Thursday 3 June 2010

Papal Visit website

The website for the papal visit is: http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/.

From the home page you can follow a link to a section of the site about Cardinal Newman. The biography is a worthwhile read, the last two sections, on liberalism and faith, I think being of particular interest (though I suspect some readers will be a bit critical of the paragraph on liberalism). The section offering his key teachings on the office of the Papacy is made up of two two quotations that will be very helpful in answering those who pick up, totally out of context, Cardinal Newman's toast in favour of conscience over the Pope. It would, however, IMHO, have been helped by some additional explanation.

The page of the site on the Catholic faith appears to me a bit condescending. It is clearly written for someone who has no knowledge of the Catholic faith, or indeed, much knowledge of anything about Christianity. It is not in my view by any means the most brilliant piece of "primary proclamation", particularly in its account of the Eucharist. I suspect that Christians of denominations other than the Catholic Church will not find it helpful, though those without any faith at all will find it more help.

It may be the case that the most useful pages of the site are those linking to an account of the three encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI - though I have not had time to read through these as I post.

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