Almighty God, our heavenly Father, let thy protection be upon all those who are in the service of our country; guard them from all harm and danger of body and soul; sustain and comfort those as home, especially in their hours of loneliness, anxiety, and sorrow; prepare the dying for death and the living for your service; give success to our arms on land and sea and in the air; and grant unto us and all nations a speedy, just and lasting peace. Amen.
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[Note: There was a lot of topics to cover from our last roundup in June 2007; if some are omitted, it is either due to a lapse on my part or -- as in the case of Benedict XVI's letter to Chinese Catholics -- a wish to make it the subject of an individual post. Enjoy.]
In his homily during the Mass celebrated outside the Basilica of St. Francis, Pope Benedict recalls the interfaith / ecumenical gatherings initiated by his predecessor, and adds his own perspective on the interreligious dialogue:
. . . I cannot forget in today's context the initiative of John Paul II, my Predecessor of holy memory, who in 1986 wanted to gather here at a Prayer Meeting for Peace representatives of the Christian denominations and of the different world religions.
It was a prophetic intuition and a moment of grace, as I said a few months ago in my Letter to the Bishop of this Town on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of that event. The choice of celebrating the meeting at Assisi was prompted precisely by the witness of Francis as a man of peace to whom so many people, even from other cultural and religious positions, look with sympathy.
At the same time, the light of the "Poverello" on that initiative was a guarantee of Christian authenticity, since his life and message are so visibly based on Christ's choice to reject a priori any temptation of religious indifferentism which would have nothing to do with authentic interreligious dialogue.
The "spirit of Assisi", which has continued to spread throughout the world since that event, counters the spirit of violence and the abuse of religion as a pretext for violence. Assisi tells us that faithfulness to one's own religious conviction, and especially faithfulness to the Crucified and Risen Christ, is not expressed in violence and intolerance but in sincere respect for the other, in dialogue, in a proclamation that appeals to freedom and reason and in the commitment to peace and reconciliation.
The failure to combine acceptance, dialogue and respect for all with the certainty of faith which every Christian, like the Saint of Assisi, is bound to foster, proclaiming Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life of man (cf. Jn 14: 6), the one Saviour of the World, can be neither an evangelical nor a Franciscan attitude.
On June 24, Pope Benedict gave the closing address to participants of the European Meeting of University Professors in Rome. Touching on themes from his Regensburg address, he pointed to several issues worthy of reflection: 1) "the need for a comprehensive study of the crisis of modernity" - countering the "false dichotomy" between theism and authentic humanism, divine law and human freedom. "The anthropocentrism which characterizes modernity can never be detached from an acknowledgment of the full truth about man, which includes his transcendent vocation"; 2) "the broadening of our understanding of rationality" - beyond the confinement of the "purely empirical," fostering a cooperation between faith and reason; 3) the contributions of Christianity to humanism -- "The question of man, and thus of modernity, challenges the Church to devise effective ways of proclaiming to contemporary culture the 'realism' of her faith in the saving work of Christ":
Knowledge can never be limited to the purely intellectual realm; it also includes a renewed ability to look at things in a way free of prejudices and preconceptions, and to allow ourselves to be "amazed" by reality, whose truth can be discovered by uniting understanding with love. Only the God who has a human face, revealed in Jesus Christ, can prevent us from truncating reality at the very moment when it demands ever new and more complex levels of understanding. The Church is conscious of her responsibility to offer this contribution to contemporary culture.
The Pontiff told the staff that on his 70th birthday, he asked Pope John Paul II for permission to "dedicate myself to study and research the interesting documents and finds you safeguard so carefully, real masterpieces that help us to follow the story of humanity and of Christianity."
"In his providential designs, the Lord had other plans for me," Benedict XVI said, "and here I am today among you not as a passionate student of ancient texts, but as a pastor called to encourage the faithful to work together for the salvation of the world, each one carrying out God's will where he has placed them."
At the end of his visit, the Pope exhorted the staff to consider their work "as a true mission to be carried out with passion and patience, gentleness and in the spirit of faith […] aware that the Gospel message is passed on through your coherent Christian testimony."
According to Zenit, The Vatican Library was founded in 1450 by Pope Nicholas V and houses 1,600,000 ancient and modern books; 8,300 printed documents, including 65 parchments; 150,000 manuscript codes and archive papers; 300,000 coins and medals; and some 20,000 works of art.
On June 28, speaking at vespers celebration held at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Pope Benedict celebrated the Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul:
[F]rom the outset, Christian tradition has considered Peter and Paul to have been inseparable, even if each had a different mission to accomplish.
Peter professed his faith in Christ first; Paul obtained as a gift the ability to deepen its riches. Peter founded the first community of Christians who came from the Chosen People; Paul became the Apostle to the Gentiles. With different charisms they worked for one and the same cause: the building of Christ's Church.
A further list of recommended resources and links to discussion can be found here; for ongoing chronicles of the reaction to the document, see SummorumPontificum.net.
"The Pope is playing the piano a lot but he is also working. He has a great capacity to write a lot. He is writing the second part of his book, 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and a new encyclical with a social theme -- I don't know when it will be published -- and other things.
"He is a volcano of creativity. He is working on things like the message for World Youth Day 2008 and other things 'in pectore.' And he is drawing out and elaborating further themes he has already written about."
The Holy Father, "was surprised, even overwhelmed" by "so much affection, kindness and love," from the people he encountered on his vacation, but "he has learned this affectionate language very well," Monsignor Georg Gänswein told the Italian daily Il Giornale.
"At the beginning, I have shared this observation," Monsignor Gänswein said. "Afterward, I have been able to see how the Pope has learned this affectionate language very well, responding with simple and humble, but very eloquent, gestures.
"And the people immediately realize that the Pope is not looking for applause and does not want to call attention to himself, but instead, only wants to guide the faithful to Christ. This is the authentic objective of the Pope's reactions. And the hearts of the people have understood this very well."
If men lived in peace with God and with each other, the earth would truly resemble a "paradise." Unfortunately, sin ruined this divine project, generating divisions and bringing death into the world. This is why men cede to the temptations of the evil one and make war against each other. The result is that in this stupendous "garden" that is the world, there open up circles of hell.
War, with the mourning and destruction it brings, has always been rightly considered a calamity that contrasts with God's plan. He created everything for existence and, in particular, wants to make a family of the human race. . . .
Benedict recalled the letter of his predecessor, Benedict XV's "Nota Alle Potenze Belligeranti" (Note to the Warring Powers), calling for an end to the "useless bloodbath" of the First World War.
Benedict XV's "Nota" did not limit itself to condemning war; it indicated, at a juridical level, the ways to construct an equitable and durable peace: the moral force of law, balanced and regulated disarmament, arbitration in disputes, freedom on the seas, the reciprocal remission of war debts, the restitution of occupied territories, fair negotiations to resolve problems.
The Holy See's proposal was oriented toward the future of Europe and of the world, according to a project that was Christian in inspiration but able to be shared by all because it was founded on the law of nations. It is the same program that the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II followed in their memorable speeches at the United Nations, repeating in the name of the Church: "No more war!"
The questions were on topics including the education and Catholic formation of youth, the priest shortage, divorce and remarriage, immigration into Europe, evangelism, burdens facing priests and educators, sports, and the Vatican II Council.
Religion is a category of modernity, usually understood to mean either individually authenticated spiritual experiences or else a particular type of collective ideology based on socially defined values.
To think of Christianity in such terms is to drift toward the relativism that Pope Benedict has so famously decried. Hence Benedict XVI has insisted that personal spiritual experiences can only become meaningful within the shared context of a lived theology. And the collective life of the Church is far more than a form of social or political association. Christianity is not an ideology.
These modern representations of religion can constitute a reduction of Christianity to psychological, sociological and political categories and can result in a denial of its claims to transcendent truth.
Benedict XVI has a masterful grasp of all these reductionist tendencies and he has pushed back hard in order to restore recognition of the richness and depth of Christianity.
Dr D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, congratulates his former doctoral supervisor on his election to the papacy. Courtesy: Fotografiafelici
Q: What do you think are the most defining characteristics of the writings of Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI?
Father Twomey: The most defining formal characteristics of his writings are originality, clarity and a superb literary style that is not easy to render in translation.
Ratzinger is more than a world-class scholar and academic: He is an original thinker.
He has the Midas touch, in the positive sense that whatever he touches, he turns to gold, in other words, whatever subject he examines, he has something new and exciting to say about it, be it the dogmas of the Church or a mosaic in an ancient Roman church or bioethics. And he writes with amazing clarity.
With regard to his style, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne is reported as commenting that Ratzinger is the Mozart of theology -- he writes masterpieces effortlessly.
With regard to its content, as Ratzinger once said himself, "God is the real central theme of my endeavors."
There is hardly an area of theology -- dogma, moral, political life, bioethics, liturgy, exegesis, music, art -- that he has not examined in-depth. And everything he examines, he does so from God's viewpoint, as it were, namely trying to discover what light revelation -- Scripture and Tradition -- can shine on a particular issue.
Twomey also addressed Ratzinger's "courage to be imperfect," as indicated by the unfinished state of his published works:
Basic to his whole attitude to life and to theology is the assumption that only God is perfect, that human effort is always imperfect. . . .
We cannot know everything, least of all God and his design for man. I have described his writings as "fragmentary." Most of his writings are unfinished -- like his classic book, "Introduction to Christianity," and, more recently, his "Jesus of Nazareth." And yet he has the courage to publish them in their unfinished state.
This attitude gave Joseph Ratzinger that inner calm and detachment which the world is now experiencing in Benedict XVI. But it also is, perhaps, the secret of his gentle humor and wit.
On Father Twomey's long friendship with and appreciation of the Holy Father, see also:
One could say that summer 2007 is when the Vatican decided to go green. First came an announcement in June that more than 1,000 photovoltaic panels will be installed atop the Paul VI Audience Hall, allowing the building to utilize solar energy for light, heating and cooling. A month later, the Vatican became the first state in Europe to go completely carbon-neutral, signing an agreement with a Hungarian firm to reforest a sufficiently large swath of Hungary's Bükk National Park to offset its annual CO2 emissions.
To some, these may seem curiously cutting edge moves from a pope whose recent decisions to revive the pre-Vatican II Mass and to reaffirm claims that Catholicism is the lone true church have cemented his reputation as the ultimate "retro" figure. He sometimes brings to mind the famous quip that rolling back the clock is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if it's keeping bad time.
The media is a double-edged sword: It can lift you up, and it can knock you down. Last year, headlines and commentators expressed surprise at the gifts the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI had brought to the Church. Now, their praise has been replaced by finger-pointing at the “gaffes” of the same Holy Father.
The problem: There’s not that much difference between those gifts and those gaffes. . . .
Gift or Gaffe?: Why Bush Gave Benedict a Walking Stick, by Wayne Laugesen. National Catholic Register June 24-30, 2007 Issue -- on the carved walking stick that President Bush presented the Pope on the occasion of his first visit, inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The gift was regarded as a laughingstock by liberal critics; the Register tells a different story:
The stick was designed and carved by Roosevelt Wilkerson, a man who lived on the streets of Dallas with his wife until Susan Nowlin, a good friend of George and Laura Bush, discovered his craft and began helping him sell the carvings, known as Moses Sticks. [...]
The first stick Nowlin bought was given to her pastor. Subsequently, she gave a stick to then-Gov. Bush because she knew he cared about the homeless and the poor — and the Ten Commandments. Greeting Nowlin for a luncheon at the governor’s mansion, Laura Bush told her that Gov. Bush considered his Moses Stick “the greatest gift ever.” [...]
In preparing for the Vatican visit, Bush contacted Nowlin about acquiring a stick so the White House protocol office could review it as a possible gift for Pope Benedict XVI.
Wilkerson and his wife haven’t been homeless for most of the past 10 years because of the Moses Sticks, but Nowlin says it hasn’t been easy. Sometimes, sales have been slow.
“I needed to sell at least seven sticks a month, if they were to stay off the street,” Nowlin said. “When orders were slow, Roosevelt and I would pray. We would just pray and pray and pray and the orders would come in.”
As a result of the president’s gift to the Pope, Nowlin said she and Wilkerson can’t keep up. She has raised the price of the sticks to $100, but says she could probably charge $1,000 or more and still have a backlog of orders.
The Register reports that the Holy Father did not appear at all phased by the President's gift of a walking stick, nor is down-home Texan manner of referring to him as "Sir." Neither should we, I suppose.
Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, head of economic affairs at the Holy See, said that the “remarkable increase” in both donations and numbers of pilgrims showed that there was “a symbiosis, a mutual sympathy between this Pope and Christian people everywhere”.
Presenting the Holy See’s annual budget yesterday, Cardinal Sebastiani noted that not only had it closed last year with a surplus of €2.4 million, partly thanks to diocesan donations, there had also been a “huge jump” in “Peter’s Pence”, the annual church collections given directly to the Pope to use for charity, from $60 million (£30 million) in 2005 to $102 million. “The days when people talked of papal bankruptcy are past,” said Marco Tosatti, Vatican correspondent of La Stampa. . . .
Record numbers attend Benedict’s weekly audiences, and seven million people a year now visit St Peter’s, a rise of 20 per cent. Similar increases are recorded for pilgrimages to Catholic shrines at Assisi, Lourdes, Fatima in Portugal and Madonna di Guadalupe in Mexico. “This is a Ratzinger phenomenon,” reported La Repubblica.
Today, tucked into the celebration of "the weekly Easter," the Dies Domini, the Church also commemorates, with the entire Franciscan family, St. Bonaventure, theologian and pastor.
In 1959 the young professor, Joseph Ratzinger, published a significant study: The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure. This second thesis, or Habilitationschrift, is required for the aspirant to hold a chair in a German university.
In his 1969 "Foreword to the American Edition," Ratzinger writes of his findings . . . READ MORE
Interview with Msgr. Georg GaensweinSueddeutsche Zeitung July 26, 2007 (kindly translated from German by Gerald Augustinus of Closed Cafeteria ). The interviewer, Peter Seewald, is the co-author of several book-length interviews with Cardinal Ratzinger - Salt of the Earth and God and the World. On the state of the Pope's health:
PS: When he was a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger wanted to retire, stating he was exhausted.
MG: With his election as Pope something happened that he neither strived for nor wanted. But I am convinced that, as he by and by surrendered to God's will, the grace of the office in his person and his actions has shown effect and still is. . . .
On his own service to the Holy Father:
PS: The son of a blacksmith from a 450 people village in the Black Forest who now travels with the Holy Father in a helicopter and shares the concerns of the global Church (Weltkirche) - does one ask oneself: Why me? What does God want from me?
MG: I asked myself this very question, and not just once. It is a task that you cannot plan. In promising the Holy Father fidelity and obedience, I tried to answer that question. In that, I see a message from God, to face this task without reservations.
On the unfortunate caricatures of him by the tabloids and the ogling of adoring fans:
PS: You're probably the first Papal secretary in history that's also in the spotlight next to the Pontifex: People Magazine swoons over the "Sunnyboy in the cassock", the Swiss Weltwoche calls you the "most handsome man in a soutane". Donatella Versace dedicated a fashion line to you. Does this image as a "ladykiller" (ie someone who looks like one) bother you ?
MG: It didn't make me blush, but it irritated me a bit. It doesn't hurt and it was flattering, and it's no sin. I'd never been confronted like this with my "shell". Then I noticed that it was largely an expression of sympathy - a bonus, not a malus; I can handle that well. But, I don't want that people don't just look at me but also acknowledge the substance.
It's a lengthy (and, as it progresses, substantial) interview, so read on.
. . . [Jesus of Nazareth] is enjoying a great success in Germany too. Have you read it already?
Yes, for the second time. It is a spiritual legacy of a man who has grappled with Jesus throughout his whole life as a priest, as a professor, as archbishop and Cardinal Prefect, and now as Pope. He draws upon the sum of his life, and sets down a confession [of faith]. Readers will be much encouraged and strengthened in their faith by this book.
The Regensburg speech was the speech with the greatest worldwide echo. Some Muslims reacted indignantly. Since this experience do you look at the papal speeches beforehand?
Naturally, the Pope takes reactions to his speeches into account, and ponders, separates the wheat from the chaff. But he doesn’t let himself be hemmed in, because someone doesn’t agree with this or that statement or heavily criticizes it. Many who remain silent, who do not announce themselves with public bluster, are grateful for his clear, trailblazing words.
Are other departments of the Catholic Curia involved with papal pronouncements?
The Pope usually writes speeches, homilies and lengthy texts himself. When necessary, individual components are provided or suggestions are compiled. But he is the architect of the text. . . .
A biography of Monsignor Georg Ratzinger is to be published later this month by Herder-Verlag. The author is 56 year old journalist Anton Zuber who lives near Heilbronn.
Oberpfalznetz -The Pope will be given the book by his brother on 16 August at Castelgandolfo. It will be generally available on 25 August. The book is titles Georg Ratzinger and the Regensburg Domspatzen. The book will concentrate on Georg Ratzinger’s life as a musician. The book has 256 pages and will be sold at 19.90 Euro.
From the German wires:
German news wires - People have always had an interest in those who are close to a Pope. Stanislaw Dziwisz, now Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, has published a book about his years with Pope John Paul II which reveals something of how close their relationship was.
Never before, however, has a book been dedicated to the life of a Pope’s brother. Today, at Castelgandolfo, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger presented the first copy of his biography to his bother the Pope. Written by the journalist Anton Zuber, and published by Herder, the book is focused on his years as Master of the Regensburg Domspatzen, which achieved world-wide celebrity under his leadership between 1964 and 1994.
Anton Zuber spent many hours in conversation with Georg Ratzinger for the biography. The book also covers Monsignor Ratzinger’s shocked reaction to the result of the conclave, his childhood and youth, his career as a musician, his time in the war (he was wounded in Italy), his captivity as a POW, his ordination and his first Mass. He also speaks of his small brother, with whom he and his sister Maria would play, their respect for their industrious mother and firm but fair father. He recalled the tale of his brother’s tears over a teddy bear which disappeared from the shop window across the street, only to turn up under their Christmas tree.
Pope Benedict XVI is working on a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as “socially unjust”, according to Vatican sources.
In his second encyclical – the most authoritative statement a pope can issue – the pontiff will denounce the use of “tax havens” and offshore bank accounts by wealthy individuals, since this reduces tax revenues for the benefit of society as a whole.
It will focus on humanity’s social and economic problems in an era of globalisation. Pope Benedict intends to argue for a world trade and economic system “regulated in such a way as to avoid further injustice and discrimination”, Ignazio Ingrao, a Vatican watcher, said yesterday.
The encyclical, drafted during his recent holiday in the mountains of northern Italy, takes its cue from Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples), issued 40 years ago. In it the pontiff focused on “those peoples who are striving to escape from hunger, misery, endemic diseases and ignorance and are looking for a wider share in the benefits of civilisation”. He called on the West to promote an equitable world economic system based on social justice rather than profit.
Adds Rick Garnett (Mirror of Justice): "I hope this document attends carefully to the non-trivial challenge of defining 'tax evasion.'" At this point, we can only speculate.
Finally, congratulations to The American Papist for his recognition as a resource on Benedict XVI by the New York Times. (The Benedict Blog / Benedict XVI Fan Club was selected as well):
Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVIUnlike most Catholic bloggers it seems that I have not yet finished Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth. My progress is hampered by the fact that I'm currently plodding my way through a pile of library books that are beyond the point of extension, and I hope to knock them out by the end of the month.
Consider this the 'anchor' post for this topic, meaning that if I run across any more pertinent links they will be updated here. -- Christopher
Last month, Zenit News Service reported Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth has sold more than 1.5 million copies, the statistic referring to the Italian, Slovenian, Greek, Polish and various English editions. According to Zenit "There are 42 editors worldwide who have agreements to publish "Jesus of Nazareth," and 30 translations are in the works."
. . . The first wave of stories focused on comments in the book about Africa and capitalism, even though they amount to asides in a 448-page treatise on the Gospels. Other stories styled the book as a rebuke to The Da Vinci Code. (That red herring was encouraged by an indirect allusion to Dan Brown's potboiler from Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna in a Vatican news conference.) Still others seemed charmed by the fact that the pope wrote that because his book is not a magisterial act, "everyone is free to contradict me." Beyond those angles, there was little interest in follow-up, in large part because a pope discussing Jesus strikes most people as the ultimate in "dog bites man" developments -- that is, the most normal thing in the world.
By the time anyone had actually read all 448 pages of Jesus of Nazareth, the moment for further analysis had already passed. Passed, that is, everywhere but here, where papal analysis never goes out of fashion. . . .
and comes to his own conclusions about the Pope's motivation:
What seems clear is that the motive for the book is also emerging as the core doctrinal concern of this pontificate: Christology. Put in a nutshell, Benedict's thesis in Jesus of Nazareth is that there can be no humane social order or true moral progress apart from a right relationship with God; try as it might, a world organized etsi Deus non daretur, "as if God does not exist," will be dysfunctional and ultimately inhumane. Jesus Christ, Benedict insists, is "the sign of God for human beings." Presenting humanity with the proper teaching about Jesus is, therefore, according to Benedict, the highest form of public service the church has to offer.
A Portrait of Faith, by Lisa Miller. Newsweek May 21, 2007. With Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI fights back against 'the dictatorship of relativism' by showing the world his vision of the definitive truth of Christ. (Most amusing sentence: "Liberal Catholics worry that, in spite of assurances to the contrary, Benedict is writing an 'official' biography, and they have cause for concern.")
Theme of papal book may also be hallmark of his papacy, panelists say, by Nancy Frazier O'Brien (Catholic News Service), covering a panel discussion with Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., and Vatican analysts George Weigel and John Allen, at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington on May 15, 2007.
A few months ago someone asked me what book I would recommend that they give to their adult children who no longer practiced the faith, without hesitation I named this book as the one. At the time I had only read some excerpts available online from Germany and Italy. It was an act of faith then, now that I have the book I know that my recommendation was justified.
Jesus of Nazareth: Review by Jeff Miller aka. The Curt Jester May 18, 2007: ". . . The chapter on the Our Father prayer is worth the price of the book alone. This is not just an academic exegesis of the Our Father prayer line-by-line, but a deep meditation into this prayer. Often we can repeat a prayer so often that it looses its freshness and his meditation on this prayer can shock us back into reality of what the prayer that Jesus gave us really means and indicates."
I have just finished reading and it is with some trepidation that I post this message since the blogosphere is cluttered with reactions. It is not my intention to review the work but let me say that I did think it is a powerful book. Those who think it only a work of devotion are mistaken as are those who think his approach to the scriptures is retrograde or those who hail it as the greatest thing since the Summa. . . .
In the Middle Ages rabbis were forced to engage with priests in disputations in the presence of kings and cardinals on which is the true religion, Judaism or Christianity. The outcome was predetermined. Christians won; they had the swords.
But in the post-WW II era, disputations gave way to the conviction that the two religions say the same thing and the differences between them are dismissed as trivial. Now a new kind of disputation has begun, in which the truth of the two religions is subject to debate. That marks a return to the old disputations, with their intense seriousness about religious truth and their willingness to ask tough questions and engage with the answers.
My book, A Rabbi Talks with Jesus, was one such contemporary exercise of disputation, and now, in 2007, the pope in his new book Jesus of Nazareth in detail has met the challenge point-by-point. Just imagine my amazement when I heard that a Christian reply is fully exposed in Pope Benedict XVI's reply to A Rabbi Talks with Jesus in his Jesus of Nazareth Chapter Four, on the sermon on the Mount. . . .
In 1993, then-Cardinal Ratzinger heralded Neusner's book as "by far the most important book for the Jewish-Christian dialogue in the last decade.". Time magazine recently profiled Rabbi Neusner (The Pope's Favorite Rabbi, by David Van Biema. May 24, 2007).
Every so often a book comes along that deeply moves and inspires me as a person, and as a Christian. I can never know when this will happen. Many books disappoint, and many surprise.
I am right in the middle of one of those amazing books. It is “Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration” by Joseph Ratzinger, otherwise known as Pope Benedict XVI.
OK, I am an evangelical Protestant pastor. How can I speak such of a book by the Roman Catholic Pope of all people? . . .
Time and again, whether he's writing about the temptations, the parables, the Lord's Prayer, or the miracles of Jesus' public ministry, Pope Benedict's method of reading the Gospels puts the edge back on stories and messages often dulled by familiarity. Reading the New Testament through the eyes of Joseph Ratzinger in Jesus of Nazareth thus becomes a way to read the Gospels afresh -- and to be reminded that, whether the New York Times thinks it's "news" or not, the proclamation of Jesus Christ is what the Church is for.
Franz Michel Willam, the Theologian the Pope Has Rescued from Oblivion, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa. - Author in 1932 of a famous life of Christ, he had been forgotten by everyone. Benedict XVI cites him in "Jesus of Nazareth," and an Austrian scholar explains why. (Based on unpublished correspondence between the two).
Just months after Benedict XVI released Jesus of Nazareth, the New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann has produced this spirited book-length critique of “the Pope’s Jesus.” Lüdemann writes both as a post-Christian who is deeply sceptical about the claims of church doctrine, and as a rigorous advocate of the historical-critical method. A central contrast between Benedict and Lüdemann thus lies in their respective attitudes towards the biblical texts: while Benedict approaches the texts with basic trust and theological commitment, Lüdemann insists that it is “a blind alley” to privilege these texts and to assume that they are historically or theologically trustworthy (p. 23). . . .
During his May 23, 2007 general audience, Pope Benedict reflected on the highlights of his trip to Brazil, recalling especially his "meeting with the young people, hope not only of the future, but a vital force for the Church and society of today," the canonization of Friar Anthony of St Anne Galvãoand, the first native-born Saint of Brazil, and the culmination of the visit, "the inauguration of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops' Conferences in the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida."
In his general audience, Benedict also took the opportunity to correct the record on colonization of Latin America". John Allen, Jr. reports:
In apparent response to criticism of his May 13 speech in Brazil in which the pope asserted Christianity was not an “imposition of a foreign culture” on indigenous peoples of the New World, Benedict XVI today acknowledged “the shadows that accompanied the evangelization of the Latin American continent.”
The pope said “the sufferings and the injustices inflicted by the colonizers on the indigenous populations, who often saw their fundamental human rights trampled upon,” cannot be forgotten.
Last Sunday, in an address to the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in Aparecida, Brazil, for their Fifth General Conference, Benedict argued that Christianity was not imposed upon native peoples, but rather it was the fulfillment to which their religious experience pointed.
“The Utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbian religions, separating them from Christ and from the universal Church, would not be a step forward,” Benedict said in Aparecida.”Indeed, it would be a step back. In reality, it would be a retreat towards a stage in history anchored in the past.”
Afterwards, spokespersons for indigenous groups complained that the pope appeared to be denying the troubled history of European colonization. . . .
Benedict clarified his position on the subject as follows:
Certainly, the memory of a glorious past cannot ignore the shadows that accompany the work of evangelization of the Latin American Continent: it is not possible, in fact, to forget the suffering and the injustice inflicted by colonizers on the indigenous populations, whose fundamental human rights were often trampled upon.
But the obligation to recall such unjustifiable crimes - crimes, however, already condemned at the time by missionaries like Bartolomé de Las Casas and by theologians like Francisco de Vitoria of the University of Salamanca - must not prevent noting with gratitude the wonderful works accomplished by divine grace among those populations in the course of these centuries.
The Gospel has thus become on the Continent the supporting element of a dynamic synthesis which, with various facets and according to the different nations, nonetheless expresses the identity of the Latin American People.
Today, in the age of globalization, this Catholic identity is still present as the most adequate response, provided that it is animated by a serious spiritual formation and by the principles of the social doctrine of the Church.
Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said that the Holy Father has accepted the invitation that was extended to him by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, who met with the Pope at the Vatican on April 18.
For now "there is no date or program" for the Pope's trip, Father Lombardi said.
This appeal was made in the Pope's message for the 81st World Mission Day, which will be celebrated on Oct. 21 with the theme: "All the Churches for All the World."
In the text, the Holy Father "invites local Churches on all continents to a joint awareness of the urgent need to relaunch missionary activity to meet the many grave challenges of our time." [. . .]
"Faced with an increasingly secularized culture, which seems to be penetrating Western societies more and more, in light of the crisis of the family, the lack of vocations and a progressively aging clergy," the Pope explained, these ancient Churches "run the risk of closing in on themselves, of looking to the future with reduced hope and of lessening their missionary efforts."
"Yet this is precisely the moment to open trustingly to the providence of God, who never abandons his people and who, through the power of the Holy Spirit, guides them towards the accomplishment of his eternal plan of salvation," the Holy Father said.
He started the use of theology in Latin. His work brought decisive benefits which it would be unforgivable to underestimate. His influence covered different areas: linguistically, from the use of language and the recovery of classical culture, to singling out a common "Christian soul" in the world and in the formulation of new proposals of human coexistence. . . .
His apologetic writings are above all the most famous. They manifest two key intentions: to refute the grave accusations that pagans directed against the new religion; and, more propositional and missionary, to proclaim the Gospel message in dialogue with the culture of the time.
His writings are important as they also show the practical trends in the Christian community regarding Mary Most Holy, the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Matrimony and Reconciliation, Petrine primacy, prayer.... In a special way, in those times of persecution when Christians seemed to be a lost minority, the Apologist exhorted them to hope, which in his treatises is not simply a virtue in itself, but something that involves every aspect of Christian existence. . . .
In his famous affirmation according to which our soul "is naturally Christian" (Apologeticus 17: 6), Tertullian evokes the perennial continuity between authentic human values and Christian ones. Also in his other reflection borrowed directly from the Gospel, according to which "the Christian cannot hate, not even his enemies" (cf. Apologeticus 37), is found the unavoidable moral resolve, the choice of faith which proposes "non-violence" as the rule of life. Indeed, no one can escape the dramatic aptness of this teaching, also in light of the heated debate on religions.
Cardinal Bertone: There is nothing scandalous in the fact that the Pontiff's press conference was transcribed in a slightly different version from the original. Even the texts of the Wednesday audiences are sometimes published after an accurate revision.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, too, in its definitive edition, the "editio typica" of 1997, differs in many points from the first edition published in 1992. Those who read the recent document on limbo of the International Theological Commission can see that the "editio typica" of an encyclical -- in this instance, Pope John Paul II's "Evangelium Vitae" -- presents a different and more precise formulation on a certain point than the version that was originally published.
Q: What can you say about the excommunication of legislators who have approved abortion?
Cardinal Bertone: It seems clear to me that the Pope recalled that it is the responsibility of individual bishops to decide whether and when to excommunicate, that it is a penalty foreseen in the Code of Canon Law, and in this case it is a matter of "ferendae sententiae" [a non-automatic excommunication].
Q: And in regard to the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero? Why does the published text not mention the fact that the Pope said he has no doubts that Archbishop Romero merits beatification?
Cardinal Bertone: It is evident that the Pope wants to be very respectful of the work of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, the prefect of which was also present on the Pope's flight.
Q: After this experience, do you think it is likely that there will be other press conferences with the Pope?
Cardinal Bertone: That is for the Pope to decide. But everyone knows that Cardinal Ratzinger never had any fear of the press and he always kindly offered answers to journalists who stopped him on the street.
he Pope, in fact, did not seem to notice the activity, as everything happened behind his back as he greeted the people.
The Vatican later clarified that the 27-year-old man, of German nationality, suffers from a mental disability and was not trying to harm the Holy Father, but just wanted to attract attention.
The episode lasted only a few seconds, . . .
The offender was hospitalized at the Vatican's request to "undergo mandatory treatment in a specialized and protected center."
Liveleak has video footage of the incident, and Father Z has a good post on the new security problems faced by Pope Benedict's popularity (Things are Hopping in RomeWhat Does Prayer Really Say June 6, 2007). See also Cool under pressure: Papal guards handle many pilgrims discreetly, by John Thavis. Catholic News Service. June 7, 2007, on the variety of papal security from Italian police agents to the Vatican's Swiss Guard to Vatican gendarme corps and even sharpshooters positioned from Vatican rooftops. As one might expect, "the biggest problem facing the pope's 'guardian angels' is distinguishing a real threat from a pilgrim's overexuberance."
By and large, the pontiff’s approach has worked. Liberal Catholics were so relieved that Benedict was not issuing daily bulls of excommunication that they took a kind word as a hopeful omen. Indeed, the loudest complaints about Benedict’s record have come from his erstwhile allies on the right who are miffed that he has not cracked down hard and fast on those they consider dissenters.
But the Catholic right ought to have more patience, just as the Catholic left — and everyone else — might want to pay closer attention. The reality is that during these two years, even as he has preached the boundless grace of Christian charity, Benedict has also made it clear that divine love does not allow for compromise on matters of truth as the pope sees it, and that he will not brook anything that smacks of change in church teachings or traditions. Nor is he a caretaker pope who is willing to stand pat.
On Saturday, September 27, 1997, during the Twenty-third Eucharistic Congress and as part of pope John Paul II’s pastoral visit to Bologna, there took place an outdoor event attended by some 300,000 people, featuring musical performances by Bob Dylan, in addition to certain Italian pop-musicians. As recounted in his recent book of memoirs, John Paul II, My Beloved Predecessor, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had serious misgivings about having the pope literally and figuratively share a platform with these popular musicians, and with Bob Dylan in particular. . . .
. . . it was the sort of pointed, politically incorrect address that makes many pundits cringe. American and European newspaper journalists covering the event reminded their readers that young people may applaud Benedict, but they do not actually pay attention to what he says. The proof in nearly every report was the same: an obligatory quote from a teenage critic who disagrees with Benedict about condom distribution or pre-marital sex.
Benedict's critics have plenty of company. But it seems odd that journalists attending papal youth rallies that attract tens of thousands of cheering young people regularly quote only disgruntled teenagers in their reports. If the pope is a bore and young people find his message irrelevant, why do so many of them flock to hear it? . . .
Benedict has won that admiration not in spite of his message but because of it. While many leaders today regard the young as bundles of hormones incapable of sacrifice or self-restraint, Benedict views them as souls longing for goodness and God. He tells them that the restlessness they feel — the persistent longing that no amount of money, power, or pleasure can seem to satisfy — is not a curse. It is a reminder that they were created for more than the consumption of goods and satisfaction of appetites. You were created for love, Benedict tells them, the kind of love that finds its fulfillment in service to others.
Benedict's message is as demanding as John Paul's was, and many young people struggle to put it into practice. Yet they are listening.
This post-Brazil contretemps offers the latest confirmation that as a public figure, Benedict XVI has two qualities which often work at cross-purposes.
Benedict XVI hadn't even stepped off the papal plane at Rome's Ciampino airport on Monday, ending his May 9-13 Brazilian swing, when controversy from the trip caught up with him. Spokespersons for Brazil's indigenous populations were incensed by comments the pope made in Aparecida late Sunday afternoon, asserting that the arrival of Christianity did not amount to "the imposition of a foreign culture" upon the native peoples of the New World. To the natives, that seemed a nasty bit of historical revisionism.
On the one hand, Benedict is an exceptionally lucid communicator. He's a gifted logician, so his conclusions flow naturally from his premises. Moreover, he's able to synthesize complex ideas in easy-to-understand formula, so you don't need a degree in theology to get his point. Yet Benedict can also be remarkably tone-deaf to how his pronouncements may sound to people who don't share his intellectual and cultural premises. . . .
“The Best Hypothesis”: The Humble Proposal of the Church of Ratzinger and Ruini, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa May 21, 2007. "The same day on which, in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Benedict XVI addressed the key discourse of his trip to the bishops of that nation, in Italy his cardinal vicar Camillo Ruini was laying down the guidelines for a positive encounter of Christianity with the dominant traits of contemporary culture. The day was May 11. And the two discourses, by the pope and by his vicar, in spite of their great geographic distance were in reality very close."
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- More than two years into his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has proven to be a very patient decision-maker -- so patient that even some of his Vatican bureaucrats are chafing a little.
"There are all these decisions that you thought were already made, and then nothing happens," one Roman Curia official said in early June.
The examples abound:
-- The pope's letter to Chinese Catholics, announced in January, has yet to appear.
-- The papal document widening use of the Tridentine Mass, reportedly ready since last fall, is still awaiting publication.
-- A consistory to name new cardinals, expected in June by most Vatican officials, has apparently been put off until the fall.
-- A slew of key appointments, including the replacement of several Roman Curia heads who are past retirement age, keep getting deferred.
-- The streamlining of Vatican communications agencies, rumored to have been one of the pope's priorities following his election in 2005, still has not happened.
Why are things taking so long? The main reason, according to those inside the Curia, is that the pope believes some of these questions call for consultation and fine-tuning, rather than snap decisions.
. . . While at Tubingen, one student asked another to identify the difference between Professor Ratzinger and another equally famous theologian. The reply was: Ratzinger also finds time to play the piano. He is as open to beauty as he is to truth. He lives outside himself. He is not preoccupied with his own self. Put simply, he does not take himself too seriously.
The other anecdote is personal. Once he asked me gently about the progress of my thesis. It was about time, as I had been working on it for some seven years. I told him that I thought there was still some work to be done. He turned to me with those piercing but kindly eyes, saying with a smile: "Nur Mut zur Lücke" (Have the courage to leave some gaps). In other words, be courageous enough to be imperfect.
On reflection, this is one of the keys to Ratzinger's character (and also to his theology; in particular his theology of politics): his acceptance that everything we do is imperfect, that all knowledge is limited, no matter how brilliant or well read one may be. It never bothered him that in a course of lectures he rarely covered the actual content of the course. His most famous book, Introduction to Christianity, is incomplete. [8] Ratzinger knows in his heart and soul that God alone is perfect and that all human attempts at perfection (such as political utopias) end in disaster.
The only perfection open to us is that advocated by Jesus in the Gospel: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48), he who "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5:45). Love of God and love of neighbor: that is the secret of Pope Benedict XVI, and that will be the core of his universal teaching.
Forthcoming: The Apostles (Our Sunday Visitor, August 2007). A compilation of Benedict's general audiences' talks on the apostles.
Scholarly Articles
The subject of the Volume 2, 2006 issue of Letter and Spirit is "The Authority of Mystery: The Word of God and the People of God", in which Dr. Scott Hahn has an article on The Authority of Mystery: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI." (See link for ordering info).
Via Carl Olson @ Insight Scoop): The May/June 2007 issue of Saint Austin Review (StAR) focuses on "The Spirit of the Liturgy," and features articles by several Ignatius Press authors, including Fr. Thomas M. Kocik, author of The Reform of the Reform?, Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, author of Turning Towards the Lord, Alcuin Reid, author of The Organic Development of the Liturgy, and, of course, Joseph Pearce, who is co-editor of StAR with Robert Asch.
Pope Benedict in Brazil - Coverage by John Allen Jr. & 'American Papist'
Roundup and commentary of the Pope's visit to Brazil is forthcoming over at the Benedict Blog, but I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the excellent work already accomplished by Thomas N. Peters aka. American Papist for providing daily coverage of his own, well worth a visit:
Benedict XVI’s stinging criticism of both Marxism and capitalism this afternoon may have caught some off-guard used to thinking of him as a consumate conservative, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows Joseph Ratzinger’s history. . . .
Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), many Catholic theologians, priests, bishops and lay activists in Latin America have sought to mobilize the church to respond to the continent’s pressing social and political crises, above all the disparities between rich and poor – a gap which, according to United Nations statistics, is more dramatic in Latin America than anywhere else in the world.
The pope acknowledged that focusing on the spiritual dimension of the church’s life “must not serve as an excuse for avoiding the historical reality in which the church lives as she shares the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor and afflicted.”
Yet Benedict has insisted that this social solidarity must not dislodge proclamation of Christ, participation in the sacraments, and the promotion of holiness as the heart of Catholic identity. It is not the role of the church to provide specific political solutions to Latin America’s problems, the pope has said, but rather to provide the evangelical “motor fuel” for a commitment to finding those solutions.
Citing Jesus’ promise in the Gospel of John that whoever follows him “will have the light of life,” Benedict said that his mission is to “renew in people’s hearts this light that never goes out, so that it will shine in the most intimate corners of the souls of all those who seek true goodness and peace, which the world cannot give.”
“God does not compel, does not oppress individual liberty,” the pope said. “He only asks the openness of that sacred place of our conscience, though which all the noblest aspirations pass, but also the disordered feelings and passions that obscure the message of the Most High.”
Benedict told the Poor Clares that, “It is the risen Christ who heals the wounds and saves the sons and daughters of God, saves humanity from death, from sin and from slavery to passions.”
The bottom line for Benedict XVI in Brazil thus seems to be this: If you want to give life to the suffering peoples of Latin America, give them Christ. Downplaying the specifically “religious” dimension of the church’s message not only betrays its mission, he believes, but in the end it fails to produce the desired social results.
While Benedict XVI is too genteel a figure to engage in what political writers call “taking someone to the woodshed,” his speech this afternoon to some 430 Brazilian bishops came about as close as he’s likely to get.
Wrapped in gratitude for the bishops’ service, and for the warm welcome he’s received in Brazil, Benedict’s message was nonetheless an unambiguous call to order. . . .
“Wherever God and his will are unknown, wherever faith in Jesus Christ and in his sacramental presence is lacking, the essential element for the solution of pressing social and political problems is also missing," he said.
For that reason, the pope said, it’s important to teach the faith “without interpretations motivated by a rationalistic ideology.” The bishops, he said, must take care that this doesn’t happen.
