http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/15/wpope15.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/15/ixhome.html
Decadent world is in the grip of Satan, says Pope By Malcolm Moore in Rome (Filed: 15/04/2006) Pope Benedict said last night that the world was in the grip of Satan and prayed for mankind to open its eyes to the "filth around us". At an Easter ceremony that recreated the passage of Jesus Christ to the crucifixion, Benedict XVI lashed out at man's "decadent narcissism". He said "a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan". The Good Friday service, held at the Colosseum, showed the 14 stages of Christ's suffering and was designed to allow worshippers to share in the agony of Jesus. During the first and final stage, the Pope carried the cross. The prayers, written by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, the Vatican City's vicar general, were approved by the Pope, and reflected his strongly conservative outlook. "Surely God is deeply pained by the attack on the family," the Pope said. "Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family." He also expressed fears about genetic modification, and said it was "insane arrogance" to play with the "grammar" of creation. The meditations were designed to invoke a feeling of man's sinfulness ahead of the dark hours of Easter Saturday. Bodies are "constantly bought and sold on the streets of our cities, on our television channels, in homes that have become like streets," he said. Accumulating wealth was "robbery" when it "prevented others from living". He deplored "the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty". The Pope said society valued "immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication". The downbeat message echoed the Pope's words at the same ceremony last year, when, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he led the Way of the Cross in place of the ailing Pope John Paul II. In those meditations, he compared the Church to "a boat about to sink, taking on water on every side". He lamented "how much filth there is in the Church", and said that "a Christianity which has grown weary of faith has abandoned the Lord". Since his election almost a year ago, the Bavarian-born Pope has surprised many with his gentle public persona. At yesterday's service, however, his ferocity was a reminder of why he was once nicknamed "Cardinal Rottweiler". John Allen, the author of two books on Pope Benedict, said: "Is this the real Pope Benedict re-emerging? He has projected a very different tone in the last year, but that does not mean that he has changed." On Thursday, the Pope poured scorn on revelations within the recently published Gospel of Judas, a fourth century text which is sympathetic to Judas Iscariot and whose crumbling fragments claim that Jesus instructed Judas to betray him. The Pope celebrates his 79th birthday tomorrow, Easter Sunday. Mr Allen said he would adopt a lighter tone at an open-air Mass at St Peter's. Gargoyle's Occult Services - http://www.angelfire.com/goth/drgargoyle __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Visit our Psychic/Paranormal message boards at http://www.skatemd.com/forums/index.php Arcade, Journals, Chats, Boards, Fun! Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paranormal_stuff/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
