Word: vaticans
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...however, that order (although not the job) was eliminated. A century of Freudian psychology and medical progress was harsh on exorcism. Conditions previously thought diabolical, such as Tourette's syndrome, proved medically treatable. In the wake of Vatican II, many American Catholics "wanted to restrict things to only a scientific way of knowing" and shied away from the rite's supernatural literalism, says the Rev. Kazimierz Kowalski, an exorcist in Manhattan. Notes the Rev. James LeBar, who took up the work in 1989: "The whole thing kind of went down to embers...
...Lieberman's evangelizing has got you into a giddy whirl of ecumenism in which all the major religions seem to be equal, the Vatican has some sobering news: Never mind Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews; even Christians who don't accept the pope as God's representative on Earth are going to have a hard time getting through the Pearly Gates...
...There's nothing new in all of this, of course - the Vatican has always claimed such primacy on the basis of its origins with the Disciple Peter, the first pontiff. But the restatement of that principle at a time when John Paul II has been doing his utmost to build bridges both to other Christian denominations and to non-Christian faiths has raised eyebrows. The bad news for non-Catholics came in "Dominus Iesus," a 36-page declaration by Pope John Paul II's doctrine chief, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that will be sent to every Catholic bishop warning against...
...declaration is a further sign of an ongoing theological power struggle within the Vatican over the limits of the ecumenism promoted by John Paul II himself - or even of the more general friction between the church's more liberal and more conservative strands under his tenure. Monsignor Tarcisio Bertone, who introduced the document Tuesday, made explicit that the document was released to correct the "errors and ambiguities" of unnamed moderate Catholic theologians that had become widespread. Ratzinger added that such theologians were "manipulating and exceeding" the principle of religious tolerance by allowing for an equivalence between different religions...
...Vatican has long been aware of Pius' explosiveness as a candidate for canonization. As Kenneth Woodward reports in his book Making Saints, the first time Pius' cause was formally addressed, every firsthand witness criticized his papacy's conduct. His beatification was repeatedly postponed, most recently in the 1980s, when churchmen apparently deemed it not to be "opportune." That seems to have changed. It will be interesting to see whether the upcoming ceremony will end the debate or spark an even more thorough public airing of this larger-than-life Pope's remarkable career...