Comments to the book, Crossing The Threshold of Hope by Pope John Paul II.

  1. Asking readers to "be not afraid" of the Catholic Church is at best a stretch - given the history of the Church and it's use of it's power. This is the Church which decreed in the 1500s:

  2. Today the Catholic Church seems to be taking a more conciliatory line toward other religious faiths, but does not seem to have given up much of it's desire to convert people to it's form of Christianity nor the desire to impose upon non-Catholics it's view of morality. This is the Church that states that all women (not just Catholic women, but all women) should not have the right to be able to chose to have a legal abortion.

  3. Buddhists might take issue with the chapter, Buddha? in which the Pope states that the "enlightenment" experienced by Buddha "comes down to the conviction that the world is bad." (page 85) Pope John Paul II appears to me to have no understanding of the "enlightenment experience" and appears to be speaking about something he has no experience of . He speaks about "a purely negative enlightenment" as if he has some understanding of what Buddhists are talking about. My sense is that he has no concept (experience) of "enlightenment" - yet is willing to speak about it authoritatively.

  4. Pope John Paul II says (page 88) that western civilization "is marked by a positive approach to the world, and which developed thanks to the achievements of science and technology...". It seem strange to hear the Pope taking credit for "the achievements of science and technology", given the Catholic Church's historically hostile attitude toward science.

    I wonder, do Catholics today really believe that Pope John Paul II's words are the direct word of GOD?

    Comments by Robert Price