In terms of pastoral programs, Benedict analyzed the problem of Catholic defections to Pentecostal churches, which he called a source of “just concern,” as the result of a lack of evangelization and catechesis which places “Christ and his church at the center of every explanation.” He therefore urged an urgent program of missionary outreach, stressing “personal and communal adhesion to Christ.”
Though Benedict did not put it this way, Frei Galvão is an icon of what the pope considers an authentic form of liberation theology: one that puts God and the life of the spirit first, direct charitable care of others second, and only then draws consequences for a just social order.
If Benedict XVI’s tough comments about excommunication for pro-choice Catholic politicians marked day one of his May 9-13 trip to Brazil, day two had a softer tone, focusing on pastoral moments and issues where church and state in Brazil are in broad agreement.
In their meeting in a government palace in São Paulo, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Pope Benedict steered clear of potential flash-points such as abortion and contraception, focusing instead on efforts to support families, education, and environmental concerns. . . .
After lunch with the officers of the Brazilian bishops’ conference, Benedict XVI also held a brief, but highly symbolic, meeting with the emeritus Archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Paulo Arns. During the battles over liberation theology in the 1970s and 1980s, Arns and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger often locked horns. When four new dioceses were split off from São Paulo in 1988, in a fashion that Arns himself had opposed, it was widely taken as a sign of Vatican disapproval.
In that light, Benedict’s choice to put an encounter with Arns on his schedule was seen as a gesture of reconciliation.
Day Two: Hopelessness, not Pentecostalism, as Brazil's mega-trend in religion May 10, 2007: Although much conversation surrounding Benedict XVI’s trip to Brazil has focused on defections from the Catholic church to Pentecostalism, Fr. Jose Oscar Beozzo says the more important, albeit less discussed, phenomenon is the striking rise in the percentage of Brazilians with no religious faith at all.
Day One: Confusion on communion for pro-choice politicians nothing new May 9, 2007. "Confusion created today on the papal plane – after Pope Benedict XVI appeared to say that politicians who vote in favor of abortion rights should be considered excommunicated, only to have Vatican officials back away from that interpretation – is nothing new. Attempts to discern the mind of Joseph Ratzinger on this question have long been complicated."
In terms of church politics, Ratzinger’s involvement with debates over liberation theology began even before he arrived in the Vatican. While still the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Pope John Paul I dispatched him as a papal legate to a Marian congress in Ecuador in September 1978, where Ratzinger cautioned against Marxist ideologies and the theology of liberation. Upon arriving at the Vatican, his struggles with the liberationists quickly became the stuff of ecclesiastical legend.
Ratzinger always insisted that the problem was not with the motive of liberation theologians, but with efforts to reshape or even bowdlerize the church’s traditional doctrine to make it more “relevant” for desired social outcomes. When one does that, Ratzinger argued, not only is the faith distorted, but the desired social outcomes are never reached. . . .
During a news conference aboard the papal plane from Rome to São Paulo today, Benedict XVI appeared to significantly tighten the screws on pro-choice Catholic politicians, saying, in effect, that legislators who support pro-abortion measures should be considered excommunicated under church law.
It was the first time a pope directly asserted that by virtue of voting in favor of a measure expanding abortion rights, a politician excommunicates him or herself.
Vatican efforts to soften this hard line, however, were quick in coming.
Benedict Roundup (January - Easter 2007)As Catholic News Agency tells us, 2007 promises "a world of busyness" for Pope Benedict, with "ad limina" visits by bishops from four continents, including Italy, Ukraine, Slovakia, Portugal, Serbia, Kenya, Togo, Benin, Gabon, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea and Laos; a May visit to Brazil (his first across an ocean); a June visit to Assisi to the birthplace of St. Francis, and a prospective visit to address the United Nations General Assembly in September.
What follows is a (by no means comprehensive) roundup noting some of the significant events in the Holy Father's pontificate from January-2007 to the present. Apologies for not getting around to this sooner (I'd given up blogging for the most part during Lent).
In his first visit outside the Vatican of 2007, Benedict XVI today went to a Caritas soup kitchen in the Colle Oppio neighbourhood not far from Termini station, described by the pope as a “symbol, somehow, of the Roman Caritas”. The soup kitchen of Colle Oppio is the first reception centre for homeless people set up in Rome. (Photos of Benedict XVI's visit to the Colle Oppio soup kitchen, courtesy of Argent by the Tiber; Vatican translation of Benedict XVI's address at the soup kitchen, courtesy of ZENIT):
The Christmas message is simple: God came among us because he loves us and expects our love. God is love: not a sentimental love, but a love that became a total gift to the point of the sacrifice on the Cross, starting from his birth in the grotto in Bethlehem.
The beautiful crib that you have chosen to set up in your Soup Kitchen and which I have just had the opportunity to admire, speaks to us of this real and divine love. In its simplicity, the crib tells us that love and poverty go together . . .
In this last period I have shared in your sufferings and wish to assure you of my spiritual closeness and fraternal understanding. . . .
When you presented your resignation a month ago, aware that the situation created did not allow you to begin the episcopal service with the indispensable authority, I saw clearly in this act a profound sensitivity for the good of the Church of Warsaw and of Poland, and also your humility and detachment from offices.
Above all I would like to encourage you to continue with confidence and serenity in your heart. I express the desire that you resume your activity at the service of Christ, in the way that is possible, so that you use your vast and profound knowledge and priestly devotion for the good of the beloved Church in Poland.
Today, as in the past, the episcopal mission is marked by suffering. May Our Lord sustain you with his grace.
The Bishops of Poland had designated Ash Wednesday aday of prayer and repentance for Polish clergy.
Lessons from an Archbishop’s Fall, by George Weigel: "To take control of its own history, the Catholic Church in Poland needs to vet miles of communist-era police records." (Newsweek MSNBC January 8, 2007).
The Ecumenical Adventure" - Interview with Father Massa, executive director of the U.S. episcopal conference's Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Zenit News. February 23, 2007: "Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue doesn't mean that Catholics have to compromise their beliefs, actually, quite the opposite is true."
Ratzinger and Aquinas Much is made of then-Cardinal Ratzinger's preference for Augustine over Aquinas, as in when he admitted in Milestones that "I had difficulties in penetrating the thought of Thomas Aquinas, whose crystal-clear logic seemed to be too closed in on itself, too impersonal and ready-made."
Although Ratzinger attributed his negative impression not so much to the good doctor himself as having been presented with "a rigid, neoscholastic Thomism that was simply too far afield from my own questions," it hardly restrains his critics from using it as a cudgel to his head, as when the SSPX publication The Angelus berated him ("The Memories of a Destructive Mind" March 1999 No. 31):
"This opinion is enunciated by a prince of the Church whose function it is to safeguard the purity of the doctrine of the Faith! Why, then, should anyone be surprised at the current disastrous crisis of Catholicism!"
When Christian faith is authentic, it does not diminish freedom and human reason; so, why should faith and reason fear one another if the best way for them to express themselves is by meeting and entering into dialogue? Faith presupposes reason and perfects it, and reason, enlightened by faith, finds the strength to rise to knowledge of God and spiritual realities. Human reason loses nothing by opening itself to the content of faith, which, indeed, requires its free and conscious adherence.
St Thomas Aquinas, with farsighted wisdom, succeeded in establishing a fruitful confrontation with the Arab and Hebrew thought of his time, to the point that he was considered an ever up-to-date teacher of dialogue with other cultures and religions. He knew how to present that wonderful Christian synthesis of reason and faith which today too, for the Western civilization, is a precious patrimony to draw from for an effective dialogue with the great cultural and religious traditions of the East and South of the world.
Let us pray that Christians, especially those who work in an academic and cultural context, are able to express the reasonableness of their faith and witness to it in a dialogue inspired by love. Let us ask the Lord for this gift through the intercession of St Thomas Aquinas and above all, through Mary, Seat of Wisdom.
On February 14th, 2007, Benedict XVI dedicated his Wednesday general audience address to "Women of the Early Church", affirming that "the female presence in the sphere of the primitive Church was [in no way] secondary." The Pope examines the testimony of St. Paul on the contribution of women in the early Church. The Pope had dedicated his prior Wednesday audience to the role of Aquila and Priscilla, a married couple active in the early Church.
In thinking back over the years of his Pontificate, it is striking to note the missionary zeal that motivated him and impelled him to undertake demanding Apostolic Journeys even to distant nations in order to make prophetic gestures of great ecclesial, missionary and ecumenical importance.
He was the first Pope to go to the Land where Christ lived and from which Peter set out on his journey to Rome. That Visit, only six months after his election as Supreme Pastor of the People of God and while the Second Vatican Council was underway, had a clear symbolic meaning. He showed the Church that the path of her mission is to follow in the footsteps of Christ.
This was precisely what Pope Paul VI sought to do during his Petrine ministry, which he always exercised with wisdom and prudence in complete fidelity to the Lord's command.
Leo Tolstoi, the Russian writer, tells in a short story of a harsh sovereign who asked his priests and sages to show him God so that he might see him. The wise men were unable to satisfy his desire.
Then a shepherd, who was just coming in from the fields, volunteered to take on the task of the priests and sages. From him the king learned that his eyes were not good enough to see God. Then, however, he wanted to know at least what God does. "To be able to answer your question", the shepherd said to the king, "we must exchange our clothes".
Somewhat hesitant but impelled by curiosity about the information he was expecting, the king consented; he gave the shepherd his royal robes and had himself dressed in the simple clothes of the poor man.
Then came the answer: "This is what God does".
Pope Set to Make Mark on U.S. Church, by Eric Gorski. ABC News. April 12, 2002. "Two years into his reign, Pope Benedict XVI is finally poised to make a major mark on American Catholicism with a string of key bishop appointments and important decisions about the future of U.S. seminaries and bishops' involvement in politics. . . ."
The document, dated Feb. 22, reflects the conclusions of the 11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in Rome from Oct. 2 to 23, 2005.
Cardinal Scola, who was the relator general of the synodal assembly, said the title of the apostolic exhortation reaffirms "the Holy Father's insistence over these two years of his pontificate on the truth of love."
The cardinal said that this clearly indicates that this is "one of the crucial themes upon which the future of the Church and of humanity depend."
The Key to "Sacramentum Caritatis" - Interview with Father Nicola Bux, author of Il Signore dei Misteri: Eucaristia e Relativismo [The Lord of the Mysteries: Eucharist and Relativism].
“Sacramentum Caritatis”: Everyone to Mass on Sunday www.Chiesa. March 14, 2007. - Sandro Magister offers "a humble set of crib notes on the many questions that Benedict XVI addresses or touches upon, page by page, in his apostolic exhortation."
What's the most important aspect of the Pope's new apostolic exhortation? A quick Google search brought up 8 different newspaper headlines that gave top billing to the Pope's insistence that Catholic politicians must oppose same-sex marriage.
That topic is not mentioned once in the text of the Sacramentum Caritatis.
On February 17th, 2007 Pope Benedict participated in a Q&A session with seminarians of the Roman Major Seminary. The Holy Father spoke of the discernment of God's voice and spiritual direction ("through his Word, in Sacred Scripture, read in the communion of the Church and read personally in conversation with God"); elements of his own priestly formation and his influences ("it was above all the figure of St Augustine who fascinated me from the very start, then also the Augustinian current in the Middle Ages: St Bonaventure, the great Franciscans, the figure of St Francis of Assisi").
There is a simplicity and beauty in the Holy Father's words and advice, for instance, in persisting in one's vocation despite our very human frailness and inconsistency:
It is good to recognize one's weakness because in this way we know that we stand in need of the Lord's grace. The Lord comforts us. In the Apostolic College there was not only Judas but also the good Apostles; yet, Peter fell and many times the Lord reprimanded the Apostles for their slowness, the closure of their hearts and their scant faith. He therefore simply shows us that none of us is equal to this great yes, equal to celebrating "in persona Christi", to living coherently in this context, to being united to Christ in his priestly mission.
To console us, the Lord has also given us these parables of the net with the good fish and the bad fish, of the field where wheat but also tares grow. He makes us realize that he came precisely to help us in our weakness, and that he did not come, as he says, to call the just, those who claim they are righteous through and through and are not in need of grace, those who pray praising themselves; but he came to call those who know they are lacking, to provoke those who know they need the Lord's forgiveness every day, that they need his grace in order to progress.
I think this is very important: to recognize that we need an ongoing conversion, that we are simply not there yet. St Augustine, at the moment of his conversion, thought he had reached the heights of life with God, of the beauty of the sun that is his Word. He then had to understand that the journey after conversion is still a journey of conversion, that it remains a journey where the broad perspectives, joys and lights of the Lord are not absent; but nor are dark valleys absent through which we must wend our way with trust, relying on the goodness of the Lord.
On bearing witness to Christ in suffering:
It was not by chance that the Lord told his disciples: the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem to suffer; therefore, anyone who wants to be a disciple of mine must shoulder his cross so he can follow me. In fact, we are always somewhat similar to Peter, who said to the Lord: "No, Lord, this cannot happen to you, you must not suffer". We do not want to carry the Cross, we want to create a kingdom that is more human, more beautiful, on this earth.
This is totally mistaken: the Lord teaches it. However, Peter needed a lot of time, perhaps his entire life, in order to understand it; why is there this legend of the Quo Vadis? There is something true in it: learning that it is precisely in walking with the Lord's Cross that the journey will bear fruit. Thus, I would say that before talking to others, we ourselves must understand the mystery of the Cross.
Of course, Christianity gives us joy, for love gives joy. But love is also always a process of losing oneself, hence, a process of coming out of oneself; in this regard, it is also a painful process. Only in this way is it beautiful and helps us to mature and to attain true joy.
Anyone who seeks to affirm or to promise a life that is only happy and easy is a liar, because this is not the truth about man; the result is that one then has to flee to false paradises. And in this way one does not attain joy but self-destruction.
Christianity proclaims joy to us, indeed; this joy, however, only develops on the path of love, and this path of love has to do with the Cross, with communion with the Crucified Christ. And it is presented through the grain of wheat that fell to the ground. When we begin to understand and accept this -- every day, because every day brings some disappointment or other, some burden that may also cause pain --, when we accept this lesson of following Christ, just as the Apostles had to learn at this school, so we too will become capable of helping the suffering.
Benedict XVI on the Path to Peace (Part 1); Part II - interview with Paolo Carozza, law professor at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. (Zenit News January 8, 2007):
Where Benedict XVI goes much further than the prevailing mentality is in his insistence that it is not enough to simply assert -- however correctly -- the link between peace and human dignity. To make that connection real and concrete, not just an abstract ideal or intuition of the truth, one needs to cultivate an adequate and objective understanding of what the human person is, and what human dignity requires.
Benedict XVI thus takes us back to what Mary Ann Glendon has referred to as the "unfinished business" of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the question of its foundations. For 60 years the international community has largely proceeded to try to develop and realize human rights though positive law while prescinding from any sustained effort to reach common understandings of their underlying source and scope.
In short, the difference between the vision in Benedict XVI's message and the conventional wisdom of international affairs is not so much in the affirmation that the dignity and rights of the human person are the path to peace, but rather in the Pope's warning that that path will be uncertain, unstable and wayward without a "true integral humanism" that embraces the whole human person as a concrete, given reality -- without reduction, without manipulation, and without ideology.
Benedict XVI, this most European of popes, once again exhibited a notable concern with Africa during the Easter season. In his traditional urbi et orbi greeting, Benedict spoke in greater detail about the political and humanitarian struggles of Africa than any other part of the world. . . .
Out of Pope Benedict XVI's 1,444 word Urbi Et Orbi Easter Message for 2007 devoted to an observation of all manner of human suffering throughout the world and the response of the Gospel, much is being made of the following sentence:
In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees.
Exercises in Disinformation: The Pope According to the Leading Newspapers January 5, 2007 - Sandro Magister and Anton Smitsendonk, the former Dutch ambassador to China, examine how the press (including the New York Times and other major newspapers) "deformed Benedict XVI’s position on the entry of Turkey into the European Union."
Rarely is a general audience talk interrupted by spontaneous applause, and Pope Benedict XVI seemed as surprised as anyone when the clapping began in the Vatican's audience hall.
The pope had been talking about the church's early times, and he set aside his text to drive home a point: The apostles and first disciples weren't perfect, but had their own arguments and controversies.
"This appears very consoling to me, because we see that the saints did not drop as saints from heaven. They were men like us with problems and even with sins," he said Jan. 31.
That's when the applause erupted among the 6,000 people in attendance. The pope paused, looked up and smiled awkwardly, then continued to ad lib about how holiness doesn't mean never making a mistake.
The moment marked a milestone for Pope Benedict as a communicator and demonstrated two important facts: First, the scholarly pontiff is focusing on uncomplicated lessons about the church and the faith. Second, when he talks, people listen.
Fr. Richard McBrien, former consultant to The Da Vinci Code movie and former head of the theology department at Notre Dame, has it on good authority—his own!—that Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI doesn't really understand Vatican II or how to correctly interpret it. . . .
The "most hyperbolic journalism ever" award goes to Nick Pisa, who makes no attempt to conceal his anti-papal bias in penning 'Hell exists - deny it and you'll end up there'. The Scotsman March 27, 2007:
POPE BENEDICT XVI has reiterated the existence of Hell and condemned society for not talking about eternal damnation enough.
A furious Pope Benedict unleashed a bitter attack during a sermon while on a visit to a parish church and said: "Hell exists and there is eternal punishment for those who sin and do not repent."
Sounding "more of a parish priest than a Pope" the leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics added: "The problem today is society does not talk about Hell. It's as if it did not exist, but it does."
Pope Benedict unleashed his fury during a visit to the tiny parish church of St Felicity and the Martyr Children at Fidene on the outskirts of Rome, in his capacity as bishop of the Italian capital.
One churchgoer said: "The Holy Father was really having a go. It was a typical fire-and-brimstone sermon that you would have expected from a parish priest years ago."
Hell consists in closing oneself off from the love of God, and sin is the true enemy of the human person, Benedict XVI says.
The Pope made that comment on Sunday when celebrating Mass at the Parish of St. Felicity and Martyred Sons in the northern sector of the Diocese of Rome.
"If it is true that God is justice, then we should not forget that he is above all love; if he hates sin it is because he has an infinite love for all human beings," the Holy Father explained.
Pope's Study of Church Fathers Not Just for Catholics Zenit. March 28, 2007 - Benedict XVI's Wednesday-audience series on the Apostolic Fathers can give us hope for unity among Christians, says David Warner, a Catholic theologian who was once an evangelical Protestant minister and who is now a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology in Steubenville, Ohio.
Pope Benedict XVI strongly reasserted Tuesday the church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage, saying that Catholic politicians were "especially" obligated to defend the church's stance in their public duties.
"These values are non-negotiable," the pope wrote in a 130-page "apostolic exhortation" issued in Rome, forming a distillation of opinion from a worldwide meeting of bishops at the Vatican in 2005. . . .
In the document, the pope also repeated that celibacy remains "obligatory" for Catholic priests.
Seminarians, students and other eager listeners gathered recently at the University of the Holy Cross in Rome listen to American professor Scott Hahn expound the theological vision of Benedict XVI. . . .
Foremost on Hahn's agenda was the Holy Father's "curriculum" for Catholics, which Hahn believes will also lead many Protestant theologians to discover the answers they have been searching in the Catholic liturgy.
But even more, Hahn said that Benedict XVI's "clarity and classic style of theologizing" make his teaching accessible to the average lay person.
"One of the remarkable things about Benedict XVI," said Hahn, "is that he is almost too straightforward. With a little bit of effort, those who are not schooled in theology will grasp treasures of biblical wisdom in the context of liturgy and the sacraments."
An “Apostate” from Itself: The Lost Europe of Pope Benedict - From Sandro Magister, "L’Europa nella crisi delle culture" -- an address given by then-Cardinal Ratzinger before the plenary assembly of the European parliament. April 1, 2004.
It is well known that Benedict wants to transform the Church of Rome, which is not to say that he wants to make it more responsive to the realities of modern life as it is lived by Catholic women in the West, or by Catholic homosexuals, or even by the millions of desperately poor Catholic families in the Third World who are still waiting for some merciful dispensation on the use of contraception. He wants to purify the Church, to make it more definitively Christian, more observant, obedient, and disciplined—you could say more like the way he sees Islam. And never mind that he doesn’t seem to like much about Islam, or that he has doubts about Islam’s direction. . . .
The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had sent a written appeal to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, urging the release of the 14 men and one woman captured by Iran in contested waters March 23.
An informed Vatican source said that in an effort to quell increasing international tensions over the crew's seizure Pope Benedict sent the letter for "exclusively humanitarian" reasons. The Vatican would provide no details on the contents of the letter or when it was sent. . . .
Bishop Burns, who earlier had appealed for the release of the service personnel, said April 4 that the decision by the Iranian government to free them was "not just as the result of diplomacy," but was "an act of mercy" in accordance with Islam.
Writing for FrontPageMag.com, Micah Halpern takes a somewhat different view of the Pope's request, noting to whom the correspondence was directed (A Pope Who Gets It, by Micah Halpern. FrontPageMag. April 7, 2007:
Pope Benedict penned this letter to put forth and articulate a humanitarian objective.
Note that the letter was sent not to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It was sent directly to the Ayatollah Khamenei. Ahmadinejad might be the public presenter, the face of Iran to the outside world, but inside Iran, he is second fiddle.
The Ayatollah is just as his title describes, the Ayatollah is absolute supreme leader.
Whatever the Ayatollah wants, happens. Whatever the Ayatollah decrees, is implemented.
As much policy freedom as we are now seeing from Ahmadinejad, his personal survival depends on doing just as he is told. . . .
The actions of the Ayatollah Khamenei are calculated by their ability to showcase Iran's honor.
Khamenei's ploys, his actions, his decisions, even his bluster are calculated to showcase Iran's place of honor among Muslim nations.
It is the eyes of his fellow Muslims that he is watching, it is the hearts of Islam that he is seeking.
Pope Benedict XVI put aside his bigger battle to try to solve the little issue.
The message that the Pope put forth to the supreme leader of Iran was simple: if you are really interested in the message of God, if you are really interested in relieving pain and suffering, you will release your captives.
This time, the Pope called the Ayatollah's bluff.
On April 10, 2007 Dr. Samuel Gregg delivered an address entitled "The Crisis of Europe: Benedict XVI’s Analysis and Solution" as part of the Acton Institute's 2007 Lecture Series. Click the link for audio (mp3). Text will be posted as soon as it becomes available.
There is a limit beyond which the words of Benedict XVI do not go. They reach completely only those who listen to them in person, whether present physically or thanks to a live television broadcast. The number of these persons is substantial, more than for any earlier pontificate. The Easter “urbi et orbi” message and the Way of the Cross on Good Friday were followed by huge crowds and retransmitted in more than forty countries. But even more vast is the number of persons who receive the pope’s message in an incomplete form – or not at all.
Benedict XVI experienced this communications block to an even greater extent in the other celebrations of last Holy Week. . . .
among those present at these Masses, only those who understood Italian were able to listen fruitfully to the pope’s homilies. The Catholic media outlets that translated and distributed the texts in various countries barely extended the listening area, to a niche audience.
For a pope like Benedict XVI, who has centered his ministry precisely upon the word, this is a serious limitation. The offices in the Roman curia that deal with communications have to this point done nothing new in order to remedy this, at least in part. For example, no one sees to a quick distribution of the pope’s texts by internet to all the bishops and priests of the world, in the various languages.
Monsignorial Chic?Whispers in the Loggia January 16, 2007. "No, it's not April Fools Day -- the inspiration behind Versace's spring collection is someone closer to home than you'd expect . . ."
Michael Noakes must be the only man on earth who can suggest to God’s emissary how he should stand and how high he should raise his hand in blessing.
The British artist found himself in the pontiff’s private quarters at the Vatican earlier this year doing just that as he persuaded the Pope to stand still. . . .
Speaking to The Times yesterday, he recalled how he had been in Rome last year to unveil a portrait of the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, at a seminary in Rome.
He said: “At the end of the unveiling, a young Maltese monsignor stationed in the Vatican came over and said simply, ‘Will you paint the Pope for us?’.” The invitation was all the more surprising because the last Pope had steadfastedly refused to pose for any portraits.
A year after the initial invitation Noakes was contacted again by the Vatican and a date was set.
"I was able to meet and celebrate Holy Mass together with these brothers and sisters of ours, who are in conditions that are often not easy. It is truly a small flock, varied, rich in enthusiasm and faith, which we may say lives constantly and in an intense fashion the experience of Advent sustained by hope."
At the heart of Advent, continued the pontiff, lies precisely the certainty of hope. "In Advent, the liturgy repeatedly tells us and assures us, almost as if to win over our natural diffidence, that God 'comes': he comes to stay with us, in every situation we face; he comes to live among us, to live with us and in us; he comes to fill the distances that divide and separate us; he comes to reconcile us with Him and among ourselves. He comes into the history of mankind, to knock on the door of every man and woman of goodwill, to bring to individuals, families and people the gift of brotherhood, harmony and peace. For this reason, Advent is, par excellence, a time of hope, during which those who believe in Christ are invited to remain in vigilant and diligent anticipation, fed by prayer and by proactive commitment to love. May the drawing near of the Christmas of Christ fill the hearts of all Christians with joy, serenity and peace!"
Ankara’s top government religious official accused Pope Benedict XVI yesterday of “doing injustice to Turkey” by declaring after his historic visit to Turkey last week that the country’s Catholics live under difficult conditions. . . .
In an interview with the semi-official Anatolian News Agency published in today’s liberal Radikal newspaper, Director of Religious Affairs Ali Bardakoglu complained that the problems of Turkey’s religious minorities had been exaggerated during the pope’s visit.
The pope’s comments [in his Sunday Dec. 3 address] caused the foreign press to conclude, Bardakoglu objected, that “Turkey does not have religious freedom. This is an injustice to Turkey.”
According to John Allen, Jr., "six times over the course of his four-day visit, Benedict either made the case for religious freedom, or referred in oblique fashion to the “trials” of the local Christian community." In Benedict and religious freedom in Turkey, Allen collects in one place all of Benedict’s references to religious freedom during the course of the Turkey trip.
Istanbul returns to normality, but deep down something has changed with the Pope\'s visit, by Mavi Zambak. AsiaNews.it. Dec. 1, 2006. Benedict XVI has returned to Rome, but they're still celebrating his visit at Istanbul's cathedral. "After having felt the Pope's closeness, we feel stronger." The Muslim community also sees the visit positively; the Pope's prayers in the mosque overshadow the Regensburg controversy.
Patriarch Bartholomew I on the Papal Visit - Dec. 1, 2006. Zenit News interviewed Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, who confided that he had made "an ecumenical proposal" to the Holy Father:
We can truly say that this Thursday we lived a historic day, under many aspects. Historic for ecumenical dialogue and, as we saw in the afternoon, historic for the relationship between cultures and religions. And, obviously, because of all this, historic also for our country. . . .
I can say that I spoke with His Holiness of something -- something that we could do. I presented him with a proposal which I cannot now elaborate on, as we await an official response, but I can say that His Holiness was very interested and that he received it favorably.
We hope it can be undertaken as it is directed to that ecumenical progress that, as we have affirmed and written in the common declaration, both of us are determined to pursue.
The meetings and prayers with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, will not likely be called historic. Historic was the visit of Pope Paul VI four decades ago when mutual excommunications between East and West were formally withdrawn. Benedict shares fully John Paul the Great’s yearning for the day when East and West will once again “breathe with both lungs.” As for Orthodoxy, however, while Constantinople may have preeminence in tradition, Russia has the numbers and the clout, and relations with Russia continue to be prickly, at best. Yet it is noteworthy that the formal dialogue between Rome and Orthodoxy has been resumed after a hiatus of six months, and there are continuing rumblings that Benedict may yet be invited to visit Russia.
The visit to Constantinople/Istanbul was, of course, on St. Andrew’s Day. The brothers, Peter and Andrew, were, in the persons of Benedict and Bartholomew, together, both praying for the day of communion fully restored. As Benedict has said on many occasions, the hope for Christian unity is not a matter of our goals and schedules but of waiting faithfully on an unanticipated movement of the Holy Spirit that is, thank God, not under our control.
Wobby Pope?Open Book Dec. 6, 2006. Amy Welborn takes a look at the raft of "Has the Pope gone soft?" op-eds in the press:
The trouble lies in the word "dialogue." Secular journalists (and others) don't understand this term in the same way that the Pope is using it. They seem to think that "dialogue" must mean: "Conversations between people of differing views, with the ultimate purpose of finding what we believe in common, discarding everything else, and making that common belief the basis of a new religious understanding." . . .
However - when Benedict speaks of "dialogue" - that's not what he means. And his definition of "dialogue" and its purpose fits quite well into his strong commitment to the truth of Catholicism.
Joseph Ratzinger, as a theologian, was a firm believer in and devotee of "dialogue," as is any real intellectual. It is possible - and this is what is so hard for many to understand - to hold firmly to what one believes is Truth, and be very interested in dialogue, the views and experiences of others, not simply out of curiosity, but to the view of expanding one's own vision and understanding.
"The Pope on Turkey, Secularism and Islam", by Mustafa Aykol. The White Path Dec. 7, 2006. Turkish journalist Mustafa on Benedict's dual challenge: to "secular fundamentalism, which aims to destroy the whole "public relevance" of God, and religious fundamentalism, which is prone to use coercion and violence to impose its beliefs on others" and its reception by the Turkish government.
When Benedict XVI stood alongside Istanbul’s chief Islamic cleric, Imam Mustafa Cagrici, in the famed Blue Mosque on Nov. 30, praying silently in the direction of Mecca, those who know Ratzinger’s track record no doubt asked: What happened to the man who once worried that inter-religious prayer can mean “a concession to that relativism which negates the very meaning of truth?”
This was, after all, the same champion of Catholic identity who said of Pope John Paul II’s 1986 summit of religious leaders in Assisi to pray together for peace -- or, at least, of the way that event was understood in some circles -- “This cannot be the model!”
[...] We’ve reached an interesting moment indeed in Catholic affairs when such complaints could be hurled against the man once known as “God’s Rottweiler” for his ferocious defense of the faith.
So, what gives? Was this a case of naked papal opportunism, a post-Regensburg lust for positive headlines in the Muslim world that swept aside doctrinal concerns? Has Benedict the pope “changed his spots” from Ratzinger the doctrinal czar? Or is there a sense in which what happened in Istanbul can be understood as consistent with Ratzinger’s earlier positions?
The answer, says Allen, lies in an examination of then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s thought on prayer with followers of other religions, as expounded in 2003's Truth & Tolerance.
After noting Cardinal Kasper's attempt at public relations:
“It was a recollection, a meditation, but this can be done. If it was a prayer, at least it was not an official prayer, it was not a public prayer, because this can’t be done,” Kasper said.
With all due respect to Kasper, widely recognized as one of the best theological minds in the church, it’s a bit of a stretch to say that something carried live on TV across much of the world was not “public.”
In the area of interreligious dialogue, divine Providence granted me, almost at the end of my Journey, an unscheduled Visit which proved rather important: my Visit to Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque. Pausing for a few minutes of recollection in that place of prayer, I addressed the one Lord of Heaven and earth, the Merciful Father of all humanity. May all believers recognize that they are his creatures and witness to true brotherhood!
To which Allen observes:
There was no caveat about relativism, no theological commentary on the limits of such “witnesses to true fraternity.”
Why the explanatory vacuum? The answer, at least implicitly, seems to be the following: This pope is his own gloss.
In other words, precisely because this was Joseph Ratzinger, it is difficult to imagine that the prayer at the Blue Mosque, at least on his side, had anything to do with a relativistic approach to religious belief. It was unnecessary to slap a warning label on the event saying, “Syncretism is hazardous to your faith,” because the mere presence of Ratzinger communicated in a flash all the doctrinal caveats that form part of his understanding of such events, including his criticism of the 1986 Assisi summit.
Probably the best analysis of the papal "prayer" in the Blue Mosque.
Turkey’s top Islamic official has conceded that he would not be prepared to make the sort of gesture that Pope Benedict XVI made last week, when the Holy Father prayed silently at the Blue Mosque.
In response to a journalist’s question about a reciprocal gesture, Ali Bardakoglu, the government’s religion minister, said: “It is not right to expect that others will pray as the Pope did.”
Benedict, Regensberg, The West and Islam, Continued
The Pope and Islam (Symposium) - The Pope’s visit to Turkey highlights the Muslim world's violent reaction to the Pontiff's comments about Islam several weeks ago. What did those comments, and the Muslim world’s response to them, really mean? To discuss these issues with us today, Frontpage Symposium has assembled a distinguished panel, with Turkish / Muslim journalist Mustafa Aykol, Thomas Haidon (Legal Advisor of the Free Muslim Coalition), BBC commentator Serge Trifkovic and Bat Ye’or (author of Islam and Dhimmitude 2001 and Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis 2005).
The pope has raised a very volatile question: Is, in fact, the God of Islam without reason, or above it? Is the Muslim God unreasonable? Is Islam, therefore, based upon a theological deformation? The pope’s allusion to the teachings of eleventh-century Islamic philosopher Ibn Hazn—“God is not bound even by his own word”—suggests that possibility. However, it is more than a possibility. It is a core teaching of one of the predominant strains of Islam, if not the predominant strain. Has this always been so? How did such a conception of God develop? Is it still possible to talk about this without threats of murder? Benedict is trying to start a conversation with Islam, and it is the only one really worth having.
"He can't have it both ways," one colleague in the press corps said to me.
Grasping how these two points -- fraternal relations with Muslims and the preservation of Europe's Christian identity -- are not opposed, at least as far as Benedict XVI is concerned, requires understanding what he means by "Christian tradition."
Benedict's desire isn't a return to Christendom, a conflation of church and state. Neither does he "seek a Christian version of shariah, which would enshrine the Code of Canon Law as the civil law of the land" and "[consign] Muslims or other religious minorities to second-class citizenship." Rather, what Benedict means by "Christian Tradition" is twofold:
First, he wants Europe to be shaped by its religious heritage and by the values of its religious communities, in contrast to forms of secularism that would deny any public role to religious believers. [...]
Second, the pope wants to defend the bundle of traditional moral values associated with Christian teaching, such as the family, human life, sexual morality, social justice and peace.
The Soul of the West | An interview with Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. on Benedict XVI's Regensberg AddressIgnatius Insight Nov. 9, 2006. Recently, in the course of doing some research for the Harvard Political Review, Justin Murray, an undergraduate student at Harvard, sent Fr. James V. Schall a series of questions about the impact of Pope Benedict XVI's September 12, 2006, Regensburg Lecture. Ignatius Insight publishes the interview w. kind permission of the authors.
Pope Benedict XVI in Print
The recent anthology Political Theologies: Public Religions in a Post-Secular World, edited by Hent de Vries, Editor Lawrence E. Sullivan is available from Fordham U. Included is an English translation of the historic discussion between Jürgen Habermas and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, concerning the prepolitical moral foundations of a republic. The opening statements of the Habermas/Ratzinger dialogue are available in original German here, in Spanish here.
Habermas vs. The Pope - An appraisal of the dialogue from Prospect magazine, the author, Edward Skidelsky, suprised at how much a leftist, secular philosopher and an 'enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy' could agree upon.
For those who do not know, Habermas is one of the most famous, notorious and brilliant social thinkers of our age. Influenced by the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, which was made known to the world through the works of Horkheimer and Adorno, Habermas has been a constant critic of the excesses of capitalist Western culture and its consumerist industry. He is reknowned for the development of his theory of communicative reason, which seeks to discover the seat of reason in discourse among subjects rather than in the cosmos (Greek) or the knowing self (modernism). An avowed atheist and neo-Marxist, Habermas has recently commented on the manner in which Christianity alone can serve as the matrix for the preservation of Western values. He and Pope Benedict have come to agreement on a number of socio-political issues as the Pope mentions in his Values in a Time of Upheaval.
The book, written in 1968 by the man who is now Pope Benedict XVI, includes a foreword by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church’s foreign department. The publication was co-financed by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Peter Humeniuk, an expert in Catholic-Orthodox relations, who heads ACN’s section for relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, said this week that the translation’s publication will provide an excellent step forward in ecumenical relations. “It is of utmost importance that this reference work by one of the world’s most important theologians is now accessible to Russian readers, especially in academies and seminaries,” he said.
The announcement was made today by the Vatican Publishing House -- also known as Libreria Editrice Vaticana, or LEV -- which received the Pope's manuscript a few days ago, and has been entrusted with its distribution.
"Conscious of the expectation at the world level of this first work of Benedict XVI," the announcement said, "the LEV has made the appropriate agreements with Rizzoli Publishing House, ceding to the latter the rights of translation, diffusion and commercialization of the work worldwide."
Pope Benedict explained that he began the book during his 2003 summer vacation, giving the final form to the first four chapters in the summer of 2004.
"After my election to the episcopal see of Rome, I used all of my free moments to work on it," he wrote. "Because I do not know how much time and how much strength I will still be given, I have decided to publish the first 10 chapters" as Volume One of "Jesus of Nazareth."
The announcement raised the interesting question of how one should receive a work of personal theology by a Pope. Zenit News further reports:
In the preface, passages of which have been issued, the Pope writes that this work "in no way is an act of the magisterium, but only an expression of my personal search for the face of the Lord. Therefore, anyone is free to contradict me."
"I only ask readers for that anticipated sympathy without which there can be no understanding," the Holy Father states.
"I wished to attempt to present the Jesus of the Gospels as the authentic Jesus, as the historical Jesus in the authentic meaning of the word," Benedict XVI adds.
The book expresses one of Joseph Ratzinger's most profound convictions, a book which he had already planned to write before being elected Pope: "Through the man Jesus, God made himself visible and, from God, the image is seen of the just man."
In an unfortunate, though not altogether unsurprising, response, Malcolm Moore of the UK Telegraph revealed his complete ignorance of matters Catholic with the proclamation that the Pope questioned his infallibility:
The Pope has shocked theologians and opened a chink in the theory of papal infallibility by saying that people should feel free to disagree with what he has written in his latest book, a meditation on Jesus Christ. . . . No Pope has ever opened up his work and opinions to criticism before. Nor has any Pope tried to separate his personal and public personas, according to Professor Giuseppe Alberigo, a professor of the history of the Catholic Church at Bologna University.
"I really believe this is the first time this has ever happened," he said. "It is an extraordinarily important gesture. What it means is that the Pope is not totally infallible. As well as being the Pope, he is a common man, hugely studious in this case, but like all men he is subject to debates, arguments and discussions." He added that Pope John Paul II "could never have made a distinction between 'official' Pope and 'ordinary' Pope".
In a word, nonsense.
Related Discussion anticipating the publication of Jesus of Nazareth:
Pope Benedict & the Historical Jesus, by Michael Barber, Professor of Theology, Scripture and Catholic Thought at John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego. (Singing in the Reign [blog] Nov. 22, 2006).
"Rome in Crisis?" - Zadok the Roman takes Professor Giuseppe Alberigo to the woodshed:
High-level meetings between the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (The Holy Office), the Rectors of the Pontifical Universities and the standing committee of the International Theological Commission have struggled to come up with a plan of action following the Papal decree abolishing infallibility. . . . Or not.
Jesus of Nazareth will be published by Random House imprint Doubleday - The first book from Benedict since he became pope, the title is scheduled for publication in spring 2007. Bill Barry, v-p and publisher of Doubleday’s religious division, acquired world English, first serial, audio and exclusive Spanish-language rights in North America from Italian publisher Rizzoli. [Publisher's Weekly]. This is somewhat of a change given that Ignatius Press is the traditional publisher of the Pope's works in the English-language.
Serious obstacles remain to form closer ties between Catholic and Anglican churches, Pope Benedict XVI and Anglican leader Rowan Williams agreed, bluntly acknowledging disagreements on the ordination of gay bishops and women priests and the blessing of same-sex unions. . . .
After a Nov. 23 private morning meeting between the pope and the archbishop of Canterbury, the two religious leaders signed a common declaration that noted the historic meeting 40 years ago by their predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which undertook "to establish a dialogue in which matters which had been divisive in the past might be addressed from a fresh perspective with truth and love."
That 1966 meeting aimed at uniting the churches split apart in 1534 by English King Henry VIII's anger over the Vatican's refusal to annul his marriage.
Benedict XVII and Archbishop Ramsey in the joint statement, signed while sitting side-by-side at a table, expressed gratitude for the efforts at unity and pledged to pursue the path of continuing dialogue.
". . . Over the last three years you have spoken openly about the strains and difficulties besetting the Anglican Communion and consequently about the uncertainty of the future of the Communion itself. Recent developments, especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings, have affected not only internal relations within the Anglican Communion but also relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. We believe that these matters, which are presently under discussion within the Anglican Communion, are of vital importance to the preaching of the Gospel in its integrity, and that your current discussions will shape the future of our relations. It is to be hoped that the work of the theological dialogue, which had registered no small degree of agreement on these and other important theological matters, will continue [to] be taken seriously in your discernment. In these deliberations we accompany you with heartfelt prayer. It is our fervent hope that the Anglican Communion will remain grounded in the Gospels and the Apostolic Tradition which form our common patrimony and are the basis of our common aspiration to work for full visible unity.
I say this, conscious that the path to unity is not an easy one, and that disputes about how we apply the Gospel to the challenges thrown up by modem society can often obscure or even threaten the achievements of dialogue, common witness and service. In the modem world, no part of the Christian family acts without profound impact on our ecumenical partners; only a firm foundation of friendship in Christ will enable us to be honest in speaking to one another about those difficulties, and discerning a way forward which seeks to be wholly faithful to the charge laid upon us as disciples of Christ. I come here today, therefore, to celebrate the ongoing partnership between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, but also ready to hear and to understand the concerns which you will wish to share with me.
