Pope travels in Britain to stick finger in eye of Anglican Church...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091301631.html?tid=nn_twitter

Why not, he's broken everyone else's rules. Why not break his own?

It's the first time Benedict will celebrate a beatification; under his own rules popes don't beatify, only canonize.

I don't think Benedict cares about the rules. All he cares about is doing what makes him feel good at the time and smiting his enemies.

"His personality and teachings could be a source of inspiration for ecumenism in our times from which all of us can draw,"

Remember, he said it. This is his model for ecumenism. Not common transformation or melding of traditions. Newman converted fully to Catholicism. When the Pope speaks of ecumenism this is what he means. He wants non-Catholics to convert to Catholicism. He wants them to abandon their own traditions. Why anyone outside Catholicism would find that positive or attractive is beyond me.

For many Anglicans, the sight of the pope traveling to Britain with the express aim of beatifying a figure who turned his back on their church will be a bitter one.

That was always Benedict's intention, to stick a finger in the eye of the Anglicans and the English. He has always held a special hatred in his heart for England. First off, it's the home of an offshoot religion that was a thorn in the side of past Popes. Second, it's the current home of many of the leading lights in the atheist movement and also those who have tried to fight his dangerous and murderous actions in the world.

"For him, becoming a Catholic was to become a pariah, to give up all his friends, all his jobs, possessions, and do something that was really difficult," said Jack Valero, the spokesman for Newman's beatification cause. "But he did that because he wanted to follow the truth."

The Church has significant resources and he knew that. He knew they'd take care of him since his conversion served as such a public insult to the Anglican Church. He seems to have done pretty well for himself after his conversion.

"Perhaps Benedict is thinking that Newman is the vehicle that he can use to push the evangelization of the old Europe," said Valero.

"Old Europe" has seen the hateful, outdated lies of Christianity. They've already rejected them. They're not going to suddenly resolve themselves to the slavery of the church just because Benedict digs up some old dead idiot.

But the beatification is controversial, not least because Newman's defection still rankles in the Church of England, a betrayal that represents current and centuries-old fears about Rome.

That's the intention. It's nothing less than a shot across the bow of the Anglican Church. A clear statement that "we're coming to destroy you". The Church of England has every reason to be scared of Rome, they will not be happy until they've completely eradicated the Anglican Church and converted every single Anglican to Catholicism. Any hollow claims of ecumenism are pointed towards this goal.