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January 8th, 2014
01:38 PM ET
Holy Hitchhiker: Pope gives pal a ride on the PopemobileBy Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Follow @BurkeCNN(CNN) - In yet another breach of normal papal protocol, Pope Francis on Wednesday gave a pal a lift on the world's most exclusive ride: the Popemobile. According to Catholic News Service, the holy hitchhiker was the Rev. Fabian Baez, a priest from Francis' former Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, whom the pope spotted in the crowd at St. Peter's Square. As he helped the priest onto the Popemobile, Francis told Baez, "The picture will go around the world,” CNS reports. The beaming priest rode around St. Peter's Square and was given a special seat at the Pope's speech to the crowd. During the Pope's speech, he urged the crowd to remember their baptism. "Many of us do not have the slightest memory of the celebration of this Sacrament, obviously, if we were baptized shortly after birth," Francis said. "It is important! It is important to know what day you were immersed in that current of salvation of Jesus!" Baez later tweeted in Spanish, “I’m going to change my biography. The poor priest who got on the popemobile today with #PopeFrancis”. Mark another point for the "Pope of the people."
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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By this point I'd only be impressed if the 'hitchhiker' had cholera and the pope, to show Christian love, gave him a big kiss on the lips. Otherwise, it's getting a bit mundane.
Why would the pope say," this picture will go around the world," sounds like PR to me, Rev Baez just got played.
I think he meant to Argentina as that is where the priest was from. This Pope seems like the real deal to me. I like him and I plan to give him a chance.
So it was not actually a hitchhiker. Fooled by a CNN headline again.
I guess the Vatican vultures haven't killed this one yet because it's no use. According to the prophecies of Irish Saint Malachy and a few other soothsayers, this will be the last pope of the Catholic Church, as the end of the world will take place during his tenure. Makes everything easier, doesn't it?
I'm a humanist atheist and I like this guy. He seems to understand that being a good person is the most important thing, no matter what the reasons behind that may be.
Well said.
That's BULLSHlT.
I thought I smelled you in the room...
Look at meeeeee.......I'm sooooo humble
If being and behaving like the pope becomes church policy, then the church will improve.
OTOH, even rich charities can't afford to help everyone who needs it. That's why civilied countries have goverments that are partly socialist in the way they treat their unfortunate citizens.
GOD bless you all 🙂
Francis is my favorite Saint and I think this guy is my favorite Pope. What a breath of fresh air.
What a terrible headline. And a cool Pope.
The priest was NOT a hitchhiker. CNN needs a dictionary.
OK, which language?
These stunts are getting old.
Stop being intrigued by them!
i really don't understand how people can say that cnn shouldn't be putting out stories like these, you do undstand that 25 percent of the us population is catholic don't you
20% of the country is non religious or outright atheist. You don't see us getting special treatment for it.
Im not christian at all...but I like Pope Francis. He reminds me of the good days with Pope John Paul.
was just thinking exactly the same.... good I guess....lol
I'm convince this new Pope is nothing more than a carefully crafted PR campaign by the RCC. Thor knows they certainly need it.
Even if your absurd conspiracy theory were true, what's wrong with a likable religious figure head that provides a decent example and retrains people's focus on what's actually important?
This is a rebranding. He has not made a single significant change to church policies.
They do need to rebrand themselves a bit. If it all PR at least they've chosen someone who's a better example of what a Christian is supposed to be.
You're a moron.
They see me rolling....they prayin'.....tryin' to catch me ridin' Holy....tryin' to catch me ridin' Holy....tryin' to catch me ridin' Holy...
lol
He's so cool he'd probably lol too.
I love this POPE, all humility and sincerity!
What a weird headline – this was hardly a "hitchhiker". Let me know when he picks up a hitchhiking homeless person.
How about when he invited a couple of homeless out of the cold and into the Vatican to share a meal and companionship with him on his birthday? Just a decent man, with no argument. Reminds me of the priest in the first chapters of Les Miserables. That character was also a genuine, loving man – yet there were still the cynical voices in town that insisted he must be corrupt because he was religious.
