fredzio54
13.10.03, 07:40
Having been raised and trained as a Catholic, I’ve always been fascinated by
the Church hierarchy, especially the cardinals and the pope. Coming from an
ancient Sephardic family, I’ve always been interested in all things Jewish.
I’ve practiced both religions in my lifetime, and I have respect for them
both. Now I am a Buddhist priest; yet metaphorically, like anyone who crosses
the threshold of adulthood, I’ve left home but still love the family. To that
end I scrutinize the news about Catholic and Jewish affairs. As horrid
violence rends the land of Israel, threatening Judaism itself, as the present
pope’s health deteriorates steadily with rumors abounding of his retirement,
and as he struggles with child-molesting priests, both Judaism and
Catholicism are very much on the world’s mind.
Several crackpots, mostly fundamentalist, anti-Semite Christian in origin,
have been making a big deal of the "last" pope. According to various
prophecies, we are in the days of the end of the papacy and the Catholic
Church. The present pontiff, John Paul II, is claimed to be the second-to-the-
last pope. Borrowing from certain old manuscripts, the cranks have written of
the last pope, called "Peter the Roman". This is of more interest to the
Catholic Church and the Jewish community than one might suppose