Archbishop William's visit to Rome marks the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking trip to Rome by Archbishop Michael Ramsey, in March 1966. In Alive at the DawnThe Tablet Nov. 11, 2006), Chris Larkman, a seminarian alive at the time reminisces. (via Whispers in the Loggia).
On November 21, 2006, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams spoke at St. Anselmo, a Benedictine institution in Rome. The subject of his talk was Benedict and the future of Europe.
A first visit of an Orthodox archbishop of Athens and All Greece to a Pope at the Vatican marked an important step in overcoming the division between Orthodox and Catholics.
Today's historic meeting between Archbishop Christodoulos and Benedict XVI ended with the signing of a joint declaration by the two religious leaders to reaffirm the collaboration of Orthodox and Catholics, particularly in the defense of life and the recovery of Europe's Christian roots.
This was not the Greek archbishop's first visit to the Vatican, though it was his first to the Pope. Archbishop Christodoulos had met Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then dean of the College of Cardinals, on the occasion of Pope John Paul II's funeral on April 8, 2005.
After their private meeting today, the members of the Orthodox archbishop's entourage entered the Pope's private library to hear both addresses.
East and West - Coverage and discussion at Amy Welborn's Open Book.
Challenges of Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue Zenit News interviewed Monsignor Dimitrios Salachas, of the Greek-Catholic Apostolic Exarchy of Athens. The monsignor is a professor of canon law in Rome, and consultor for the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Back in November the Vatican's press office published a draft intended for John Paul II. It was posted for few hours on the Vatican web page, released in Switzerland by the press office of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, and recalled later in the day without comment. (Source: Catholic News Agency; see also Sandro Magister's behind-the-scenes expose: "This Is the Vatican. Communications Have Been Interrupted" Nov. 23, 2006).
Amy Welborn takes a look at the real thing in "Popespeak" (Open Book Dec. 12, 2006).
Fair warning to readers, Gibson is admittedly disappointed in some (most?) of Benedict's decisions (the firing of America editor Tom Reese and Ratzinger's career as Prefect for the CDF, which Gibson describes in his book as leaving behind a "legacy of sharp denunciations, thwarted careers, and embittered souls that seems to belie any claims he might make to promoting the love of Christ"). And there are comments in the interview itself that would make many readers of this blog wince:
"Benedict is wonderful in his Christology and in talking about his love of Christ and why we should follow Jesus. But the question that remains unanswered is why we should remain Catholics, why the Catholic Church should be the container for our faith. His ecclesiology and his Christology overlap so much that they almost can't be separated. In his mind, if you talk about reforming the church or making any changes, you're talking about changing Jesus Christ himself, and that's a little too strict for me."
Gibson's book was praised by the National Catholic Reporter and received largely positive reviews by Commonweal (The Puzzling Pope Andrew M. Greeley. Volume CXXXIII, Number 19) and America magazine ("Facing a Fragmented Church", by Paul Wilkes. America Vol. 195 No. 10), while Indiana Catholic author Andrew Fink found that Gibson's "liberal agenda marred his papal biography.
Ratzinger on Ecumenism: A Reading List - "I was asked by an Orthodox priest if I could provide him some references for Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's writings about ecumenism," says Carl Olson (Insight Scoop). "In light of the Holy Father's current trip to Turkey, here is the list I came up with. It is undoubtedly incomplete, but may be helpful for those interested in reading more in this area."
The numbers speak. Benedict XVI is the most popular pope in history, if by people one understands those whom he draws like a magnet to St. Peter’s Square each Sunday for the Angelus and each Wednesday for the general audience, from Rome and from all over the world.
Attendance is routinely more than twice that seen by his predecessor, John Paul II, who in his turn had shattered all the records. But the most amazing thing is the relationship between the demand and what is on offer. The winning product that Benedict XVI offers to the crowds is made of nothing but his plain words.
At the Angelus, two times out of three pope Joseph Ratzinger explains the Gospel of that Sunday’s Mass to an audience that includes people who don’t go to church every week – and some who don’t go at all. He explains this with simple words, but these demand and receive attention. . . .
As pope, Benedict XVI doesn’t give an inch to the preconceptions that were formed about him as a cardinal. He doesn’t thunder condemnations, he doesn’t hurl anathemas. He reasons staunchly, but serenely. His criticisms against modernity or against the “pathologies” that he sees even within the Church are fully elaborated. That is part of the reason why he has practically silenced Catholic progressivism: not because this has turned friendly toward him, but because it is not able to reply to him with arguments of similar persuasive power.
On November 20, 2006 the United Nations' Headquarters hosted a conference on "Relativism and the Crisis of Cultures in the writings of Pope Benedict XVI," to promote the book Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, published by Ignatius Press. The event was sponsored by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, the Path to Peace Foundation, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Ignatius Press, Edizioni Cantagalli and the Sublacense Life and Family Foundation. According to the conference website, the event was attended by "over 180 Ambassadors, Attachés and Delegates, Representatives of NGOs and others."
The conference featured a panel discussion with Marcello Pera (co-author of ), George Weigel,
"Benedict XVI, the shy former disciple of that most media-friendly of popes, John Paul II, has entered an area of the mass communications market that his predecessor apparently never tapped."
[This post will be updated regularly throughout the coming week (Tuesday 28th - Friday 1st) as we chronicle Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic journey. Please bookmark and pass along if interested. God bless! - Christopher]
November 28, 2006 - Arrival; Visit to the Ataturk Mausoleum; Meeting with the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ali Bardakoglu, Chief of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directories;
November 29, 2006 - Eucharistic celebration before the Shrine of Meryem Ana Eva in Ephesus; Moment of prayer at the Patriarchal Church of St. George and private meeting with H.H. Bartholomew I;
Prayer of Protection for Pope Benedict XVI - Heavenly Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth takes its name, we humbly ask that you sustain inspire, and protect your servant, Pope Benedict XVI, as he goes on pilgrimage to Turkey — a land to which St. Paul brought the Gospel of your Son; a land where once the Mother of your Son, the Seat of Wisdom, dwelt; a land where faith in your Son’s true divinity was definitively professed. Bless our Holy Father, who comes as a messenger of truth and love to all people of faith and good will dwelling in this land so rich in history. In the power of the Holy Spirit, may this visit of the Holy Father bring about deeper ties of understanding, cooperation, and peace among Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and those who profess Islam. May the prayers and events of these historic days greatly contribute both to greater accord among those who worship you, the living and true God, and also to peace in our world so often torn apart by war and sectarian violence
We also ask, O Heavenly Father, that you watch over and protect Pope Benedict and entrust him to the loving care of Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Fatima, a title cherished both by Catholics and Muslims. Through her prayers and maternal love, may Pope Benedict be kept safe from all harm as he prays, bears witness to the Gospel, and invites all peoples to a dialogue of faith, reason, and love. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Prayer composed by Bishop William E. Lori)
Catholic / Orthodox Commentary
John Allen Jr.'s Daily Column - National Catholic Reporter. Veteran papal journalist John Allen will be in Turkey with the Pope this week. According to Allen, "Some 3,000 journalists will be on hand to chronicle the four-day trip." Check out his blog for some on-the-spot reporting.
Pope & Patriarch - "a diverse group of Catholic and Orthodox Christians who came together with a shared vision of rapprochement between the two great Churches." (Members include Inside the Vatican's Dr. Robert Moynihan and convert to orthodoxy Joshua S. Treviño.
"Talking Turkey" - Dr. Michael Liccione offers "an imaginary office-hours dialogue at a Catholic university between a student I shall call 'Alethia' and my professorial alter ego" on the many facets of Benedict's visit.
Ankara (AsiaNews) – Responding to the appeal of Benedict XVI, tonight all Catholic communities in Turkey will hold prayer vigils to accompany and welcome the pope throughout his trip to Turkey. Yesterday, after recital of the Angelus, the pontiff asked the faithful to accompany him in prayer so that “this pilgrimage may bear all the fruits that God desires” . . .
The Church of Christ is a communion, and fraternal relations between Christians and churches are an essential expression of this communion, which already unites us to God in virtue of the common faith and one baptism.
After a long period during which, due to external difficulties, these visits could not be undertaken, the Second Vatican Council established a new starting point and the exchange of visits between local churches of the West and the East has become very frequent.
Among all these visits, most significant in fact are those carried out between the two most important sees of Christianity . . .
Presentation of the Missal for Benedict XVI's Trip to Turkey - the Introduction to the missal that Benedict XVI will follow during his apostolic journey to Turkey (Tuesday - Friday). It was prepared by Archbishop Piero Marini, master of the liturgical celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
ITALY
Tuesday, 28 November
Fiumicino (Rome)
09.00 Departure from Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport of Rome/Fiumicino to Ankara
. . .the Pope travelled by car to the Mausoleum of Ataturk some 45 kilometers from the city. Built between 1944 and 1953, it holds the earthly remains of Mustafa Kemal "Ataturk" (Father of the Turks), founder and first president of the Turkish Republic (1923-1938). Within the building, which resembles a Greek temple and is reached by a flight of steps, the walls are covered in green marble and the ceiling decorated with gold mosaics. The cenotaph to Ataturk is made from a single block of marble weighing 40 tonnes. . . ." [Source: Kath.net]
Benedict XVI placed a floral wreath next to the monument and then signed the visitor's book and wrote in English: "In this land, a meeting point of different religions and cultures and a bridge between Asia and Europe, I gladly make my own the words of the founder of the Turkish Republic: 'Peace at Home, Peace in the World.'"
Welcome ceremony and courtesy visit to the President of the Republic
His background and commitment to Islamic values also appeal to most of the devout Muslim Turks who have been alienated by the state.
But his pro-Islamist sympathies earned him a conviction in 1998 for inciting religious hatred.
He had publicly read an Islamic poem including the lines: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers..."
He was sentenced to 10 months in jail, but was freed after four. [...]
Mr Erdogan has disavowed the hardline Islamic views of his past and is trying to recast himself as a pro-Western conservative. He does not insist on leaving Turkey's Nato and says the country's membership of the European Union is a necessary and useful step.
Turkish online newspaper Zaman later milked the meeting for all its worth:
Saying that the government did its best to welcome the pontiff in a hospitable manner, Erdogan expressed his wishes that the visit would be fruitful for world peace.
Asked about the pope's attitude on Turkey's EU membership, Erdogan replied: "I said that I expected his support on membership and the pope responded, ’We are not politicians but would like Turkey to join the EU.’"
[NOTE: Zaman's lead story features a photo of the Holy Father's meeting with Ali Bardakoglu].
I have set out upon my visit to Turkey with the same sentiments as those expressed by my predecessor Blessed John XXIII, when he came here as Archbishop Giuseppe Roncalli, to fulfill the office of Papal Representative in Istanbul: "I am fond of the Turks, to whom the Lord has sent me … I love the Turks, I appreciate the natural qualities of these people who have their own place reserved in the march of civilization" (Journal of a Soul, pp. 228, 233-4).
For my own part, I also wish to highlight the qualities of the Turkish population. Here I make my own the words of my immediate predecessor, Pope John Paul II of blessed memory, who said on the occasion of his visit in 1979: "I wonder if it is not urgent, precisely today when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history, to recognize and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us, in order to preserve and promote together, for the benefit of all men, 'peace, liberty, social justice and moral values'" (Address to the Catholic Community in Ankara, 28 November 1979). . . .
Seeking to ease anger over his perceived criticism of Islam, Benedict met with Ali Bardakoglu, who heads religious affairs in Turkey, warmly grasping hands. Benedict sat nearby as the Muslim cleric defended his religion.
"The so-called conviction that the sword is used to expand Islam in the world and growing Islamophobia hurts all Muslims," Bardakoglu said.
The comment appeared to be a reference to Benedict's remarks in a speech in September when he quoted a 14th-century Christian emperor who characterized the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by thy sword the faith he preached."
The Vatican described the cleric's speech as "positive, respectful and non-polemical," applauding what the church sees as efforts for a true dialogue between faiths.
In response to a question by a journalist in the Catholic newspaper Avvenire, Archbishop Mamberti clarified that "the Holy See has not expressed an 'official' position on this question."
"Obviously, it follows the question with great interest and sees that the debate which has been taking place for some time and the positions for and against Turkey's admission to the European Union manifest that what is at stake is very important," said the 54-year-old Vatican official.
"Of course the Holy See believes that, in case of adherence, the country must respond to all the political criteria established by the Copenhagen Summit of December 2002," he added.
With specific reference to religious liberty, the prelate specified that Ankara must respect the conditions established by the decision of the Council of Europe, on Jan. 23, 2006, on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with Turkey.
In what seemed almost a deliberate counter-point to his infamous quotation from a 14th century Byzantine emperor at the University of Regensburg, Benedict this time cited an 11th century pope, Gregory VII, who said to a Muslim prince in 1076 that Christians and Muslims owe charity to one another “because we believe in one God, albeit in a different manner, and because we praise him and worship him every day as the Creator and Ruler of the world.”
Benedict was careful when referring to God to use constructions such as “the Almighty” and “Merciful,” respecting Muslim sensitivities.
To date, his Turkish hosts have reciprocated the upbeat tone. To date, no one has explicitly referred to Benedict’s Regensburg address, though Lombardi told reporters that he thought he heard echoes of some Muslim reaction to the speech, especially in terms of the relationship between Islam and reason, in Bardakoglu’s remarks to the pope.
Yet in his later address to the diplomatic corps in Turkey, Benedict returned to the two themes which have formed the core of his message to Muslims: the need to reject terrorism, and the need for “reciprocity,” meaning religious freedom.
Many had gathered at the restored stone "House of Mary" sanctuary in the morning, waiting for the pope to arrive. They waved palm leaves and Turkish flags and sang hymns.
The pope appeared in good spirits. He smiled at the crowd that clapped and shouted out his name. In his homily, the pontiff prayed for peace in the world and, in particular, in the Holy Land. . . .
Benedict is the third pope to make the pilgrimage to the "House of Mary." Paul VI visited in 1967 and John Paul II came here in 1979.
Every year, tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims visit the "House of Mary" where, according to legend, the mother of Jesus lived the last years of her life. It is here that Saint John the Apostle is believed to have brought the Virgin Mary to care for her, after the death of her son, Jesus.
The site was discovered in 1891 by archeologists, who based their search on writings by the German nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Where Mary Is Believed to Have Lived Zenit News. 11/29/06. "From the first centuries, numerous Christian authors from the East and West mentioned John's and the Blessed Virgin's stay in this city, in which were located the headquarters of the first of the seven Churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
But, how was it determined that this was the house of Jesus' Mother?"
On a beautiful fall afternoon on a Turkish hillside, Pope Benedict XVI, Supreme Pontiff of the 1.1 billion-strong Roman Catholic Church, metamorphosed into a simple country pastor, celebrating an outdoor Mass for no more than 300 pilgrims – perhaps half Germans who belong to the nearby German-language parish of St. Nicholas.
It was the smallest crowd in recent memory for a papal Mass, though the turnout was mostly due to the remote location and the tiny size of Turkey’s Christian community. The event had an intimate feel, with the assembly physically closer to the pope than is often the case. . . .
Pope Benedict today honoured the memory of a Roman Catholic priest who was killed after the publication of the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
At a small open-air mass in Ephesus, Turkey, next to the ruins of a house where the Virgin Mary is thought to have spent her last years, the Pope praised the priest to 250 invited guests.
"Let us sing joyfully, even when we're tested by difficulties and dangers, as we have learned from the fine witness given by the Roman priest John Andrea Santoro, whom I am pleased to recall in this celebration."
A Turkish teenager shot the priest as he knelt in prayer in his church in the Black Sea port of Trabzon. The February attack occurred amid widespread Muslim anger over the cartoons. Two other Catholic priests were attacked in Turkey this year.
So it is with open embrace that we welcome you on the blessed occasion of your first visit to the City, just as our predecessors, Ecumenical Patriarchs Athenagoras and Demetrios, had welcomed your predecessors, Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. These venerable men of the Church sensed the inestimable value and urgent need alike of such encounters in the process of reconciliation through a dialogue of love and truth.
Therefore, we are, both of us, as their successors and as successors to the Thrones of Rome and New Rome equally accountable for the steps - just, of course, as we are for any missteps - along the journey and in our struggle to obey the command of our Lord, that His disciples "may be one."
It gives me great joy to be among you, my brothers in Christ, in this Cathedral Church, as we pray together to the Lord and call to mind the momentous events that have sustained our commitment to work for the full unity of Catholics and Orthodox. I wish above all to recall the courageous decision to remove the memory of the anathemas of 1054. The joint declaration of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, written in a spirit of rediscovered love, was solemnly read in a celebration held simultaneously in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and in this Patriarchal Cathedral. The Tomos of the Patriarch was based on the Johannine profession of faith: “Ho Theós agapé estin” (1 Jn 4:9), Deus caritas est! In perfect agreement, Pope Paul VI chose to begin his own Brief with the Pauline exhortation: “Ambulate in dilectione” (Eph 5:2),“Walk in love”. It is on this foundation of mutual love that new relations between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople have developed.
"That They May All Be One" - translation of an article, signed by Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, which appeared on the front page of the Nov. 27-28 Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano. [Zenit News Service. 11/29/06]
Bartholomew and Benedict already know each other and have met before, but the Pope’s visit to Istanbul, where the Pontiff will meet the Patriarch three times, is an expression of their shared desire to pursue the ecumenical journey.
Bartholomew made this point reminding popes and patriarchs of their responsibility along the path of reconciliation. Benedict XVI echoed it when explaining that his visit to the patriarchate is part of the journey to strengthen “the impetus towards mutual understanding and the quest of full unity.”
Earlier, the Pope mentioned “the momentous events that have sustained our commitment to work for the full unity of Catholics and Orthodox. I wish above all to recall the courageous decision to remove the memory of the anathemas of 1054,” taken in a joint declaration by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, and “written in a spirit of rediscovered love”.
General
Al Qaeda in Iraq, Vatican trade words on pope visit CNN 6:07pm 11/29/06 - Al Qaeda in Iraq on Wednesday denounced Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey, calling it part of a "crusader campaign" against Islam. The Vatican said the comments showed the need to fight "violence in the name of God."
Thursday, 30 November
Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in the Patriarchal Church of St. George in the Phanar on the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Patron Saint of the Church of Constantinople. [Video | Photos]
Frankly, I think liturgy is a serious issue for ecumenical dialogue with the East. Think about this. They look at the stupid things the Latins have done and are doing to the sacred liturgy, about how those desiring traditional liturgy from lay people to priests, are marginalized and berated. They see the leaders of a group of "traditionalists" are ecommunicated. And they are going to get closer to Rome? Would they hope that their traditions would be respected were they to give greater submission to the authority of Peter which the Pope of Rome exercises?
The Pope's proposal resounded today in the Cathedral of St. George at the Phanar -- the ancient Greek neighborhood of Istanbul where the Orthodox patriarchate's headquarters is located -- at the end of the Divine Liturgy on the feast of St. Andrew. The Orthodox patriarch celebrated the Divine Liturgy.
The Holy Father, who prayed the Our Father in Greek, occupied a place of honor without being able to concelebrate, given the millennium-old division between the two Churches.
Bartholomew I of Constantinople said in his homily: "We confess in sorrow that we are not yet able to celebrate the holy sacraments in unity. And we pray that the day will come when this sacramental unity will be realized in its fullness."
For his part, the Roman Pontiff explained that his "presence here today is meant to renew our commitment to advancing along the road toward the re-establishment -- by God's grace -- of full communion between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople."
"I can assure you," the Pope continued, "that the Catholic Church is willing to do everything possible to overcome obstacles and to seek, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, ever more effective means of pastoral cooperation to this end."
As a November 30 press conference in Ankara, the spokesman for Turkey's foreign-affairs ministry asked Pope Benedict XVI to refrain from using the title "Ecumenical Patriarch" in reference to the Orthodox prelate Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
The ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, explained to reporters that the term "ecumenical," implying a universal role in Church leadership. That implication would violate the principles of secularism that inform the Turkish republic, he argued.
The Turkish government spokesman made his remarks only after Pope Benedict had joined with Patriarch Bartholomew in a public celebration of the feast of St. Andrew-- the most highly publicized event of his 4-day visit in Turkey. On November 29, when he met with the Patriarch at the church of St. George in Phanar, Pope Benedict had spoken of his gratitude for the invitation extended by "the Ecumenical Patriarchate." Again on November 30, during a talk for the feast of St. Andrew, he spoke of "Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I."
"Built in the sixth century and in its time the largest church in the world, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque in the 15th century by the conquering Ottoman Turks. The Blue Mosque was deliberately sited to face Hagia Sophia to demonstrate that Ottoman and Islamic architects and builders could rival anything their Christian predecessors had created. It got its popular name because of the coloring of may of the tiles." [Source: CBSNews.com]
When the two men reached the mihrab, the focal point of the mosque facing Mecca, the Mufti explained that Muslims stand for 30 seconds there “to achieve serenity”. He then announced: “I am going to pray.” The pontiff turned towards Mecca and joined him, his lips clearly moving in prayer for over a minute.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said that the pontiff had “paused in meditation and certainly he addressed his thoughts to God”.
However, Pope Benedict’s act of prayer differed significantly from that of Pope John Paul II, who when he visited a mosque in Damascus in 2001 was left to meditate alone. The Pope continued praying yesterday after the Mufti had stopped.
The historic gesture underlined the Pope’s wish to use his visit to reach out to Muslims outraged by his remarks on Islam at Regensburg University in September.
The press then had to go through its usual round of asking each other "did-he-didn't-he," agree that he did — and then wait for confirmation from the Vatican spokesman, who more or less confirmed that the pope had indeed prayed, in a manner of speaking.
Turkish TV, which carried the event live, had no doubts — and was almost universally breathless in its coverage. "We are shocked ... it is fabulous … fantastic ... they pray together ... pope and mufti pray together ... historical ..." were among the comments.
They even noted that the Pope had, like everyone else, taken off his shoes, as is required in a mosque. But not for him the feel of soft, rich carpet under his socks. Benedict appeared to be wearing white slippers.
On the feast of saint Andrew, Benedict XVI entered the Blue Mosque in Istanbul with the cross of Jesus clearly visible upon his chest. He paused before the mihrab facing Mecca, and prayed in silence beside the grand mufti, who murmured the opening words of the Qur’an: all this took place with the freedom and clarity marked out by his lecture in Regensburg.
But a no less symbolic gesture took place shortly before this, with the pope’s entrance into the Hagia Sophia, now a museum, previously a mosque, and before that the cathedral church of the patriarch of Constantinople, in the land where early Christianity flourished.
In the Hagia Sophia, Benedict XVI did not immerse himself in prayer; he did not repeat the gesture of Paul VI when he visited there in 1967. Surrounded and hemmed in at every moment, he was able only to admire – in the impressive architecture of the Hagia Sophia, in its Byzantine mosaics, and in its Qur’anic inscriptions – the magnificent and sorrowful image encapsulating the Christian East of yesterday and today. First there was Greek civilization and then early Christianity, then Roman culture and then the Islam that conquered but did not erase what came before it, and finally the little flock surrounded by wolves that keeps the Christian faith alive in today’s Turkey.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, confirmed, after the Holy Father's historic visit today, that "the Pope paused in a moment of meditation and recollection."
"It was a moment of personal meditation, of relationship with God, which can also be called of personal, profound prayer," Father Lombardi told journalists, "but it was not a prayer with external manifestations characteristic of the Christian faith."
"His Lips Moved", by Robert Moynihan. Inside the Vatican 11/30/06:
Benedict’s moving lips were captured by television cameras and transmitted by satellite instantaneously around the world, to the ends of the earth.
Perhaps the Pope was not really "praying" at all? Perhaps he was just "meditating"? Was this possible?
No, because when the two men continued on their way (as Serena, who was there and could hear everything, related to me), the pope said to the mufti, "Thank you for this moment of prayer." There seems no doubt, then, that Benedict was indeed praying.
The Pope’s spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, was asked about this later by journalists. Was it really a prayer?
At first Lombardi seemed to hesitate, saying "the pope paused in meditation, and certainly he turned his thoughts to God."
Then he said that this could be called a moment of personal prayer, but one which did not include any of the exterior signs of Christian prayer, like a sign of the cross. In this way, Lombardi said, the pope underlined what unites Christians and Muslims, rather than any differences.
"In this sense it was a personal, intimate prayer to God," Father Lombardi said, which "can easily be expressed with his mind and with his thoughts also in a mosque, where many people cultivate the same spiritual attitude."
The essence of this argument would seem to be that the pope - or any Christian - may pray to God anywhere, not just in a Christian church, but even outdoors, even in a prison cell, even in a non- Christian place of worship, like a mosque.
* * *
Personal observation on the Papal "Prayer" at the Blue Mosque:
I believe this will be a moment strongly reminiscent of Pope John Paul II's Infamous Koran Kissing Incident -- which is to say, interpreted and exaggerated far beyond the Holy Father's personal intentions (taking a moment to reflect, in much the same manner as John Paul II was expressing a customary sign of respect towards the giver in that country). It will be, if not already, lambasted by 'radtrads' and exploited as a publicity stunt by the Muslim press.
Is this a "diplomatic error" on Benedict's part? -- the gesture is certainly too open to exploitation. (The same could be said for the Turkish newspaper Zaman's headline: "Pope Agrees Islam is Religion of Peace" -- of course the Pope would beg to differ, but the media will go where they will and say what they want to say regardless).
Perhaps he could have been more explicit in attributing Turkey's responsibility for the genocide in the latter -- but then again, as a guest of Turkey, he would also have jeopardized the possibility of a return visit, in light of advancing ecumenical relations with the Orthodox, so perhaps this was a reason for a more nuanced allusion to "truly tragic conditions, like those experienced in the past century.").
Regardless, -- just as I can't interpret JPII's "kissing of the Koran" in isolation from everything else, I'm inclined to weigh this saying / action by Pope Benedict in context with everything else that was said or done during the trip. At best I think it could be construed as a blunder (we'll see to what extent the Muslim press plays this up).
Seems to me this is an event that acquires most of its meaning from the lens through which one views it.
If you view it through a fearful/defensive/paranoid lens (surf the blogosphere, you’ll find plenty of examples), it is capitulation, “political correctness,” fake nicey-nice, syncretism, etc.
If you view it through the lens of confident trust in the Holy Spirit and in the ability of our very able pope, it is considered, deliberate, courteous, astute.
If you view it through the lens of ultimate triumph, it is victorious, prophetic.
If the latter is less clear, consider—wasn’t there a question some time back about an Imam visiting a Christian cathedral, and how awful that was? Well, which is it: is a leader of a religion coming to the turf of another a sign of strength or of weakness?
Seems to me the very fact a priest entered a mosque represents an invasion of Christian sanctity-— Christ himself has entered, in persona Christi capitis; in fact, not merely a priest, but a bishop, a successor to the Apostles; and not any successor, but Peter’s successor!
Now, some won’t be happy unless he came tossing holy water around and making the sign of the cross. But I would say the pope’s very person-- as bishop and as successor to Peter-- is vastly more significant in bringing Christ into that mosque.
Of course the Muslim triumphalists think they’ve won something, but they believe in Islamic eschatology, whereas we know the truth. Why should we see things through their lens.
* * *
The Shell of a Great Church, by Joshua Trevino. Brussels Journal 11/29/06. - "The Hagia Sophia is a tragedy in being."
When the Turk's hired Christian engineer sapped the Theodosian walls to claim the Queen City for Islam, the tale is that Mehmet the Conquerer spent days exploring the recesses of the Hagia Sophia. It was the great prize of the great city -- and when the Sultan emerged, he pronounced himself well pleased. He had the Great Church stripped of its nine hundred years of decoration -- glorious gilt and mosaics -- and caused minarets to be built at its corners. Hagia Sophia was now a mosque. Its Muslim occupants did not bother to rename it: instead, its Greek name became its Turkish one as well -- Ayasofya, a word meaning nothing in Turkish beyond the unintended invocation of the Holy Wisdom. Throughout the Ottoman period, the Christians of the east yearned for a Liturgy to be sounded again in the Hagia Sophia. At the end of that period, it seemed as if it might come to pass: one of the demands of the European powers, prior to the recognition of Ataturk's republic, was that the Hagia Sophia again be a church. Ataturk would not hear of it -- but he did make it a museum, and that was sufficient for the powers of Europe.
During the celebration of the Word, following [Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafina]'s address, Benedict XVI clarified that "Our meeting is more than a simple gesture of ecumenical courtesy and friendship."
"It is a sign of our shared hope in God's promises and our desire to see fulfilled the prayer that Jesus offered for his disciples on the eve of his suffering and death: 'That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me,'" the Pope said, quoting from John 17:21.
"We must continue therefore to do everything possible to heal the wounds of separation and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian unity," the Holy Father continued. "May we be guided in this urgent task by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit."
In his greeting to the patriarch, the Holy Father praised the Armenian people for their faithful witness to the Gospel, even under "truly tragic conditions, like those experienced in the past century." He was clearly alluding to the slaughter of Armenians under the Ottoman empire.
To this day the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge the genocidal campaign of 1915- 1917, in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed during massacres and forced marches, as the government of the "Young Turks" forced the relocation of an entire people. The Armenian Apostolic Church remains the largest Christian community in Turkey, but today numbers only about 50,000 faithful; in the late 19th century the number was several million. There are about 2 million members of the Church living in the country now known as Armenia.
Though Benedict indeed spared no effort to send positive signals to the Turks, his more immediate sensitivity in his meeting with the Armenians was actually for someone else – the Armenians themselves, and especially their leader, Patriarch Mesrob II.
“It would have been a huge headache for us,” Mesrob II told NCR in Istanbul shortly after his meeting with the pope, referring to the prospect of Benedict XVI inflaming Turkish sentiment by using the term “genocide.”
Mesrob said doing so would have thrown his community of perhaps 60,000, the largest Christian community in Turkey but still a tiny minority in a nation of some 72 million, into tumult, potentially making them targets for a nationalist backlash.
Benedict XVI could have gone home after setting off such a rhetorical bomb, Mesrob II suggested, but the Armenians would have been left behind to deal with the aftermath.
The Hebrew term for "wise man" Haham has been adopted in Turkish to mean "Rabbi." This is to avoid the use of the word "Rabbi" since in Arabic the word "Rab" is one of he names of God and may not be applied to a human.
Still today the Grand Rabbi is called the "Hahambasi." (Head of Rabbis)." [Source]
On the last day of his Apostolic voyage to Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for the country’s Catholic community, affirming that the Church does not wish to impose its faith on anyone but, “merely asks to live in freedom,” in order to reveal Christ Jesus.
The Holy Father reminded the numerous Catholics gathered in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit that the Church, “has been charged to proclaim (Christ’s) Gospel to the ends of the earth (cf. Mt 28:19), transmitting to the men and women of our time the Good News which not only illuminates but overturns their lives, even to the point of conquering death itself. This Good News is not just a word, but a person, Christ himself, risen and alive!”
“The Church’s mission,” he added, “is not to preserve power, or to gain wealth; her mission is to offer Christ, to give a share in Christ’s own life, man’s most precious good, which God himself gives us in his Son.”
Anticipating Pope Benedict's Papal Visit to TurkeyOn November 28, 2006, Pope Benedict will make an apostolic journey to the predominantly-Muslim country of Turkey. After the Regensburg address and the ensuing controversy, all eyes will be on the Benedict's visitation with Catholic and Orthodox Christian minority. Following are some background articles and commentary on the Pope's journey this week.
when Benedict XVI travels to Turkey next week on his first visit to a Muslim country since becoming Pope last year, he is unlikely to cloak himself in a downy banner of brotherhood, the way his predecessor did 27 years ago. Instead, Benedict, 79, will arrive carrying a different reputation: that of a hard-knuckle intellect with a taste for blunt talk and interreligious confrontation. Just 19 months into his tenure, the Pope has become as much a moral lightning rod as a theologian; suddenly, when he speaks, the whole world listens. And so what takes place over four days in three Turkish cities has the potential to define his papacy--and a good deal more.
Time provides background to the papal visit by noting the contrast between Benedict's reaction toward Islam with what is oft-perceived as an overly-congenial approach of his predecessor:
Unlike John Paul, who had a big-tent approach, Ratzinger has always favored bright theological lines and correspondingly high walls between creeds he regards as unequally meritorious. His long-standing habit is to correct any aide who calls a religion other than Christianity or Judaism a "faith." . . .
That approach includes Islam. In Ratzinger's 1996 interview book Salt of the Earth (with Peter Seewald), he noted that "we must recognize that Islam is not a uniform thing. No one can speak for [it] as a whole. There is a noble Islam, embodied, for example, by the King of Morocco, and there is also the extremist, terrorist Islam, which, again, one must not identify with Islam as a whole, which would do it an injustice." This sophisticated understanding, however, did not keep Ratzinger from slapping down a bishop who wanted to invite peaceable Muslims to a papal ceremony in Fatima, Portugal, or, in 2004, from objecting to Turkish E.U. entry on grounds that it has always been "in permanent contrast to Europe," a contrast his other writings made clear had much to do with religion.
Islam played a particular role--as both a threat and a model--in the drama that probably lies closest to Benedict's heart: the secularization of Christian Europe. In the same 1996 book, he wrote that "the Islamic soul reawakened" in reaction to the erosion of the West's moral stature during the 1960s. Ratzinger paraphrased that soul's new song: "We know who we are; our religion is holding its ground; you don't have one any longer. We have a moral message that has existed without interruption since the prophets, and we will tell the world how to live it, where the Christians certainly can't."
Time's feature on the Pope also contains a brief point / counterpoint -- "What the Pope Gets Right", by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus:
It is noteworthy, however, that the Pope has not retreated from his challenge to Islam. Moreover, under his leadership, the Vatican has taken a much stronger line in insisting on "reciprocity" in relations with Islam. Mosques proliferate throughout cities in the West, while any expression of non-Islamic religion is strictly forbidden in many Muslim countries. In the Vatican and elsewhere, the feeling has been growing that the way of tolerance, dialogue and multicultural sensitivity can no longer be a one-way street. In fact, that shift predates Benedict's papacy. In his 1994 book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, John Paul II said complimentary things about the piety of Muslims. But John Paul concluded his discussion of Islam with this: "For [these reasons] not only the theology but also the anthropology of Islam is very distant from Christianity."
this profoundly European Pope is inviting the people of his continent to become aware of the central, inescapable character of Christianity within their identity, or risk losing it. That may be a legitimate goal, but Benedict's narrow definition of European identity is deeply troubling and potentially dangerous. This is what Muslims must respond to: the tendency of Westerners to ignore the critical role that Muslims played in the development of Western thought. . . .
What the West needs most today is not so much a dialogue with other civilizations but an honest dialogue with itself--one that acknowledges those traditions within Western civilization that are almost never recognized. Europe, in particular, must learn to reconcile itself with the diversity of its past in order to master the coming pluralism of its future.
The Pope's visit to Turkey presents an opportunity to put forward the true terms of the debate over the relationship between Islam and the West.
A discussion of Ramadan may be tangential to this roundup, but somebloggers couldn't help but note his status as the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. On September 20, 2006, he was denied a visa on grounds of his contribution to a charity-front for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which followed the 2004 revocation of his visa to live and work in the U.S. (See "The State Dept. was RightWeekly Standard Oct. 16, 2006).
Turkey's unique history a challenge for this academic popeNational Catholic Reporter Nov. 17, 2006. John Allen, Jr. provides some helpful background, addressing the Pope's demand for "reciprocity" -- "meaning the demand that religious minorities in Islamic states should receive the same rights and freedoms as Muslims in the West":
Reciprocity is a core element of Benedict's challenge to Muslims -- inviting them to embrace reason with respect to religious affairs -- and the dismal conditions facing Turkey's small Christian population, including the tiny flock of the Patriarch of Constantinople, offers a classic case in point.
Benedict will have to choose his words carefully, however, because there's a unique history in Turkey that could easily make such a challenge sound like a threat. Over the centuries, European powers repeatedly intervened in Turkey to demand special privileges for Christians, a process that many Turks associate with the slow undermining of the Ottoman Empire. If the pope is to avoid awakening those historical ghosts, he'll have to find a vocabulary that makes it clear he's talking about a matter of universal human dignity, not about special treatment for Christians.
Signs of Trouble
Ali Bardakoglu, President of Religious Affairs in Turkey, is hardly enamored with Benedict's approach to Islam, denouncing his Regensburg address as "An Attack on the Pillars of Islam". Der Spiegel interviewed the dignitary on the Regensburg controversy and the Pope's impending visit:
SPIEGEL: It's been 27 years since since a pope last visited Turkey, a Muslim country. What does the visit mean for your country?
Bardakoglu: Whenever a religious leader visits other countries, it means that religious leader is ready to engage in dialogue. That's important. If we want to get a grip on the world's problems, we have to speak to each other. Our problems don't originate in the religions themselves. The leaders can help ensure that people from various cultures develop an understanding for one another.
Unfortunately, the notion of religiously-motivated violence is not an issue for Bardakoglu:
SPIEGEL: What was wrong with the speech?
Bardakoglu: It was an attack, strongly colored by prejudice, on the three pillars of Islam: faith, the Koran and the prophet Muhammad -- without any reference to a specific event from the history of Islam. Whoever portrays the Koran and the prophet as the causes of the problems hasn't understood Islam.
SPIEGEL: You spoke of the Pope having "hatred in his heart" and accused him of cultivating a way of thinking that resembles that of the crusaders.
Bardakoglu: A person who says the prophet is the source of violence, and that the Koran is the cause of the aberrations, isn't formulating criticism but rather condemning and insulting Islam. The fact that the speaker is merely repeating a quotation does not diminish the mistake.
Sales of Pope Murder Book Soar Ahead of Benedict XVI's Visit (Adnkronos International (AKI) Nov. 22, 2006). As reported in one of our earlier roundups, sales of a Turkish novel fantasizing about the murder of the Holy Father are increasing in anticipation of the papal visit:
The Plot Against The Pope is a highly speculative potboiler narrating how the conservative Roman Catholic society Opus Dei, a subversive masonic lodge and the CIA collude to make the pontiff's murder a pretext for a US attack against Iran.
Yuvel Kaya's book, which features Benedict XVI in front of a burning cross with a bearded gunman aiming a rocket launcher at him, is on sale at major Turkish bookstores such as D&R, Kabalci, Pandora.
Despite the absence of any promotional campaign - no billboards, posters or pamphlets at bookstores - sales are rapidly picking up, according to Lale Yilmaz from Kabalci, one the country's biggest book stores. However she told Adnkronos International (AKI) exact sales figures could not be released to the public.
"More copies of the book have been bought over the last 10 days than any other time," Zeynep Yaman an employee with Alfa Dagitim, one of the six companies distributing the books, told AKI.
No matter how distasteful the subject of this book may be - not to mention that it is getting free press and distracting attention away from the positive message of this historic visit - we should question if there isn't journalistic hype at play.
Interestingly enough, people seem to be missing one point.
At least from what I have read the book doesn't argue that Muslims will kill the Pope. Instead, according to Kaya's novel, the Pope is being targeted by, get this, Catholics.
And not just any Catholics, but by Dan Brown's favorite nemesis - Opus Dei.
Shouting "Allahu akbar," Muslim protestors occuppied the Hagia Sophia in Instanbul on Wednesday, to protest the Pope's visit (Protesters occupying building detained" - a rather innocuous title?):
The protesters belong to the Great Unity Party, a far right-wing group that has previously staged demonstrations against the planned Nov. 28-Dec. 1 visit.
They entered the 6th century former Byzantine church and mosque, shouting "Allahu akbar!" — "God is great!" — and then knelt to perform Islamic prayers.
They also shouted a warning to Benedict: "Pope, don't make a mistake, don't wear out our patience."
A group leader read a statement saying Benedict had offended Muslims with his comments linking violence and Islam, but the reading was interrupted by police. . . . Benedict is scheduled to tour the Haghia Sophia, which is a source of religious sensitivity in Turkey. It was one of the world's greatest churches for more than 1,000 years, but was converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul by Ottoman Turks in 1453. Today, the Haghia Sophia is a museum, and public religious ceremonies inside are forbidden.
"One shouldn't accord to much importance to this episode," Cardinal Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said in a statement.
"Some things are just isolated events and don't reflect the views of the entire population."
The latest surveys carried in Turkey’s main newspapers with nationwide coverage, reveal that only 10% of Turks approve the pope’s visit, 38% are decidedly against while another 38% are indifferent. And 14% preferred not to express their opinion.
However, even if they may not declare themselves to be hostile to the pope, people admit they are afraid something could happen. Despite constant assurances from police and security officials, many are not so sure that everything will go smoothly, and they fear unexpected hazards. Mehmet Ali Solak, an Alevite, director of the “Guvey Ruzgari” (southern wind) magazine, admitted to fears that someone may seek to attempt to assassinate the Pope, or even just to create unrest to discredit Turkey, and to shift the blame onto the Turks. Acknowledging that this was one reason why many would prefer Benedict XVI to stay at home, Solak echoed the views of a good part of the Turkish population (especially religious and ethnic minorities and also some Christians).
But there are also those who expect strong words of support from the Pope with regard to authentic freedom and democracy, against the Islamization that increasingly threatens to destroy the true secularism of the country. Thus, the daily Sabah, an extreme right Kemalist, summed up its thinking in a front page cartoon depicting a blurred crowd of people appealing to the figure of the Pope, saying “You save us”.