What happened to other 5,000 local homeless people that night?
CNN will evidently publish anything released by the Vatican PR department as headline news - regardless of of its relevance.
Which is odd because of how liberal CNN is. Since they usually jump all over religious figures to talking about their faith, it puzzles me how much they seem to love this religious leader.
What do you expect to find in the religion section?
And Francis said: "It is important! It is important to know what day you were immersed in that current of salvation of Jesus!"
Talk about being brainwashed !!!
betcha, ur brainwashed by you mom too
Indeed but then I grew up and investigated all the claims. One of many results:
Saving Christians from the Infamous Resurrection Con/
From that famous passage: In 1 Corinthians 15: 14, Paul reasoned, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."
Even now Catholic/Christian professors (e.g.Notre Dame, Catholic U, Georgetown) of theology are questioning the bodily resurrection of the simple, preacher man aka Jesus.
To wit;
From a major Catholic university's theology professor’s grad school white-board notes:
"Heaven is a Spirit state or spiritual reality of union with God in love, without earthly – earth bound distractions.
Jesus and Mary's bodies are therefore not in Heaven.
Most believe that it to mean that the personal spiritual self that survives death is in continuity with the self we were while living on earth as an embodied person.
Again, the physical Resurrection (meaning a resuscitated corpse returning to life), Ascension (of Jesus' crucified corpse), and Assumption (Mary's corpse) into heaven did not take place.
The Ascension symbolizes the end of Jesus' earthly ministry and the beginning of the Church.
Only Luke records it. (Luke mentions it in his gospel and Acts, i.e. a single attestation and therefore historically untenable). The Ascension ties Jesus' mission to Pentecost and missionary activity of Jesus' followers.
The Assumption has multiple layers of symbolism, some are related to Mary's special role as "Christ bearer" (theotokos). It does not seem fitting that Mary, the body of Jesus' Virgin-Mother (another biblically based symbol found in Luke 1) would be derived by worms upon her death. Mary's assumption also shows God's positive regard, not only for Christ's male body, but also for female bodies." "
"In three controversial Wednesday Audiences, Pope John Paul II pointed out that the essential characteristic of heaven, hell or purgatory is that they are states of being of a spirit (angel/demon) or human soul, rather than places, as commonly perceived and represented in human language. This language of place is, according to the Pope, inadequate to describe the realities involved, since it is tied to the temporal order in which this world and we exist. In this he is applying the philosophical categories used by the Church in her theology and saying what St. Thomas Aquinas said long before him."
http://eternal-word.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2HEAVN.HTM
The Vatican quickly embellished this story with a lot CYAP.
With respect to rising from the dead, we also have this account:
An added note: As per R.B. Stewart in his introduction to the recent book, The Resurrection of Jesus, Crossan and Wright in Dialogue,
p.4
"Reimarus (1774-1778) posits that Jesus became sidetracked by embracing a political position, sought to force God's hand and that he died alone deserted by his disciples. What began as a call for repentance ended up as a misguided attempt to usher in the earthly political kingdom of God. After Jesus' failure and death, his disciples stole his body and declared his resurrection in order to maintain their financial security and ensure themselves some standing."
p.168. by Ted Peters:
Even so, asking historical questions is our responsibility. Did Jesus really rise from the tomb? Is it necessary to have been raised from the tomb and to appear to his disciples in order to explain the rise of early church and the transcription of the bible? Crossan answers no, Wright answers, yes. "
So where are the bones"? As per Professor Crossan's analyses in his many books, the body of Jesus would have ended up in the mass graves of the crucified, eaten by wild dogs, covered with lime in a shallow grave, or under a pile of stones.
No more than any other religion. From their perspective, baptism is an essential rite. When you look at it from another perspective, unbelievers are the weird ones. We provide no answers and no hope. It's very "human" to seek out something beyond ourselves.
Telling the truth ain't brainwashing!
No it's not, but claiming that a complete guess is the truth would be a lie.