Anne Rice Renounces Catholicism | CSM Vatican Update

RedTracker| The Vatican and matters or organized religion are never far from our radar. In today’s LATimes, Anne Rice discusses her decision to quit Christianity, and specifically the Catholic Church.

Her reasons are familiar ones at AOC: the persecution of women and gays.

An article in CSM helps us understand Anne Rice’s predicament, writing Pope Benedict XVI’s 30-year campaign to reassert conservative Catholicism.

Pope Benedict has labored assiduously to reassert the authority of a traditional — even orthodox Roman Catholicism. He’s maintained a firm intent to reverse the “open” or liberalizing trend of the church in Vatican II.

“The world is evil and the church is pure,” says an Austrian church official. “This is serious for Benedict. He doesn’t want the church to be a joke. He’s suspicious of chaos and avoidance of discipline and order, and of human efforts to adopt popular culture and create church out of the world, instead of a church that transforms the world. This deeply upsets him. He sees all salvation taking place inside the Catholic Church. He believes that.” via CSM