Q: The Pope is going to Turkey in a few days on a trip that has aroused high expectations. Why is it a difficult trip?
Father Lacunza: Turkey is a lay, democratic and secular republic. The state has no official religion, but we must not forget that the majority of the population in Turkey is Muslim.
Therefore, the relations of the Catholic Church come into play with a country of Muslim majority, and this is difficult from the point of view of Christian minorities, religious liberty and pastoral activities.
It is a difficult trip because at stake in this crucial moment is Turkey's entrance into the European Community.
Personally, I don't see why Turkey should be part of the European Union. Suffice it to see its geographic situation to realize this. Have we forgotten that Turkey has borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria?
"In the course of history, Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe," Ratzinger told the magazine, noting that the history of Ottoman Empire, which once invaded Europe as far as Vienna. "Making the two continents identical would be a mistake," he said. "It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of the cultural to the benefit of economics." The born cardinal said Turkey "could try to set up a cultural continent with neighboring Arab countries and become the leading figure of a culture with its own identity."
According to Zenit News Service, "about 99% of Turkey's 70 million inhabitants are Muslim, the majority Sunni. Catholics represent 0.04% of the population."
Q: What is the Catholic reality in Turkey? How are Catholics preparing for this visit and what do they expect from the Pope?
Father Kmetec: Catholics in Turkey, those who are established, are close to 30,000. They are preparing spiritually for this visit with prayer.
An attempt is made in Sunday Masses to underline that Christians urgently need a spiritual renewal of life, according to the principles of the Gospel. This must be the fruit of the Pope's visit among us.
For this occasion, Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia, addressed a letter to his faithful on the topic of hope, which is essential not only for the Church of Anatolia but for all Turkey's Christians.
Our communities must face daily not a few difficulties of an economic order; above all, however, they must be able to react to an inferiority complex in the face of an oppressive Muslim majority, which makes them feel oppressed and can make them think that they are the "infidels."
Q: Given the latest events, is there concern over security, or are only some isolated cases of intolerants to be feared?
Father Kmetec: I am sure that there are no problems in regard to the safety of the person of the Supreme Pontiff. The Turkish state will do everything possible so that this visit will unfold without major incidents.
One cannot exclude, however, some small demonstration or some isolated case of reaction, but certainly not in the course of the papal itinerary.
Hakan Tastan, 37, and Turan Topal, 46, are accused of making the insults and of inciting hate while allegedly trying to convert other Turks to Christianity. If convicted, the two Turkish men could face up to nine years in prison.
The men were charged under Turkey's Article 301, which has been used to bring charges against dozens of intellectuals — including Nobel Prize-winner Orhan Pamuk.
The law has widely been condemned for severely limiting free expression and European officials have demanded Turkey change it as part of reforms to join the EU.
They also are charged under a law against inciting hatred based on religion.
More than 25,000 people joined demonstrations Sunday against Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit, police said.
The demonstration was the largest anti-pope protest so far ahead of Benedict's arrival Tuesday for a four-day visit, his first as pope to a predominantly Muslim country. Some 4,000 police backed by riot trucks, armored vehicles and helicopters monitored the protest as the crowds grew.
The protest was organized by a pro-Islamic political party called Felicity whose leaders have said they were offended by Benedict's comments in September linking violence and Islam.
The Italian daily La Republica has reported that Mossad agents and Italian and Vatican security and intelligence officers have arrived in Turkey to help Turkish security units.
La Republica also reported that security units in Istanbul arrested a group in preparation for an attack on the pope a few weeks ago in Istanbul.
However, no detailed information was given on the identity and nationality of the suspects.
An army of snipers, riot police, secret agents and bomb disposal experts has been mobilised for the Pope's four-day visit to Turkey. Naval units will patrol the Bosphorus armed with machine guns after warnings to police and security services that the life of Benedict XVI may be threatened by Islamic extremists after he arrives on Tuesday.
Celalettin Cerrah, the police chief in Istanbul, said that the city would have maximum security and warned that he would "call for reinforcements from nearby cities" if needed. Fears within the Vatican, which has been making preparations on the ground for the past month, were heightened when a man lunged at Archbishop Pierluigi Celata, the former papal ambassador to Turkey, who was on a advance scouting mission in his Catholic robes.
The archbishop said he hoped the attack was an "isolated case" and that the Pope would be met with the "hospitality that is typical of the Turkish and Muslim people".
Writing for the Turkish Daily News, Mustafa Aykol introduces us to "The Turkish Side of Things": How Turks see the Pope (Nov. 25 / 26, 2006) -- a two-part series covering Turkish opposition to the papal visit:
Thanks to the reports of the international fine print, many must have been informed that the fiercest opponents of the pope's visit are Turkish nationalists. But these folks do not form a homogenous crowd. They may fit into one of three broad categories: the pure nationalists, the Islamic nationalists and the secular nationalists (aka Kemalists) . . .
Part II of Aykol's series on How Turks see the Pope (Part II) covers the historical motivation of the purely secular nationalists:
Among those Turkish nationalists who do not welcome Pope Benedict XVI, the third category would be secular nationalists, who are in line with the anti-EU forces in Turkey's civil and military bureaucracy. They see the whole West as an imperialist enemy dying to carve Turkey into pieces by re-implementing the infamous Treaty of Sèvres -- a 1920 document that only a handful of non-Turkish historians but the whole Turkish nation remembers. For them Pope Benedict XVI is simply the religious face of "Western imperialism." His effort to consolidate Christianity is interpreted as the preparation for a new Crusade. . . .
Supplementary Links
Turkish Media
TurkishPress.com - Includes daily aggregated news and Turkish media review compiled by the Office of the Prime Minister.
"Pope Benedict is scheduled to make a “touristic” visit to the Haghia Sophia – the Church of Divine Wisdom – when he visits Istanbul. This enormous and enormously influential Byzantine-era structure is certainly a must-see. Erected during the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian, it was completed in just 6 years by 10,000 workmen and inaugurated in 537. In a wise move, Ataturk made it a museum in 1934." Posting to The Pope Benedict Forum, Rcesq recently visited Instanbul and has generously provided us with A Look Inside the Haghia Sophia.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the highest see and holiest center of the Orthodox Christian Church throughout the world. It is an institution with a history spanning seventeen centuries, during which it retained its see in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). It constitutes the center of all the local Orthodox Churches, heading these not by administration but by virtue of its primacy in the ministry of pan-Orthodox unity and the coordination of the activity of the whole of Orthodoxy. The website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate already features biography of Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople and our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. The official online photo gallery which will showcase photos from the events of the Papal Visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
[I]t is Turkish law, not the canons of the Orthodox Church, that determines who is eligible to be elected ecumenical patriarch, and Turkish law limits the pool of possible candidates to Turkish citizens living in Turkey. As a recent memorandum from the Ecumenical Patriarchate put it, "the result of these restrictions is that in the not so distant future the Ecumenical Patriarchate may not be able to elect a Patriarch."
The Turkish government closed the patriarchate's seminary, the Theological School of Halki, in 1971, and has refused, despite numerous requests, to reopen it.
Among the interpretations of Benedict's Regensberg address are those which see a historical relevance to Benedict's citation of Manuel II Paleologus -- but an earlier stage of the "clash of civilizations" and the Islamic threat which now threatens the West.
[W]hy in our troubled times did Benedict choose to bring the world's attention to the unoriginal words of this Byzantine emperor?
One answer is that Turkey has long been on the pontiff's mind. Readers may recall then-Cardinal Ratzinger's interview with Le Figaro in 2004 in which he commented that Turkey should not be admitted to the European Union "on the grounds that it is a Muslim nation" and historically has always been contrary to Europe. Courtesy Bibliotheque NationaleLike Ratzinger, Manuel II Paleologus also worried about keeping the Turks out of Europe. As the antepenultimate emperor of Byzantium and the last effective one (he ruled from 1391 to 1425; Byzantium fell in 1453), he spent his life fighting--sometimes in the Muslim armies, but mostly against them--in the final great effort to keep Constantinople from becoming Istanbul.
Andrew G. Bostom, author of The Legacy of Jihad, makes a similar judgement in The Pope, Jihad, and “Dialogue” (American Thinker Sept. 17th, 2006):
When Manuel II composed the Dialogue (which Pope Benedict excerpted), the Byzantine ruler was little more than a glorified dhimmi vassal of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid, forced to accompany the latter on a campaign through Anatolia. . . .
During the campaign he was conscripted to join, Manuel II witnessed with understandable melancholy the great metamorphosis—ethnic and toponymic—of formerly Byzantine Asia Minor. The devastation, and depopulation of these once flourishing regions was so extensive that often, Manuel could no longer tell where he was. The still recognizable Greek cities whose very names had been changed into something foreign became a source of particular grief. It was during this unhappy sojourn that Manuel II’s putative encounter with a Muslim theologian occurred, ostensibly in Ankara.
Whether intended by the Pope himself or not, the historical context of Paleologus' 'debate' are worthy of consideration, and in themselves pose something of a challenge to the assertion that Islam has forever and always been a "religion of peace."
At the same time, there are some who go too far in their speculation that Benedict's remarks were intended only to accentuate the division between Islam and the West, to deliberately provoke a confrontation. That, unlike his predecessor, Benedict is not genuinely concerned with advancing Christian-Muslim relations and dialogue between the two. David Nirenberg closes his essay with just such a conclusion, asserting:
What we cannot accept without contradiction or hypocrisy is the pope's presentation of the speech as an invitation to dialogue. It is true that the talk concludes with an invitation: "It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures." But it also concludes with the claim that "only through [rationality of faith] do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today." The bulk of "Faith, Reason, and the University" is explicitly dedicated to the thesis that European Catholicism has effectively mixed faith and reason in the logos, and that other religions, specifically Islam, have not. Forget for a moment the historical inaccuracies (not just about Islam, but about other religions as well) in such a statement, and focus only on the logic. What kind of invitation begins by denying its guests the qualifications for attendance at the party? The pope's "invitation" at Regensburg was not to a "dialogue of cultures" at all. What he was advocating was a kind of conversion, or at least a convergence of all religions and cultures toward a logos that is explicitly characterized as Catholic and European.
Just like Manuel's medieval "dialogos" with a Muslim (the Greek title of the emperor's treatise means "controversy" or "debate" rather than "dialogue" in our modern sense), Benedict's lecture was a polemic posing as a dialogue.
As pointed out by Prof. Robert Aurujo in his Preliminary Response to Professor Nirenberg, such an assertion is made either in ignorance or exclusion of the many invitations that Benedict has made to the contrary.
Likewise, the Vatican has published the final draft of the Regensberg address, together with footnotes. Referencing the quote from Paleologus, Benedict observes:
In the Muslim world, this quotation [from Paleologus] has unfortunately been taken as an expression of my personal position, thus arousing understandable indignation. I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately that this sentence does not express my personal view of the Qur’an, for which I have the respect due to the holy book of a great religion. In quoting the text of the Emperor Manuel II, I intended solely to draw out the essential relationship between faith and reason. On this point I am in agreement with Manuel II, but without endorsing his polemic.
Significant events in October provide illustration for Pope Benedict's genuine commitment to Christian-Muslim dialogue:
On September 25, Pope Benedict met with Muslim clerics and ambassadors from 21 predominantly Muslim countries at Castelgandolfo. According to the Catholic News Agency:
The Pontiff, who invited the Muslim representatives to his residence at Castelgandolfo to reaffirm his respect and esteem for their religion and people, told the leaders that the dialogue between Christians and Muslims, “cannot be reduced to an optional extra. It is, in fact, a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends.”
Benedict clearly indicated his desire to forge ahead with interfaith talks, barely mentioning the comments which have caused an uproar in the Muslim world. “The circumstances which have given rise to our gathering are well known,” Benedict commented, reminding them that he has already offered his regrets that offence had been taken and his assurances that the views of emperor Manuel II in no way reflect his own.
In a substantial analysis, Holy Challenge: A new chapter in Christian-Muslim relations? (National Review Sept. 29, 2006), John F. Cullinan examines Benedict's remarks on Sept. 25 and finds that they are "fully intelligible only in the light of the four ecclesial texts he cites or quotes from," and from which we can discern "his very precise bottom line for future dialogue with the Muslim world."
Jews and Muslims occupy wholly separate categories in Catholic thought. Lacking a "common spiritual heritage" such as shared between Christians and Jews, purely theological dialogue is counterproductive and should be subordinated to an examination of how to exist peacefully in a pluralistic world. That’s the meaning of Benedict’s September 25 exhortation in favor of “sincere and respectful dialogue, based on ever more authentic reciprocal knowledge which, with joy, recognizes the religious values we have in common and, with loyalty, respects the differences.”
Likewise, the assignment of responsibility for past conflicts (such as the Crusades) is not so important as -- citing an April 2005 address -- "[the] imperative to engage in authentic and sincere dialogue, built on respect for the dignity of every human person, created, as we Christians firmly believe, in the image and likeness of God.”
As indicated in his Cologne 2005 address to Christian & Muslim leaders, Benedict believes that "religiously-motivated violence [is] an urgent agenda item" in Christian-Muslim dialogue. In contrast to the Christian traditions of just war or pacifism, "Jihad — in the sense of armed conflict for religious reasons — remains a living element of Islamic thought and life."
Benedict identifies religious freedom as perhaps the most urgent single issue for Christian/Muslim dialogue. Benedict cites a 1985 address of his predecessor, John Paul II: “Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres, especially in that which concerns basic freedoms, more particularly religious freedom.” The plight (and in some cases outright persecution) of Christian minorities in Muslim states remains a persistent concern.
Benedict quite delicately raises the pressing question of who exactly speaks for Islam. Lacking a papal counterpart in the Islamic world or a Muslim equivalent to the ecclesial hierarchy, the Vatican has opted in favor
In the Sept. 29 edition of National Catholic Reporter's "All Things Catholic", John Allen, Jr. commented on "Pope Benedict's damage control":
The encounter was carried live both on CNN and its counterpart in the Arab world, Al-Jazeerah.
It seems to have been partially successful. The ambassadors applauded as the pope entered the room, and beamed as he moved down the reception line afterwards. Later, several Muslim participants told the media that they believe the dialogue is "back on track."
"Today begins a new phase," said Abdellah Redouane, secretary general of the Islamic Cultural Center of Rome.
"We overcame the tensions of recent days, and now we must intensify initiatives, on the part of both Christians and Muslims, that favor dialogue among the two great religions, which is important for the serenity of the entire world," Redouane said.
Not everyone, of course, was ready to forgive and forget.
Just 24 hours later, the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, meeting in New York on the margins of a session of the United Nations, adopted a resolution calling upon Benedict "to retract or to correct" his Sept. 12 comments. In Egypt, officials of the Al-Azhar mosque and university threw cold water upon the idea of inviting Benedict XVI to deliver a lecture, and a spokesperson told Italian media that the pope's comments to date "are not the clear apology that Al-Azhar has requested, but merely a way of placating [Muslim] anger."
Nevertheless, the wide popular outrage across the Muslim world seems to be ebbing, and many commentators have said it's time to move on. The question now is, move on to what?
Commonweal magazine invited Kevin Madigan, SJ, president of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, to comment on the meeting as well (The Pope & Islam Sept. 25, 2006). Pointing out that Christian scriptures contain their fair share of violent passages, Madigan asserted that "It is nonsensical to say to someone who claims that Islam is a peaceful religion that he may not believe such a thing because the Qur’an says such-and-such." He went on to reject the idea of "reciprocity" in dialogue -- the curious notion put forth by John Paul II that ""Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres, especially in that which concerns basic freedoms, more particularly religious freedom" -- as counter to the spirit of dialogue and the gospel itself:
There is a world of difference between reciprocity as a condition for dialogue, and reciprocity as a hoped-for outcome of dialogue. However, that distinction tends to be blurred, not only in press reports of Vatican policy, but also among some theologians. Reciprocity is not a Christian value. Gratuity is. The teaching of Jesus (Matt. 5:39-47) could not be more explicit on this subject: we give without hope of return, and we open our tables especially to those who will not repay our hospitality (Lk 14:12-14).
At Castelgandolfo, Benedict also remarked on the Christian witness of Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, who was killed along with her bodyguard in Mogadishu, Somalia. Benedict praised Sr. Leonella Sgorbati for pardoning her killers (Catholic News Agency Sept. 25, 2006):
"Some are asked to give the supreme testimony of blood, just as … Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, who fell victim to violence," the pontiff said.
"This sister, who for many years served the poor and the children in Somalia, died pronouncing the word 'forgive,'" the Pope said. "This is the most authentic Christian testimony, a peaceful sign of contradiction which shows the victory of love over hatred and evil."
My own opinion is that Benedict was not surprised by these reactions. Indeed, I suspect it is precisely this unreasoned reaction that has made his point so clearly that no sane mind can deny it. It was a point that had to be made.
It could not have been made by the politicians, who in fact did not make it even when they needed it. Politicians talked about "terrorists," as if a more fundamental theological problem was not at issue. Until this deeper issue was spelled out, which is what the Regensburg lecture was about, we were doomed.
This address is probably one of the most liberating addresses ever given by a Pope or anyone else. As its import sinks in, those who were unwilling to consider what it was about will find themselves either embarrassed -- if they are honest -- or more violent, if they refuse the challenge of reason.
Make no mistake about it: This address illuminated, more than anything that we know, the problems with a modernity based on an explicit or implicit voluntarism that postulated that we could change the world, our nature, our God according to our own wills.
I believe that the Pope’s brilliant, spiritually discerning talk was perfectly timely and potentially quite fruitful. Whether or not the Pope was aware of the furor that would ensue from his talk, the Holy Spirit was guiding it and divine providence is working it to the good. Above all, Benedict is a man of charity and of truth, and rarer still, he is a man who has integrated both within his life and teaching. In a sense he is like St. Francis of Assisi, who in 1219, during the Crusades, walked into the midst of the Saracen camp and preached for days, and eventually spoke with the Sultan of Egypt in the hope of converting him. . . . He was a sign of contradiction to all parties in the wars. He was unarmed. He was a presence of Christ to the major adversary of Christian civilization in those times.
So, too, Pope Benedict continues to be a sign of contradiction. He has crossed the lines of our normal categories of thought regarding the world situation. He has made possible a dialogue with Islam. He is unarmed. He speaks the truth in a spirit of love. He calls all mankind to turn to the only true source of peace, to Jesus Christ himself. He is not naïve about the nature of radical Islamics, and indeed his Regensburg speech has been the catalyst of clearer vision about the nature of militant Islamism — its irrationality, its spirit of relentless hatred and contempt for human dignity. Yet we must remember that neither is the Pope naïve about the other beast — the one that is killing us from within the parameters of our civilization, the secular humanism of Late Western Man. Neither is he naïve about that most subtle and corrosive beast, the spirit which would compromise the Church from within, the legion of people who betray Christ in the name of Christ.
On October 9, Chaldean priest Fr. Paulos Iskander (Paul Alexander) was kidnapped. Among the demands, that "signs be posted once again on his church apologizing for the Pope's remarks as a condition for negotiations to begin." The priest was later beheaded. (Report: Another victim of Pope Rage, by Michelle Malkin. October 13, 2006).
The first was published on September 13 in the most important liberal Italian newspaper, “la Repubblica.” Its author is Khaled Fouad Allam, an Algerian-born Italian resident, professor of Islamic studies at the universities of Trieste and Urbino, and widely read and listened to in Catholic circles.
The date of this commentary should be noted. The article was published the morning after the pope’s address in Regensburg, when much of the Muslim world had not yet unleashed the onslaught of invective and violent acts that would fill the newscasts of the following days, and force the Islamic voices not in agreement to be silent.
The central thesis of Allam’s commentary is that Benedict XVI has legitimately brought up “an immense problem concerning the real position of the Qur’an toward the question of violence”; that on this question the Qur’an “can be read according to opposite interpretations”; and that therefore “it is necessary to break the terrible chain of fundamentalism” that ignores the Qur’an’s condemnation of violence and “proclaims itself the only bearer of the truth.”
The second response is by Arab theologian and philosopher, Aref Ali Nayed, also introduced by Magister:
Nayed is also known and listened to within the Catholic Church. Born in Libya, he is currently the managing director of a technology company headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. He studied hermeneutics and the philosophy of science in the United States and Canada, has taken courses at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and has given lectures at the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. He is a consultant for the Interfaith Program of the University of Cambridge. He is a devout Sunni Muslim, and describes himself as a “theologian of the Asharite school, Maliki in jurisprudential tendency, and Shadhili-Rifai in spiritual leanings.”
. . . Some of the passages of Aref Ali Nayed’s exposition received a reply from an Italian Catholic scholar who is an expert in medieval philosophy and theology, Alessandro Martinetti, from Ghemme in the province of Novara. Martinetti insisted in particular upon the relationship between God and reason, and on the radical difference in this relationship as seen by Islam and by Catholic doctrine. . . .
Aref Ali Nayed, in turn, replied to Martinetti’s theses. And this extensive reply is also presented in its entirety on this page, in its original English version. Aref Ali Nayed’s counter-thesis is that it is wrong to oppose a “God-as-pure will” in Islam against a “God-as-Logos” in Christianity. In his view, the theology of Thomas Aquinas himself on the relationship between God and reason “is very close to Ibn Hazm and Asha’rite Muslim theologians.”
Magister's article publishes both the comments of Aref Ali Nayed and Alessandro Martinetti. These are in turn followed by the quasi-unpublished remarks of Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The complete text of Bertone's is due for formal publication in 30 Giorni's issue devoted to the Regensburg address.
All the eight schools of thought and jurisprudence in Islam are represented by the signatories, including a woman scholar. In this respect the letter is unique in the history of interfaith relations.
The letter was sent, in a spirit of goodwill, to respond to some of the remarks made by the Pope during his lecture at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12, 2006. The letter tackles the main substantive issues raised in his treatment of a debate between the medieval Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an “educated Persian”, including reason and faith; forced conversion; “jihad” vs. “holy war”; and the relationship between Christianity and Islam. They engage the Pope on an intellectual level concerning these crucial topics—which go well beyond the controversial quotation of the emperor—pointing out what they see as mistakes and oversimplifications in the Pope’s own remarks about Islamic belief and practice.
The online text of the letter can be found here, courtesy of Islamica magazine.
Stratford Caldecott heralds the Open Letter to Benedict XVI as a positive sign in the Dialogue with Islam (Godspy.com October 24, 2006):
I have suggested that the suppression of Sufism and the whole ihsani dimension of Islam (leaving only Creed and Law) in recent times represents the corruption of the religion as a whole by ideologies of resentment and violence. Unfortunately Islam has no infallible center of authority, as Catholicism does, to preserve it against error on this scale. The solution, if there is one, is therefore up to individual Muslims and Muslim leaders. What Christians can do is avoid making matters worse. We need to be realistic about the scale of persecution Christians are currently experiencing in Islamic countries, and the danger of growing Muslim fanaticism in our midst, but we must encourage and assist moderate Muslims to raise their voices and speak on behalf of Islamic traditions that may be more “rational” than we suppose. Neither Islam nor Christianity is going away, so we need to find ways of speaking together. The Open Letter recently addressed to the Pope may demonstrate that a moderate and rational consensus is beginning to emerge. At any rate, the Pope’s speech has created an opportunity to take the debate concerning religious and cultural diversity to a much deeper level.
The Regensberg address has been "widely discussed, but far less widely understood," says Lee Harris. In Socrates or Muhammad? Joseph Ratzinger on the destiny of reason (Weekly Standard ), he focuses not on Benedict's encounter with Islam but rather the lessons Benedict can teach Western academia, likening the Holy Father's role to that of Socrates ("not to preach or sermonize, but to challenge with questions") or St. Clement of Alexandria:
St. Clement argued that Greek philosophy had been given by God to mankind as a second source of truth, comparable to the Hebrew revelation. For St. Clement, Socrates and Plato were not pagan thinkers; they prefigured Christianity. Contrary to what Tertullian believed, Christianity needed more than just Jerusalem: It needed Athens too. Pope Benedict in his address makes a strikingly similar claim: "The encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance." This encounter, for Benedict, was providential, just as it had been for St. Clement. Furthermore, Benedict argues that the "inner rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry was an event of decisive importance not only from the standpoint of the history of religions, but also from that of world history." For Benedict, however, this event is not mere ancient history. It is a legacy that we in the West are all duty-bound to keep alive--yet it is a legacy that is under attack, both from those who do not share it, namely Islam, and from those who are its beneficiaries and do not understand it, namely, Western intellectuals.
And, from Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus' "The Public Square" (First Things 167. November 2006): 59-76): "The Regensberg Moment":
In the Vatican and in the Catholic journalistic world, there were voices that joined in the tut-tutting of an uncouth and unlearned pope who had disrupted the dialogue with a “religion of peace.” The nitpicking pedantry of some Catholic experts on Islam was given prominent display in the world’s press. But, from Catholic and other Christian leaders, along with Jews and some secular intellectuals, there was also an outpouring of support for what the pope had the wisdom and courage to say. They recognized that momentous issues of long-term consequence had at last been joined in a way that made possible and imperative continuing debate.
Regrettably, the official response of the Catholic bishops conference in this country, issued by Bishop William Skylstad, the conference president, was not helpful. The tone was condescending and patronizing, almost apologizing for the pope’s inept disturbance of our wonderfully dialogical relationship with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We are assured that, despite his unfortunate statements, he really does want peaceful dialogue. I paraphrase, of course, but the statement was anything but a firm defense of the pope, never mind an effort to explain what he actually said. It might have been written by a public relations firm engaged in damage control, and possibly was.
But for many others, the words spoken on September 12, 2006, and the responses, both violent and reasonable, to those words may, five or twenty years from now, be referred to as “The Regensburg Moment,” meaning a moment of truth. As I say, it is by no means certain, but it is more than just possible.
From October 16-20, the Italian Church gathered in Verona the full spectrum of its members: bishops, priests, and faithful. And the German pope placed his bet precisely on what distinguishes Christian Italy: its being, not a minority Church, but a Church of the people, “a very lively reality, which retains a grassroots presence among people of every age and condition.”
For Benedict XVI, Italy’s uniqueness is not residual, but the forerunner of the Christian rebirth of the West, for which he hopes intensely. He assigned a very demanding project to Italian Catholics. “If we are able to do this,” he said, “the Church in Italy will render a great service not only to this nation, but also to Europe and to the world.”
But in the meantime, broad sections of the apparatus of this same Italian Church are looking at Benedict XVI’s program with fear and amazement. . . .
Pope Benedict recently completed a series of audiences on the Twelve apostles. I thought these were particularly interesting and well done. He covers what we know about them, what is speculated about them, what their writings contain, and what their example says to us today.
Now that the whole series is finished, I thought I'd provide links to the audiences so that you can read through them as a group if you wish. . . .
"It is unfortunate," says Teresa Polk (Blog by the Sea), "that, amid the tumult of the past couple of weeks, the important messages of the Holy Father's week in München have prompted less reflection than otherwise might have been the case. After yesterday's meeting with envoys from Muslim countries, now that the controversy seems to be passing, I want to do a series of posts that reflect back on some of the addresses other than the lecture at Regensburg." A very fruitful project and well worth reading:
In Liturgical Reform, Latin, LeFebvrists, and the French and U.S. Bishops (Blog by the Sea Oct. 29, 2006), Teresa Polk takes a look at "the potential wider use of the Latin Tridentine Mass as well as concern over the new Institute of the Good Shepherd, which was organized in September for Le Febvrists returning to the Catholic Church."
Responding to concerns, Rorate Caeli asks: Can the existence of two rites fracture unity? -- Drawing from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's remarks at the Conference on the Tenth Anniversary of the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei, the answer is no. (Stay tuned to Rorate Caeli for regular, substantial coverage of this issue).
Also of relevance: Ignatius Insight's republication of How Should We Worship?, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's preface to The Organic Development of the Liturgy, by Alcuin Reid, O.S.B. Appended to the article is an excellent compilation of resources on the subject.
One has to say that Benedict XVI chooses his targets very carefully. This time, in what might be an otherwise little noted short lecture, he speaks to the Canadian bishops from Ontario. They will, I hope, long ponder the notion of intellectual charity and its relation to their own polity and academic heritage. As in Regensburg, this address can and will, hopefully, be read by many. Its thesis is that religious minds also have to think correctly. It is an act of charity, as I think Aquinas said, to teach, or even to point out, the truth to another. This pointing out is where we begin, now at the University of Regensburg, now in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo to about twenty bishops from Ontario in Canada.
Former students tell of Ratzinger’s last period of teaching at the recently opened Bavarian University. Surrounded by the respect of the students and the affection of colleagues, the professor of Dogmatic Theology believed he had achieved an ideal situation. But Paul VI was to upset his plans.
In response to Benedict XVI's first encyclical, the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies and Marriage and Family reflects, together with the Holy Father, on love. From the very beginning, the fundamental work of the Institute has been pursuing a deeper understanding of God's plan for marriage and family. In these twenty-five years various generations of students and professors, following the legacy of John Paul II, have been able to discover and communicate the beauty of the vocation for which all men have been created: the call to love. ' Twenty-six professors from the Institute's various sessions express what in their understanding are the main themes of the document, approaching the topics raised by the Holy Father with different theological and philosophical perspectives; by so doing they have highlighted the significance and fecundity of the lines of thought suggested by the Pope. This book is offered as a path towards a fuller understanding of the profundity and richness of the love with which God fills us and wants us to communicate in our turn.
A theologian prostitutes himself when he subjects himself to the "dictatorship of common opinions," Benedict XVI told members of the International Theological Commission. [...]
"To speak to meet with applause, to speak oriented to what men want to hear, to speak obeying the dictatorship of common opinions, is considered a sort of prostitution of the word and of the soul," said the Holy Father quoting the First Letter of St. Peter.
The theologian needs a form of "chastity," which implies "not to be subjected to such standards, not to seek applause, but to seek obedience to the truth," the Pontiff said.
Benedict XVI continued: "And I believe this is the fundamental virtue of the theologian, this discipline, even hard, of obedience to the truth, which makes us collaborators of the truth, a mouth of truth, so that we will not speak in this river of words of today, but that we are really purified and chaste through obedience to the truth, so that truth may speak in us."
On October 17th, the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff published Benedict XVI's calendar for the remainder of 2006, which includes two trips -- one in Italy and one to Turkey (Nov. 28, to Friday, Dec. 1) -- and a full Christmas agenda.
"The Pope is not coming to missionize, as the Turkish press claims, but to speak with Muslims, the Turkish government, and obviously with Catholics, but especially with Orthodox Christians."
The suspect later told a reporter he wanted to murder the Pope.
"I don't want him here, if he was here now I would strangle him with my bare hands," said Ibrahim Ak, 26.
"I fired the shots for God," Ak said as he sat handcuffed inside a police van. "God willing, he will not come. If he comes, he will see what will happen to him."
Strict security measures will be taken during Pope Benedict XVI’s official visit to Turkey scheduled for November 28 to December 1, 2006.
The Security General Directorate, in cooperation with the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) and the Gendarmerie, is working on security plans in an effort to prevent any provocations or even assassination attempts against the Pope.
Preparing us for the coming trip with his column, Benedict’s gamble with IslamNational Catholic Reporter Oct. 12, 2006:
Pope Benedict XVI heads to Turkey next month, his first visit to a majority Muslim state. Of all the question marks surrounding the trip, perhaps the most consequential is this: Which Benedict will show up?
Will it be the Benedict of Regensburg, challenging his Muslim hosts to embrace rationality, hence to renounce violence and to respect religious freedom? Or will it be the post-Regensburg Benedict, seemingly determined to project a "kinder, gentler" face to Islam, missing no opportunity to send signals of reconciliation?
Apparently the BBC thinks that if the Vatican publishes a document in 2001, (which the Catholic press reported on in early 2002), but the BBC only notices it five years later, the document must have been a deep dark Vatican secret till then. Quick, what's British English for "Get real"?
Britain's Evening Standard reports that the BBC just aired a "Panorama" story about how Pope Benedict XVI, as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, sent a "secret Vatican edict" to bishops around the world (right, like that's a group that could keep a secret if it tried), an edict so secret "that bishops had to keep it locked in a safe at all times", which ordered a massive cover-up of clergy sexual misconduct. . . .
According to statistics of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, which organizes the audiences, the number of faithful who have met the pope in the first 10 months of the year was exactly 2,674,820.
Specifically, 938,500 took part in the Wednesday general audiences; 349,120 took part in particular audiences; 502,200 were present at liturgical celebrations, which took place in Rome. Meanwhile, 885,000 listened to the Angelus in Rome and Castel Gandolfo.
In an article published by the Spanish daily “La Razon,” Messori said the “intellectual prestige” of Benedict XVI, “which was not lacking in his predecessors,” seems to be the unique characteristic of the current Pontificate.
Messori said that the idea of Pope “as professor” seems to prevail in the minds of the people. This is evident during each of his public appearances in which “the masses of the faithful” do not come to get emotionally charged up, “but rather to learn, almost to attend the lecture of a wise and at the same time generous professor, who breaks down and offers his knowledge to those who do not have it.”
Vittorio Messori is known for the first publication of a book-length interview with a pope (Crossing the Threshhold of Hope, 1994, with John Paul II), as well as a book-length interview with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (The Ratzinger Report, 1985).
Special Recognition and Personal Thanks to two bloggers for their daily and/or regular coverage of Pope Benedict XVI, and which I made particular use of in compiling this roundup: The Papa Ratzi Post (Michael S. Rose); Argent by the Tiber.
Pope Benedict Roundup!But surely there must be something other to talk about than Islam's love-hate relationship with the Roman Pontiff -- here, then, is a roundup of a few articles you might have missed over the past month in all the commotion and controversy. . . .
So while the Pope enjoys his homecoming this week (Monday he traveled to the small Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn where he was born), Vatican insiders say the beginning of the Benedict era back at the Roman Curia begins in earnest this fall. Some, in fact, predict that Bertone — a longtime trusted confidante of the former Cardinal Ratzinger — was handpicked to be Secretary of State in order to usher in a virtual revolution in the way Catholic Church headquarters operates. Through an effort that will be part downsizing, part priority overhaul, the theologian pontiff is said to want Church headquarters to be both a more holy and a more efficient entity.
Though the changing of the guards has been more deliberate than some had wanted — especially those critical of the power that Sodano had amassed in the last years of John Paul's papacy — the new Pope has nonetheless already made some notable personnel moves, with others sure to come. Here are five key changes that have taken place since Benedict took over in April 2005, and five more shifts that may be on the horizon. . . .
Today, the impediments to the spread of Christ’s Kingdom are experienced most dramatically in the split between the Gospel and culture, with the exclusion of God from the public sphere. Canada has a well-earned reputation for a generous and practical commitment to justice and peace, and there is an enticing sense of vibrancy and opportunity in your multicultural cities. At the same time, however, certain values detached from their moral roots and full significance found in Christ have evolved in the most disturbing of ways. In the name of ‘tolerance’ your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse, and in the name of ‘freedom of choice’ it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children. When the Creator’s divine plan is ignored the truth of human nature is lost.
False dichotomies are not unknown within the Christian community itself. They are particularly damaging when Christian civic leaders sacrifice the unity of faith and sanction the disintegration of reason and the principles of natural ethics, by yielding to ephemeral social trends and the spurious demands of opinion polls. Democracy succeeds only to the extent that it is based on truth and a correct understanding of the human person. Catholic involvement in political life cannot compromise on this principle; otherwise Christian witness to the splendour of truth in the public sphere would be silenced and an autonomy from morality proclaimed (cf. Doctrinal Note The Participation of Catholics in Political Life, 2-3; 6). In your discussions with politicians and civic leaders I encourage you to demonstrate that our Christian faith, far from being an impediment to dialogue, is a bridge, precisely because it brings together reason and culture. . . .
A particularly insidious obstacle to education today, which your own reports attest, is the marked presence in society of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. Within such a relativistic horizon an eclipse of the sublime goals of life occurs with a lowering of the standards of excellence, a timidity before the category of the good, and a relentless but senseless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. Such detrimental trends point to the particular urgency of the apostolate of ‘intellectual charity’ which upholds the essential unity of knowledge, guides the young towards the sublime satisfaction of exercising their freedom in relation to truth, and articulates the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Introduced to a love of truth, I am confident that young Canadians will relish exploring the house of the Lord who "enlightens every person who comes into the world (Jn 1:9) and satisfies every desire of humanity.
September 5 was the memorial of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, recognized as a model of Christian love in the Pope's first encyclical -- two of the three times in connection with the mention of saints. Teresa Polk has the references.
A group of 12 young Catholics from Germany, France, Italy, Mexico and the USA decided to start on the first anniversary of WYD in Köln an international platform for young people identifying themselves with the message of Pope Benedict XVI. The inauguration took place 26/08 in the Archdiocese of Köln. [website: Generation Benedikt].
Lately, Dr. Droleskey has gotten cozy with the Sedevacantist position, which appears to have emboldened him to step up the harsh invective against the Roman Pontiff. His August 21, 2006 article, "A New Theology for a New Religion", tops out at some 75 pages of single-spaced text, 50 pages of which are filled with interminably long quotes from other writers.
The weakness of Dr. Droleskey, one he shares with many critics of the Pope, is that "he does not understand what he is reading in Ratzinger":
Whatever suspicion might remain that Droleskey just "doesn't get it" is confirmed by the few words of commentary that he does interject. The article purports to be a kind of analysis of Ratzinger's book, Principles of Catholic Theology, but in reality it is little more than a collection of lengthy quotes from Ratzinger's work, juxtaposed against equally lengthy quotes from 19th-20th century popes, with a few of Droleskey's own words of righteous indignation serving as a shaky bridge between the two. . . . READ MORE
Once he was able to get the attention of a third of New York's Republican voters. Now he struggles to get anyone's attention. It is not likely that many of those voters would recognize the candidate of 1998 in the itinerant essayist of 2006. What happened?
Dr. Droleskey: a warning to those who presume themselves to be "more Catholic than the Pope."
Benedict, The Peace Pope. National Catholic Register Sept. 3-9, 2006. Angelo Matera (editor of Godspy.com), takes a look at Pope Benedict's response to the August-2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon and takes a swipe at "Catholic “hawks” in the United States." (Discussion of the article at Amy Welborn's).
Fielding questions in public and responding spontaneously is one of the hallmarks of pope Joseph Ratzinger’s communication style.
He used this method on October 15, 2005, with the children who had received their first communion that year crowded into Saint Peter’s Square. And he did so on April 6 of this year, again in Saint Peter’s Square, with the young people preparing for World Youth Day.
Each time, the pope seeks to adapt his responses to the audience in front of him.
To the priests of the diocese of Albano, in fact, he delivered what almost amounted to a handbook on good pastoral ministry: how to celebrate Mass, how to recite the breviary, how to administer the sacraments, how to draw near those “far away,” how to be faithful to the duty of chastity, how to show to married couples the beauty of matrimony, and to young people the conversion of a Saint Francis. . . .
According to Magister, the complete transcript of his conversation with the priests of Albano numbers a good 6,000 words in length, was released by the Vatican press office the following day, and appeared in the September 2 edition of L’Osservatore Romano in Italian only. Magister produces about a third of the exchange; Teresa @ the Papa Ratzinger Forum has another transcript, and here is the complete Italian text of the exchange from the Vatican Website. (Hat tip, Amy Welborn).
Previous transcripts of spontaneous "Q&A's" with the Holy Father are archived here @ the Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club.
Dissident Kueng criticises pope during German visit Deutsche Presse Agentur. Sept. 13, 2006. Speaking at his home in Tuebingen, Germany, disgruntled theologian Hans Keung berated the Pope for being an old fuddy-duddy and neglecting the path of reform:
[Kung] slammed Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday for not offering dialogue during a six-day visit to Germany. There had not been "a single future-oriented signal" from the pope, nor were there any suggestions of reforms on the way, Kueng told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in an interview.
Kueng, who was invited to a long lunch and talk with Benedict in Italy last year, said the visit had made a contradictory impression.
"He didn't fulfil any of the hopes of reform-oriented Catholics. . . .
I find that it's easier to understand Kung if you understand his reference to "dialogue" as a keyword for "capitulation". For instance:
[Kung] said Benedict had been "tactically smart to stay silent about the rule of celibacy for priests, or the ban on contraceptives and other uncomfortable Roman rules.
"He was always stressing the nice side of faith and the church and leaving the harsh church rules that still exist unmentioned."
Kueng added, "I don't see dialogue in practice."
And to think it was only last September and in the first year of his pontificate that Pope Benedict had invited his former academic colleague for a friendly four-hour-long chat over dinner, culminating in the Swiss theologian's praise of the invitation as a "sign of hope for many in the church with the same vision as mine."
Recollections from Pope's former housekeeperIndependent Catholic News Sept. 21, 2006. Sister Agapita, of the Sisters of Mercy convent in Munich, was a housekeeper to Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became Pope Benedict XVI. She was one of 50 people who received Communion from the Pope during his recent Mass at Munich-Riem. Sr Agapita reminisced with journalist Tess Crebbin:
"We spent many joyful moments together," she said by phone. "It was much more than just your average housekeeper-Cardinal relationship, because he really involved us in his daily life and we also used to pray together." [...]
Sister Agapita related how, when the Pope John Paul II was shot, Cardinal Ratzinger immediately " gathered all of us around to say the rosary together with him for the Pope's recovery. I thought it was really significant that he had asked his staff to join him in prayer, fostering among us the feeling of community and union."
