POPE: BENEDICT XVI SAYS RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE ...

... is actually hypocrisy in drag.

Pope Benedict XVI opened a three-week meeting of over 250 Roman Catholic bishops at the Vatican, telling the synod it was "hypocritical" to exclude religion from public life.

"A tolerance which allows God as a private opinion but which excludes Him from public life, from the reality of the world and our lives, is not tolerance but hypocrisy," the pope said in the homily he gave at the synod's opening mass in St Peter's Basilica.

"When man makes himself the only master of the world and master of himself, justice cannot exist," the pontiff added. "Then, arbitrariness, power and interests rule."

I'm not a Catholic, I know the theological issues inherent in their system, but I have to admit to a deep admiration of this man and the one he succeeded. If the our faith family had such wisdom of conviction this would be a different and better world.

The 78-year-old pontiff's first synod since his April 19 election will tackle [theological issues] facing the Roman Catholic Church ... [b]ut more importantly for the wider world, it will also touch on thorny social problems like abortion and divorce, as well as attendance at Sunday mass and ecumenism.

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Benedict XVI; Canada; Catholic; Hypocrisy; Paul Martin; Pope