In March, 2000 the “good Pope” John Paul II sincerely and passionately apologized for over a hundred sins committed in the name of the Catholic Church throughout the ages, including:
- The conquest of Mesoamerica by Spain in the name of the Church
- The legal process on the Italian scientist and philosopher Galileo Galilei, himself a devout Catholic, around 1633 (31 October 1992).
- Catholics’ involvement with the African slave trade (9 August 1993).
- The Church Hierarchy’s role in burnings at the stake and the religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation (May 1995, in the Czech Republic).
- The injustices committed against women, the violation of women’s rights and for the historical denigration of women (10 July 1995, in a letter to “every woman”).
- The inactivity and silence of many Catholics during the Holocaust (see the article Religion in Nazi Germany) (16 March 1998)
- For the execution of Jan Hus in 1415 (18 December 1999 in Prague). When John Paul II visited Prague in 1990s, he requested experts in this matter “to define with greater clarity the position held by Jan Hus among the Church’s reformers, and acknowledged that “independently of the theological convictions he defended, Hus cannot be denied integrity in his personal life and commitment to the nation’s moral education.” It was another step in building a bridge between Catholics and Protestants.
- For the sins of Catholics throughout the ages for violating “the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and [for showing] contempt for their cultures and religious traditions”. (12 March 2000, during a public Mass of Pardons).
- For the sins of the Crusader attack on Constantinople in 1204. (4 May 2001, to the Patriarch of Constantinople).
Though he called on all Catholics to follow his example, the Philippine Catholic Church has pridefully and sinfully denied him–for where is the apology for the conquest of the Philippines by Magellan and Legaspi in the name of King and Cross? And where the apology for the dastardly murder of Jose Rizal using the testimony and evidence supplied by his own Jesuit mentors?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Renato,
You seem to know an awful lot. Try to get your thoughts a little better organized. Or treat your brain like a chemlab. Make explosives, not sparklers. Make venom, not toxic waste. Shoot the arrow at the target, not into the wide open sky.
@DJB
this is the first time i’ve heard of JPII’s blanket apologies… as a catholic, i find this very interesting indeed…
i can’t seem to find any more than what you provided in the first link:
“POPE JOHN PAUL II: We humbly ask for forgiveness for the part that each of us with his or her behaviors has played in such evils thus contributing to disrupting the face of the church. At the same time, as we confess our sins let us forgive the faults committed by others towards us.”
is this the apology that apologizes for all of the things outlined in that wiki article?
is there some other document?
asking for an apology in behalf of a man who died 250 years ago is weird and spooky. this would be a great blog during halloween :)
do most of you really think that an apology will change this country and cleansed the sins of corruption? i thought most of you don’t believe in God.
what is exactly your priorities for this country? your wants and needs for the people?
asking for an apology? LOL.. ambot ninyo
GabbyD: Links checkout the ZENIT entry for each of the apologies. As the dates above imply, he made more than one. I don’t have a collection of the actual documents. They are however on the Vatican Website.
Leytenian,
At least get your dates right will you? Rizal was murdered (shot in the back) by the Spanish Taliban on December 30, 1896. Not 250 years ago.
Your own Pope offered those apologies without being asked and asked you to follow his example.
Who’s the weird and spooky one, now?
GabbyD,
You never heard about it because the Catholic Taliban newspapers, like the Philippine Daily Innuendo played the news down when it came out in 2000. That’s coz their editor-in-chief and publisher both start their day by kissing the stone feet of a Mama Mary idol.
do you have to be a member of zenit?
the vatican website isn’t helpful at all.
i’m having trouble finding the actual links. any help would be greatly appreciated, not just by me, i’m sure…
uy, mali pala ang dates? it just to show that I really don’t care about Jose Rizal.
if my pope has generally apologized to the world then it was the right thing to do. I think you’re asking for an specific apology in our country. good luck weirdo :)
GabbyD,
Okay, but you owe me two and a half centavos for this:
Memory and reconciliation: The church and faults of the past
Leytenian,
…oh never mind…you’re one of those…la di da!
Spanish Taliban – i.e. Spanish Students: was Rizal executed by Spanish students DJB, kinda new historicity to me, huh!