Kühnel, who is Director of the Bank of Munich, met then Cardinal Ratzinger in 1978 at the home of the Sisters of Mercy at Bad Adelholzen. In an interview with German television, Kühnel explained that he is known as the “Pope’s courier” because when Cardinal Ratzinger was called to work in the Roman curia, he offered to bring “Bavarian things” to him in Rome, which he did and still does to this day.
“The first thing I brought to Rome, in my car, was a paschal candle, as well as some fruit from Adelholzen and mineral water. For Christmas I brought him his Advent wreath, as they can’t be easily found in Italy. Up to now I have brought some 40 different objects,” Kühnel explained. “He likes the Christmas cookies that women from Bavarian parishes bake at home as well as those made at certain monasteries. He also likes the chocolates made in Aachen”, he added.
Kühnel said he’s also acted as Cardinal Ratzinger’s chauffuer and that he often picked him up at the airport and “brought him to Pentling or Ratisbona to his brother’s home. Sometimes I drove the whole family—the cardinal, his brother Georg and their sister Maria. The little trips we took to Mallersdorf, Brixen, Linz, Klagenfurt, and Bad Hofgastein—most of the time with the entire family—were very beautiful,” Kühnel said. . . .
"I was very surprised and honored when I received a letter stating that I am to stay overnight at Regensburg," Thaddaeus Kuehnel, director of the Hauck and Aufhauser private bank in Munich, told Catholic News Service. "The request came from the Regensburg seminary, by letter."
Kuehnel said he did not know why he received an invitation when so many of the pope's other friends remain uncertain if they will have a chance to meet with him.
"It may have something to do with the fact that our friendship goes back some 30-odd years," Kuehnel said. "Long before he became pope, when he faced controversy at home and abroad, I always spoke out for him, and I think he never forgot this.
"I think he's a man of the past, and he's trying to cement these conservative tendencies in place," said Rupert Kreuzpaintner, a churchgoing Catholic from Landshut in Benedict's home region of Bavaria who sees the pope as too authoritarian within the church.
Although he is critical of Benedict, "my faith is not affected by that," said Kreuzpaintner, 45. "But for me it is a revolting thing, that a Godlike cult is made around such a person who stands for exactly the opposite of what the message should be."
Prompting some readers to wonder just which parish the "churchgoing Catholic" Kreuzpaintner has been attending? -- The article goes on to note that "Munich police expect at least 500,000 visitors in the Bavarian capital."
Germans’ warm reception to Pope Benedict’s visit to his native Bavaria last week, coupled with the broader trend toward recognizing the religious underpinnings of Europe, are signs that the secularism of Europe is on the way out.
Benedetto, der Leuchtturm" ["Benedict the Light House"] Der Spiegel Sept. 9, 2006. Gerald Augustinus (Closed Cafeteria) provides us with a english translation. After describing the Catholic Church as having been "the boogeyman in the eyes of the average progressive German, the incarnation of a spirit hostile to enlightenment, the head of the worst reactionary bigotry, representative of the Middle Ages, holding on stubbornly", Der Spiegel observes a "sea change" in the relationship between church and society, "the motor of which", suprisingly, was the Catholic Church:
n 2005, the year of the change of Popes and World Youth Day in Cologne centuries-old abilities of Catholicism coincided with new styles of expression fo the media and event society. In contrast to the liturgically, spiritually and ritualistically rather stuffy Protestantism, Catholicism has always been a religion of senses, theater and demonstrative stagings. With the Pope as its hea it could and can personalize its message worldwide.
This potential to produce images, to create a charismatic aura, to move masses of people to pilgrimages has been fully used by Catholicism in its nature of a robust, global, organized and experienced institution - and the media hungrily bought it. The pictures of the Polish Pope went around the world - his folksy approach to the faithful, dignified blessings and his increasing suffering that he defied like a grand martyr, who even and especially in his dying electrified the Catholic masses.
World Youth Day became an image-rich spectacle, where the charismatic cult of the Pope with its vivacious waves of hundreds of thousands of young people even captivated the cool intellectual Joseph Ratzinger. "We are Pope" the Bild newspaper famously headlined - and the young crowds chanted "Benedetto, Benedetto."
As one reader notes, "It looks as if one typical stereotype is still prominant. Nothing is said about the Church's intellectual appeal."
[Der Spiegel is] definitely friendlier since Pope John Paul II. died. It used to be the magazine for all the whiners - Kueng, Drewermann, Ranke-Heinemann etc. The latter two have since left the Church. Rebellion suddenly isn't that cool anymore but rather something very old-fashioned. Heck, the article's even called "Joseph's Return" and misses the usual snarky remarks.
Bild am Sonntag (BamS) said 43-year-old Joseph Ratzinger senior placed an advertisement as a "low-level civil servant" seeking "a good Catholic girl, who can cook and sew a bit ... to marry as soon as possible, preferably with a picture," in a Bavarian paper in March 1920.
Four months later – by now a "mid-ranking civil servant" – he posted a similar notice in the same paper, and this time received a reply from Maria Peintner, the Pope's future mother, BamS reported, citing documents from Bavarian state archives.
Joseph Ratzinger senior and Maria Peintner were married in November 1920.
This beer has a real great head and talk about theology on tap. Plus it is not weak like those heretical dissident beers. You know the ones that are all watered down. Pope Benedict Beer is fine with fish, meat, biblical exegesis, Magisterial documents, and spiritual reading. Great also for preparing to talk with dissidents or anyone you know you will be at lagerheads with.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement.
It was posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Anyone who is an expert in the art of diplomacy and a proponent of “realism” in international relations would certainly have censured as inopportune and dangerous many passages of the homilies and speeches delivered by Benedict XVI in Germany.
But this is not a pope who submits himself to such censorship or self-censorship, which he sees as being inopportune and dangerous indeed when it concerns the pillars of his preaching. His goal on his trip to Germany was to illuminate before modern man – whether Christian, agnostic, or of another faith; from Europe, Africa, or Asia – that simple and supreme truth that is the other side of the truth to which he dedicated the encyclical “Deus Caritas Est.” God is love, but he is also reason, he is the “Logos.” And so when reason separates itself from God, it closes in upon itself. And likewise, faith in an “irrational” God, an absolute, unbridled will, can become the seed of violence. Every religion, culture, and civilization is exposed to this twofold error – not only Islam, but also Christianity, toward which the pope directed almost the entirety of his preaching.
From Fr. Fessio of Ignatius Press (and one of the Pope's former students), offers his reflections on the Regensberg address, asking Is Dialogue wit Islam Possible?Ignatius Insight Sept. 18, 2006:
Yet there is a crucial underlying principle that needs to be enunciated. Christianity and Islam make incompatible truth claims. Despite the difficulty in determining who can speak authoritatively for Christianity or for Islam, there are elements of belief common to all Christians which are incompatible with elements of belief common to all Muslims. The two most obvious and most fundamental are the Trinity and the Incarnation.
I would expect an intelligent and informed Muslim to consider me a blasphemer (because I introduce multiplicity into the one God) and an idolator (because I worship as God a man named Jesus). Should I be offended if he says so publicly? Should I not rather be offended if he conceals his position for the alleged purpose of fostering dialogue?
“Concerning the accusations against Benedict XVI, three things are evident: 1) The Pope certainly did not want to offend Islamic believers, but to call everyone to a correct use of reason; 2) the Pope has a clear awareness of some extreme aspects of the vicissitudes of Islam, which are truths of history before the eyes of all; and 3) there is an intolerance of peaceful criticism that is intolerable, both in terms of the preconceived positions of certain Islamic exponents, and in terms of the indifference and superficiality of many Western commentators.
“We stand by the Pope. In affirming that “not acting according to reason is against the nature of God,” Benedict XVI said a true thing that holds for anyone, beginning with we Christians.
“This position of the Pope saves the possibility for an authentic religious experience for every man, and permits an encounter in peace. It is not a question of a clash of civilizations, but the elementary experience of the “poor of spirit” of every religion: those who live a reasonable relationship with God, beginning from the needs for truth, beauty, justice, and happiness that are in the heart of every man, and precisely for this cannot follow the violent degenerations of those who, in the name of an ideology, reject reason for a power, be they in the West or anywhere else.”
As a faithful Muslim, I do not believe the pope should have apologized. I've read what’s been described as his inflammatory speech. Actually, he called for dialogue with the Muslim world. To ignore that larger context and to focus on a mere few words of the speech is like reducing the Koran, Islam's holy book, to its most bloodthirsty passages. We Muslims hate it when people do that. The hypocrisy of doing this to the pope stinks to high heaven.
First Things' Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus weighs in (he, too, was reminded if Benedict's Cologne 2005 address to the Muslim community. On Benedict's choice of Manuel II Paleologos as an illustration:
I have had the opportunity of many extended conversations with Ratzinger-Benedict over the years, and he is a man of great gentleness and deliberation and extremely careful to say what he means. What he said at Regensburg he has said many times before. Contrary to many reports, he has not apologized or retracted his argument. He has indicated sincere regret that many Muslims have reacted to his statement as they have. The response of those who are properly called jihadists is, “If you don’t stop saying we’re violent, we’re going to bomb more churches, kill more nuns and priests, and get the pope too.” In short, the reaction has powerfully confirmed the problem to which Benedict called our attention.
Some think that Benedict was not as judicious as he might have been in quoting a medieval emperor of the East who, faced by Islamic conquest that succeeded in turning Christian Constantinople into Islamic Istanbul, declared that Islam has produced only inhumanity and evil. That is arguable. Benedict did say at Regensburg that the emperor’s words were excessively “brusque.” But the citation was also a way of reminding everybody that this conflict with Islam bent upon conversion by the sword is very long-standing.
And his conclusion:
Benedict’s responsibility is to set forth clearly and uncompromisingly the Christian understanding. At Regensburg he said: “God acts with logos. Logos means both reason and word— reason which is creative and capable of self-communication, precisely as reason. John [the Evangelist] thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God . . . In the beginning was the logos, and the logos is God.”
As history is turning out, this theological truth is at the very core of what is likely the greatest political and cultural struggle of this century, and maybe beyond.
The bishop, and supremely the Universal Pastor, has responsibility for the care of *all* the souls in his jurisdiction--including the Muslim ones. Benedict said nothing untrue--which is why he has not apologized for what he said, nor should he. But he is trying very hard to counter the bad effects of what he need not have said, but did. If he did not think those ill effects of his words were, in some sense, his responsibility, he would not be saying anything. The last thing Benedict wants is to destroy the Church's ability to speak to both East and West. He may already be too late, but only time will tell.
Jimmy Akin
:
in the process of taking a detour to say something meant to help break the link between religion and violence, he happened to quote a particularly inflammatory line from 600 years ago that could and has stirred up the potential for religious violence. And the line isn't even necessary to his speech!
Given the exquisite sensitivity that European politicians generally show for Muslim sensibilities, when a pope, speaking in public and before television cameras, quotes a text embodying a statement that will predictably result in explosive anger in the Muslim world, does so without needing to quote the specific language to make his point, does not expressly disavow the offending statement when quoting it, and even endorses a larger point that the author of the quotation is making, a decent respect for the intelligence of the man on the Throne of St. Peter demands that we conclude that he quoted the text intentionally, knowing what the consequences would be, and did so for a reason.
See also Pope Benedict Clarifies - Jimmy Akin unpacks the Pope's words in his Sunday remarks on the Regensburg speech, and concludes: "From the original speech itself and from the way the Vatican has handled this matter, it is clear that the present situation was unexpected and that the Holy Father did not foresee this reaction to his speech."
Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The bishops of Turkey today followed Ankara’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdullah Gul, in confirming that the visit of Benedict XVI will take place as planned, from 28 November to 1 December, according to the set itinerary. . . .
And this morning, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey, as planned, met in Istanbul to discuss details of the trip’s itinerary. They were joined by Mgr Piero Marini, head of the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations. They share the view that at this point, there is no reason to call off the visit . . .
A potboiler novel currently on bestseller lists in Turkey titled Papa'ya suikast ("Attack on the Pope") predicts that Benedict will be assassinated.
Written by novelist Yücel Kaya, the book is subtitled, Who will kill Benedict XVI in Istanbul?
In a little more than 300 pages, Kaya manages to weave the Turkish Secret Service, the infamous Masonic lodge P2, and (of course) Opus Dei into his plot line. Inevitably, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, also makes an appearance.
All this might seem comical were it not for the fact that in the last seven months, three Catholic priests have been attacked in Turkey, beginning with the murder of Italian missionary Fr. Andrea Santoro on February 5. Bishop Luigi Padovese, a 58-year-old Capuchin from Milan who serves as the region's apostolic vicar, and who was Santoro's superior, has warned of a "rising tide" of anti-Christian propaganda in Turkey.
I have written before that Benedict XVI is not a PC pope. By that, I don't mean that he sets out to give offense; on the contrary, he's one of the most gracious figures ever to step on the world stage. Instead, he simply does not allow his thinking to be channeled by the taboos and fashions of ordinary public discourse.
For example, any PR consultant would have told the pope that if he wanted to make a point about the relationship between faith and reason, he shouldn't open up with a comparison between Islam and Christianity that would be widely understood as a criticism of Islam, suggesting that it's irrational and prone to violence. Yet that is precisely what Benedict did in his address to 1,500 students and faculty at the University of Regensburg on Wednesday, citing a 14th century dialogue between the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and a learned Persian. . . .
It comes as no suprise that Benedict's remarks and citation of the quote has been met with furious and violent reaction -- first by Muslim protestors (proclaiming themselves at once the "religion of peace" and managing to fulfill all descriptions to the contrary) and the media, who are playing up the controversy for all that it's worth:
Muslim Leaders Assail Pope’s Speech on Islam, by Ian Fisher. New York Times September 14, 2006 -- on the Islamic reaction, including those from Ali Bardakoglu of the Turkish government's directorate of religious affairs ("I do not think any good will come from the visit to the Muslim world of a person who has such ideas about Islam’s prophet. [Benedict] should first of all replace the grudge in his heart with moral values and respect for the other.") and a demand for "all Arab and Islamic states to recall their ambassadors from the Vatican and expel those from the Vatican until the pope says he is sorry" by Haken al-Mutairi of Kuwait's Islamic Nation Party.
Needed: A sense of irony and a clue - Amy Welborn notes that burning the Pope in effigy "is not an effective way to argue against someone who has questioned your religion's relationship to violence."
It is necessary to keep in mind that what the Pope did was prepare and deliver a speech as an academic, a philosopher, a top theologian whose arguments and fine points may not be easily grasped.
The media—which should indulge in some self-criticism of its own—picked out those remarks from the speech that it could immediately use and superimposed them on the current international political context, on the ongoing confrontation between the West and the Muslim world, taking a step back into what Samuel Huntington called a ‘Clash of civilisations’. In reality, in his speech the Pope outlined a path that runs contrary to this view. The goal he has in mind is actually to engage others in a dialogue and of the most beautiful kind. . . .
Comments made by Western Muslims were superficial and fed the circus-like criticism. In a phone-in programme on al-Jazeera yesterday, many viewers called in to criticise the Pope but no one knew about what. These were just emotional outbursts in response to hearsay concerning the Pope talking about jihad and criticising Islam, when in fact all that is false. Let me say why. . . .
Concerning the reaction of Muslim leaders to certain passages of the Holy Father's address at the University of Regensburg, it should be noted that what the Holy Father has at heart -- and which emerges from an attentive reading of the text -- is a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence.
It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful.
Quite the contrary, what emerges clearly from the Holy Father's discourses is a warning, addressed to Western culture, to avoid "the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom" (homily, Sept. 10). A just consideration of the religious dimension is, in fact, an essential premise for fruitful dialogue with the great cultures and religions of the world.
And indeed, in concluding his address in Regensburg, Benedict XVI affirmed how "the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion to the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures."
What is clear then, is the Holy Father's desire to cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures, including, of course, Islam.
Actually, I'm fairly impressed with Bertone's choice of words. It's no surprise, after all, that Pope Benedict would be "extremely upset" that "some portions of his speech were able to sound offensive" to Muslims - their response being, of course, completely unreasonable. I'd be upset too.
"How can (the Pope) imply that Muslims are the creators of terrorism in the world while it is the followers of Christianity who have aggressed against every country of the Islamic world?" prominent Saudi cleric Salman al-Odeh said. "Who attacked Afghanistan and who invaded Iraq?"
In Libya, the General Instance of Religious Affairs said the "insult ... pushes us back to the era of crusades against Muslims led by Western political and religious leaders".
Turkish paper Vatan quoted a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party saying Benedict "will go down in history in the same category as leaders like Hitler and Mussolini".
Teófilo de Jesús (Vivificat) wonders where was the enlightened voice of Muslim protest when Ayman al Zawahiri and Adam Gadahn issued an "invitation to Islam", denigrating the Christian faith as a "hollow shell of a religion, whose followers cling to an empty faith and a false conviction of their inevitable salvation"?
Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout History - PostWatch examines the reactions, and the comments of the Pope, in light of the history of Muslim-Christian relations.
Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin urged Muslims to find the pontiff and punish him for insulting the Prophet Mohammed and Allah in a speech that he said was as offensive as author Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses.
"We urge you Muslims wherever you are to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion," he said in Friday evening prayers.
"Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim," Malin, a prominent cleric in the Somali capital, told worshippers at a mosque in southern Mogadishu.
We are awaiting Muslim repudiations of Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin, which we expect will be as furvent as their repudiation of Benedict XVI.
The Pope held up an interesting question for us to contemplate: Who is God? How can we talk about God? What does God's existence and nature then imply about the way human beings are to live together on this planet? When true reason is abandoned as an attribute and expression of God, what hope is there for dialogue and peace?
The "Muslim" response to the Pope ironically and unwittingly answers his question, don't you think?
Iranian hardline newspapers said there were signs of an Israeli-US plot behind remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that linked Islam to violence and created a wave of anger across the Muslim world.
The daily Jomhuri Islami said Israel and the United States -- the Islamic republic's two arch-enemies -- could have dictated the comments to distract attention from the resistance of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah to Israel's offensive on Lebanon.
Sister Leonella, a nun who devoted her life to helping the sick in volatile regions of Africa, used to joke that there was a bullet with her name engraved on it in Somalia. When the bullet came, she used her last breaths to forgive those responsible.
"I forgive, I forgive," she whispered in her native Italian just before she died, the Rev. Maloba Wesonga told The Associated Press at the nun's memorial mass in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Monday.
The attacks against the Roman pontifex are especially grotesque. The harsh criticism, which often is accompanied by threats of violence, of Benedict’s speech in Regensburg is not only an attack on the head of the Catholic Church. The malicious misinterpretation of his words and the absurd suppositions of Islamic representatives are a head-on attack on free religious discourse. That more and more people in the Islamic world can be induced to follow these protests shows how much influence Islamic groups have gained there. The political intention is clear: A discussion between Christianity and Islam should only take place within the framework determined by political Islamism.
We can do without this. Whoever agrees to this kind of “dialogue” relinquishes his right to free opinion. . . .
Pope Benedict XVI apologized in person today for causing offense to Muslims with a university lecture last week implicitly linking Islam to violence.
``I am truly sorry for the reactions caused by a brief passage of my speech,'' the pope said from his Castel Gandolfo summer retreat in Italy. ``These were quotations from a medieval text that do not express in any way my personal opinion.''
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement saying the pope's apology is ``sufficient,'' Sky News reported. The head of the Cairo-based group, Mohammad Mahdi Akef, had previously said the pope ``aroused the anger of the whole Islamic world.''
. . . It is true that he distanced himself from that text. He said that Paleologus’s words were not his sentiments. You can say that this was an apology if you add all the elements together, but …. there it is. It won’t be enough, of course, for many (for the "thick"). It can be interpreted as an apology and, in a sense, it MUST be. There are in Islamic countries Christian communities in grave peril. Had the Pope not said something like this, those people would be in even greater danger. He had to apologize without apologizing while keeping his agenda on the table. . . .
The upshot of today’s address was: "Read the whole text and then let’s have a real discussion based on what I really said, not based on a brief citation I used in the speech."
Holy Mass on a Sunday is the very source and summit of the Catholic week, so my family decided this Sunday to make the trip to Westminster Cathedral together. As we came out about 100 Islamists were chanting slogans such as "Pope Benedict go to Hell" "Pope Benedict you will pay, the Muja Hadeen are coming your way" "Pope Benedict watch your back" and other hateful things. I'll post more pictures of it when I get more free time. It was a pretty nasty demonstration. . . .
From The American Thinker, The Pope, Jihad, and “Dialogue” (Sept. 17, 2006) an excellent article by Dr. Andrew Bostom -- who, as author of The Legacy of Jihad (Prometheus Books, 2005), probably knows a tad something about the history of Islamic expansion).
Bostom provides some rich and unsettling detail behind the now infamous exchange between "the late 14th century 'Dialogue Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia' between the Byzantine ruler Manuel II Paleologus, and a well-educated Muslim interlocutor." It's a must-read. And if that perks your interest, here is a RedState interview with the author.
Professor Khoury, what kind of day did you have yesterday?
The media called all day. Television was here. I've never experienced anything like this before.
Did you ever expect that your book would cause such an uproar?
An edition of Byzantine sources in French that appeared in 1966? Please.
Can you tell us something about the context of the quotation?
The Emperor and the Persion scholar met in a Muslim military camp outside Constantinople. There in an open atmosphere and highly polemically, they discussed each other's religion. Both sides presented critical formulations to the other side, neither spared the other. The Pope did not use this quotation, however, to say something about Islam. That was not his theme at all. He used it only as a bridge to his next thoughts. The crucial sentence appears somewhat later: not to act reasonably is against God's nature. He was concerned about the question of God's will. That is moreover also a significant topic of discussion in Islamic theology.
You are a scholar of Islam. Do you believe that this quotation correctly characterized Islam?
Once again: that was not what the Pope was talking about in this lecture. Otherwise, one would have to add a few more remarks, because the quotation does not present the thought of the Koran precisely. It is not about conversion by the sword, but rather about the conquest and rule by the sword with simultaneous religious tolerance, at least for religions of the Book. If the Pope had been concerned about Islam, he would have had to point out entirely different streams of thought, which also demonstrate the reasonableness of God's actions. Furthermore, you can find passages in the Koran where conversion by argument and just action is valued.
How do you explain the great rage in the Muslim world?
see it in the context of the great tensions of the present day. Every one is so sensitive that misunderstandings arise. Many wanted from the Pope some words of differentiation, a categorization, an: "I, Benedict XVI, do not see Islam in this way."
Would you have advised the Pope to make such a comment?
I might have. He could have clarified that he was referring only to a radical minority of Muslim, the Islamists prepared for violence. That is how the Turkish Hurriyet understood it, and I believe, correctly: Emperor Manuel's statement only applies to a minority of Muslims today.
Have all leaders, religious and political, in the so-called Muslim World, become illiterate all of a sudden? Or are they intent on using every little opportunity that presents itself to prove in deed what they continue to deny in words, namely: that Islamic civilization and culture are dead, and that Muslims are adamant on continuing their head-long descent into barbarity?
Ammar Abdulhamid lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. He left Damascus, Syria, due to his increasing and vocal criticism of the ruling regime and its president. Read his post. It's really too bad this couldn't come from, say, a blogger in the Middle East -- but clear-headed thinking nonetheless.
Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Journey to Bavaria Sept. 9-14, 2006On September 9th, a joyful Pope Benedict "set foot, for the first time since [his] elevation to the Chair of Peter, on German and Bavarian soil," to be among his homeland and his people and visit some cherished places in his life.
Western societies suffer from a "hardness of hearing" of all things that have to do with God, thus impeding a correct perception of reality, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today when celebrating Mass on Munich's fairgrounds, attended by some 250,000 people, the first Mass of his fourth international trip.
Addressing his fellow countrymen of Bavaria, the Holy Father said: "There is not only a physical deafness ... there is also a 'hardness of hearing' where God is concerned, and this is something from which we particularly suffer in our own time.
"Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God -- there are too many different frequencies filling our ears."
Benedict XVI spent a sentimental day in his Bavarian homecoming Monday, visiting the town where he was born, the church where he was baptized and his favorite pilgrimage site.
He was also reunited with his 82-year-old brother, Georg, a retired priest and choir director who prayed with Benedict before the font where he was baptized in tiny Marktl am Inn.
The director of the Press Office of Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, indicated yesterday that the actions of vandals against the birth home of Pope Benedict XVI in Bavaria is “a minor incident” and not a cause of major concern.
The Marian Shrine of Altötting, one of Bavaria’s most famous pilgrimage sites, was an appropriate place for the second Mass celebrated by the Pope Benedict XVI on his trip home. Mary, the Mother of God and “woman of prayer,” would be the subject of the New Testament readings as well as the homily of the Holy Father. . . .
Prior to leaving the town of Altötting for his birthplace of Marktl am Inn, Pope Benedict XVI prayed Vespers with the seminarians, priests, and religious of Bavaria and those who support their vocations. The Pontiff led the evening prayer service from the Basilica of Saint Anne.
Following the initial prayers of the service, and the Psalms beautifully intoned by a choir, the Pope reflected on the Vocation to the priesthood and religious life. . . .
"Brothers", by Amy Welborn. Open Book Sept. 11, 2006. Three images speak more than a thousand words.
Benedict blesses new adoration chapel, stresses role of Mary, by Bill Howard. Colorado Catholic Herald Sept. 11, 2006. On his second full day in Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass and blessed a new Eucharistic adoration chapel in Altotting, led Vespers inside the Cathedral of St. Anne there, visited the home of his birthplace in Marktl am Inn and finished the day at a seminary in Regensburg.
The former Professor Joseph Ratzinger returned to his old university today to hold a conference on the relation of faith and reason. Pope Benedict XVI told professors and students at the University of Regensburg that, “only if reason and faith come together in a new way” can mankind face the dangerous possibilities now facing it.
Benedict XVI gave his cardinal's ring to the Black Virgin of Altoetting, at the most famous shrine of Germany and the "religious heart" of Bavaria.
The Holy Father made the gesture Monday. As Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, he received the cardinal's ring in 1977 from Pope Paul VI, who named him cardinal of Munich.
Vatican sources said that the ring was kept by the Holy Father's brother Georg, 82, who is also a priest and who lives in Regensburg.
Monsignor Georg Ratzinger gave the Pope the ring on Monday, to give to the Blessed Virgin, to whom he is very devoted.
At the conclusion of his fourth day in Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI prayed with members of Germany’s Orthodox and Protestant community. Leading a Vesper service at Regensburg’s Cathedral, the Pontiff told those gathered that they must not loose track of what is central to their dialogue - their common belief in Christ - and that they should bear witness to their common faith “in such a way that it shines forth as the power of love.”
The liturgy, which was punctuated by German hymns, common to all traditions, also included traditional Orthodox chant and a response from leaders of all three Christian groups.
Pope Benedict began his reflection by welcoming the religious leaders and noting that at the heart of the liturgy is the praying of the Psalms, which connects the Christian church with Jewish believers as well. . . .
Pope Enjoys Private Time Near End of German TripDeutsche-Welle Sept. 13, 2006: Pope Benedict XVI knelt in prayer at the graves of his mother, father and sister on Wednesday in the emotional highpoint of his six-day visit to his native Bavaria.
. . . Today, kneeling next to his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, 82, who was standing supported by a walking stick, the Pope recollected himself in prayer for a while at the tomb, covered by red and white roses.
Written on the stone were the names of his parents -- his father, Joseph Ratzinger, who died in 1959; his mother, Maria, who died in 1963 -- and his sister, also called Maria, who died in 1991.
After praying, Benedict XVI blessed the tomb with holy water, a gesture which his brother then repeated.
. . . The Richardi family has also experienced the humility and openness of the Pope. Their friendship with him began at the end of the 1960’s. At that time Mr. Richardi was a professor at the same university where Ratzinger taught. “Here in Pentling he has always been sort of a member of the family,” said Margarete Richardi. It was Joseph Ratzinger who presided at the marriage of their two daughters and baptized their grandchildren. He also recently celebrated Mass for their 40th wedding anniversary.
The Richardis also told of how the whole family has adopted the Pope. Margarete recalled an instance when her grandson Sebastian, then two, said suddenly, “Cardinal, come here, I want to show you something.” A few minutes later she saw the two kneeling down on the floor and playing dominos together. . . .
REGENSBURG, Germany (CNS) -- The pope's entourage was treated to a kosher lunch at Regensburg's Jewish community center while Pope Benedict XVI dined with his brother. Bishop Gerhard Muller of Regensburg phoned representatives of the local Jewish community and asked if the synagogue community center could host 25 people Sept. 13 while the pope was eating lunch across the street in Msgr. Georg Ratzinger's apartment. The Regensburg Diocese offered to provide the food, but the Jewish community resisted. Any food that comes into the center has to be kosher, and the rabbi has to guarantee it. The synagogue committee suggested its members could provide kosher food for the group. And so the Vatican entourage was treated to a kosher buffet lunch.
In an address at the university where he was once a professor, Benedict XVI established the basis for dialogue between cultures and religions: a new relationship between faith and reason.
The Pope's proposal, presented in an address of an academic nature, resonated Tuesday afternoon in the University of Regensburg's main auditorium.
In this university, which now has 25,000 students, Joseph Ratzinger was vice rector and professor from 1969 to 1971. . . .
Speaking of the tremendous value of the organ as a liturgical instrument, the Pope reminded a group of his native Bavarians today that music and song are “themselves part of the liturgical action,” which makes us more capable, “of transforming the world.”
On what has been called his “private” day, Pope Benedict XVI remained in the town of Regensburg to take part in a brief ceremony to bless the refurbished organ of the historic Alte Kapelle. Earlier in the day, the 79 year old Pope had celebrated a private Mass at the city’s Seminary of St. Wolfgang.
. . . "May God bless you all," [Benedict] said, adding the Bavarian phrase "Vergelt's Gott," which means "May God repay you for your kindness."
"I want to thank you for your good neighborhood spirit; in our thoughts we will always remain connected," he said.
Then he walked out among the crowd, separated from the people only by a thin plastic band.
A police officer told Catholic News Service, "In Pentling, nobody is going to harm him.
Pope Urges Witness to Faith in Secularized World Zenit News Agency. Sept. 14, 2006. Benedict XVI bid farewell to Germany, summarizing the key message he wished to leave his homeland on his Bavaria visit: "Those who believe are never alone."
On the last day of his Bavarian Tour Pope Benedict XVI was greeted with applause and broad smiles as he addressed a gathering of priests and permanent deacons at the famed Cathedral of St. Mary in Freising, Germany. The Pontiff abandoned his prepared text to speak to the men from the heart of an Apostle, telling them to recognize the limits of their own powers and to rely upon the Lord. . . .
Pope Benedict XVI has delighted fellow Bavarians by wading into crowds and kissing babies, shedding the image of a dour theologian from his quarter-century at the Vatican.
He is not only growing into his job after 17 months in the papacy, but appears to enjoy it.
Munich, Altötting, Regensburg: Diary of a Pilgrimage of Faith, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa September 14, 2006. An anthology of the homilies and speeches delivered by Benedict XVI during his trip to Bavaria. “Faith’s vision embraces heaven and earth, past, present and future, eternity. And yet it is simple...”
Giving credit where credit is due, this post would not be possible were it for the excellent coverage of Amy Welborn (Open Book), Gerard Augustinus (Closed Cafeteria) and the fellow appreciators of Papa Benedict at the RatzingerForum).
Pope Benedict XVI Roundup!Greetings and welcome to another installment of the Pope Benedict Roundup, an occasional -- usually monthly -- roundup of news and commentary on the Holy Father and all things Benedict. You can view previous editions at the recently-established Benedict Blog, the blog of the Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club.
Pope Benedict XVI and the "Evolution Debate"
This weekend (September 2-3, 2006) Pope Benedict is taking some time to gather with a group of close friends, students and scholars in a private seminar to discuss the topic of Darwinian evolution. Ian Fisher ( Pope Benedict and his ex-students holding seminar on evolution, by Ian Fisher. The New York Times Sept. 2, 2006) reports on those attending:
As might be expected from a German professor, all sides of the evolution question will get a hearing, though with an emphasis on skepticism. The seminar on Friday reportedly began with a presentation by Peter Schuster, an eminent molecular biologist, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a defender of evolution.
There will be three other speakers to the study group, most notably Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, who sparked a contentious debate last year after he wrote an Op-Ed article for The New York Times questioning evolution. The article was submitted by the same public relations firm used by the Discovery Institute.
The two other speakers are Professor Robert Spaemann, a German philosopher who has criticized evolution as a full philosophical theory; and the Reverend Paul Elbrich, a Jesuit priest and scientist whose work on proteins questions whether chance alone could play the decisive role in evolution.
Insight Scoop's Mark Brumley also provides some useful information on the participants in the Schuelerkreis:
This meeting is not an official Vatican function. The participants are former theology students of Joseph Ratzinger who are interested in this topic but who are, for the most part, by no means experts on the subject, certainly not on the scientific details of it. Nor do they represent themselves as experts. Their expertise is theology.
To be sure, the organizers of the Schuelerkreis have asked some experts on evolution and philosophy to participate. But their participation seems aimed at helping the theologians present to discuss the subject matter with greater scientific and philosophical precision. There is no indication of a forthcoming formal agreement by theologians and scientists or formal statement on the subject once the discussion ends.
The seminar has been the source of much (and sometimes conflicting) speculatation by the press:
The New Scientist asserted that Benedict's intention was to "firm-up the Catholic Church’s stance on Darwinian evolution" in response to "mixed messages, with some senior figures supporting Darwinism and others denouncing it" (Papal summit to debate Darwinian evolution, by Andy Coughlan August 30, 2006)
And Time journalist Jeff Israely downplayed the notion of a "decisive shift' (The Pope and DarwinTime August 31, 2006):
. . . don't expect the Catholic Church to start disputing Darwin's basic findings, which Pope John Paul II in 1996 called "more than a hypothesis." Moreover, advocates of the teaching in U.S. schools of intelligent design — which holds that nature is so complex that it must be God's doing — should not count on any imminent Holy See document or papal pronouncement to help boost their cause. This weekend's private retreat is an annual gathering of the Pope's former theology students to freely discuss one topic of interest, without the aim of reaching any set conclusion.
Only a week ago, it was reported that Pope Benedict had "sacked" papal astronomer Fr. George Coyne over the evolution debate" (Simon Caldwell, Daily Mail. While Fr. Coyne submitted his need for chemotherapy treatment as the reason for stepping down from his post, his criticism of Cardinal Schonborn in the August 2005 London Tablet and alleged reputation for "theologically risque statements", together with Schonborn's invitation to address this weekend's seminar, no doubt prompted some of the speculation by the press surrounding the event.
Whatever the findings of the natural sciences, they will not contradict Christian faith, since ultimately the truth is one;
As a scientific matter, the evidence for "micro-evolution" seems beyond doubt; the case for "macro-evolution" is less persuasive.
Evolution has become a kind of "first philosophy" for enlightened thinkers, ruling out the possibility that life has any ultimate meaning. Here Christianity must draw the line.
On the moral level, the widespread acceptance of evolution as a "first philosophy" is dangerous.
Update [9-3-06]: Reuters Religion editor Tom Heneghan provides a good post-discussion report: Pope and former students ponder evolution, not "ID" Reuters, Sept. 3, 2006. "The three-day closed-door meeting at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome ended as planned without drawing any conclusions but the group plans to publish its discussion papers, said Father Joseph Fessio S.J."
Pope Benedict and the Middle East
"Our Lord Has Conquered With a Love Capable of Going to Death" Zenit News Service offers a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during a ceremony for Mideast peace over which he presided in the church of Rhemes-Saint-Georges in the Aosta Valley (July 25, 2006):
The Lord has conquered on the cross. He has not conquered with a new empire, with a force that is more powerful than others, capable of destroying them; he has not conquered in a human manner, as we imagine, with an empire stronger than the other. He has conquered with a love capable of going to death.
This is God's new way of conquering: He does not oppose violence with a stronger violence. He opposes violence precisely with the contrary: with love to the end, his cross. This is God's humble way of overcoming: With his love -- and only thus is it possible -- he puts a limit to violence. This is a way of conquering that seems very slow to us, but it is the true way of overcoming evil, of overcoming violence, and we must trust this divine way of overcoming.
To trust means to enter actively in this divine love, to participate in this endeavor of pacification, to be in line with what the Lord says: "Blessed are the peacemakers, the agents of peace, because they are the sons of God" . . .
Precisely at this time, a time of great abuse of the name of God, we have need of the God who overcomes on the cross, who does not conquer with violence, but with his love. Precisely at this time we have need of the Face of Christ to know the true Face of God and so be able to take reconciliation and light to this world. For this reason, together with love, with the message of love, we must also take the testimony of this God, of God's victory, precisely through the nonviolence of his cross.
With the war in Lebanon, the Vatican's Middle East policies under Pope Benedict XVI have come into clearer focus.
To the surprise of some, they look just like the policies of Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican's insistent call for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon has highlighted a basic disagreement with the United States and some other Western governments. Backing Israel, the U.S. wants a cease-fire conditioned on a wider accord ultimately aimed at disarming Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.
The pope, on the other hand, has urged all sides to lay down their weapons now, saying nothing can be gained by the current fighting.
Lebanon and Clashes of Civilization: How to Recognize the Enemy, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa. August 22, 2006: "More Gospel and less diplomacy: this is the new course set by Benedict XVI. But geopolitics also has its reasons." The theses of Vittorio E. Parsi, Giulio Andreotti, and the Jesuit scholar of Islam Samir K. Samir. Plus a comprehensive analysis by Pietro De Marco. (With Reactions and discussion on Amy Welborn's Open Book).
Revisiting a topic from our last roundup, here is the complete translation of the address Benedict XVI gave on sacred music, delivered in the Sistine Chapel on June 24, 2006, after a concert sponsored by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation.
In one form or another, the headlines all read, “Pope Forbids Guitars” (although my favorite variation appeared in the Irish News: “Pope’s Rock Rap Hits Just the Right Chord”).
But Benedict XVI didn’t really ban guitars, or any other instrument. He just urged that music for the Mass should be modernized within a path already set by Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony. . . .
"The Universal Dimension of Social Charity" - on Deus Caritas Est Zenit has published a translation of an essay by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, on Benedict XVI's encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est." The essay, adapted here, was first published in L'Osservatore Romano.
From Second Spring, we have The Future of Love, another reading of the encyclical by John Milbank, "Radical Orthodox" theologian and Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Virginia.
The September 2006 issue of Journal of Lutheran Ethics is devoted to a discussion of the Pope's encyclical.
Bishop Cripaldi: "Social Doctrine Lies at Heart of Encyclical" Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, says that Benedict XVI's first encyclical reflects the entire social teaching of the Church. Zenit News publishes an adapted translation of his commentary which first appeared in the May 13 issue of L'Osservatore Romano.
In a June 2006 issue of the New Oxford Review (Is the Catholic Church Going the Way of the Episcopal Church?), editor Dale Vree delivered some blistering criticism of Benedict's handling of the issue of homosexuality in the clergy ("The defining moment of Pope Benedict's papacy so far has been the document on homosexuals in the seminaries, and he flubbed it"). Vree even goes so far as to seemingly give credence to the liberal spin on the encyclical as a vehicle for recognizing "the anthropological validity of homosexuality and homosexual relationships" (citing Father James Alison Holy Redeemer Parish in San Francisco).
As I pointed out in previous posts, anybody can spin an encyclical -- in fact, it is the modus operandi of the Left to selectively quote and provide justification for their agenda with every document that comes out of the Vatican, as we can discern from the varying reactions chronicled here:
Deus Caritas Est (Pope Benedict XVI Online) (encyclical, reactions, criticisms)
What some found problematic is that, while many rebuffed the spin on the encyclical by liberal pundits, Vree declined to do so and even appears to grant it a certain legitimacy. In Benedict and the Lavender Mafia (Musings of a Pertinacious Papist July 25, 2006), Dr. Blosser deflect some of the criticism by explaining what he presumes to be Vree's intentions in writing the editorial. Did he succeed? -- You can render your verdict in the combox.
Other News and Commentary
The Activist Trap, National Review contributor Colleen Carroll Campbell examines Pope Benedict's caution to Christians concerning "faith based political activism":
The activist trap that Pope Benedict warns against is a common and familiar one: The temptation to align too closely with a particular political party and demonize opponents, to equate one’s personal judgments with the eternal truths of the faith, and to define “the Christian position” on every policy issue, thus losing focus on the few fundamental moral questions where authentic Christian witness is most countercultural and most needed. Lurking beneath those temptations is the one Benedict criticizes most forcefully: The human urge to use social and political activism to distract from our deepest questions, most intimate struggles, and most urgent longings for truth, goodness, beauty — and God.
While Benedict’s admonition against utopian social schemes and a materialist worldview seems particularly relevant to a Catholic liberals influenced by Marxist theories, conservatives should also beware becoming co-opted by political parties, hardened by ideology, negligent in charity, and hollowed out by incessant activity. In some ways, conservatives may need to hear Benedict’s message more than liberals. Those who believe most fervently in the socially transformative power of personal responsibility and personal conversion and in the existence of universal moral laws cannot expect to change the world through external activity and political victories alone. Their hope must lie in something deeper and more enduring, in the transcendent truths that can only be discovered in silence, solitude, and contemplation. As we leave summer behind and head into another contentious campaign season, Benedict’s advice — that we slow down, be still, and ponder the principles that inspire our activism — could not be more timely.
Pope Benedict brings new style to Vatican August 24, 2006. Philip Pullella, Reuters' Senior Correspondent in Rome, reflects on how the new Pope had introduced a change in style from his predecessor, Pope John Paul II:
A much more reserved man than his predecessor, Benedict has installed a new, quieter style in the Vatican's "Sacred Palaces", as the Holy See's buildings are known in Italian.
A German, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger lets few "outsiders" into his private apartments, so hints of what is on his mind rarely trickle out.
Even Vatican officials on other floors in the papal palace say they sometimes have trouble guessing what the Pope will decide.
One source famously told me during the first year of the papacy: "I can assure you, we not only know zero, we know less than zero."
On Benedict XVI and Ecumenism August 21, 2006. Zenit News interviews Manuel González Muñana, professor of ecumenism at the San Pelagio Seminary in Cordoba, is author of "Ecumenismo y Nuevos Movimientos Eclesiales" (Ecumenism and New Ecclesial Movements), recently published by Monte Carmelo.
Pope chose unpretentious and thoughtful Bertone as Secretary of State within first months of Pontificate Catholic News Agency. August 18, 2006. An article published in the Italian journal “Il Riformista” provides a unique glimpse into the man Pope Benedict XVI chose to head what is arguably the most important dicastery of the Vatican. A surprising choice many Vatican insiders say, decided almost a year before it was announced.
Amy Welborn (Open Book) provides excerpts from an interview with Bertone (from the Italian Il Giornale), along with an explanation of the responsibilities of the office.
"We pray to the Lord that the sacrifice of his life will contribute to consolidate the commitment to peace and solidarity of all those who have the future of humanity at heart," the Pope added.
A day before Brother Roger's death, Benedict XVI received an affectionate letter from him in which he assured him of his ecumenical community's intention to "walk in communion with the Holy Father."
Pope Benedict XVI's interview with broadcasters Bayerische Rundfunk, Deutsche Welle, ZDF and Vatican Radio was held at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo on Aug. 5, 2006. The interview was conducted in German and translated and authorized by the Vatican. A transcript of Benedict XVI's interview is provided by Vatican Radio as well as a audio recording [RealAudio format]. Video of the interview is also available online.
“It is not by chance that I wanted to start my first encyclical letter with the words of this Apostle: ‘God is love’ (Deus caritas est); those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them’ (1 Jn 4:16). It is very difficult to find such writings in other religions. And so such expressions bring us face to face with a fact that is truly unique to Christianity.”
Starting out not from “an abstract treatment, but from a real experience of love, with direct and concrete reference, that may even be verified, to real people”, John highlights the components of Christian love that the pope summed up in three points. . . .
Ever since he coined the term “the dictatorship of relativism” shortly before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, the phrase has continued to haunt me. At first glance it sounds like an oxymoron: How can a relativist seek to impose a dictatorship? Aren’t dictators called absolutists for a reason? If we define a relativist as someone who says that ethical norms vary from one community to the next and from one period of history to the next, how can a relativist forbid the moral norms that another community chooses to live by? But, of course, that happens all the time, as when Catholic Charities in California is ordered by a court to provide contraceptive costs in the medical insurance plans for their employees. Personally, I think David Bentley Hart is right, who once told me in conversation that there are no relativists, except maybe a few sophomores in a dorm on the campus of Arizona State University. . . .
During his summer vacation in northern Italy, Pope Benedict was reported to be working on a new book and encyclical (Catholic News Agency, Jul. 18, 2006):
According to Salvatore Mazza, special correspondent for the Italian daily Avvenire, “It seems that, among other things, he has in his hands the book which he was writing before being elected to succeed John Paul II...a theological text.”
The book, according to other sources close to the Vatican, will consider Christ and his relation to the human race, as well as the relationship between Christianity and the other world religions.
Another work that may be occupying the Pontiff’s time prior his trip to Germany in September, is a new social encyclical centered on the value of human work.
The previously noted sources speculate that the work may take the name, “Labor Domini,” or, “The Work of the Lord.” The encyclical is to speak about a Christian view of human labor, of the importance of work in society, and of work as a human necessity and duty.
"I am learning how to be the pope", by Salvatore Mazza. Avvenire. A translation of the article kindly provided by Teresa Bendetta, relayed by Closed Cafeteria.
The August, 2006 issue of Inside the Vatican features an interview with Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ. Founder and director of Ignatius Press (leading publisher of Pope Benedict's works in English), co-founder of Adoremus, and Provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, Fessio completed his doctoral thesis on "The Ecclesiology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar" under then Professor Joseph Ratzinger, at the University of Regensburg, Bavaria in 1975.
In his interview, Fr. Fessio addresses various issues of B16's first year, including the expectation that "many of his supporters expected a tough crackdown on dissenters in the Church," the significance of recent appointments in the Curia; the appointment of Cardinal Levada as new prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, liturgical renewal and the prospect of a "universal indult" for the celebration of the Tridentine liturgy.
Back in 2004 when I wrote my weekly columns about the Eucharistic Prayers, I lingered over the consecration of the Precious Blood in four articles. In those articles I exposed the bad philological arguments used to justity the bad translation "for all". To my knowledge no one had ever looked at it from that angle before. My old boss and still great friend, His Eminence Augustine Card. Mayer, one of the holiness men on earth, gave my articles to his close friend and colleague Joseph Card. Ratzinger. Soon thereafter I had a note from his Eminence (now His Holiness) about those articles. Also, I was able to write something up for a certain Prefect of a certain Congregation on this point. . . .
Journalist Peter Seewald does. After writing an unfair attack on Cardinal Ratzinger, he was urged by Catholic readers to meet with the man he was maligning. He did so—and the result was two book-length interviews, Salt of the Earth and God and the World. Seewald also returned to his Catholic faith, saying that Ratzinger was the one who “taught me what it meant to swim against the stream.”
This book, written mainly by Seewald, describes the paths of Joseph Ratzinger’s life from his birthplace in Bavaria all the way to being the first German Pope in 482 years. It is illuminated with a stunning collection of some of the most personal, and most surprising, photographs. These show the Pope as he really is: “a humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord”.
In Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feasts, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) masterfully weaves together Scripture, history, literature and theology as he reflects on major feasts of the liturgical calendar. In each chapter, he examines works of sacred art that illustrate the hope we celebrate in our most important Christian holy days.
What do the humble ox and ass at the manger of the Christ Child tell us about Christmas? In an icon of Christ's Ascension, what do the Savior's hands held in blessing promise us? What is the meaning of the sword held by the great statue of Saint Paul before the Roman church that bears his name?
These and many other questions are explored with depth and sensitivity in this collection of meditations by the man who became Pope Benedict XVI. Several beautiful colored images of the relevant paintings, mosaics and sculptures accompany the rich and detailed text.
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, writes eloquently and persuasively about how one can live as a serious Christian in today’s secular world. He talks in depth about the true meaning of faith, hope, and love--the love of God and the love of neighbor. He also discusses at length the crucial importance of a lived faith, for the believer himself as well as being a witness for our age, and striving to bring faith in line with the present age that has veered off into rampant secularism and materialism. He passionately encourages the reader to practice a deep, abiding Christian faith that seeks to be at the service of humanity.
As Joseph Ratzinger mentions in the preface, "the book presents in written form three sermons that the author preached in the Cathedral at Muenster to a congregation from the Catholic Student Chaplaincy, December 13-15, 1964."
Ignatius Insight recently published an excerpt from the text: Why Do We Need Faith?.
"Suited Up", by Michelle Arnold. Apparently radical Traditionalist site Tradition In Action has blown a gasket over a photograph of Then-Cardinal Ratzinger wearing a Suit. (TIC mistakes it for a recent photo of the Pope on vacation, while others have dated the photo to a retreat the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his brother took together in 2004).
More than anything, though, the shot underlines the strong bond the Pope enjoys with his one living relative, his older brother Msgr Georg Ratzinger. The two were ordained priests together in 1951, share a deep affinity for music (the Papstbruder served for many years as director of the famed choir of Regensburg Cathedral), and on next month's Bavarian homecoming, little brother Joseph has blocked out a private day with Msgr Georg at the home the former built on a cul-de-sac, which then-Cardinal Ratzinger was anxiously looking forward to retiring to.... For those who've forgotten, everything porcelain and feline decorates the house in the Regensburg suburb of Pentling. (The other Ratzinger sibling, Maria, served as her brother's housekeeper and companion until her death in 1991.)
Eggs Pope Benedict, by Jimmy Akin: "While wandering the Web sniffing out something to blog about, my nose latched onto an aroma of eggs. Curious, I checked it out. Apparently, in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's election, some people were having a bit of good-natured fun with the new pope's chosen name."
Matthias Beier's Pope Benedict XVI: The First Year (Tikkun, July 2006) gets the nomination for the most ridiculous appraisal of B16's first year in office, beginning with a demand for the Pope to "put on the table" his title as Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church as a "true test for openeness to ecumenical dialogue." Mr. Beir finds the Holy Father deficient on all counts -- from his activity on "peace and justice issues" to interreligious dialogue to his "attitude towards Islam."
Even Benedict's reminder to the European Union of its “indispensable Christian roots" is found to be "dangerously reminiscent of the Nazi Christian argument that Jews had no place in a Christian country such as Germany." Beir ends his indictment with a demand that Benedict retract the claims of the "extremely inflammatory 2000 statement" Dominus Iesus and invite "Eugen Drewermann, Joan Chittester, Matthew Fox, Hans Kung, and Leonardo Boff, to a truly open dialogue."
Matthias Beir is a Methodist pastor and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Fordham University, and has recently published what he boasts is "a comprehensive analysis of a violent and fear-driven God-image in the heritage of the Judeo-Christian tradition from a theological, philosophical, and psychoanalytic perspective." Nice 'ecumenical' spirit, his.
While some Catholic readers will be prompted to wonder what he is doing teaching at a Jesuit school, Carl Olson (Insight Scoop) protests: "what is most bothersome to me is not that Beier teaches at Fordham, but that someone who demonstrates the rhetorical acumen of Howard Dean and the polemical touch of a Jack Chick teaches at a university."
"Sacred polyphony," the Holy Father said Saturday after a concert held in his honor by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation, "especially the so-called 'Roman school,' is a legacy that must be carefully conserved, maintained alive and made known."
It will be of "benefit not only to scholars and enthusiasts, but to the ecclesial community as a whole, for which it represents an inestimable spiritual, artistic and cultural heritage," the Pope said, after the concert in the Sistine Chapel.
"An authentic updating of sacred music cannot occur except in line with the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian Chant, and of sacred polyphony," the Pontiff added.
Pope Benedict XVI has harshed on guitars in Mass, according to various media reports. I don’t see why you need the Pope to tell you that if you walk into a sanctuary and see a drum riser where the altar should be that you may want to get the heck out of dodge, but I guess some of us do need a bit of guidance. . . .
Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, a member of the International Theological Commission, recently presented 8 Keys to Reading Joseph Ratzinger's Work at the closing the first course of Specialization in Religious Information, organized by the University of the Holy Cross (Zenit News, June 25, 2006).
During the three years Cardinal Bertone has led the diocese, the Holy Father tells the faithful in his letter, "you have learned to appreciate those gifts and qualities that make him a faithful pastor, especially capable of combining pastoral care and doctrinal wisdom.
"It is precisely these characteristics, together with the mutual understanding and trust we developed over our years of shared service at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that have induced me to choose him for this exalted and delicate task in the service of the Universal Church at the Holy See.
"I know that I have asked a great sacrifice of Cardinal Bertone; and I know that the sacrifice of the faithful entrusted to his care in Genoa is no less, but I am certain that his affection and his prayers for your community will be brought 'ad Petri sedem.' The history of your diocese demonstrates your generous fidelity to the Vicar of Christ, to which I appeal also by virtue of the name I chose for my own Petrine ministry: the name of the last Genovese Pope, so devoted to the 'Madonna della Guardia.' To her I entrust you all in this moment of change, delicate but full of grace, because 'in everything God works for good with those who love Him.'
Meanwhile, Richard Owen of the London Times notes some lamentation of the appointment: "Critics said that putting a Ratzinger-Bertone alliance at the top of the Vatican hierarchy meant that the Church would be in the hands of "arch-conservatives" at a time when many Catholics, especially in the Third World, are calling for reform." (Pope promotes 'hardliner' in reshuffle of his top team June 22, 2006).
His decision to attend the World Meeting of Families is a public affirmation of the invaluable worth he places on the family. We have already seen in just the year since his election that renewing the family is a priority of his pontificate.
His first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, gives much attention to the love between a man and a woman, how human love, especially eros, must be connected to divine love and the good of children, and the important role of love in the public life.
And since the family is the first school of love, we can infer that a healthy family is essential to a healthy society.
In late May 2006, Pope Benedict devoted his weekly audience to the topic of the primacy of St. Peter. Teresa Polk (Blog by the Sea) provides us with a roundup of links to B16's addresses and commentary.
In Pope or Heretic? An Evaluation of Benedict XVI, Jacob Michael of LumenGentleman Apologetics, examines some of the quotations from Benedict (whether Pope or Cardinal Ratzinger) which are cited as "proof" of heresy, and finds them wanting. According to Jaconb,:
. . . the problem lies in the "hermeneutic of suspicion" that so many well-intentioned Catholics fall into; a kind of cynicism that takes a defensive approach to any Church document issued after the reign of Pope Pius XII. Heresy hunting is easy; words by their very nature require interpretation, and most words can be bent, twisted, and taken to conclusions that the speaker or author never intended. As a former Protestant, I am more than well-acquainted with this fact; this "hermeneutic of suspicion" is the grid through which I learned to read the Catholic Church's teachings. The worst possible motive is always assumed; if something can be interpreted in either a good sense or a bad sense, the bad sense is presumed to be the sense intended, and false conclusions are drawn. . . . It is not difficult to see this principle at work in the way some choose to receive and deal with the council, and especially with papal teachings and actions. . . .
Concludes Jacob: "I have yet to see a quote that wasn't ripped from its context, squeezed through the filter of deep suspicion, interpreted in the worst possible light, and isolated from other statements within the body of Benedict XVI's work." As it was for John Paul II, so it is for Benedict XVI. Pray for the Pope, and his enemies as well. (Article via Rorate Caeli).
In Benedict XVI and the "Real Presence", the blog Hallowed Ground diffuses a charge that Benedict "once taught against the practice of eucharistic adoration and has even promoted heresy with respect to the Real Presence" with further citation from his writings.
Series of Reflections on Deus Caritas Est Since early May, L'Osservatore Romano has been running a series of reflections on Benedict XVI's first encyclical, with contributions by Cardinal Renato Martino, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, Bishop Rino Fisichella, Cardinal Angelo Scola and Archbishop Paul Cordes. Zenit News Service has a roundup of commentary with the highlights.
Lajolo and Kasper, Two New Additions to Team Ratzingerwww.Chiesa June 7, 2006. Sandro Magister profiles archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Secretary for Relations with States (or the Vatican's foreign minister) and Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, discussing how their thought has developed in relation to "new course charted by pope Ratzinger."
Those familiar with the RatzingerFanClub's archive will remember the frequent intellectual disputes between Ratzinger and Kasper on ecumenism (provoked by the publication of Dominus Iesus) and ecclesiology (see our special compilation on The Ratzinger-Kasper Debate). Consequently, to hear Magister speak of "the new “ratzingerian” course" charted by Kasper and a convergence of thought, particularly on ecumenism, is indeed an occasion for hope. Magister covered this same issue back in March 2005, in which he described an address by Kasper as "a cold shower for the Church's left wing." (Kasper and Kolvenbach, Converts to the Neocon Waywww.Chiesa March 8, 2005).
Even the Pope has Rights: The Vatican and Copyright Privileges, by Philip F. Lawler. Ignatius Insight May 2006. The editor of the Catholic World Report provides much-needed clarification on a topic about which there was much confusion and misinformation:
In January a Vatican correspondent for La Stampa, Marco Tosatti, had received a bill from LEV, demanding payment of 15,000 pounds (at the time, about $18,400) for the use of material by Pope Benedict. Not coincidentally, it was Tosatti who led the editorial charge when La Stampa criticized the Vatican for asserting control of the Pope's intellectual-property rights.
But Tosatti's use of Pope Benedict's written work was not a matter of a simple quotation or two. The Italian journalist had published a book entitled The Dictionary of Pope Ratzinger, composed almost entirely of the Pope's spoken and written words. In his preface to the book, Tosatti had assured readers: "Everything you will find here, beyond this introduction, comes from the pen or the voice of Joseph Ratzinger." In short, Tossati had tried to do precisely what he now charged Vatican officials with doing: make a profit by publishing the Pope's work.
Lawler clarifies the nature and demands of the copyright policy of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV) and its affect on papal press and journalism.
Deus Caritas Est is a declaration of war, and it is loaded with ammunition—much of it stealth in design, and of such power that the Church under Benedict XVI will certainly be the Church Militant. For while on the surface Benedict only seems to be offering a theological platitude, that “God is love,” hidden to the hasty eyes of the press, buried in the intricacies of his philosophical and theological analysis, obscured from all but those initiated into Benedict’s inner circle, he really is declaring that God is love.
It will become clear—as we dig into the encyclical—that a more dangerous and constructive idea for our culture could not be imagined. It’s a brilliant strategy on Benedict’s part to hide so explosive a truth under a simple truism.
Meekness and courage of the Pope in Poland: Benedict XVI in the land of Karol Wojtyla, by Marco Tosatti. 30 Giorni [30 Days] May 2006. "Of Benedict XVI’s visit many different images remain in the memory: from the homage to his predecessor to the human warmth of the crowd. From the defense of Tradition to the solicitude of the visit to Auschwitz. An account by the Vatican expert of La Stampa."
The Story of Joseph Ratzinger: "The difficult years", by Gianni Valente (in collaboration with Pierluca Azzaro). 30 Giorni [30 Days] May 2006. "Former colleagues and students speak of Professor Ratzinger on the theological campus of Tübingen. Where his unrepentant adhesion to the reforms of the Council was put to the test by clerical triumphalism and middle-class foot-dragging."
Pope to India; India to Pope - Interesting discussion on Amy Welborn's Open Book on Pope Benedict's May 18, 2006 address to Amitava Tripathi, India's new ambassador to the Holy See (in which he noted "the disturbing signs of religious intolerance which have troubled some regions [in India], including the reprehensible attempt to legislate clearly discriminatory restrictions on the fundamental right of religious freedom"); the indignant protest of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP); and the papal appointment of Cardinal Ivan Dias, formerly the Archbishop of Bombay, to Prefect of Evangelization of Peoples.
If Cardinal Dias' personal opinion of Dominus Iesus is any indication, he is a man after Benedict's heart and the perfect guy for the job (Source: AmericanCatholic.Org:
. . . Speaking to reporters in Rome shortly after [Dominus Iesus] was released, the then-archbishop said, "It is a reaffirmation of what we believe and what we think," namely that "Jesus is the only savior of the world."
"We have a right to say who we are, and others can accept it or not," he said.
Giving strength to the suspicion that the document was prompted particularly by the interreligious efforts of Asian theologians, and especially those working in India, he said clarity was needed in countries where the vast majority of people are not Christian.
Sandro Magister has more:
As the new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the pope has called an Indian, cardinal Ivan Dias, 70, who has been archbishop of Bombay for ten years, but before that served at the secretariat of state and as a diplomat in many countries, including Albania (his last diplomatic post), and before that South Korea, Ghana, Indonesia, and Sweden, without counting the dozens of countries he followed as a Vatican observer, including Russia, China, Vietnam, and South Africa. He has learned many languages, speaking eighteen fluently having some familiarity with others.
But even though this skill is very much adapted to his role, it is not the only reason why Benedict XVI chose him as the new prefect of “Propaganda Fide.” Much more influential was the fact that cardinal Dias, who has an excellent understanding of the Eastern religions, has never surrendered to that “relativism” of faiths that Ratzinger condemned in 2000 with the most important of his actions as the cardinal custodian of doctrine, the declaration “Dominus Iesus.”
As archbishop of Bombay, Dias has on a number of occasions complained of the fact that the Jesuits, excessively enthusiastic supporters of interreligious dialogue, play the master in the seminaries of India. His goal was to evangelize and convert, and each year he administered many baptisms. Before the last conclave he was listed among the candidates for the papacy, but in reality he was one of Ratzinger’s most resolute supporters.
Pope Benedict, the Holy Grail and El Cid, by Robert Duncan. Spero News July 6, 2006. "Truth is, Benedict has a tough row to how in Valencia. He doesn't only have to worry about just the Holy Grail, but the whole Cathedral for that matter is fraught with imagery . . ."
Fr. Andrew Greeley:"Give B16 A Break!" - Jimmy Akin wonders, "is it just me or does it seem to anyone else that Fr. Andrew Greeley -- priest, novelist, sociologist, Catholic progressive -- is mellowing in his old age? A few months ago, he was in the press defending Francis Cardinal George of Chicago against unfounded allegations of apathy on the priest abuse issue; now he's come out swinging for Pope Benedict XVI."
Just another day at the square with some friends . . . San Peter's Square, that is, as Pope Benedict XVI leads a liturgy of Vespers on the eve of Pentecost Sunday. June 3, 2006. Argent by the Tiber has some great photographs, both of the Holy Father and the crowd's reaction.
Baby Benedict gets Letter from Pope "The personalised note on Vatican headed-notepaper arrived on baby Benedict's doorstep after officials in Rome learned the tot had been named after the Pope, with whom he also shares a birthday." Lancanshire Evening Post June 28, 2006.
That's One Happy Pope - serene in the peace and love of Christ. Inspiring photos from Closed Cafeteria.
Another Pope Forum - Amy Welborn, longtime follower of The Papa Ratzinger Forum, announces her discovery of The Ratzinger Forum -- not exactly "run" by yours truly, the forum took on a life of its own with the election of Pope Benedict XVI and pretty much runs itself. Forum participation requires a (free) EzBoard account registration and formal application to the RFC Forum -- requiring a bit of patience, but verification measures were instituted due to some extremely perverse attempts at sabotage by those irate over the new Pope.
. . . the Pope, together with his trusty secretary, Msgr Georg Ganswein, and the four laywomen of the Memores Domini who assist in the papal apartment, will be spending Tuesday night watching the World Cup semifinal pitting the German pontiff's native side against the Italians.
This news comes from no less a source than Ganswein, who told the ADNKronos news agency that, indeed, Germany-Italy "is at the center" of discussion and interest in the papal apartments. A big-screen television is being brought in just for the occasion, to boot.
But who's the Ratzi-Bear rooting for? While Ganswein readily admitted to waving the flag for Germany, and the MD contingent are hard-core Italy fans, he made it known that "The Pope is always impartial and will have as great a heart on Tuesday for Germany as for the team of blue," a reference to the Italian side.
And now for the latest bit of sheer idiocy from the "Catholic" fringe: What does Pope Benedict XVI have in common with President George Bush, Prince William, Paul McCartney, Bill Clinton, Metallica, The Beatles, and Spiderman?!? (Source: PrisonPlanet.com)?
Below we see Benedict XVI giving El Diablo (the devil) sign. This satanic gesture is popular among Satanists and satanic rock groups. Many give this satanic hand gesture without knowing it because they’re taken over by the evil spirit. Some point out that the devil sign is similar to the hand gesture for “I love you” in sign language. That’s true, but that’s probably because the inventor of the deaf signing system, Helen Keller, was herself an occultist . . . Some believe that she designed the “I love you” sign to correspond with the devil sign so that one making it would be saying that he or she loves Satan.
Regardless, we believe that below Benedict XVI is giving the devil sign – the double devil sign, in fact – and that he knows what he’s doing.
How quickly time passes! A year has already elapsed since the cardinals gathered in conclave and, in a way I found absolutely unexpected and surprising, desired to choose my poor self to succeed the late and beloved Servant of God, the great Pope John Paul II. I remember with emotion my first impact with the faithful gathered in this same square, from the central loggia of the basilica, immediately after my election.
That meeting is still impressed upon my mind and heart. It was followed by many others that have given me an opportunity to experience the deep truth of my words at the solemn concelebration with which I formally began to exercise my Petrine ministry: "I too can say with renewed conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone" (L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, April 27, 2005, p. 2).
And I feel more and more that alone I could not carry out this task, this mission. But I also feel that you are carrying it with me: Thus, I am in a great communion and together we can go ahead with the Lord's mission. The heavenly protection of God and of the saints is an irreplaceable support to me and I am comforted by your closeness, dear friends, who do not let me do without the gift of your indulgence and your love. I offer very warm thanks to all those who in various ways support me from close at hand or follow me from afar in spirit with their affection and their prayers. I ask each one to continue to support me, praying to God to grant that I may be a gentle and firm Pastor of his Church. . . .
Catholic bloggers, pundits and the world continue to assess the one-year anniversary of Benedict XVI's pontificate and his election on April 19, 2005.
In our April 2006 Benedict Roundup, we took a look at some rather mediocre (hence, disappointing) reviews by the likes of Stephen Crittenden, John Cornwell and Hans Kung -- with USA Today's Eric Lyman distinguishing himself by being able to mention JPII and B16 in the same paragraph without succumbing to the urge to lambast John Paul II's teaching on sexuality. This time around we'll see what some of our Catholic pundits and members of St. Blog's Parish have to say.
The Pope appears unlikely to clean house by showing the door to unruly family members. As I've often suggested before, demographics are at least as likely to winnow the chaff as juridical measures and would be far less costly. Instead, Benedict proposes the true, the good, and the beautiful; he calls the false, the evil, and the ugly by their right names; and he invites all, by example as well as word, to conversion of heart. Unlike some of my fellow conservative Catholics, I've come to believe that, for the moment at least, that's about as nasty as he needs to be.
That day a year ago is impossible to forget. It was thrilling and mystifying. Why were we all so fascinated, even the secular media? I was watching one of the nets and an anchor said, "I'm getting chills" - it's sobering, really, to think about it - that the election of a Pope could produce so much interest in what we thought was such a cynical world. . . .
Great recollections of that amazing day, together with some great memories from her readers.
Remarking on the tendency of many pundits to note that the Pope turned out to be not what they had expected -- which is to say, a far cry from his former incarnation as "God's Rottweiler," Guy Selvester (Shouts in the Piazza) wonders "Who is different?"
" Pope and Abbot", by Christopher Ruddy. America Vol. 194 No. 19. May 29, 2006:
. . . If his pontificate remains embryonic, a clear portrait of the man has begun to emerge: Pope Benedict the abbot. If John Paul II was above all a witness, carrying the truth about Christ and humanity to all peoples and places, I suggest that Benedict can be summed up as an abbot concerned with leading his community to a deeper encounter with God through prayer and service. Where John Paul was a “sender,” concerned primarily with the church’s mission, Benedict is a “gatherer,” concerned primarily with its communion.
This is God's Rottweiler? John Paul's enforcer? The man who bluntly told the Cardinals last year that they must clean the stables of the "filth" that had entered the church? According to those who have followed the work and life of Joseph Ratzinger—now Pope Benedict—this is the real him: the teacher, the thinker, the ponderer of deepest meanings.
Among the novelties he has introduced during his first year as pope – which comes to completion this Easter week – there is one that Joseph Ratzinger has a special fondness for. So much so that has repeated it several times.
It is the practice of public discussions in question and answer format. Benedict XVI arrives and greets those present, but doesn’t speak from a prepared text. He simply fields questions. And he responds to each of them, spontaneously. . . .
Pope Benedict XVI's Rookie Year?, by Mark Brumley (Insight Scoop ) -- a convenient roundup of "the deluge of articles" from the mainstream media.
Assessing the first year of Pope Benedict XVI - ReligionLink.org provides a helpful "cheat sheet" for pundits covering the issue, with an overview of the major events and issues in B16's first year, a list of the books on Benedict XVI published during his first year, and a contact list of Catholic pundits and talking heads.
Finally, an appraisal of Benedict's First Twelve Months by Lee Hudson Teslik of the Council on Foreign Relations turns out to be (unintentionally) amusing/disturbing, assessing Benedict's pontificate with chief attention given to the Church's stance on contraception and condom-use in Africa.
From the March 2006 issue of 30 Giorni [30 Days], Tradition and freedom: the lectures of the young Joseph, by Gianni Valente, on "the first years of Professor Ratzinger’s teaching in Bonn and Münster, as remembered by his students":
In his autobiography Ratzinger depicts the first months of teaching in Bonn as "a feast of first love". All his students from that time well remember the undergraduate grapevine that made them crowd to the lessons of the enfant prodige theologian. The scholar of Judaism Peter Kuhn, who was to become assistant lecturer under Professor Ratzinger in the years of teaching at Tubingen, says:
"I was then a twenty-year-old Lutheran. I was attending the Evangelical Theological Faculty, after following the lessons of Karl Barth in Basle. I knew the Bavarian Vinzenz Pfnür, who had followed Ratzinger straight from Freising. He told me: listen, we have an interesting professor, he’s worth the trouble of listening to, even if you are a Protestant. At the first seminar, I thought immediately: this man is really not like the other Catholic teachers I know."
In his manuscript Horst Ferdinand goes on:
"The lectures were prepared down to the millimeter. He gave them by paraphrasing the text that he’d prepared with formulations that at times seemed to fit together like a mosaic, with a wealth of images that reminded me of Romano Guardini. In some lectures, as in the pauses in a concert, you could have heard a pin drop"
The Redemptorist Viktor Hahn, who was the first student to “doctor” himself with Ratzinger, adds:
"The room was always packed, the students adored him. He had a beautiful and simple language. The language of a believer".
What was it that so gripped the students in those lessons given out in a soft, concentrated tone, without theatrical gestures? It’s clear that what the young professor had to say was not of his making. That he was not the protagonist. "I have never sought," Ratzinger himself explains in the book-interview The Salt of the Earth, "to create a system of my own, my own particular theology. If one really wants to speak of specificity, it’s a matter simply of the fact that I set myself to think together with the faith of the Church, and that means thinking above all with the great thinkers of the faith."
The March 2006 issue of the Communion & Liberation periodical Traces includes a special section on Deus Caritas Est, reprinting the encyclical in full along with several supplements: "The Splendor of Charity", commentary on the second part of the encyclical by Massimo Camisasca (see also his commentary on part I: "The Humanity of Faith"); "Gratuitousness in action", a collection of comments from C&L members inspired by the encyclical; From Evangelization to Education, by Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete. (Thanks to Fred of Deep Furrows).
Pope Benedict XVI, Mozart and the Quest of Beauty, AD2000 Vol 19 No 3 (April 2006). "His music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy of human existence." Mark Freer, organist and choirmaster for the Latin Mass at Holy Name Church in Adelaide, Australia, discusses the classical composer held in mutual esteem by Benedict XVI, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Benedict's brother Georg.
This past April, a "visibly happy" Pope had the opportunity to enjoy a Saturday evening concert featuring music by his favorite composer, courtesy of the mayor of Rome. The program featured arias from Le nozze di Figaro and Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail, after which the Pope spoke briefly on the subject. Kath.net reported the story, and Closed Cafeteria's Gerald Augustinus provides a translation.
While the Pope is asking Islam for dialogue based on culture, human rights, the refusal of violence, he is asking the West, at the same time, to go back to a vision of human nature and rationality in which the religious dimension is not excluded. In this way – and perhaps only in this way – a clash of civilizations can be avoided, transforming it instead into a dialogue between civilizations.
"Everyone needs love. Everyone desires love. But not everyone understands love. In fact, love is probably the most misunderstood subject in history. . . ." Thanks to Ignatius Press, this problem can be remedied by the publication of a Deluxe Hardcover Collectors' Edition of Deus Caritas Est.
German Pope having an impact on his native land Catholic World News. April 27, 2006. Passauer Neue Presse interviewed German journalist Peter Seewald (best known for his book-length interviews with the Pope, Salt of the Earth and God and the World). The article was published on Kath.net and CWNews provides a translation for those of us ignorant of our Holy Father's native language. =)
Seewald shares his thoughts on Benedict XVI's teaching style:
Ratzinger has found a quite distinctive, very subtle style. Reserved, calm, almost shy, and yet he very firmly goes his own way. There is an air of meekness that you recognize from the Gospels. The new Pope makes himself little-- and gives the impression of being that much greater, and as a result his office is all the more accessible. In a certain way Benedict is a born teacher, and what he has started with his new school of faith may be the greatest catechesis since the time of the apostles.
and goes on to comment on the Pope's effect on Germany, including the Protestant reaction. See also: Germany Sees Benedict XVI Differently Now Zenit News, May 4, 2006. (On a humorous note, Gerald Augustinus posts some photos of Pope Benedict sweets, made in Marktl am Inn, his birthplace).
Benedict XVI's letter to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints seems to me to be one of the most important things he's done to date. It certainly shows the clearest difference between him and John Paul II to emerge so far. Benedict XVI could have communicated his concerns about the beatification and canonization process in a simple telephone call; instead he wrote a short treatise on the topic. The world was meant to take notice. . . .
This year marks the 450th anniversary of the death of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, and the 500th anniversary of the births of his closest companions, St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Faber. On April 22nd, 2006 -- "the feast of Mary, Mother of the Society, marking the day in 1541 when the three saints and the other original members of the Jesuits took their solemn vows in Rome" -- members of "The Company of Jesus" gathered in St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the historical event. [Source: Catholic News Service April 19, 2006]. Mark Mossas, SJ (You Duped Me, Lord) posts the text of Benedict's address to the Jesuits following the Mass.
On April 16, 2006, Pope Benedict celebrated Easter services in Rome, marking the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:
From the Vatican website, a recap of Holy Week 2006 -- including the Holy Saturday homily of Pope Benedict XVI, in which he discusses the question: "Of what exactly does this "rising" consist? What does it mean for us, for the whole world and the whole of history?"
The crucial point is that this man Jesus was not alone, he was not an "I" closed in upon itself. He was one single reality with the living God, so closely united with him as to form one person with him. . . . His own life was not just his own, it was an existential communion with God, a "being taken up" into God, and hence it could not in reality be taken away from him. Out of love, he could allow himself to be killed, but precisely by doing so he broke the definitiveness of death, because in him the definitiveness of life was present. He was one single reality with indestructible life, in such a way that it burst forth anew through death. . . . His death was an act of love. At the Last Supper he anticipated death and transformed it into self-giving. His existential communion with God was concretely an existential communion with God’s love, and this love is the real power against death, it is stronger than death. The Resurrection was like an explosion of light, an explosion of love which dissolved the hitherto indissoluble compenetration of "dying and becoming". It ushered in a new dimension of being, a new dimension of life in which, in a transformed way, matter too was integrated and through which a new world emerges.
Benedict described the Resurrection as "a qualitative leap in the history of 'evolution' and of life in general," pointing the way toward a new life in Christ that is already "continuously permeating this world of ours, transforming it and drawing it to itself."
This event manifests itself in the sacrament of Baptism, which is more than an act of "ecclesial socialization," of receiving people into the Church."It is also more than a simple washing, more than a kind of purification and beautification of the soul," said Benedict: "It is truly death and resurrection, rebirth, transformation to a new life":
But what then happens with us? Paul answers: You have become one in Christ (cf. Gal 3:28). Not just one thing, but one, one only, one single new subject. This liberation of our "I" from its isolation, this finding oneself in a new subject means finding oneself within the vastness of God and being drawn into a life which has now moved out of the context of "dying and becoming". The great explosion of the Resurrection has seized us in Baptism so as to draw us on. Thus we are associated with a new dimension of life into which, amid the tribulations of our day, we are already in some way introduced. To live one’s own life as a continual entry into this open space: this is the meaning of being baptized, of being Christian. This is the joy of the Easter Vigil. The Resurrection is not a thing of the past, the Resurrection has reached us and seized us. We grasp hold of it, we grasp hold of the risen Lord, and we know that he holds us firmly even when our hands grow weak. We grasp hold of his hand, and thus we also hold on to one another’s hands, and we become one single subject, not just one thing. I, but no longer I: this is the formula of Christian life rooted in Baptism, the formula of the Resurrection within time. I, but no longer I: if we live in this way, we transform the world. It is a formula contrary to all ideologies of violence, it is a programme opposed to corruption and to the desire for power and possession.
At morning Mass in St Peter's Square, Benedict XVI returned to the ancient rite of the Resurrexit, used by Popes since the 1100s but only recently (and sporadically) restored; the ritual reinforces Peter's role as witness of the resurrection. [-- "Benedict, Witness of the Resurrection", Rocco Palmo, Whispers in the Loggia]
Also from the Vatican website is Pope Benedict's Urbi Et Orbi Message ["to the city of Rome and the world"], in which the Holy Father reiterated his call to peace with specific attention to Darfur, Iraq, Israel and Palestine -- with respect to the latter, he affirmed both Israel's just right to exist in peace and expressed wishes that the international community would assist the Palestinian people . . . to build their future, moving towards the constitution of a state that is truly their own."
Also, in a somewhat veiled statement that might allude to Iran's pursuit of nuclear power (and persistent threats made by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against Israel and Britain), the Holy Father also drew attention to "international crises linked to nuclear power":
. . . may an honourable solution be found for all parties, through serious and honest negotiations, and may the leaders of nations and of International Organizations be strengthened in their will to achieve peaceful coexistence among different races, cultures and religions, in order to remove the threat of terrorism.
Benedict closed his message with a call to all nations to attend to that which is (or ought to be) the sum of every life:
May the Risen Lord grant that the strength of his life, peace and freedom be experienced everywhere. Today the words with which the Angel reassured the frightened hearts of the women on Easter morning are addressed to all: “Do not be afraid! ... He is not here; he is risen (Mt 28:5-6)”. Jesus is risen, and he gives us peace; he himself is peace. For this reason the Church repeats insistently: “Christ is risen - Christós anésti.” Let the people of the third millennium not be afraid to open their hearts to him. His Gospel totally quenches the thirst for peace and happiness that is found in every human heart. Christ is now alive and he walks with us. What an immense mystery of love! Christus resurrexit, quia Deus caritas est! Alleluia!
The Pope's Easter, by Daniel Henninger. Wall Street Journal April 14, 2006. The WSJ editor reflects on the Holy Father's stance against "the excesses of secularization and radical Islam.":
If we still hold that the news reflects reality, we would be led to believe that Christians enter these final three days of Holy Week preoccupied with whether to credit the new Gospel of Judas that the hallowed National Geographic Society delivered unto the world this month, and whether to attend the imminent film version of "The Da Vinci Code,". . . My guess is that on this Easter Pope Benedict XVI, the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, feels he has larger fish to fry.
Happy Birthday, Pope Benedict XVI!
Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006 also marked the 79th Birthday of our Holy Father.
Pope Benedict XVI received a piano-shaped chocolate cake on Monday, prepared by students of the conservative Roman Catholic group Opus Dei for his 79th birthday on April 16, reporters witnessed.
Benedict's fondness for the piano was noted when he had one installed in his quarters in the Vatican after becoming pope last April 19.
The Pontificate of Benedict XVI - 1st Year Anniversary
Also this week, the media turned its attention to the one-year anniversary of the Holy Father's pontificate, providing the opportunity for many a "talking head" and respective "men in Rome" to, er, do a little pontificating themselves.
Benedict is a supple thinker, and unpacking his approach on any given question requires nuance. Because his points of departure are the 2,000-year tradition of the church, coupled with his own judgments about the character of people under consideration, rather than the ideological categories of secular politics, his decisions will sometimes strike the outside world as surprising and out of character. Nor has his direction over the first year been entirely uniform, as if one can generalize from a single document or papal act to explain everything else.
All this, however, constitutes an "insider" perspective, crafted from the point of view of devotees of the papacy and of Vatican politics. Generally speaking, that's not what secular media outlets are after. What they want to know is, in the "biggest picture" sense possible, what are the most striking or surprising aspects of Benedict XVI's first year, and what do they teach us about where things are going?
It is in response to the latter inquiry that Mr. Allen directs his attention, organizing his reflections under five headings: "What Hasn't Happened" (a draconian crackdown on heresy along the lines of The Inquisition - "one would hear a great flushing sound across the Catholic world as all the dissidents and liberals were washed out of the system"); "Who's Paying Attention?" ("Papal aficionados", yes; "average Catholics", no); The Dictatorship of Relativism:("The beating heart of his pontificate can be expressed in three core concepts: truth, freedom and love. Truth, as the pope sees it, is the doorway a human person must walk through in order to be really free, meaning free to realize one's full human potential; and love is both the ultimate aim of freedom, and the motive for which the church talks about truth and freedom in the first place; Tough Love (with Islam, that is -- "Benedict XVI clearly wants good relations with Islam . . . yet he will not purse that relationship at the expense of what he considers to be the truth"); Benedict the Teacher ("Benedict is shaping up as a great teacher . . . [with] a remarkable capacity to express complex theological ideas with clarity and simplicity").
Reaction to Allen's column from the ecumenical blog Mere Comments.
Vatican vetter: The Benedict XVI File, in his own wordsKansas City Star April 15, 2006. Bill Tammeus also interviewed John Allen Jr., in which the journalist repeated some of his earlier appraisal as well as some observations about the state of the Catholic Church in America:
I think sociologically there is no Catholic Church in the United States. What you have are multiple Catholicisms. And the question really facing Benedict, as far as the American church is concerned, is how do you bring those tribes into conversation"
and interreligious relations
"Benedict clearly is committed to continuing the dialogue with other religions. On the other hand, I would say that Islam is actually one of the few areas of contrasts between Benedict and John Paul"
and -- on a sadly comical-but-true note, the prospects of schism:
The schism in the Catholic left is a multiphase process. First there’s an internal schism, where you just walk around cursing people and (ticked) off at authority, even though you’re going to church on Sunday.
Then you self-select to be in a “progressive” parish, therefore reinforcing you in that choice, and you become even more alienated. Then what a lot of these people do is to spin off into another religious community, like becoming an Episcopalian.
The Catholic right, when it goes into schism, it announces it. It finds a bishop.
Faithful to the core, by Stephen Crittenden. The Australian April 15, 2006. According to Crittenden,
"Benedict appears to have slammed on the brakes and even to be swerving off in a different direction entirely from his predecessor. . . . Anybody who thinks Benedict is a continuation of John Paul II is completely wrong. The former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is a proper conservative. John Paul was neither a liberal nor a conservative but a revolutionary. And somehow, despite the biggest crowds and the biggest funeral in history, he has left the church exhausted and prostrate.
Crittenden sticks to the same tortured hermeneutic of his February 2006 reading of Deus Caritas Est, proposing that Benedict is in part cleaning up the "damage" of Pope John Paul II's heavy-handed enforcement of the Church's moral teachings (see (Stephen Crittenden, Charles Curran, Rocco Palmo on 'Deus Caritas Est'Against The Grain February 2, 2006). As he did then, Crittenden again proposes that in Benedict's penning of Deus Caritas Est, "that soft splash you just heard at the back of the boat was Theology of the Body being tossed overboard, when just 12 months ago it was the focus of an entire Catholic academic industry."
Crittenden goes on to speculate that Benedict's election was the result of a "deal" brokered with the progressive bloc "that [Benedict] would undertake to rule from the centre in a renewed spirit of collegiality with his brother bishops . . . In short, that he would bring to a close the age of Karol Wojtyla and an end to revolutionary Catholicism," -- a deal reflected in Benedict's cracking down on ecumenical movements close to his predecessor (ex. the Neo-Catechumenical Way). Crittenden suggests that Benedict's commitment to collegiality and unity will inevitably bring him into conflict with "the U.S. Catholic Right":
The Wojtyla papacy thrived on . . . division, and the American Catholic Right supplied the venom and neurosis. John Paul II was their definite champion and they were able to zoom off to Rome to get whatever they wanted, especially in the later years. They always considered Ratzinger to be one of their supporters and they cheered at his election. But it is by no means certain that his view of the church and the world is the same as theirs.
Challenging Crittenden's portrayal on B16's pontificate as one inherently in conflict with his predecessor is Edward Stourton, who evaluates Ratzinger's career as Prefect, "John Paul’s trump card"The Tablet January 4, 2006:
John Paul made the most significant appointment of his pontificate in late November 1981, as political storm clouds were gathering in Poland. The rapport established between Karol Wojtyla and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger during the conclaves of 1978 had flourished following John Paul’s election, and in early 1980 we find the then Archbishop of Munich expressing admiration for the new pope’s championship of traditional Catholic teaching.
It was not, he explained during a radio interview, within the pope’s power to change what had been handed down to him: “It is the pope’s duty”, he said, “to preserve the faith intact for our time, and to criticise the ills of Western society.”
According to Stourton, John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger
"came to know one another’s minds very well indeed; for more than 20 years the two men would meet each Friday in private to discuss the CDF’s work, and there were regular Thursday lunches at which the conversation ranged more widely over a variety of topics in a freewheeling manner."
One may wonder if a Prefect who collaborated so closely with his Pope would, in the words of Crittenden, "bring to a close the age of Karol Wojtyla"? -- While we can certainly expect differences in their approach, I don't believe it will be a radical de-emphasization of orthodoxy (and obedience to the Magisterium) that Crittenden and co. anticipate, nor a wholesale abandonment of John Paul II's catechesis in theology of the body.
Likewise, it would appear that Ernesto Cardenal begs to differ as well. The 81 year old former Sandinista Minister of Culture (and ex-priest) gave two talks in Austria, in which he issued the warning:
Pope Benedict XVI is continuing the course of his predecessor, who already was a disaster for the Church and turned back the clock 100 years. The current Pope was the main force behind the pontifical politics of his predecessor. I think, he will be the same, or even worse.
Behind the throne of the iPod pope, by John Cornwell. The Sunday Times April 16, 2006. Cornwell examines "the ultra-orthodox Bavarian theologian, known for two decades as 'God’s rottweiler' and once a member of the Hitler Youth . . . [who] rallied his brother cardinals to choose him at the conclave," pauses to mention papal right-hand Msgr. Ganswein's stint at an Opus Dei university ("the self-flagellating extreme conservative Catholic group"), gives a shout-out to Rocco Palmo ("for a taste of Georg-fever and pin-up pics"), adopts Crittenden's thank-God-he-hasn't-booted-the-liberals approach with a jab at Fr. Neuhaus ("an influential and vociferous hardline Catholic conservative . . . who pontificates like an alternative pope from the pages of First Things"); notes the "expansive girths" of Benedict's "kitchen cabinet" (Angelo Scola, William Levada and Christoph Schonborn -- "like Caesar, Benedict does not favour 'lean and hungry' prelates about him"), chastises Benedict for failing to meet the call of his own encyclical ("despite Benedict’s almsgiving rhetoric he has gone silent on the issue") but ends with cautious praise for his inclusive approach ("by concentrating on unconditional love in his first encyclical, he appears to be invoking an image of the church as a big tent with room for all perspectives"). Yick.
"Benedict must choose between an eventual retreat to the pre-modern, pre-Reformation world of the Middle Ages, or a forward-looking long view which will take the Church into the post-modern universe that the rest of the world entered for quite some time."
God help us all if Kung's wish is granted. A reader of Open Book responds:
The thing about Kung and Curran (and this would apply to hundreds of other "thinkers") is the absolute predictability of what they are going to say. I mean, not only the substance, but the almost word-for-word nature of what is produced. This was especially striking about Kung's "effort." The man is crowding 80 (!) and he's happy to put out this standing still vs. moving forward vs. return to pre-Reformatiion days garbage. "Und I am tired today [he's addressing his secretary] zo, lizzen, just rrrrelease article number 4 to ze press, okay, Helga?"
At this point I have to say every appraisal of Benedict's pontificate by the Mainstream Media (with the exception of John Allen, Jr.) seems to me a repetitive copy of its neighbor: as before, Benedict's "inclusivity" is heralded, and used as a bludgeon against "the divisive policies on matters of personal and sexual morality" by John Paul II and conservative / traditionalist Catholics (Fr. Neuhaus, again).
Stanford coos(?) over Benedict's fashion sense ("the hem . . . hovered somewhere just below his knee, exposing his dainty feet in white plimsolls and making him look more like a mincing Hercule Poirot than Supreme Roman Pontiff") and Msgr. Ganswein ("Known to Vatican colleagues at 'Don Georgio', to the Italian media as 'the Black Forest Adonis'") . . . and finally gets around to pondering "but does this new style papacy have any substance?" -- he questions some of "the monsignori [in] the bars and restaurants that surround the Vatican" and concludes:
"There remains undisturbed that fundamental antipathy to change in Catholicism, a reluctance at the highest level to tailor the ideals it preaches for human behaviour with a corresponding understanding that individuals' lives usually fall short of moral perfection."
"Is there any substance to the papacy"? -- How about reading some of Benedict's writings? For starters, he could review the recently compiled collection of B16's World Youth Day addresses (God's Revolution Ignatius Press, 2006).
Suffice to say there's little here that differentiates The Guardian's take on Benedict's pontificate from that of Crittenden, Cornwell and Crossan. Although, between Stanford and Cornwell, I have to wonder if "iPod Pope" was purely coincidental? plagiarization? collaboration? -- Or maybe they got it from Rocco.
Benedict's popularity differs from that of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who was accorded almost rock star status by the legions of banner-waving young fans who turned out to see him. By contrast, Benedict's admirers seem to be older, quieter and more introspective.
"I loved John Paul and I love Benedict, but the personality of each man appeals to different sides of the faithful," says Carlo Angelo Sanzio, 43, a worker at a coffee bar who says he has attended most of the Sunday Masses at the Vatican over the past 10 years. "The people here now are less likely to shout and cheer (than those who came to see John Paul) and are more likely to pray and reflect. My friends say you would come to experience John Paul, and you come to listen to and learn from Benedict."
People have been coming to listen to Benedict in large numbers. The crowd at the pope's Easter celebration Sunday — held under clear skies and in cool temperatures — was an estimated 100,000, according to the Carabinieri, one of the police units that provide security at Vatican events. Even Benedict's routine Sunday Masses attract crowds of about 25,000 in good weather, which is similar to the numbers that came to see John Paul before he became ill in the final years of his life. . . .
"To the extent that the pope's popularity can be judged by straight numbers, the numbers have been growing," police Sgt. Antonio Caldaroni says.
Benedict's meeting with Hans Kung is mentioned, but without the typical fawning adulation accorded to the latter; likewise, congrats to Lyman for contrasting JPII with B16 without succumbing to the urge to lambast John Paul II's Catholic teaching on sexuality.
Assessing Benedict XVI's First Year, Zenit News Service interviews Andrea Tornielli, a Vatican-watcher for the newspaper Il Giornale, and author of Benedict XVI, Custodian of the Faith.
On April 3, 2006, Benedict celebrated the first anniversary mass for Pope John Paul II, and in a homily recalled the great faith and witness of his predecessor:
It was faith, of course, that was at the root of this total offering of himself. In the Second Reading that we have just heard, St Peter too uses the image of the gold tested by fire and applies it to faith (cf. I Pt 1: 7). In fact, in life's difficulties it is especially the quality of the faith of each one of us that is tried and tested: its firmness, its purity, its consistency with life. Well, the late Pontiff, whom God had endowed with multiple human and spiritual gifts, in passing through the crucible of apostolic labours and sickness, appeared more and more as a "rock" of faith.
To those who had the opportunity to be close to him, that firm and forthright faith was almost tangible. If it impressed the circle of his collaborators, it did not fail during his long Pontificate to spread its beneficial influence throughout the Church in a crescendo that reached its highest point in the last months and days of his life.
It was a convinced, strong and authentic faith - free of the fears and compromises that have infected the hearts of so many people -, thanks partly to his many Apostolic Pilgrimages in every part of the world, and especially thanks to that last "journey", his agony and his death.
The interest and the yes, dare we say excitement, are totally justified. It is strikingly organic and deeply rooted. It is totally focused on the task at hand: communicating the fundamentals of the Catholic faith in a way that is completely accessible, comfortably confident. There is an ease about it, clarity and simplicty that is the essence of good teaching.
Jimmy Akin gives his first thoughts as well, illustrating its merits with some comparisons of the Compedium and the original Catechism's treatment of the doctrine of original sin.
On March 24, 2006, Pope Benedict reminded the Cardinals of their calling:
May the scarlet that you now wear always express the caritas Christi, inspiring you to a passionate love for Christ, for his Church and for all humanity. You now have an additional motive to seek to rekindle in yourselves those same sentiments that led the incarnate Son of God to pour out his blood in atonement for the sins of the whole world. I am counting on you, venerable Brothers, I am counting on the entire College into which you are being incorporated, to proclaim to the world that “Deus caritas est"
Reorganization begins in Roman Curia Catholic World News. March 11, 2006. Benedict XVI made his first major changes in the organization of the Roman Curia, with two mergers of existing pontifical councils. According to Catholic World News:
The Pontifical Council for Migrants and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace have been temporarily merged into one unit, to be headed by Cardinal Renato Martino.
Similarly the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue has been temporarily merged with the Pontifical Council for Culture, with Cardinal Paul Poupard, the current head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, to head the combined effort.
With the mergers, two top positions in the Roman Curia are eliminated. Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, who had been president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who had been president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, had already received a new assignment in February as apostolic nuncio to Egypt.
Both Korazym and Andrea Tornielli in today's edition of Il Giornale remind their readers that Fitzgerald was the highest authority in that scandalous interreligious meeting in Fatima, in 2003, whose star was none other than Jacques Dupuis, SJ, highly praised by Fitzgerald at the time as the man who had provided the "theological basis" for interreligious dialogue. Dupuis, as is well remembered, was condemned by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2001) and was the most important individual theologian who forced the same Congregation to issue one of the most important documents of the previous pontificate, the declaration Dominus Iesus (2000). Il Foglio also regards this as the overwhelming motive for the promotion of Fitzgerald.
Personally, we “have a history” - I read his books seven or eight years ago and in his very familiarity it was like the ascension of a family member to the throne of St. Peter. A father became the Holy Father.
He seemed to me the realist to Pope John Paul II’s dreamliness and his frankness allowed me to trust. He wasn’t afraid to be controversial in that Age Before Controversy, the era before blogs and polarization. :-)
But the primary appeal is that he is a Scripture scholar and that is charismatic in and of itself since Scripture = Christ = charisma. Scott Hahn’s ministry prepared the ground for American Catholics to appreciate Pope Benedict, giving us a craving for the experience of scripture and catechesis that Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, is uniquely gifted to satisfy.
On January 27, 1988, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, dropped something of a large bomb on the neo-modernist Biblical establishment. The Cardinal, theoretically the second most powerful man in the Church, delivered the Erasmus lecture for that year in New York City (1) , sponsored by the Rockford Institute Center on Religion & Society [directed in the 1980's by Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus], entitled Biblical Interpretation in Crisis: On the Question of the Foundations and Approaches of Exegesis Today. Needless to say, any lecture given by the head of what was formerly known as The Holy Office and which promised to be examining and critiquing the very “foundations” of modern exegesis (which today is completely identified with the so-called historical-critical method) was bound to raise eyebrows and cause no little commotion.
The Cardinal did not disappoint. Surrounded by both friends and foes (including the American exegete Raymond Brown) the Cardinal delivered the most trenchant critique of the erring philosophical and theological presuppositions which lay behind the historical-critical method since the early days of the Pontifical Biblical Institute founded by Pope Leo XIII. . . .
Namely, getting the Pope to exchange the zuchetto on his head for the one you have presented to him. This used to be a frequent occurrence at Papal audiences. In fact, in the days of Pope Pius XII (of happy memory) some zuchetti barely stayed on his head for a few seconds before being switched again with yet another being held up by an enthusiastic member of the faithful.
Eventually, the custom waned and for much of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II hopeful zuchettos-switchers were politely told no. . . .
A friend of Sylvester's managed to celebrate the tradition, with the assistance of Mons. Ganswein and a photograph to document the occasion.
"He looks like the nicest guy you'd never want to get on the wrong side of." - The Many Faces of Benedict XVIShrine of the Holy Whapping April 16, 2006.
The 2006 Message for Lent, Pope Benedict XVI returns to many themes addressed in his first encyclical. He protests what his predecessor described as the "gradual secularization of salvation" -- the superficial reduction of Christianity to a purely moral humanism, concentrating on the temporal welfare of man to the exclusion of our souls:
We cannot ignore the fact that many mistakes have been made in the course of history by those who claimed to be disciples of Jesus. Very often, when having to address grave problems, they have thought that they should first improve this world and only afterwards turn their minds to the next. The temptation was to believe that, in the face of urgent needs, the first imperative was to change external structures. The consequence, for some, was that Christianity became a kind of moralism, ‘believing’ was replaced with ‘doing’. Rightly, therefore, my Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, of blessed memory, observed: “The temptation today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom, a pseudo-science of well-being. In our heavily secularized world, a ‘gradual secularization of salvation’ has taken place, so that people strive for the good of man, but man who is truncated…We know, however, that Jesus came to bring integral salvation” (Redemptoris Missio, 11).
Domenico Bettinelli discusses the Pope's reference to "integral salvation" and its meaning in the writing of John Paul II.
"A Propitious Moment to Be Converted to Love" - translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during the general audience today, Ash Wednesday, in St. Peter's Square. March 1, 2006:
The life of a Christian is a life of faith, founded on the Word of God and nourished by it. In the trials of life and in each temptation, the secret of victory consists in listening to the Word of truth and rejecting with determination the lie of evil.
This is the authentic and central program of the Lenten Season: to listen to the Word of truth, to live, speak and do the truth, to reject lies that poison humanity and are the door to all evils. It is urgent, therefore, during these 40 days, to again listen to the Gospel, the Lord's Word, Word of truth, so that in every Christian, in each one of us, the awareness be reinforced of the truth that has been given, that he has given us, to live it and be his witnesses.
From the Philipines, Fr. Odon de Castro has devoted his blog, Gloria Oliva, "to promote the messages of Pope Benedict XVI and harness small monastic Benedictine communities in his and the service of the Church." [Update According to one reader, the community to which this blogger belongs is presently in schism, a legal document noting in part:
"Unfortunately, the Caryana Movement was denied canonical recognition and its spiritual director [Fr. Odon de Castro] was himself expelled from the Benedictine order and stripped of his priestly functions by the Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin."
I thank our reader for their word of caution. I guess one can never too be careful. It looks to be a promising blog -- as Vita Brevis noted, there is a certain irony in a schismatic who blogs in support of the Pope. The least we can do is pray for de Castro's reunion with Mother Rome.
Relenquishing of Title "Patriarch of the West"
The motivation for dropping of the title 'Patriarch of the West' by Benedict XVI has prompted a great deal of speculation and commentary by Catholic bloggers including Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. and Rocco Palmo Whispers in the Loggia.
This week's "Word from Rome" by Vatican correspondent John Allen Jr. provides an excellent roundup of perspectives on the subject, including Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft, an expert on Eastern Christianity at Rome's Oriental Institute, and Msgr. Michael Magee, an American who recently defended a dissertation on the institution of patriarchs at Rome's Gregorian University.
According to John Allen Jr., "While initial speculation construed the move as a gesture of ecumenical sensitivity to the Orthodox, most experts say the real logic was almost certainly the exact reverse - a rejection of attempts to impose Eastern concepts upon the ecclesiology of the Catholic Church."
Also discussed by Allen is the proposition "by theologians who favor greater collegiality . . . that Western Christianity create new patriarchates as a way of assigning greater autonomy and authority to local churches." Allen notes that the very idea was floated by Fr. Joseph Ratzinger in a 1969 essay "Primacy and Episcopacy," which appeared in the book Das neue Volk Gottes -- a translation of which appears here courtesy of Fr. Joseph A. Komonchak. The key passage cited:
"The image of a centralized state which the Catholic church presented right up to the council does not flow only from the Petrine office, but from its strict amalgamation with the patriarchal function which grew ever stronger in the course of history and which fell to the bishop of Rome for the whole of Latin Christendom. The uniform canon law, the uniform liturgy, the uniform appointment of bishops by the Roman center: all these are things which are not necessarily part of the primacy but result from the close union of the two offices. For that reason, the task to consider for the future will be to distinguish again and more clearly between the proper function of the successor of Peter and the patriarchal office and, where necessary, to create new patriarchates and to detach them from the Latin church. To embrace unity with the pope would then no longer mean being incorporated into a uniform administration, but only being inserted into a unity of faith and communion, in which the pope is acknowledged to have the power to give binding interpretations of the revelation given in Christ, whose authority is accepted whenever it is given in definitive form."
Ratzinger concluded at the time: "In the not too distant future one could consider whether the churches of Asia and Africa, like those of the East, should not present their own forms as autonomous 'patriarchates' or 'great churches' or whatever such ecclesiae in the Ecclesia might be called in the future."
Interested in Lenten reading from Pope Benedict XVI? - Pauline Books and Media have published Benedict XVI's The Way of the Cross, presenting the Stations which Cardinal Ratzinger gave for Lent 2005 at the request of his predecessor. (The stations can be found on the Vatican website as well.
Mr. Pera holds his own in the initial discussion. He does an excellent job pointing out the problems of relativism and why they must be avoided going forward. He also goes a little further in talking about the Church. Mr. Pera refers to the “relativism of the theologians” and points out that religious dialogue has become ecumenism, a “inclusiveness often associated with . . . the Second Vatican Council.” This, he says, inhibits us from really dealing with Islam, since we don’t feel correct in saying that Christianity is the better religion – we use ecumenism, rather than apologetics.
That’s a point I’ve been pondering since reading the book and will probably continue to think about in order to really grasp the significance of his points. Mr. Pera does get a little crazy in his letter to Ratzinger when he actually suggests a new state-version of Christianity, which provides some insight into how he sees the Church. You’ll have to read the book to hear Cardinal Ratzinger’s rebuttal.
Without Roots arrived in the mail this week and I'm just getting around to reading it. Thanks to Jay it sounds like provocative reading and I'm looking forward to tackling it this week.
Further Commentary on Deus Caritas Est
The Secret of Love, According to Benedict XVI, Zenit News Service. Feb. 7, 2006. Breaking with tradition, Benedict XVI decided to present personally his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" to readers of Famiglia Cristiana, the biggest weekly magazine in Italy.
According to the Holy Father, "I only wished to respond to a couple of very concrete questions for Christian life" -- concerning the first part: Is it possible to love God? Can we really love our "neighbor" when he is strange or even disagreeable? With her commandments and prohibitions, does not the Church embitter the joy of "eros," of feeling ourselves loved, which pushes us toward the other and seeks to be transformed into union?
And concerning the second: Can the Church leave this service to other philanthropic organizations? Would it not be better to promote an order of justice in which there are no needy, and charity would become something superfluous? -- A good introduction from the Holy Father.
Q: Why did Benedict XVI mention the philosophers Descartes and Nietzsche in an encyclical about love, both human and divine?
Monsignor Sokolowski: He also mentions Plato and Aristotle later in the encyclical.
Descartes is alluded to only in an anecdote, but Nietzsche is mentioned right at the beginning, as saying that Christianity has poisoned "eros." He is mentioned here to provide the counter-position to what the Pope wishes to show -- that Christianity does not neglect the deepest wants and needs of human beings.
The love that God reveals to us is not gnostic; it reaches into, heals and elevates all our desires, including those involved in sustenance and procreation.
The Pope uses Nietzsche in the way that St. Thomas Aquinas uses adversaries at the beginning of his treatment of a question: He presents the opposing view fairly as the sharp contrast to what he wants to show. Nietzsche is fundamentally unsound, of course, but he raises very good questions and is always a good foil for philosophical reflection.
Q: Does Benedict XVI adhere to a particular philosophical tradition in the way the Pope John Paul II was known as a Thomist and personalist?
Monsignor Sokolowski: I think that the work of Benedict XVI could be said to resemble the Christian Platonism one finds in the Fathers of the Church.
Also, his extensive and thoughtful survey of the various uses of words, in both current and historical texts and discourse, makes one think of Aristotle's and Heidegger's way of looking for philosophical phenomena in the way people speak about things.
Pope Benedict featured in America. According to Mark Mossaj, SJ (blogging at You Duped Me, Lord), the March 13 issue of America will focus on Benedict's encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Mossaj posts some excerpts from articles, including this from Fr. Richard Ryscavage, S.J.:
In the minds of various Catholic social activists, justice should always trump charity. Pope Benedict XVI disagrees. He uses the strongest teaching instrument of the papacy to affirm the intrinsic salience of the Catholic Church’s charitable work.
, and Fr. Robert Imbelli:
". . . the transformation of eros in agape entails the transformation of the subject, the lover. Encounter with the living Christ, especially in the Eucharist, if it takes place in Spirit and in truth, transforms the disciple so that she or he becomes a new self, a eucharistic self.
Sounds like a good issue, watch for it.
The Love Behind The Rules, by Mary Beth Bonacci, on Pope Benedict's choice of love as the subject of his encyclical:
It was my theory that this wonderful, loving, pastoral man is saying "Finally!" Finally he has the opportunity to go beyond the "rules," to explore the heart of the Christian message, which is the Heart of God — love. "Deus Caritas Est" is Latin for "God is Love." That simple truth — the subject of all of those collages we made in CCD back in the ‘70’s — is the guiding principle behind all of those rules. And without understanding the love behind the rules we are, as St. Paul said, no more than "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal."
Benedict XVI's Letter on Monsignor Giussani - On February 21, 2006, Benedict XVI sent a letter to the president of Communion and Liberation, to mark the first anniversary of the death of Monsignor Luigi Giussani, founder of the ecclesial movement. Monsignor Giussani died Feb. 22, 2005, in Milan, at age 82.
For the occasion, the pope did not read from a text prepared ahead of time, but responded spontaneously to the questions that the priests posed to him. He did the same thing last July 25 with the priests of the diocese of Aosta, during his vacation in the Alps. In both cases, the conversation took place behind closed doors, without journalists being present.
As back then, so also this time the question and answer session brought out the pope’s viewpoints with the freedom typical of an open conversation.
The complete transcript of the conversation was published by L'Osservatore Romano in Italian, an extract of which appears courtesy of Sandro Magister -- with topics ranging from topics ranging from the Bible and the Qur'an to Pope Pius XVII ("Pius XII was the pope of my youth. We all venerated him. As has rightly been said, he loved the German people very much") to women's participation in the governance of the Church to the relationship between creation and history.
In 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger visited the cemetary of La Cambe to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day). Not much was published about the event, but Timothy Ryback used it in a recent story for the New Yorker. The article is not available online, but you can get the gist of it from a post by Daniel Sauerwein (How Cardinal Ratzinger Dealt with Germany’s Past History News Network, February 13, 2006):
The pope’s membership in the Hitler Youth when he was a young man became an issue upon his elevation to the papacy. Ryback observes, however, that the pope was enrolled in the group, which may mean that his membership was involuntary. But Ryback argues that the pope was reluctant to reflect critically on his own past (unlike many post-war Germans). This received little media attention, he notes.
Before he became pope, Benedict served in many capacities. Ryback takes particular interest in his service as archbishop of Munich. Ryback mentions that the Dachau concentration camp was located near Munich and that some people criticized the pope for not visiting the site often while archbishop. However supporters note that the pope was only archbishop for five years, during which there were no notable anniversaries or events that might have warranted a major visit.
As Mr. goes on to explain, "Ryback's main focus is not the pope, but the relationship between the Vatican and the Nazi state."
The upshot of the essay, which runs from page 66 to page 73 with only one large photo and a few cartoons to break the pace, appears to be that Ratzinger/Benedict was morally amiss to say as little as he did about, not Nazi attrocities, but the guilt of the entire German people for allowing those Nazi attrocities. . . .
Ryback's rant does not foam at the mouth as Goldhagen does, but it labors mighty hard to work up a lather over statements and actions that, upon reflection, seem perfectly harmless and, upon closer inspection still, are evidently benign.
Carlson sees in both Goldhagen and Ryback a tendency "to conflate individuals and institutions", a "reification of institutional structures" which is unfortunately all too prevalent in our time.
A Clear and Coherent Direction in the Beginning of Pope Benedict’s Pontificate - Mid February, Italian columnist Sandro Magister (L'Espresso) gave an interview to Catholic leaders in Washington on the first ten months of Benedict XVI's pontificate. The event was sponsored by the Athanasius Conferences -an iniciative of the Morley Institute- and Catholic News Agency. Magister made the case that "it is possible to identify a clear and coherent direction in the beginning of Pope Benedict’s pontificate." The full text of Magister's interview is available here.
Ratzinger Studies 101, by Joseph Pronechen. National Catholic Register Feb. 12-18, 2006:
Not even a year has passed since the last wisp of white smoke rose over Rome, and already courses on the thinking of the Holy Father formerly known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, have begun springing up.
And they’re attracting students by the classful. . . .
Hundreds of radio journalists, sound engineers and support staff lined the radio's hallways to greet the pope and present him with gifts, . . .
"We don't have a huge gift to give to the pope, but we do have small signs of our work" to give him, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican Radio's general director, told Catholic News Service.
Though the white iPod nano is tiny, it still made an impression on the pope. When the head of the radio's technical and computer support department, Mauro Milita, identified himself and handed the pope the boxed iPod, the pope was said to have replied, "Computer technology is the future."
The pope's new 2-gigabyte digital audio player already was loaded with a sampling of the radio's programming in English, Italian and German and musical compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinsky. The stainless steel back was engraved with the words "To His Holiness, Benedict XVI" in Italian. . . .
The iPod also contains an English-language radio drama on the life of St. Thomas a Becket and a 10-minute feature on the creation of Vatican Radio, with original sound clips of the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, and Vatican Radio's founder, Pope Pius XI.
He has been spotted around the Vatican using his iPod and distinctive white earphones.
According to The Sun a spokesman said: “He is very pleased with the iPod. The Holy Father likes to unwind listening to it and is of the opinion that this sort of technology is the future.”
The Queen, President Bush and Tony Blair all own an iPod.
Pope Benedict XVI Roundup!
The big news, of course, is the release of Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. For those who've missed it, I've posted a lengthy roundup of reactions and commentary to the encyclical last week. What follows is the usual roundup of various events and Benedict-related material that caught my eye.
There was a minor flap on Amy Welborn's over the fact that Ignatius didn't get dibs, but as Mark Brumely clarified: "Ignatius Press was asked to take a pass on the book, notwithstanding our ongoing relationship with B 16. Since we already have half a dozen other B 16 projects in the works, we did as we were asked." (Two of those books "in the works" is God's Revolution, an anthology of the Holy Father's addresses during Youth Day; another being Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, collecting then-Cardinal Ratzinger's addresses on the erosion of Europe's Christian roots).
A rather hostile review of Without Roots by Domenico Pacitti has already been posted to justbookreviews.com, while Commonweal's editor(s) provide a brief summary (A Hospitable Place Volume CXXXIII, Number 1. Jan. 13, 2006):
Benedict’s concern over the secularization of Europe and his hopes for its re-evangelization are widely known. Without Roots developed from a 2004 exchange then-Cardinal Ratzinger had with Marcello Pera, a secular philosopher and president of the Italian Senate. Pera’s analysis of Europe’s moral malaise is essentially compatible with the pope’s own assessment. Both men think Europe’s alleged loss of identity and vitality requires “primarily cultural remedies,” remedies that can shore up social institutions such as marriage and the family while combating the materialistic and utilitarian biases of science and secular morality. To that end, Pera proposes the cultivation of a “nondenominational Christian religion” or “Christian civil religion.” At first blush, one would hardly expect Benedict to warm to what sounds like a doctrinally anemic version of the faith. Yet he welcomes Pera’s advocacy of a “consensus that, irrespective of membership in a specific faith community, accords a public, sustaining value to the fundamental concepts of Christianity.”
Benedict is too grudging in acknowledging the peace, prosperity, and democracy Europe has achieved over the last sixty years, much of it the work of Christian Social Democratic parties. Still, his discussion of the continent’s religious and secular history is provocative, and his high regard for the American tradition of separation of church and state may also come as a surprise. His feel for the dynamism of religious communities in the United States and his critique of the weaknesses of mainline Protestantism has a familiar neoconservative ring to it, but it is good to hear the pope affirm the need for compromise in the political sphere. “The church,” he writes, “does not wish to impose on others that which they do not understand.”
Subscribers of First Things have already received a preview, as a chapter was published in the January 2006 issue under the title Europe and Its Discontents.
On Reading the Pope, Pt. 1 and Part II, by Fr. James V. Schall. Ignatius Insight "Already in reading the remarkable amount of material the present Holy Father writes each week, it is clear, as in the case of his predecessor, that it is a full time job just to keep up with him." Fr. Schall offers a valuable guide to the topics touched on by Pope Benedict in recent letters and addresses.
Likewise, Providence College assistant professor of biology and adjunct professor of theology Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco lends some assistance Reading Genesis with Cardinal Ratzinger (Homiletic & Pastoral Review).
Pope Benedict has released his Message for Lent 2006, touching on themes familiar to his first encyclical. Recalling his predecessor's observation that "The temptation today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom, a pseudo-science of well-being." The Holy Father reminds us that
the primary contribution that the Church offers to the development of mankind and peoples does not consist merely in material means or technical solutions. Rather, it involves the proclamation of the truth of Christ, Who educates consciences and teaches the authentic dignity of the person and of work; it means the promotion of a culture that truly responds to all the questions of humanity. . . .
The examples of the saints and the long history of the Church's missionary activity provide invaluable indications of the most effective ways to support development. Even in this era of global interdependence, it is clear that no economic, social, or political project can replace that gift of self to another through which charity is expressed. Those who act according to the logic of the Gospel live the faith as friendship with God Incarnate and, like Him, bear the burden of the material and spiritual needs of their neighbors. They see it as an inexhaustible mystery, worthy of infinite care and attention. They know that he who does not give God gives too little; as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta frequently observed, the worst poverty is not to know Christ. Therefore, we must help others to find God in the merciful face of Christ. Without this perspective, civilization lacks a solid foundation.
I think what is missing in this piece is an understanding of how serious Christians understand service and discipleship. No one argues that ego can always get injected into the mix, or that motives, even of good people, are always pure and unmixed. But Elie, while not ascribing outright deviousness to Ratzinger, does indeed imply that he was angling for the job of running the Church his own way. But even based on his own evidence, one can come to a very different conclusion, based, as I said, on a different understanding of what should motivate Christians, and, indeed, does motivate many of them: to discern the call of the Spirit to do what is necessary. So if John Paul was unable to engage substantively with visiting bishops, and if ad limina visits are supposed to serve a certain purpose which and if the Pope cannot engage or make use of the information that might come out of those meetings...why should everything come to a halt? Someone needs to step in and hear those concerns and make sure that the process works the best it can under the circumstances. And if, during those meetings, Ratzinger was, indeed, interested and attentive (which is what I've heard , and what Elie reports) - why does that imply that he's interested because he's trying to curry favor or make a good impression in order to serve his own interests - for that is the implication of this article. Why can't it be that Ratzinger truly was concerned and interested? One of the things that has struck me about this Pope since I started reading and paying attention to him, is not just how intellectually deep and adept he is, but of how understanding he is of the human condition, and not just abstractly, but as it is lived in 2006. That "desert" imagery in his homily at his inaugrual Mass sealed the deal for me on that score, and nothing I've heard since has disappointed me.
Rocco Palmo, on the other hand, apparently loved it ("It's worth the five bucks. Don't walk -- RUN . . . Elie's dead-on with his analysis, mostly as he's saying a lot of things I've been saying for months") but points out some discrepancies in Elie's rendering of John Paul's opening of the Holy Door at St. Paul Outside the Walls.
The Vatican has recently reasserted its legal ownership of the copyright to works by Pope Benedict XVI. The news that a Milanese publishing house had already been sent a bill for more than $18,000 to a Milanese publisher for the inclusion of 30 lines from B16's speech to the conclave in an anthology has prompted some to charge the Vatican with "cashing in" [on the Pope's words] (Richard Owen, Times UK Jan. 23, 2005), but Catholic News Service has further details:
. . . in a Jan. 23 statement the Vatican publisher said the introduction to the 124-page book explicitly told readers, "Everything you will find here, after the introduction, comes from the pen or the voice of Joseph Ratzinger," now Pope Benedict.
The book was being sold for about $12 a copy, and it was published without the knowledge or consent of the Vatican, the Vatican said.
Francesca Angeletti, who handles copyright permissions for the Vatican, told Catholic News Service the Vatican wanted to ensure the integrity of texts attributed to the pope and to prevent publishers from making money off his works without the knowledge of the Vatican and without giving the Vatican appropriate compensation.
Newspapers, magazines and bishops' conferences, she said, still may publish papal texts without paying royalties as long as the texts are not changed and a line is included saying the text has been copyrighted by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Question: how does this affect the frequent citation of the Holy Father's works by Catholic bloggers and periodicals in the United States?
No place like home: Papal apartment gets extreme makeover, by John Thavis. Catholic News Service January 5, 2006, covering the transformation of the papal apartment, badly in need of renovations. I only mention the article as it notes the Holy Father's reaction to his new library:
. . . while the pope didn't whoop or jump up and down at the unveiling, he made it clear he was pleased with the results.
"I can only admire the things you've done . . . I really like my new library, with that antique ceiling. For me it's like being surrounded by friends, now that there are books on the shelf," he said.
The floors were the original 16th-century marble slabs and inlay, restored to their original luster. The library solved the problem of where to put the pope's 20,000 books, which he did not want to leave in storage somewhere.
Twenty thousand! -- Oh, to browse the shelves of the Holy Father's personal collection. I know I am not alone in this wish. =)
According to a "recent" survey (February 2002), Pope Benedict XVI has written "some 86 books, 471 articles and prefaces, and 32 other contributions." Concentrating on the scholarly works, the Reverend D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, a former doctoral student of the Holy Father, takes on the ambitious task of presenting The Mind of Benedict XVI, The Claremont Review Dec. 23, 2005.
According to Twomey, the "central question" of Benedict's thought on Christianity and the modern world is: "How can Christianity become a positive force for the political world without [itself] being turned into a political instrument and without on the other hand grabbing the political world for itself?" -- Much of Benedict's thought on the respective boundaries of church and state and their interrelationship as presented in Twomey's summary is reminiscent of the latter half of Deus Caritas Est.
In February of 2005, Sandro Magister speculated that "Among the typically Wojtylian battles that have distinguished [John Paul II's] pontificate, the defense of life is almost certainly destined to continue with his successor as well, unlike other matters that will slip into the shadows, like the interreligious meetings such as the ones in Assisi and the 'mea culpas.'" (Lent in the Vatican: The Pope, the Curia, and the Conclave, www.chiesa Feb. 2, 2005)
Now, Alejandro Bermudez revisits the issue, with a buzz from "Vatican circles that Pope Benedict is thinking of pulling the plug on the interreligious prayer meetings for peace, the last of which took place in Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, on January 24, 2002." (Auf Wiedersehen to Assisi?Catholic Outsider January 25, 2006). No sources are cited, but given then-Ratzinger's criticisms of the event as well as the recent conciliatory gestures made towards the SSPX, I wonder if this is indeed a possibility.
Nevertheless, it appears that Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) will meet with leaders of the Roman Curia on February 13. "The top item on the agenda for discussion, according to an Italian media report, will be the Vatican efforts to achieve a reconciliation with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX)." (Catholic World News, Feb. 3, 2006).
"Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere “command”; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us. In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others."
Deus Caritas Est is essentially the meditation of Pope Benedict XVI on love -- love as it is (sometimes erroneously) considered to be by the world and love as expressed in all its richness in the biblical tradition, in the love of God for Israel and as it is exemplified in the Eucharistic sacrifice of our Savior.
The second part of the encyclical is an explication of how love is to be embodied in our daily life as Christians, -- in our love of (and service to) our neighbor, and what that entails in light of our faith.
Question: Why did he choose love as his theme? -- The Holy Father answered this question in an address he gave on January 23, 2006, to participants in a meeting organized by the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" on the theme "But the Greatest of These Is Love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Zenit News Agency provides the translation:
Today the word "love" is so tarnished, so spoiled and so abused, that one is almost afraid to pronounce it with one's lips. And yet it is a primordial word, expression of the primordial reality; we cannot simply abandon it, we must take it up again, purify it and give back to it its original splendor so that it might illuminate our life and lead it on the right path. This awareness led me to choose love as the theme of my first encyclical.
I wished to express to our time and to our existence something of what Dante audaciously recapitulated in his vision. He speaks of his "sight" that "was enriched" when looking at it, changing him interiorly [The textual quotation in English is: "But through the sight, that fortified itself in me by looking, one appearance only to me was ever changing as I changed" (cf. "Paradise," XXXIII, verses 112-114)]. It is precisely this: that faith might become a vision-comprehension that transforms us.
I wished to underline the centrality of faith in God, in that God who has assumed a human face and a human heart. Faith is not a theory that one can take up or lay aside. It is something very concrete: It is the criterion that decides our lifestyle. In an age in which hostility and greed have become superpowers, an age in which we witness the abuse of religion to the point of culminating in hatred, neutral rationality on its own is unable to protect us. We are in need of the living God who has loved us unto death.
There is simply no excuse for not reading the encyclical in full. I quickly realized (reading it over a Saturday afternoon) that it's one of those texts where, if I went after it with a highlighter, I'd quickly run out of ink. =) So if you haven't read it already, I strongly recommend taking the time to do so -- and especially before you read this roundup and any "commentary" or reaction from bloggers, journalists and pundits.
General Observations
Tom of Disputations refers to Vatican documents as having a particularly high Ginger Factor: most of it will make no sense at all to the journalists reporting on it.
Unfortunately, papal encyclicals are no exception to this rule. Give them something as elementary as the Christian view of love, and not suprisingly, there are always some who will completely botch it.
In intellectual rankings at universities, journalism is just a notch above education, which is, unfortunately, at the bottom. . . .
What prompts me to mention this today is that I’m just off the phone with a reporter from the same national paper. He’s doing a story on Pope Benedict’s new encyclical. In the course of discussing the pontificate, I referred to the pope as the bishop of Rome. “That raises an interesting point,” he said. “Is it unusual that this pope is also the bishop of Rome?” He obviously thought he was on to a new angle. Once again, I tried to be gentle. Toward the end of our talk, he said with manifest sincerity, “My job is not only to get the story right but to explain what it means.” Ah yes, he is just the fellow to explain what this pontificate and the encyclical really mean. It is poignant.
Fisher list stops too short. He forgot to mention that the encyclical did not mention other highly divisive issues among Catholics: cars, restaurants, yoga and who should win the Superbowl, a very, very divisive question now that the Broncos are out of the picture (snif!)
Ah! The Pope did not mention dish washing machines either. You can’t imagine how divisive this issue can be among Catholic households.
I STARTED reading Deus Caritas Est expecting to be disappointed, chastised and generally laid low. An encyclical on love from a right-wing pope could only contain more damning condemnations of our materialistic, westernised society, more evocations of the “intrinsic evil” of contraception, married priests, homosexuality. It would surely continue the Church’s grand tradition of contempt for the erotic, a tradition that ensures a guilty hangover in any Roman Catholic who dares to indulge in lovemaking for any reason other than the primary one of reproduction. How wonderful it is to be proven wrong.
