il papa

Here's a great article by Al Mohler on the new pope. He gets at something I've been thinking about...first, that Protestants must remember and retain the (important) differences we have with the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the areas of soteriology and idolatry and Scripture. Second, that faithful Protestants must realize that we have far greater enemies within the ranks of "evangelicalism" than we do in the Roman church.

On the way home, I heard yesterday on NPR a priest being interviewed about Ratzinger. This priest was one of Ratzinger's students when he was a theology professor in Germany. Theological differences aside, I was amazed and ashamed - amazed at this priest's strong, clear, and passionate stand for Catholic doctrine. Ashamed because I can't envision many Christian leaders doing the same thing without hemming and hawing and hedging their words every other minute.