God's Rottweiler

That the pope has made remarks offensive to Muslims, and now to Jews, isn't particularly surprising. I wrote a profile of Ratzinger last year, and what I learnt in researching it gave me a pretty strong indication that his reign would be colourful, to say the least. Ratzinger’s stance on liberation theology in particular exemplified a worldview wherein mere human beings - their sensibilities, their welfare, their health, their lives - are of secondary relevance to the demands of papal dogma.

In that article, I wrote:

"From 1981, Cardinal Ratzinger ran the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; formerly known as the Inquisition. Gaining the nickname “God's Rottweiler”, his injunctions included pronouncements that homosexuality is evil, that other religions and versions of Christianity are defective, and that women should not be allowed to sing in choirs or serve at the altar. He also barred Catholic priests from counselling pregnant teenagers on their options."

Under Ratzinger’s enforcement of doctrine the Vatican continued to forbid the use of condoms, even for health, and went so far as to claim they do not prevent the spread of Aids. This in spite of the fact that between 1981 and the end of 2003 Aids killed 20 million people, and that during 2004 around five million adults and children became infected with HIV."

Click here to read the rest.

Otherwise, for some informed comment on the current crisis, Juan Cole, as ever, has the goods.