Students-of-Mass-Murder, Danilo. But what you guyz complaining about. Pope John Paul II already apologized to you good and peaceful folks.
Blackshama,
did you know that the Apology was written by none other than then Cardinal Ratzi?
that is the neo-definition concocted by the west DJB.
when a country defends itself and resists American neo-imperialism and aggression that eventually involves selfless sacrifice of the victimized population, the west usually dubs it as terrorism.
Can’t you stomach that DJB so that you oversimplify it too with your western mindset?
Anyway, America is doomed to doctor and corrupt its own language. Before: Gay = happy, jolly, etc., Now: Gay = homosexuals!
danilo,
The happiest, most religiously fulfilled Muslims are in America, not Afghanistan, or Somalia, or Iran or Syria or anywhere else. America. Why do you think that even you would rather live in the worst ghetto of Chicago than say Helman Province in Afghanistan. Right?
jcc,
Sus, patronizing trick, when stumped. Should I fall in a pool of gratuitous embarrassment for your magnanimity?
Ano ang hindi ko naintindihan? In the first place, what did you mean by “we” — did you mean a whole country, as a whole nation? Obviously when I, as a Filipino, a believer, and a Catholic at that wrote here that the Church should apologize re: Rizal, I am not expecting the whole country to be with me — just the ones who also believe in the same cause.
Sus, you’re so scattered all over, you can’t focus. Di ba our first exchange in this thread, you suggested that “we” should focus. E di mag-focus.
Then you should peppered me that if I ask for an apology from the RCC, I should also ask the same for the host of other injustices. Who’s so loco here?
Obviously, one person cannot be all over. That’s why answered and I repost it and think it over in your brain:
“jcc,
Yes, one should be efficient or be focused in using one’s energies. I happen to believe that indicting the Roman Catholic Church to which I belong anyway is one of the ways where my energies in the service of my political beliefs will be put to good use. I do not condone a Church that puts to death a noble man such as Rizal who only wanted liberty and equality for his countrymen. The “Church” to which I owe fealty is not like that.
Let the people have their voice for what they believe is just and right. That includes comfort women during the Japanese period. They deserve justice too. Who knows when they will get it. The slave society was not put in the dustbin until recently. Let the flame of justice keep burning.”
Reynato Pacifico,
God said do not steal, do not cheat, do not corrupt women, that they do not sell their chastity and honor for just a fleeting money, arts and celebrity title, do not abuse children, implement fair laws among you without any reservations, give rights to where it is due, do not invade other country in the name of demoncrazy, do not sow discord and chaos among other people just to rule over them, do not impose your own hegemony over other who got their own system, do not sell them arms to induce them to kill each other, do not breed nor support puppet regimes to kill their own people, do not back up insurgents just to overthrow democratically established but anti-American governments, do not befriend despotic but compromising administrations, do not dope your own people and condition their minds to justify invading other country, etc., etc.,
But it’s us who do not pay heed to God’s injunctions, it’s us who turned corrupt; dirty men-in-uniform, hypocrite men-in-robe are but among us; it’s us who misinterpret and misrepresent God’s Will to justify our deplorable plight of our own making!
God said, “Reynato Pacifico, do not blame the Carabao for its dung that you yourself smacked on your face!
“The happiest, most religiously fulfilled Muslims are in America, not Afghanistan, or Somalia, or Iran or Syria or anywhere else.” DJB
Well, partially true DJB, because it’s absurd that America invades itself!
So, will this apology bring food to the table, be able to pay the bills, send the kids to school, buy clothes, pay the mortgage ??????????????????????????????????????
Or just to make Filipino catholics feel good?
As far as atheists are concerned, this entire Catholic apologies yada yada yada.. and now… Moslems blah blah blah is precisely the reason why wars have flamed out.
what next.. apology by Bagong Daan… INK… Quiboloy… ano pa…. susginoo.. flipazzes talaga. hay buhay.
so what?
What’s up with all these trolls and crackpots, DJB? Can’t believe I wasted my braincells from reading these comments.
all i know is that..ang nagawang kasalanan ay habang buhay na kasalanan na. so its just fair na sinuman nagkasala nararapat lamang na sila ay humingi ng tawad..para mapatawad.. peace to all.