Sunday, February 15, 2009

Rabbi defends the Pope

More from Rabbi Levin: another LifeSiteNews article: "I support this move" to reconcile the traditionalist faction in the Church, he said, "because I understand the big picture, which is that the Catholic Church has a problem. There is a strong left wing of the Church that is doing immeasurable harm to the faith."

Rabbi Levin said that he understands "perfectly" why the reconciliation is vital to the fight against abortion and the homosexualist movement.

"I understand that it is very important to fill the pews of the Catholic Church not with cultural Catholics and left-wingers who are helping to destroy the Catholic Church and corrupt the values of the Catholic Church." This corruption, he said, "has a trickle-down effect to every single religious community in the world."

"What's the Pope doing? He's trying to bring the traditionalists back in because they have a lot of very important things to contribute the commonweal of Catholicism.

"Now, if in the process, he inadvertently includes someone who is prominent in the traditionalist movement who happens to say very strange things about the Holocaust, is that a reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater and start to condemn Pope Benedict? Absolutely not."

NB Abraham Foxman of the Antidefamation League is a secular Jew committed to the homosexual agenda (see his Wikipedia entry). There is obviously a world of difference between his perspective on the Pope than that of a man like Rabbi Levin, who sees him as an ally. See the full LSN article.

Briefing (13/02/09):
Rabbi Levin has got this exactly right. Catholic liberals are appalled about the prospect of the SSPX being reconciled because they hate the idea of a million morally orthodox Catholics re-entering the mainstream. They were equally appalled, for the same reason, at the liberation of the Traditional Mass. They have seized on the Williamson issue as a hook to hang their indignation on, just as they used the Good Friday prayers last year, but these excuses won't last.

Religious Jews - except the most liberal ones - have far more in common with Pope Benedict XVI on moral issues than they do with The Tablet and its secular allies.

From LifeSiteNews.com: A prominent Jewish Rabbi who represents over 1000 Rabbis in North America spoke to LifeSiteNews.com last week regarding the recent controversy around Pope Benedict XVI and his lifting the excommunication of the four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). Rabbi Yehuda Levin says he sees the media attack on Pope Benedict as being more about the influx of morally conservative Catholics into the mainstream of the Catholic Church, rather than anything else, including the holocaust denial of one of the SSPX bishops, which has received widespread media coverage.

See their full article.

The SSPX faithful, in addition to offering the Mass in its ancient Latin form, are also known for their orthodoxy on moral matters. The mainstreaming of such Catholics into the Church would boost the numbers of pro-life and pro-family Catholics significantly, especially in Europe.

Rabbi Levin said that he believed that the Vatican has dealt appropriately with the controversial comments by SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson. However, he said that while this will will put to rest the "ridiculous" suggestions that the Pope is anti-Semitic, it will not end the controversy.

"At this point there has been a wonderfully strong renunciation of Bishop Williamson by the Vatican and therefore the Jewish community from their statements seems to be satisfied that things are going in the right way," he said. "This is just going to increase the frenzy of left wing Catholics, whether outside the Church or inside, because they now have to carry the ball in terms of keeping the attack on the Pope going."

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Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to St Michael

Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust down to Hell Satan, and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen