Catholic theologians tend to be a pretty sophisticated bunch. How can they possibly reconcile themselves to their church when the Vatican does things like this?
A vial containing the late pope John Paul II’s blood will soon be winging its way to Mexico in a bid to help bring down crimes rates in the largely Catholic country, Vatican Radio reported Wednesday.
…
Several vials of blood were taken from Pope John Paul II during the last days of his life in 2005. They have since taken on the aura of holy relics, with Catholic faithful invited to venerate them.
That’s not all. The Vatican is also going to display vials of his blood for people to venerate.
There’s something truly creepy about the Catholic church’s obsession with the actual flesh and blood of dead people.
Shalom Mano,
This so reminds me of the attempts by the followers of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s attempts to bring down crime rates in major cities by sending in practitioners of transcendental meditation.
That was a big flop too.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Never underestimate the power of cognitive dissonance.
As an ex Catholic I think I understand why. Firstly Catholics worship statues, pray to saints etc. requesting this or that Saint to Intercede on their belief. They also believe that water from Lourdes cure them of a variety of deadly diseases and even small ailments. A friend of mine, a Soil Scientist, with a PhD, couldn’t help passing wind loudly in public. He believes that Lourdes cured him of this embarrassing malady. At the time of receiving Holy Communion for the first time we were told that because the host is genuinely of the body of Christ, it will bleed if one was to bite it. I guess the Vatican thinks that the blood of a saint or would be saint is much more powerful than a statue or a relic. After all Christ shed his blood to redeem humanity. In this particular case the “blood in a vial” maybe to check out whether appealing to Pope John Paul the 2nd by venerating his blood, will result in miracles, which is a prerequisite for Sainthood. He has been beatified, which is just one step away from Sainthood. In any case blood and death are associated with sacrifice of the highest order. God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac to test Abraham’s love and obedience.
I think I can understand the need for regular Catholics to feel that there is some way to get some kind of miraculous intervention.
But my other question was about how Catholic theologians deal with this kind of thing. Do they squirm with embarrassment?
Mano,
From the news article
“Church teachings don’t ascribe relics any direct supernatural powers. Only God can perform miracles, though sometimes through the intercession of saints, Corral said. But relics serve as powerful reminders of, and connections to, those saints..”
It’s individual Catholics that ascribe magic powers, not the official church teachings. Church leaders just deliberately fail to correct them.
Your link for the Mexico story is broken, but I found it on google.
Robert
In my version of the King James bible it clearly says not to refer to any man as father -- Does that piece of scripture make the priests squirm.
I also wonder about the priests ability to forgive sin… I thought that was the role of God and not a human.
Hmm can priests really forgive sins? Yea I also thought it was the role of God or Jesus’s job not us humans… In my opinion they’re saying that to get more people to follow their religion.