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THE NEW POPE IS SEEN AS INTOLERANT OF OTHER RELIGIONS LIKE BUDDHISM, HINDUSIM, MUSLIM AND JUDAISM ,CRITICS SAY

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

The Los Angeles press and the powerful Jewish community did not accord the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI the usual warm greetings after the election of a Pope and published revealing articles of the “Opus Dei” , the right wing organization which is believed to have pulled strings to get him elected.

The influential Los Angeles Times in its leader editorial said, “By failing to pick a Pope from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world, the church reinforces the impression that it is a colonial enterprise, run in Europe by Europeans who see themselves as uniquely qualify to serve as god’s interlocutor.”

“Moreover,” the newspaper charged , “the Benedict XVI has staunchly opposed allowing Turkey to join the European Union , on the grounds that Europe should be preserved as a Christian entity.”

A Jewish leader , writing in a widely circulated Jewish magazine, citing the newly elected Pope’s alleged intolerance of other religions said, “In 1997 Ratzinger (the new pope’s former name)called Buddhism an "autoerotic spirituality" that offers "transcendence without imposing concrete religious obligations." Hindusim, he said, offers "false hope," in that it guarantees "purification" based on a "morally cruel" concept of reincarnation resembling "a continuous circle of hell." At the time, Cardinal Ratzinger predicted that Buddhism would replace Marxism as the Catholic church's main enemy,” the Jewish Rabbi charged.

Writing in the Tikkun magazine , Rabbi Michael Lerner said, “Ratzinger also publicly critiques all those inside the Church who are tolerant enough to think that other religions may have equal validity as a path to God. This is a slippery slope toward anti-Semitism and a return to the chauvinistic and triumphalist views that led the Church, when it had the power to do so, to develop its infamous crusades and inquisitions.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times editorial said, “On pressing social issues ,this aggressive German Cardinal is certain to continue and even strengthen the church’s directives against birth control , a stance that contributes to the suffering of AIDS ravaged Africa. He probably would tolerate no talk of loosening church views of women priests, divorce and stem cell research- other positions that have lost the church followers even under an adored pope.” The editorial challenged him to take a stronger stance against Catholic priests who were accused of sexual molestations against children – “that has cost the support in the United States.” The Los Angeles Times said this was not the only nation where the priests of the church had victimized the young people.

Many newspapers also published photos of Cardinal Ratzinger , as a young man serving Adolph Hitler’s Nazi army in Germany before becoming a Catholic priest. They also said the new Pope was elected with the influence of a “secretive” Catholic lay organization called “Opus Dei” ( a Latin phrase meaning work of God) founded in Spain in 1928 by a Catholic priest named Josemaria Escrivia , who belonged to the inner circle of the Fascist dictator Francisco Franco that supported Hitler. It is said with the strong support of former Pope John Paul and the present Pope Benedict XVI Escrivia was sanctified and elevated to sainthood in a hurry in 1982. Pope John Paul made Opus Dei answerable not to the local bishop but directly to the pope.

Opus Dei became a controversial organization after the publication of the novel, The la De Vinci Code. But , in reply Catholic spokesman said Opus Dei has become the victim of Christian phobia. But critics of the movement have said that the Church’s decision to elvate him to sainthood was disturbing when his close political alliance with Spain’s Fascist dictator was considered. Escrivia , was also a strong anti-communist like Franco.

The organization is having only 3000 members in the United States out of its 85,000. It’s headquarters are in Manhattan , New York in a 42 million dollar 17 story building . This is the first time in history the organization has become most powerful having the favor of certain cardinals to appoint one of its favorites as the pontificate

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