Welcome, Holy Father!

[Caid Ivik]

Tommorow will his excellence, pope John Paul II. come to Slovakia! I can't miss the cheers as he'll go trough Bratislava on nunciature ;D

[Egeides]

Caid, how is Catholicism and the catholic institution perceived in your country? And how do you perceive it personally?

[ordos45]

Glad to hear he'll visit your nation Caid, and with luck you'll get plenty of good news coverage on him!

[Caid Ivik]

Slovakia is about 69% catholic (plus about 7% greek catholics), as we look into history it is such since 10th century. Only some of our bishops are rather of old generation. I don't mean they are conservative, they are rather sectaric, confrontative against other cults. But not all, we can say it maybe about archbishop Sokol and bishop of Nitra, cardinal Korec, as well as their mafia. Public relations look like Sokol tells some of his "bonmots" to media (like "media are conspiring against us!") and then comes bishop of Banska Bystrica, mons.Balaz, trying to say that we shouldn't take everything what Sokol says seriously...

[Edric O]

As soon as I heard it on the news, I immediately thought "Caid is gonna post a topic about this any time now". I guess I was right. :)

I truly admire John Paul II. He did more for the Church and for the people of the world than any other Pope before him.

[Caid Ivik]

It's a great thing, such visit. Our media talk only about how much money will be spent on it, politicians (excl.communists, which commented that they won't visit the mass...) say for this time nothing. There is a great man coming to visit us, that's a reason put a keyboard!

[Navaros]

Caid - there is nothing Holy or excellent about the Pope

the current Pope is a hypocrite who does not believe what the Bible says. he has made several anti-Christian statements which directly contradict Biblical teachings. he is merely a puppet for the Corporate Entitity called "The Catholic Church" - not a servant of God.

if you do some research and learn about all the anti-Christian things he has said and still call him Holy after that, then you are not a Christian either

[Edric O]

Maybe I should have a little chat with my Slovak comrades, then... ;) (not that I actually know any of them)

I remember when the Pope came to visit Romania, 4 years ago. The people were enthusiastic! The prevailing opinion among Romanians is that this whole Orthodox/Catholic divide is meaningless and should be abolished somehow. And I totally agree.

[Edric O]

Nav, I won't waste my time on you. Shut up.

[Anathema]

if you do some research and learn about all the anti-Christian things he has said and still call him Holy after that, then you are not a Christian either

As Nav can't even name these anti christian things the pope supposedly said it should obviously not be taken seriously.

Not that I'm particulary fond of catholicism, however. I don't think that believers should need such authorical figures as the pope to dictate for them what the will of God is.

[Khan]

However it is nice to have someone to look up to.

[Babylon]

Caid - there is nothing Holy or excellent about the Pope

the current Pope is a hypocrite who does not believe what the Bible says. he has made several anti-Christian statements which directly contradict Biblical teachings. he is merely a puppet for the Corporate Entitity called "The Catholic Church" - not a servant of God.

if you do some research and learn about all the anti-Christian things he has said and still call him Holy after that, then you are not a Christian either

At first I thought, why is everybody so against Nav? But the last couple of days(weeks) it became more obvious to me.

Nav, what DO you like? It seems to me you find NOTHING good. Everything is bad, at least that is the feeling you are giving me about you.

[Caid Ivik]

It is his great deed, EdricO. Philosophy of aggiorgamento and ecumenism was greatly improved by his work. I can't forget last year's council of religions, when he arranged a common prayer for all religions. Thanks to him, hostility between most protestants and Church is now minimal.

Nav is a calvinist protestant, that's the one church, which seems to decide for remaining on trees...

[The_Sadukar]

Well I'm glad to hear the Pope will visit your homeland Caid, that's about all I cn say.

[ordos45]

Personally, I'm Protestant and I respect the Pope...

Take a look at a few things this Pope has done:

1) Most travelled and media covered Pope in history, earning him a nickname "Superstar Pope". Every time he is on a trip he spreads the Catholic faith and manages to get media time for it.

2) He's politically crafty. Look at him, there's no way one can be a Priest first under the Nazis, and then the Soviet Union without being politically astute.

3) Efforts to heal divisions between Jews and Christians. he even visitted the Yad Veshem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem to pay silent homage to those that died.

4) Promotes Inter-faith dialogues.

[Caid Ivik]

OK, so he had already a big prayer yesterday in cathedral in Trnava, today a mass in Banska Bystrica. Tommorow, we all expect a final half-million mass in Bratislava ;D I think organisers should give him more time to rest. I can't believe such exhausted person can fully think now...

[thomas]

WOOO!!! go pope!!!! BTW catholism isn't bad, mosto f hte catholic saints are really good, and deserve to be saints, like ST. John Bosco (or Don Bosco) who made a bording school for poor kids during the industrial rev. and taught them trades like cobbling, agriculture, black smithing, and so on so, he did this to keep out of trouble to.

oh, I'm a protestant also, but my school is heavily chatholic ( like 90% at least maybe 95%) so thats how I know alot about certain Saints.

[Tio_Holtzmann]

Caid - there is nothing Holy or excellent about the Pope

the current Pope is a hypocrite who does not believe what the Bible says. he has made several anti-Christian statements which directly contradict Biblical teachings. he is merely a puppet for the Corporate Entitity called "The Catholic Church" - not a servant of God.

if you do some research and learn about all the anti-Christian things he has said and still call him Holy after that, then you are not a Christian either

yeah but most ppl christian or nonchristian say non-christian things and contradict the bible and generally let down god most of their lives. ok he's the head of a church, and i know that it's not perfect, what church is? while there is a lot wrong with the catholic church, it has done a lot that is good and right for the world. some good things that no other church has topped.

[Inoculator9]

Hey! Nav didn't argue back! That post limit is great! He posts one part of his argument, and then can't post the rest for a day! I bet it hurts :D