Women Deserve Bigger Role in Church, Says Key Cardinal

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Cardinal Leonardo Sandri talks during an interview with Reuters in Rome, March 2 (Reuters/Tony Gentile)

The Roman Catholic Church must open itself up to women in the next pontificate, giving them more leadership positions in the Vatican and beyond, according to a senior cardinal who will be influential in electing the next pope.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 69, an Argentine, also said the next pope should not be chosen according to a geographic area but must be a "saintly man" qualified to lead the Church in a time of crisis.

He said one of the greatest challenges facing the Church was trying to win back those suffering from a "loss of faith" who had "turned their back on God" and the Church of their fathers.

Pope Says Jesus' Birth Date Is Wrong

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Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed, according to a new book by Pope Benedict XVI. The pontiff argues in his book Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives that the Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation.

This latest publication, which delves into the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, completes Benedict's trilogy. His first book was about Jesus' public ministry, and the second about His death.

“The calculation of the beginning of our calendar—based on the birth of Jesus—was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years,” 85-year-old Benedict explains in his book, which has a print run of 1 million copies.

Don’t Alienate the Aliens

In 2008 a Vatican astronomer suggested that if we ever find intelligent beings in outer space, these aliens would be “our brothers” and “children of God” as much as human beings are.* The UK’s Daily Mail now reports that another Vatican astronomer also says he would be happy to baptize an alien.**

Such a statement reveals the silliness that results when someone tries to reconcile evolutionary thinking with the Bible.

The idea of intelligent aliens is pure speculation that depends heavily on evolutionary presuppositions. The argument is, “Life evolved here, so it must have evolved elsewhere in this incomprehensibly huge universe— we can’t be a special case.” The Bible contradicts both assumptions—life didn’t evolve here, it was created from nothing. And we are special, the pinnacle of God’s creation, created in His image.

Because Adam’s sin affected the whole universe, it would also affect any alien. But as nonhumans, aliens would not be eligible for salvation (this is one reason we are confident that intelligent aliens do not exist). So baptizing an alien would be pointless at best, and a mockery at worst. Jesus did not die for Martians—only descendants of Adam can be saved.

^* “Pope’s Astronomer Insists Alien Life 'Would Be Part of God’s Creation,'” www.independent.co.uk, May 15, 2008.

^** “I’d Love to Baptise ET, Says Vatican’s Stargazer,” www.dailymail.co.uk, September 17, 2010.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v6/n1/aliens