. It is being fulfilled.

Excellent. Chardin was a bold, profound, synthetic thinker who tried to build a bridge from the conflicted past toward an encompassing, cross-cultural vision that helps us to transcend our old confusions - and unite. Perhaps this Pope is not as scary as he once seemed.

Please! Benedict's whole statement is just full of ripe manure!
Of course de Chardin was praised by the Freemason Casaroli - why wouldn't he?

I have to laugh at all these Modernists rejoicing over the latest development - just pathetic!

"These reasons suffice to show superabundantly by how many roads Modernism leads to atheism and to the annihilation of all religion. The error of Protestantism made the first step on this path; that of Modernism makes the second; atheism makes the next."

- Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis ("On the Doctrine of the Modernists"), September 8, 1907.

"THE LEGACY OF TRUTH"
"I recognized, my child, the evils that were to fall upon the world. Search for the knowledge I have left to you. I, too, was enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Read well the legacy of truth that I left to you. Modernism must be erased from your world!" St. Pius X, September 7, 1974

LEADS TO HERESY
"The good pastors of My Son's House have always warned of the danger of modernization and modernism, for modernism shall always lead to heresy. Modernism shall cause the Faith to darken and be lost in the hearts of many. And modernism shall lead to atheism, My children. Awaken from your slumber and recognize the signs of the times." Our Lady, November 1, 1976

VOCATIONS ARE NIL
"The vocations are nil, and why? Because the example is rotten! Tradition has been cast aside for modernism and humanism." Jesus, December 31, 1977

REINHARD DE CHAR DIN IN HELL
"Many of Our clergy have become blinded through their love of worldly pleasure and riches. Many have accepted a soul once high as a priest. Teilhard is in hell! He burns forever for the contamination he spread throughout the world! A man of God has his choice as a human instrument to enter into the kingdom of satan.
"Man will not defy the laws of God without going unpunished. You are a perverse generation, and you call the hand of punishment down fast upon you." Our Lady, March 18, 1973

Teilhard de Chardin and Origen's teachings ,Being resurrected as heroes?
Is it the Pope the one really talking here?
I pray to God not!

harmonizing Christianity with the theory of evolution; critics charge that Teilhard's optimistic view of nature flirts with pantheism.

While lots of scientist are now being illuminated by creationism,
Our pope is opening up to Evolution?

Re known evolution Scientist have no explanation for Regular "dragonfly" ,
the "bombardier beetles"

Cloning technology proves there is nothing random or accidental about the the growth and development of a new life once it has begun. A clone cannot become anything but a genetic duplicate or carbon copy of the donor. It cannot have different eye color. It cannot have different hair color. In other words, as the cells multiply and divide, even from a single cell, the embryo follows a specific path of development. Development is controlled by the information encoded in the DNA. That means each human life is on a uniquely targeted and specific path from conception.
Human life is on a continuum from conception. From conception every human life is biologically alive, genetically human, genetically and sexually distinct and a complete (although very young) life that is able to direct its own growth and development.