{"id":413,"date":"2005-04-20T02:48:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-20T02:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=413"},"modified":"2005-04-20T02:48:00","modified_gmt":"2005-04-20T02:48:00","slug":"413","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=413","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Benedict the inquisitor<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I paid for my turkey wrap and orange juice at “La Cantina,” i.e., the student coffee shop, today, the cashier told me that a new pope had been elected. Back in my office, I went on the Web and learned that Cardinal Ratzinger was now Pope Benedict XVI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, some of my colleagues and I had just been discussing Aidan Kelly’s Crafting the Art of Magic<\/em> (Llewellyn Publications, 1991), which for all its flaws represents the first book-length study by a scholar of religion on Wiccan origins.<\/p>\n

Kelly, raised Roman Catholic, turned to the Craft as a young man, but then in the early 1980s tried for a time to return to the Church, only to feel that there was no place for him in it.<\/p>\n

At his book’s conclusion, noting how the Church never apologized for the execution of “witches” and “heretics,” he writes:<\/p>\n

The man who holds the position of Grand Inquisitor, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, is responsible for the harassing of Fr. Charles Curran<\/a>, and of Fr. Matthew Fox<\/a>, whom he has accused of heresy. Why? Because Fox hired Starhawk<\/a> (and Luisa Teish<\/a>, a Voudun priestess) to teach at Holy Names College<\/a> in Oakland, California. . . . <\/p>\n

Let me merely extend an invitation: if you, dear reader, can no longer stomach being in communion with Cardinal Ratzinger–or whoever the Chief Son-of-a-Bitch of your particular persuasion may be–then come circle with the Witches. We offer you liberty, fraternity, and equality.<\/em><\/p>\n

That was my first introduction to the Ratzinger-as-Inquisitor meme, back in 1991. As the analysis of the papal election rolls forth, we may hear more of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benedict the inquisitor As I paid for my turkey wrap and orange juice at “La Cantina,” i.e., the student coffee shop, today, the cashier told me that a new pope had been elected. Back in my office, I went on the Web and learned that Cardinal Ratzinger was now Pope Benedict XVI. Coincidentally, some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-413","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1011","url_meta":{"origin":413,"position":0},"title":"What Lies Ahead","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are a couple of links. Meanwhile, expect a series of new book-related posts, now that spring semester is finally coming to a close.\u00b6 What was it like to live in a Norse longhouse in Vinland or Iceland? Re-enactors have ideas.\u00b6 At least Pope Benedict understands that religion thrives better\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5289,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5289","url_meta":{"origin":413,"position":1},"title":"Is Paganism Doomed?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"No, this is not the judgment of one of the usual (Pagan) suspects. It is a tangent spun off a column by Rod Dreher, who comments frequently on ecclesiastical matters. He was raised a southern Protestant, converted to Roman Catholicism, left that church over the sex-abuse scandals, and is now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11444,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11444","url_meta":{"origin":413,"position":2},"title":"Catholics in Trouble over ‘Idols’ Again","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe you missed it, but there was a minor scandal at the Vatican last year over the liturgical use of an image of Pachamana, one name given to the indigenous Mother Goddess of the Andean region of South America. Some traditional Catholics were deeply offended: The statues, which were identical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Catholicism\"","block_context":{"text":"Catholicism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=catholicism"},"img":{"alt_text":"Idols on the Catholic altar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.churchmilitant.com\/images\/social_images\/2020-05-14-Hornchurch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.churchmilitant.com\/images\/social_images\/2020-05-14-Hornchurch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.churchmilitant.com\/images\/social_images\/2020-05-14-Hornchurch.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.churchmilitant.com\/images\/social_images\/2020-05-14-Hornchurch.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2687,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2687","url_meta":{"origin":413,"position":3},"title":"Pope: You Can’t Dance","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A century or more ago, the anarchist Emma Goldman told one of her earnest lefty comrades that dancing and \"the revolution\" were not incompatible, which became the source of various mangled quotations attributed to her. But evidently the pope feels that nuns who won't stop dancing don't fit in with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Christianity\"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=christianity"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sister Nobili, the dancing nun (BBC News)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/53003000\/jpg\/_53003509_090403112822_freira226-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":743,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=743","url_meta":{"origin":413,"position":4},"title":"Who’s a Celt now? – 3","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Celtic Spirituality\" as religious outbidding.During the recent Spanish Peaks Celtic Music Festival, St. Benedict Episcopal Church in La Veta, Colorado, took out a small ad in the program for their Celtic Spirituality weekend.Yes, before the contemporary Pagan movement was underway, various Anglicans were pushing \"Celtic spirituality\" as a way to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5555,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5555","url_meta":{"origin":413,"position":5},"title":"Francis of Assisi: From Radical Monk to Garden Ornament","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The real-estate supplement of the Taos News this week carried an article titled \"Five Must-Haves for a Beautiful Backyard.\" Oddly enough, four of the five items* were available at the store owned by a person interviewed for the story. \"Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, is one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"St. Francis as a bird bath with the wolf of Gubbio.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholichomeandgarden.com\/images\/Saint%20Garden%20Statues\/Saint%20Francis%20Garden%20Statue%20Birdbath.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}