I want to know how he can be against a war with a trient that kills his own people. I alsao want to know why I can't e-mail my feelings to him. I have been Catholic since birth but becoming very untrusting as I seem to have no way to communicate my thoughts about the Church. Thinking that you just don't want my thoughts. Please let me know how to e-mail the Pope!

-- John benton (tuckjd1@aol.com), March 23, 2003

Answers

John b - At the risk of sounding simple - are you attempting to vent anger/frustration on current involvements of the Vatican on various world platforms.

If so I for one appreciate your intention and need. May I ask if you have priest/nun/monk to speak with on a deep level? A suggestion if I may is to seek a spiritual director.

During my own time of discernment for priesthood I was fortunate in having a Spritiual Director who was Franciscan and psychologist. He helped me through a most difficult time.

I recall the most important thing he taught me being - " Do not look for Christ as He will find you. " Maybe it is time at this point in your life to be fully open to the inner self of your being.

I still have anger/frustration at many levels for the world as we know it is not one of justice rather likened to the money changers in the Temple when Christ was furiously angry and threw them out.

It may sound trite at this point to you but silence in oneself can bring awareness and peace until the next injustice comes into view. The wonderful thing about Christ is that He is always always there to present you to the Father.

A poem I wrote a number of years ago:

Heart Pearls

There is a Queen afar who takes your tears and placed in a jar are presented to Her Son.

These are your Heart Pearls.

-- jean bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), March 23, 2003.

It is quite simple. He is trying to follow God's words to forgive our enemies and to love them, and I guess those words seem ridiculous to even some catholics. One day we will have to answer why we went against the word of God when it is clearly and simply stated that even the most foolish person could understand? Also, as to why this is more than just a WMD disarmament as stated at first for the cause of war and now "freedom" for the Iraquis who have more freedom than those in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China etc, and considering the fact that those mentioned countries are our allies and we would never try to go to war with them because we know that they posses WMD or we need their support for certain things, and we could not make a clean war if we try to "free" them, if the christian president's "current" reason for the war is true. I am not talking about history because if digging in the past is done, we will turn out to be as bad as the baddest nation of all even though we have done many good things. This is another clear example of why the church is right, and in these times even devout catholics turn against church because the worldly matters make them blind and forget certain facts.

-- Abraham T (lijothengil@yahoo.com), April 22, 2003.

i was wondering how to e mail him too i'm not Catholic i'm a baptist with no guide save THE BIBLE i'm not a great anything just a foolish man that thought he heard someone when there was no one there . everyone i tell thinks i'm nuts. Maybe i am but i'll tell you this much i hadn't prayed in 15-20 years but just before i heard that voice i had and i haven't stopped praying or reading since and it has done me a world of good. if we are taught right from wrong and of good and evil, and we know the differance and we do, that's why we were removed from the garden after all. good is not evil and evil is not good why else do we say " two wrongs don't make it right" well, so it is with todays events didn't a certon someone say something about turning the other cheak. i know that meny have died by the hands of evil but if we remember that life is forever in Christ then those that have died at the hands of evil are not dead at all and never will be . sorry for any spelling errors "i'm not perfict just a work in progress" i hope.

-- Harry Benard Steffe Jr. (Chip) (hbsteffe@bellatlantic.net), November 25, 2003.

Hey I found this...not sure if it is legit.

"CONTACT THE POPE TO GO TO BAGHDAD AS HUMAN SHIELD by k Wednesday March 05, 2003 at 08:19 PM

If Pope John Paul became a Human Shield in Baghdad: There would be NO war! End of story. Contact the Pope! Contact info below:

email, accreditamenti@pressva.va

FAX ([from USA] :011-39-06698-85378

phone the Vatican directly, (fromUSA) dial 011-39-06-69-82"

here's the web site: http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/1580151.php

-- Mike H. (beginasyouare@hotmail.com), November 25, 2003.

Mike, that e-mail address looks like one that someone would use to get a Vatican press accreditation.

-- (here@to.help), November 26, 2003.

John, I too have been looking for an e-mail address to write the Pope to express my feelings about the churches political stance on various world events. That is how I found this web site. I am a Catholic and I don't intend to change my religion due to my disgust with the leaders of my chuch. How can these Catholic leaders be against what the United States and allies have done in Iraq. We have freed millions of people who no longer need to worry about being torture, raped, or killed for what they believe. This Pope of any should know what it is like to be oppressed comming from Poland. We have captured a man who has killed, raped, and tortured millions of people and shows no remorse. One Cardinal mental midget said he was upset that the US treated Saddam "like a cow". And maybe this Cardinal is right, maybe we should have treated him worse, because comparing him to a cow only insults the cow. We should treat him like the parasite that he is. As for forgiving him, I will not, I will let God do that. If you read the Bible, God does not forgive unless you show remorse, which this man has not done. So we will see what forgivness God gives Saddam when he castes him to the depts of Hell. This church could do itself a service and stay out of politics. They are suppost to be spirital leaders, not political leaders.

-- Jason Satterlee (jsatt98@aol.com), December 16, 2003.