To which Insight Scoop's Mark Brumhill comments: "It is always good to see bigotry and prejudice destroyed--or at least diminished. More helpful still would be for commentator Gledhill to get biblical and pause (selah) to consider how it is that her expectations could have been so far off the mark (hamartia) to begin with and whether, perhaps, it isn't really Benedict XVI's fault that they were." One would hope.
The Pope's Labor of Love, by Alexander Smoltczyk (Der Spiegel January 25, 2006) starts off on a good note:
Benedict XVI has decided to follow directly in the steps of his predecessor. Until just before his death, John Paul II had been working on an encyclical about Christian love. Benedict XVI's treatise, addressed to "men and women religious and all the lay faithful," completes that project and begins with a reference to love as "one of the most frequently used and misused of words."
but can't resist the opportunity to take a condescending tone:
. . . the pope quickly turns it down a notch to make it clear he's only talking about one type of erotic love -- that between a man and his wife in the marriage bed. "From the standpoint of creation," the pope writes, "eros directs man towards marriage, to a bond which is unique and definitive; thus, and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest purpose." A God, a husband and his wife. It may not quite represent the most up-to-date ideas of gender research -- much less the scenes in some seminaries -- but it does have the advantage of dogmatic precision.
Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical confirms him as a man of humour, warmth, humility and compassion, eager to share the love that God “lavishes” on humanity and display it as the answer to the world’s deepest needs. On his election last spring, the former Cardinal Ratzinger was widely assumed to have as his papal agenda the hammering of heretics and a war on secularist relativism, subjects with which he was associated as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Instead he has produced a profound, lucid, poignant and at times witty discussion of the relationship between sexual love and the love of God, the fruit no doubt of a lifetime’s meditation. This is a document that presents the most attractive face of the Catholic faith and could be put without hesitation into the hands of any inquirer.
Funny how the author sees a radical disjuncture between the "kindler, gentler" Ratzinger and the "hammerer of heretics".
Whispers in the Loggia reports that Deus Caritas Est is "Ratzinger-Written, Kung-Approved", at least insofar as Kung perceives that the encyclical "isn't a manifesto of cultural pessimism or of restrictive sexual morality towards love, but to the contrary takes on central themes under the profile of theology and anthropology."
"The Catholic Church's leading dissident theologian praised Pope Benedict for his encyclical on love on Wednesday and asked for a second one showing the same kindness concerning birth control, divorce and other Christians.
The Swiss theologian then urged the German-born Pontiff, the Vatican's stern doctrinal watchdog for 23 years before his election last April, to be kinder to his Catholic critics and to Protestants offended by frank statements he has made about them.
"Joseph Ratzinger would be a great Pope if he drew courageous consequences for Church structures and legal decisions from his correct and important words about love," Kueng wrote in a statement, using the Pope's real name.
Alongside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former Inquisition office that Ratzinger used to head, the Pope needed "Congregation of Love" to vet Vatican documents and ensure they are truly Christian in outlook, he suggested.
"Congregation of Love" is right up there with Dennis Kucinich wanting of a "Department of Peace". Though I would argue that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is already a congregation of love. If you love someone you tell them when they are doing something that endangers your eternal life or can lead others astray. What Kueng is really suggesting is a Congregation of Indifference where you can just do whatever you want and being its prefect would be the world's easiest job.
While conservative Catholics will agree that the concept of human love, eros "reduced to pure 'sex,' has become a commodity, a mere 'thing' to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity," the absence of the divisive doctrinal questions of sexuality, contraception, and abortion from the document might further add to the suspicion, already aired in some quarters, that their man has "gone soft." It is not what they would have expected--or, perhaps, wished. . . .
Oh, I'd say that Pope Benedict XVI has been making his views on the "divisive doctrinal questions" of contraception, abortion and sexuality explicitly known for some time. I certainly don't need (nor would I expect) him to mention it with every given opportunity.
The "progressive" interpretations of the Deus Caritas Est (for example, by Andrew Sullivan and Hans Kung) try to pit Benedict's teaching on love in opposition to the Church's prohibitions against sexual immorality. I would suggest, rather, that in choosing love as the topic of his first encyclical, Benedict is offering a necessary reminder to us that the moral teaching of the Church is best understood in its proper context, as issuing from the love of God and His vision for humanity. (Further reference, John Paul II's theology of the body).
Walking along the corridor of our department just hours after Deus Caritas Est was issued, I ran into a young man I did not know. He asked me if I had seen the new document. I was impressed that he ever heard of it. I had not seen it, though I knew about it. He told me its title. He added that he had hoped for something more "relevant," like bio-ethics.
I replied that I thought charity was a pretty good topic since it is central to the Church’s teaching about who God is and what our lives are about. And it has not a little to do even with such a perplexing topic as bio-ethics, such as addressing the foundations of bio-ethics. One of the reason some bio-ethicists get things wrong when they do is, I suspect, because they do not understand the primacy–even the physical primacy–of charity, in its full theological and philosophical meaning, even as applies to the fact that we, as individual persons have both minds and bodies to be what we are.
those who have read his works, are familiar with his life, or have had the privilege of knowing him, the encyclical is no surprise. He has a penetrating intellect which always goes to the heart of the matter. He has a sense of the poetry of life and of revelation, which gives his writing clarity, depth and beauty. And he is someone who listens both to the living and those whose thoughts come to us through their books and works of art. Then from all that he's seen and heard, he's able to synthesize and organize and present an idea or position in a coherent way that always illuminates.
I see this as a foundational encyclical. And I hope he has a long enough papacy to build on this strong foundation. He has taken the very heart of Christian revelation as a starting point, the central truth of the Christian faith: God is love.
Neil at Catholic Sensibility also contributes with some related strands of thought by Antonio Socci and the Dutch Protestant minister W.A. Visser 't Hooft.
I suppose if you've never experienced the intoxicating beauty of deep prayer or sacramental married love or the ecstatic joy of the birth of a child, or the ecstatic joy of knowing you really helped another human person in a way that will effect the course of their life, and so forth, the first line might sound puzzlingly prohibitive in an otherwise joyous letter.
All I hear the Holy Father saying is that if you want ecstasy, there are far better ways to achieve it than with temple prostitutes or drugs and such.
In "Unity in Difference", Daniel (Cosmos, Liturgy, Sex) responds to a commentator at Amy Welborn's who "sees this Encyclical as an olive branch to “gays” because B16 does not explicitly limit eros to heterosexuality and limit “gays” to agape. This sad thinking, besides being delusional, completely misunderstands the faith and the Trinitarian foundation of love." Daniel responds:
Self-gift can only be rooted in Trinitarian love. The Father’s total gift of Himself to the Son and the Son’s reciprocation are fruitful. This mutual Love is a Person . . . the Holy Spirit. Being the Source of everything that exists, this total self-giving establishes the framework for creation and so it is the interpretive key for understanding creation and most especially the human person who is created in the image of this Self-giving God.
This framework shows that love must be true to the order of creation. This is where those who mistakenly believe that B16 is somehow now saying that same-sex genital relations are suddenly not a disorder, completely miss the Trinitarian nature of creation. The Encyclical says that “…man is somehow incomplete, driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole, the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become ‘complete’” (DCE 11). Here B16 follows JPTG’s theology of the body in which the latter shows that man is made, male and female, in the Trinitarian image. Husband and wife are a unity in difference, made complementarily for one another. The structure of heterosexual anatomy demonstrates their complementarity and their having been ordered to the one-flesh union which is the only genital union that has the capacity to be fruitful in a life-giving way.
B16 uses the phrase unity and difference also to describe the hylomorphic union of body and soul. Because the soul is the substantial form of the body, the body expresses something in the soul. This includes sex differences. Sex differences are ontological and created for the unity in difference of love, manifested in its dimensions of eros and agape.
(Readers of The Pertinacious Papist will recognize the commentator in question as being one Fr. O'Leary, aka. "The Spirit of Vatican II").
Fr. O'Leary is not alone in his illusions -- Andrew Sullivan, now blogging for Time magazine, writes: "I also, obviously, share Benedict's wonder at conjugal love. I see no conflict between the love of two homosexual men or women for each other and the mystery of heterosexual love." And of his delighted remark that the encyclical "is not as extreme or as repressive as Benedict's well-earned reputation", Amy Welborn counters:
The "well-earned" reputation for repression is getting so old. Sing that to the institutions of higher learning in the Jesuit tradition that have flourished, repression-free, for the past thirty years. Better yet, read some of this pope's theology. As I mentioned, anyone familiar with Ratzinger will find no surprises in Benedict.
What of gay men? The Pope speaks eloquently of the love that animates heterosexual unions via the proper balancing of eros and agape (love that 'goes up' and the love that 'comes down') but he leaves a small section, surely enough, to describe the understanding of philia or brotherly love much respected by the ancients.
Philia describes a love no less significant than that which expresses 'the relationship between Jesus and His disciples'. It is this love, somewhat removed from the central animating focus of the Encyclical, that same sex attracted men must desire, pursue and celebrate. Twisted eros, described by the Pope as previously subsisting in 'sacred prostitutes' and other degraded forms of sexuality in the Pagan world, too often stalks the edges of the 'gay community' today.
(Probably not the kind of answer O'Leary and Sullivan were looking for, but hey).
The Pope, as those before him, is seeking to capture all things for Christ precisely because all things were made through Christ and find their fulfillment in Christ. So the eros that is so central to us as human beings, the eros that is so distorted, falsified, and misused, the eros that has the potential for so much flourishing and for so much self-destruction certainly can never be left out of the Christian equation. The Pope, so to speak, parachutes the Gospel into territory that has been ceded for far too long to pagans, secular or otherwise. Eros was made by God through Christ to unite with agape.
As someone with a graduate degree in economics, let me offer some mathematical analogies. If we take eros (the intense mutual attraction of male and female) and add agape (the selfless love focused on the good of the other) we then get true Christian philia (the love of friendship). If agape is left out of the equation, then eros is left adrift like an orphan with no constructive horizon. And what we get is disaster: jealousies, conflict, and eventually mutual hatred. It happens all the time.
Another analogy: if we take philia (the love of friendship) and add agape, we end up with a transformed friendship, a Christian philia that ennobles both. Without agape, friendship can easily become simply a conspiracy in mutual self-destruction or manipulation. Again, it happens all the time.
Part II - on the meaning and obligation of Christian charity
In the second part of his encyclical, Deis Caritas Est Benedict discusses the meaning of charity in the mission of the Church. The ministry of charity is placed alongside the proclamation of the Word of God and the celebration of the sacraments as expressions of God's love: "For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being." This obligation encompasses both our fellow Christians -- those within our ecclesial family -- and the world at large:
The Church is God's family in the world. In this family . Yet at the same time caritas- agape extends beyond the frontiers of the Church. The parable of the Good Samaritan remains as a standard which imposes universal love towards the needy whom we encounter “by chance” (cf. Lk 10:31), whoever they may be. Without in any way detracting from this commandment of universal love, the Church also has a specific responsibility: within the ecclesial family no member should suffer through being in need. The teaching of the Letter to the Galatians is emphatic: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10).
Responding to the argument of Marxism (and certain proponents of "liberation theology") -- that "works of charity are in effect a way for the rich to shirk their obligation to work for justice and a means of soothing their consciences, while preserving their own status and robbing the poor of their rights"; that the poor do not need charity but rather justice, and a just social order in which all will share the world's goods -- Pope Benedict responds:
There is admittedly some truth to this argument, but also much that is mistaken. It is true that the pursuit of justice must be a fundamental norm of the State and that the aim of a just social order is to guarantee to each person, according to the principle of subsidiarity, his share of the community's goods. This has always been emphasized by Christian teaching on the State and by the Church's social doctrine.
This goal, however, cannot be found through Marxism ("revolution and the subsequent collectivization of the means of production") -- "such an illusion has vanished today." Rather, "the Church's social doctrine has become a set of fundamental guidelines offering approaches that are valid even beyond the confines of the Church," as encompassed in the social encyclicals of Benedict's predecessors and which "has now found a comprehensive presentation in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church."
The responsibility for the just ordering of society properly belongs to the realm of politics, "the sphere of the autonomous use of reason." At the same time, insofar as the origin and goal of politics is justice, it is naturally concerned with ethics -- and it is likewise here that the Church can exercise its influence through the formation of conscience by appeal to natural law:
This is where Catholic social doctrine has its place: it has no intention of giving the Church power over the State. Even less is it an attempt to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith. Its aim is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just.
The Church's social teaching argues on the basis of reason and natural law, namely, on the basis of what is in accord with the nature of every human being. It recognizes that it is not the Church's responsibility to make this teaching prevail in political life. Rather, the Church wishes to help form consciences in political life and to stimulate greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice as well as greater readiness to act accordingly, even when this might involve conflict with situations of personal interest. Building a just social and civil order, wherein each person receives what is his or her due, is an essential task which every generation must take up anew. As a political task, this cannot be the Church's immediate responsibility. Yet, since it is also a most important human responsibility, the Church is duty-bound to offer, through the purification of reason and through ethical formation, her own specific contribution towards understanding the requirements of justice and achieving them politically.
The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.
While the Church must not usurp the proper role and end of the State, Benedict also reminds us of the inherent limitations of the State in the satisfaction of man's fundamenal needs:
Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable.[20] The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)—a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.
As Kishore Jayabalan of The Acton Institute puts it: "This is the Catholic case for limited government par excellence. Justice and politics are necessary and good objectives to pursue, but they are not what human life is ultimately about. Divine love transcends politics. This is the language of a political philosophy that points beyond itself to theology, and it’s perfectly fitting as Benedict’s first encyclical. ("Pope Benedict on Limited Government"Acton Institute Powerblog January 25, 2006).
That will probably be the most controversial aspect of the encyclical among those who care what popes think. It has something to please everybody and something to offend everybody. The Church must not control or replace the State, but neither can she "remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice." Her social teaching plays a valid political role with its "rational arguments" yet, at the same time, she "purifies reason" with insights made possible only by faith. And whatever the political situation, her vast charitable works will always witness to Christ in civil society. They can never be replaced by just "structures" of the kind that government can create and regulate.
To me, the most interesting point of this section was what will doubtlessly be referenced as Benedict's Augustinian pessimism - he says outright that those who carry out the Church's charitable activity "must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at improving the world..." (33), and should be wary of at trying to do "what God's governance of the world apparently cannot: fully resolve every problem." (36) It gives those of us reared in the "we're helping build the Kingdom" mentality something to think about, that's certain.
It's pretty bracing and clarifying, and I'm placing bets that this will be the most contentious part of the document. Benedict say, additionally, that professional competence is fine, but is not the standard by which charity operates - person-to-person compassionate love is. He says quite directly that the "growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work" is a problem.
What does this mean? Does this mean don't try to change things? To just hand out water and be done with it? Far from it. . . .
It is persons that are at the center here. From the very beginning of the document, as Benedict explains what faith is, in very CL [Communion and Liberation] kind of lingo, I believe:
We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.
And it ends with a person - you and me as part of the Body of Christ, having encountered the total love of God in Jesus, being graced over and over again as we meet him in Eucharist, being joined every more intimately to our brothers and sisters through that same Eucharist, and not only able, but moved by the Spirit to live in that reality in which eros and agape merge, nourish each other, and it becomes simply who we are, because we are in Christ.
Updates!
First, I'd like to extend a welcome to readers of Mark Shea, Amy Welborn, Get Religion, First Things and "The Daily Dish" (Andrew Sullivan), and thank the authors for their graciously linking to this post. Here are some additional posts and commentary for your consideration:
Few Catholic scholars contacted this week had read the encyclical or planned to do so. Two professed amusement at the notion that the pope had written about love. And what puzzled some scholars is why Benedict had chosen the subject.
Amy responds:
to address an issue that's popped up down below. I'm not suggesting that a papal encyclical should immediately be at the center of every Catholic's - even Catholic scholar's - consciousness and concern. I actually spent some time musing - although I never blogged on it - about why I was interested and why I should care.
But you know, this is the first papal encyclical since 2003, it's the first from this new Pope, who also happens to be a renowned theologian, who has been an object of controversy in the past and whose papacy so far has confounded some. So yeah, it's of interest, it's not very long at all, and any "Catholic scholar" who's on the newsroom rolodex (and once you get on, you learn to expect calls for reactions regularly), you'd think might have something to say besides, "Sniff." If that is, indeed, an accurate metaphor for what they said.
In emphasizing the proper role of the Church in the awakening and formation of conscience, while insisting that the Church must not enter into the “political battle” that remains instead the separate vocation of the laity, Pope Benedict XVI’s words have been portrayed by some as a departure from the public witness of his predecessor. After all, John Paul II addressed civil authorities regularly with boldness and spoke with prophetic directness on issues of human rights, pointedly including the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
I submit that these observers both have misread Benedict XVI as foreshadowing something of a withdrawal by the Church on direct engagement with civil regimes on basic matters of human rights (including sanctity of life issues) and have misunderstood the non-political nature of John Paul II in his forthrightly religious witness in the public square. In other words, I see Benedict XVI's first encyclical as steadily in continuity with John Paul II in the understanding of the appropriate role of the Catholic Church when it encounters the temporal civil order. . . .
Read the rest here; discussion (as usual) by Amy Welborn's Commentariat here.
It might surprise some to find a theologian and pastor in the Church of the Nazarene not only caring, yet positively endorsing, the writings of the contemporary bishop of Rome. I am convinced, however, that the commitment to holiness of heart and life in the tradition of the Church of the Nazarene must drive us to conversation and shared life with those within the Roman Catholic church, even or especially the bishop of Rome. We must because our Lord prayed that we be sancified in truth so that we might be one as the Father and the Son are One. Secondly, the message of holiness finds its most consistent teaching and embodiment in the Christian tradition within the teachings of the Catholic Church and the bodies of the saints. Thus I offer this series of essays, as I can get to them, in hope that the fragmented body of Christ may some day be healed so that the world may know the God who is Love.
"Benedict Genius Est" - Panel discussion on "The Religion Report," headed by Stephen Crittenden religion correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The show features "Leading Catholic moral theologian Charles E Curran" -- did he say "leading?" -- journalist Rocco Palmo of “Whispers in the Loggia," and the Jack de Groot- the National Campaign Director of Caritas Australia. A review of the Crittenden interview here by yours truly.
"I have not yet read Pope Benedict’s new encylical; but when one finds Hans Küng, Charles Curran, Luke Timothy Johnson, Joseph O’Leary, and Andrew Sullivan applauding the document, one gets a bit nervous . . ."
As many know, in Germany (at least at the time Ratzinger was getting his education) one was required to write two dissertations if he wished to teach. Ratzinger’s first dissertation dealt with ecclesiology in Augustine—specifically, the Church as “People and House of God” in Augustine’s work. It was there, and ever after, that Ratzinger joined Henri de Lubac in becoming the first to have a complete "Eucharistic ecclesiology."
Benedict XVI and the ‘True Time’ of Vatican II, by Randy Boyagoda. Crisis Nov. 8, 2005. Boyagoda examines the aftermath of the Council ("ideological axe-grinding [and] endless, misinformed debates" over the pastoral meaning and implementation of the council "with few parties actually consulting the council’s documents" themselves) and inquires "how might the papacy of Benedict XVI improve the council’s impaired situation? And what responsibilities and challenges do 21st-century Catholics face in living out the Church’s life in the wake of Vatican II?"
Basic Books has acquired the world English rights to Without Roots: Europe, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, written by Pope Benedict XVI. . . . The book, acquired from Italian publisher Mondadori, is scheduled for release on Feb. 1, 2006, according to Elizabeth Maguire, vice president and publisher at Basic Books. [Source: The Book Standard Oct. 24, 2005].
An excerpt from Without Roots appears in the January 2006 edition of First Things (No. 159), under the title "Europe and Its Discontents". Not yet online but available in print at your quality newstand.
The Italian daily La Stampa muses on the impending release of Pope Benedict's first encyclical (via Catholic News Agency Dec. 2, 2005):
The Italian daily “La Stampa,” announced today that the Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, that other source already mentioned would be versed in the theme of Charity, could be released in the beginning of January, probably on January 6, day of the Solemnity of the Epiphany.
Again according to La Stampa, the Encyclical will bear the date of December 8, 2005, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, an emblematic date not only for its Marian character, but also because it coincides with the 40th anniversary of the closing of the Vatican II Council.
A source in the Vatican, commented to CNA that the date of release announced by La Stampa is only an approximation because the Holy See usually doesn’t release important document on holidays, as the Epiphany is at the Vatican or in many European countries. “It is more probable that the Encyclical will be released later in January, although the exact date is given only a few days before,” said the source.
The title of the Encyclical, again according to La Stampa, centered on the theme of Christian Charity and the Love of God will be “Deus Caritas est,” (God is Love), taken from the fourth chapter of the First Letter of Saint John.
No, he's not saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Even the pope wouldn't take on Bill O'Reilly or the American Family Association.
What the pope, who celebrates his first Christmas as head of the Catholic Church this year, is doing is far more insidious: He's urging people to give joy rather than merchandise.
"You should bring joy, not expensive gifts that cost time and money," the pope said Sunday during a homily at Santa Maria Consolatrice Church in Rome. "With a smile, an act of kindness, a little help, forgiveness, you can bring joy and that joy will come back to you." . . .
From United Press International, a report on Pope Benedict XVI and the prospect of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the Communist government of China (Outside View: The Pope and China, by Hubertus Hoffman. Dec. 5, 2005):
There are two cities on the globe in which L'Osservatore Romano -- the official newspaper of the Vatican -- is carefully studied word-for-word and whose reports and commentaries are paid special attention to: the Holy City in Rome and Beijing in the State Administration of Religious Affairs.
The latter is a kind of "Office of the Inquisition" of the Communist Party that ensures that for the People's Republic there is only one God in China: the Communist Party itself. The counterpart in Rome, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was for years the Catholic "Inquisitor," guardian of the pure teachings of the Pope. Currently, at the very top of Benedict XVI's wish list is the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Beijing. Who will win: the Pope or Beijing?
On Dec. 8, 2005 the Vatican published Pope Benedict's message for the World Day of Peace (celebrated January 1). "In Truth, Peace" is a stirring reflection on the authentic meaning of peace in the light of the Christian faith:
. . . what do those words, “the truth of peace,” really mean? To respond adequately to this question, we must realize that peace cannot be reduced to the simple absence of armed conflict, but needs to be understood as “the fruit of an order which has been planted in human society by its divine founder,” an order ''which must be brought about by humanity in its thirst for ever more perfect justice.” As the result of an order planned and willed by the love of God, peace has an intrinsic and invincible truth of its own, and corresponds “to an irrepressible yearning and hope dwelling within us.”
Seen in this way, peace appears as a heavenly gift and a divine grace which demands at every level the exercise of the highest responsibility: that of conforming human history – in truth, justice, freedom and love – to the divine order. Whenever there is a loss of fidelity to the transcendent order, and a loss of respect for that “grammar” of dialogue which is the universal moral law written on human hearts, whenever the integral development of the person and the protection of his fundamental rights are hindered or denied, whenever countless people are forced to endure intolerable injustices and inequalities, how can we hope that the good of peace will be realized? The essential elements which make up the truth of that good are missing. Saint Augustine described peace as “tranquillitas ordinis,” the tranquility of order. By this, he meant a situation which ultimately enables the truth about man to be fully respected and realized. . . .
The Holy Father expressed his gratitude "to the international organizations and to all those who are daily engaged in the application of international humanitarian law, [and] in the delicate work of resolving conflicts and restoring the necessary conditions for peace," recalling a passage from Gaudium et Spes: “All those who enter the military in service to their country should look upon themselves as guardians of the security and freedom of their fellow-countrymen, and, in carrying out this duty properly, they too contribute to the establishment of peace.”
Pope Benedict reiterated his warning against the dangers of nihilism and religious fanaticism (today often labeled fundamentalism), which cultivate hatred and a contempt for truth and human life, oft revealed in the scourge of terrorism. Likewise he denounced "continuing growth in military expenditure and the flourishing arms trade" and urged all nations "whether those which openly or secretly possess nuclear arms" to embark on a process of genuine disarmament.
Sorry for such a brief roundup, but I wanted to get this out before I took off for the holidays. Perhaps next time we'll have the Holy Father's new encyclical to look forward to. Merry Christmas to all of my readers!
Pope Benedict has "issued a rare decree curbing the autonomy of [Franciscan] monks," guarding the tomb of St. Francis in the central Umbria region, according to the New York Times (Nov. 22, 2005):
The decree . . . put the monks under control of three people -- the local bishop, a Vatican cardinal, and the head of the Italian bishops conference.
The move marked the first attempt by Benedict to discipline a religious order and revoked another decree issued by Pope Paul VI in 1969 which gave the Assisi monks wide-ranging autonomy. . . .
In the past decades, the monks of Assisi, which is one of the holiest and most visited sites in all Christendom, have been associated with leftist political parties and leftist causes.
The annual Easter season peace march organised by the Assisi monks is frequented by leftist leaders and often boycotted by centre-right politicians.
They have also hosted highly controversial figures such as former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, Italian communist party leaders and Oscar-winning actor-director Roberto Benigni, a life-long leftist.
(Writing from Rome, LifeSiteNews' John Jalsevac provides a detailed report on Benedict's latest decision:
Almost simultaneous with the announcement that the basilicas were to again answer to the bishop, Benedict announced the appointment of Archbishop Dominico Sorrentino as bishop of the diocese of Assisi. Although slipping by general notice amidst the furor over the controversy surrounding the Franciscan shrines, some commentators are speculating that the appointment of Sorrentino may be the most important development yet in Benedict's papacy. . . .
"The bishops have come to realize that every time they meet Benedict XVI, alone or as a group, they must be ready for anything: accolades, rebukes, surprises," says Sandro Magister ("The Italians Pass, the Austrians Flunk, the Brazilians... The Bishops under Examination" www.Chiesa Nov. 18, 2005). Among those on the receiving end of criticism from the Pope were the Austrian bishops who were read "the riot act":
“As you well know, the confession of the faith is one of the bishop’s primary duties. ‘I did not draw back’, St. Paul says in Miletus to the pastors of the Church of Ephesus, ‘from the task of proclaiming to you the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27). It is true that we bishops must act with discretion. Nevertheless, this prudence must not prevent us from presenting the Word of God in all its clarity, including those things that are heard less willingly or that consistently provoke reactions of protest and derision. You, dear brothers in the episcopacy, know this well: there are some topics relating to the truth of the faith, and above all to moral doctrine, which are not present in the catechesis and preaching of your dioceses to a sufficient extent, and which sometimes, for example in pastoral outreach to youth in the parishes or groups, are either not confronted at all or are not addressed in the clear sense understood by the Church. Thanks be to God, it is not like this everywhere. Perhaps those who are responsible for the proclamation [of the Gospel] are afraid that people may draw back if they speak too clearly. However, experience in general demonstrates that it is precisely the opposite that happens. Don’t deceive yourselves! Catholic teaching offered in an incomplete manner is a contradiction of itself and cannot be fruitful in the long term. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God goes hand in hand with the demand for conversion and with the love that encourages, that knows the way, that teaches that with the grace of God even that which seemed impossible becomes possible. Think of how, little by little, religious instruction, catechesis on various levels, and preaching can be improved, deepened, and, so to speak, completed! Please, make zealous use of the ‘Compendium’ and the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’! Have the priests and catechists adopt these tools, have them explained in the parishes, have them used in families as important reading material! Amid the uncertainty of this period of history and this society, offer to men the certainty of the fullness of the Church‘s faith! The clarity and the beauty of the Catholic faith are what make man’s life shine, even today! This is especially the case when it is presented by enthusiastic and exciting witnesses.”
Any thoughts on the report card for the American bishops?
On October 25, 2005 Cardinal Dulles lectured on “Pope Benedict XVI [as] Interpreter of Vatican II". The full text of the lecture is not yet available online, but we'll let you know as soon as we locate it.
Back in September my father blogged the first part of a discussion on Michael S. Rose' series "The Man Who Was Ratzinger" in New Oxford Review (September 2005) -- see "Pope Benedict & Church Bureaucracy", Musings of a Pertinacious Papist Sept. 16, 2005. This past week he discusses part two, on Pope Benedict's view of bishops, generating a lively discussion.
Michael Rose himself has recently penned Benedict XVI: The Man Who Was Ratzinger (Spence Publishing, Oct. 2005), which adheres more closely to the "Vatican Enforcer" motif of John Allen's earlier biography:
Perhaps the most imposing intellectual ever to assume the papacy, Ratzinger has been recognized as a world-class theologian since the time of Vatican II. In two decades as the chief guardian of Catholic doctrine, he addressed every controversy facing the Church: clerical sex abuse, feminism, religious pluralism, sexual revolution and the culture of death, secularism, and militant Islam. This uncommonly rich record, Rose argues, promises a new Counterreformation, purifying and reorienting the Catholic Church.
Rose reveals that Cardinal Ratzinger, unquestionably John Paul II’s closest collaborator, was privately critical of certain ecumenical, liturgical, and administrative policies of the late pope. While Benedict will undoubtedly follow John Paul’s fundamental path, Rose predicts some critical departures that could enable this supposedly "polarizing" figure to become a powerful unifying force, reviving the Church and reawakening the West’s Christian identity in its moment of crisis.
Remember Pope Benedict's meeting with Hans Kung? -- Apparently he is not the only dissident theologian to have made friendly overtures to former Prefect of the CDF. Professor Richard McBrien -- presently serving as "consultant" to the cinematized version of The Da Vinci Code -- gave a positive assessment of the pontiff's first months:
“I have observed little or nothing from my vantage point that would trouble me or other reform-minded Catholics,” McBrien said. . . .
“Benedict is open and secure,” McBrien said in assessment of the 78-year-old pontiff. “He’s not afraid of discussion. The initial signs are encouraging.”
Although McBrien said no drastic changes in Catholic doctrine were imminent, the new pope was already doing his best to maintain the legacy of goodwill and interdenominationalism that his predecessor had begun.
On October 28, 2005, Pope Benedict commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate by expressing his [Commitment] to Advancing Catholic-Jewish Dialogue Zenit. October 28, 2005:
"The Jewish-Christian dialogue must continue to enrich and deepen the bonds of friendship which have developed, while preaching and catechesis must be committed to ensuring that our mutual relations are presented in the light of the principles set forth by the council," wrote the Pope.
"As we look to the future, I express my hope that both in theological dialogue and in everyday contacts and collaboration, Christians and Jews will offer an ever more compelling shared witness to the one God and his commandments, the sanctity of life, the promotion of human dignity, the rights of the family and the need to build a world of justice, reconciliation and peace for future generations," he said.
Meanwhile, Father Franz Schmidberger, apparently the "right hand man" of Bernard Fellay and member of the traditionalist schismatic organization Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), chastised the Holy Father for his dialogue and fraternization with other religions, urging him to abstain from "false systems" and convert them instead (Ultra-traditionalist says pope should convert Jews Reuters, Nov. 19, 2005).
The gallery includes a picture of the Holy Father looking out on the lake of Castel Gandolfo from the balcony of the papal summer residence. Another shows him imparting an apostolic blessing during his first appearance as Pope on April 19. And still another shows him, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, embracing Pope John Paul II.
There are photos of particular events, including one taken Nov. 2 while the Holy Father was praying in the Vatican Grottoes for the deceased Popes; another on Oct. 23 while presiding over the closure of the Synod of Bishops and of the Year of the Eucharist; and one taken Oct. 5 during a celebration with children who made their first Communion.
According to the website, prints are available from the "L'Osservatore Romano" Photographic Service.
Back in June, Jacqueline Bassell discussed the wave of "instant-books" that appeared on the shelves soon after the whisp of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel. Michael Walsh reviews the latest wave of the "Benedict biography" cottage industry ("Only One Wry Eye on Benedict XVI"The Tablet October 29, 2005). The books in question:
Judging by the reviews I'm reading, the various and sundry introductions to the Holy Father that spontaneously appeared in the weeks following the conclave pale in comparison to George Weigel's God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church (the rival being John Allen Jr.'s The Rise of Benedict XVI).
As Justin noted, Weigel's book follows the same scheme as the rest ("1. the last days of John Paul II with some commentary on his pontificate and coverage of the funeral; 2. the election of a new pope; 3. a short biography of Joseph Ratzinger with predictions for the future"), and with the exception of John Allen Jr's factually-educational but ultimately-flawed-due-to-liberal-prejudice attempt The Vatican Enforcer, we have yet to see a full-fledged papal biography on the scale of JPII's Witness to Hope. Someday . . .
The stylish Benedict has angered many in the holy city by allegedly switching allegiances from the company which has made papal robes for over 200 years to a tailor who has only been in business for a tenth of that time.
In what is being called the “cassock wars,” both tailors are said to be squaring up for a dispute over the papal contract in a bid to win the pope’s favor. Annibale Gammarelli, of the eponymous firm of outfitters who have been making papal cassocks since 1792, is locked in a struggle with Mancinelli, a small shop that has been operating for a mere 20 years.
All three do a more-than-capable job of covering the "Benedict Beat." What follows from yours truly are merely some highlights that caught my eye over the past month.
Benedict XVI, Recorded Live: His Ecumenism? It’s Right Here - L'Espresso. Sept. 1, 2005. Sandro Magister notes the Holy Father's penchant for "speaking off the cuff", even with regards to "very demanding topics. Case in point, his August 19 address to the representatives of the Protestant and Orthodox Churches:
On that day, the journalists had received an advance copy of the written text, in various languages. And this is the text to which they referred in their reports.
But in reality, Benedict XVI said much more. On a number of occasions he raised his eyes from the text and improvised.
A quantitative idea of the variations can be gathered from the fact that the speech that pope Joseph Ratzinger delivered, in German, is almost twice as long as the initial written text: 2,010 words versus 1,179.
Magister presents the complete transcript – in the English version prepared by the Vatican’s offices – of the speech that Benedict XVI addressed to the representatives of the non-Catholic Churches on the evening of August 19, in Cologne. Pay attention, as "the underlined words are the ones that the pope added off the cuff, departing from the written text," and revealing at greater length his own understanding of ecumenism and the "unity of all Christians."
[NOTE: for further elaboration on the issues presented in Magister's article, I would also recommend "On the Ecumenical Situation", pp. 253-267, Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith (Ignatius Press, 2005)].
So, World Youth Day 2005 is over, What's on the Agenda? - Zenit lays out the Pope's ambitious schedule of visitations including a visit to Israel ("I have a long list of commitments to visit foreign countries, but Israel has priority" was the Pope's response); synods, curial appointmens, canonizations . . . and, of course, books!
On August 31, 2005, Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Solidarity union, recognizing the Polish labor movement born in the workers strikes of 1980 and which, over the course of that decade, sparked a national movement contributing to the peaceful overthrow of Communism in Poland and the eventual collapse of neighboring dictatorships in the Soviet Union. The Holy Father plans to visit Poland in 2006, according to Bishop Kazimierz Nycz.
Felix Colonia: More on the Epiphany of the Catechist Pope www.Chiesa August. 26, 2005. Pietro De Marco, a professor of the sociology of religion at the University of Florence, reflects on Pope Benedict's celebration of the mass at Marienfeld and the theme of World Youth Day 2005 ("We Have Come To Worship Him"):
In the the kontakion on the nativity of Christ by the greatest of the Byzantine religious poets, Romanos the Melodist, the Child Jesus instructs the heart of his Mother on the meaning of the Kings and Magi who were asking Mary to permit them to adore her Son: "Welcome those who have welcomed me. I am in them as I am in your arms; I did not leave you, and yet I came with them."
The kontakion proceeds: "And she opens the door and receives the company of the Magi. She opens the door who is the unopened door through which Christ alone has passed. […] She opened the door, she from whom was born the Door, a little child, God before the ages."
The kontakion offers a profound key for the liturgical and theological event of the epiphany of Marienfeld. With the wisdom that had previously guided the inaugural Mass of his pontificate, Benedict XVI drew as much as he could from the symbolic terrain offered by sacred Cologne. Beneath the sign of the three Kings and the Epiphany . . . he proposed to the crowds the nucleus of the faith: the icon with the Mother and Child, the cross, the Eucharistic bread: "his presence in our midst."
For readers (myself included) unfamiliar with the term, kontakion "is a form of hymn performed in the Greek Orthodox Church " (Wikipedia):
. . . The word derives from the Greek word kontos, meaning pole, describing the way in which the words were and are unfurled on a scroll that has been wound around a pole. The word was originally used to describe an early Byzantine poetic form, whose origins date back certainly as far as the 6th century AD, and possibly earlier
After Cologne: The Remarkable Lesson of Professor Ratzinger, by Sandro Magister. www.chiesa August 25, 2005. On April 20, his first morning as Pope, Benedict XVI said "the Eucharist will be the centre of the World Youth Day in Cologne in August.” Providing a wonderful recap of the week's events (on and off camera), Magister believes he delivered on his promise:
From August 18-21 in Cologne, Benedict XVI did not bestow upon the crowd a mere theatrical gesture, or nothing more than a striking phrase. He led the young people to look, not at him, but always and only at the true protagonist: that Jesus whom the Magi adored in Bethlehem, the “House of Bread,” and who is now concealed in the consecrated host.
Read on for details on the Pope's meetings with Jews at the Cologne synagogue (in which he urged "progress towards a theological evaluation of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity") and the Muslim community ("no pope had ever been so explicit and hard-hitting in facing the question of terrorism on a personal level").
Dear brothers and sisters, from the heart of "old" Europe, which in the past century, unfortunately, knew horrendous conflicts and inhuman regimes, young people relaunched to the humanity of our time the message of hope that does not disappoint, because it is founded on the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ, dead and risen for our salvation. In Cologne, young people met and worshipped the Emmanuel, the God-with-us, in the mystery of the Eucharist and understood better that the Church is the great family through which God creates a space of communion and unity among all continents, cultures and races, a -- so to speak -- "great group of pilgrims" led by Christ, radiant star that illuminates history.
Jesus makes himself our travel companion in the Eucharist, and, in the Eucharist -- as I said in the homily of the concluding celebration, borrowing a well-known image from physics -- effects a "nuclear fission" in the depth of the being. Only this profound explosion of goodness that overcomes evil can give life to the other transformations necessary to change the world. Let us pray therefore so that the young people of Cologne will bear with them the light of Christ, who is truth and love and will spread it everywhere. In this way we will be able to witness a springtime of hope in Germany, Europe and the whole world.
From Cologne to the Conquest of Europe: How the Muslim Brotherhood is Challenging the Pope wwww.chiesa August 18, 2005. Sandro Magister on the Pope's August 20 meeting with "representatives of some of the Muslim communities" at the residence of the Archbishop, Benedict apparently having declined the invitation to visit inside a mosque. According to Magister "His prudence is understandable. Cologne and Munich – where Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop from 1977 to 1981 – are the cities in which the Muslim Brotherhood, which has for decades been the main ideological and organizational source of radical Islam in the world." Magister provides a history of the Brotherhood's expansion and propogation of radical Islam throughout Europe, with attention to some not exactly laudable moments in Muslic-Christian dialogue:
One memorable occasion was the audience on October 13, 1993, held at the Vatican by John Paul II and Hassan Al Turabi of Sudan, who at the time was the leading ideologue in the world for radical Islamism, an inspirer and protector of Osama Bin Laden.
But in more recent times, and after the shift that took place on September 11, one can recall the meeting in Doha, in Qatar, from May 27-29, 2004. On the one side were Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the previous foreign minister for the Holy See, and Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and on the other were the leading imam of the Al Azhar mosque in Cairo, Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, and one of the most widely followed leaders of Sunni Islam, Youssef Al Qaradawi.
Both prior to and since this meeting, Tantawi has repeatedly justified the Palestinian suicide terrorists. As for Qaradawi, he justified such acts even outside of the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. . . .
After 100 Days, It's Clear That New Pope Is A Friend of the Jews July 15, 2005. - Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, Director of Interfaith Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League, marks the traditional "first 100 days" in B16's pontificate with a detailed look at his interactions with the Jewish people, pronouncing YES to the question: "Is he good for the Jews?"
The first 100 days of Benedict XVI: Interview with Sandro Magister David Rutledge interviews the "Arch-Vaticanologist and Roman Insider" and Professor of Contemporary Church History at the University of Urbino, for the Australian radio program "The Religion Report." Magister discusses, among other things, liturgical reform ("to turn back to the big tradition is not, according to Josef Ratzinger, to turn back the clock. On the contrary, a new step forward for the church in fidelity with two millenniums"), Benedict's closeness to lay movements, and the place of women in the Church. [See also: The First Three Months of Benedict XVI: New Pope, New Style July 15, 2005]
Panelists examine Pope Benedict XVI's first 100 daysTidings August 12, 2005. Beth Griffin reports on a "progressive" panel discussion by John Allen, Jr. (who said that B16 is "not looking to headhunt, but will draw the line if objective truth is at stake," yet demonstrates "a new, sincere commitment to more openness and collegiality"), William R. Burrows, managing editor of Orbis Books (noting that Papa "has a nose for smelling out genuine faith in people"), Dale T. Irvin, dean of New York Theological Seminary (noting that the early response from Evangelical Protestants was "we've finally got someone who's on our side in the culture wars" -- and John Paul II wasn't?) and Sociologist Susan A. Farrell of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, who complains that "women didn't get what they want in the conclave" but are sticking it out because progressives have "a long-term commitment to the faith."
We might recall that on April 19, 2005, Catholics for Free Choice Laid out a Schedule for the New Pope on their terms, calling for meetings between survivors of sexual abuse by the clergy, a lift on the ban condoms, establish "the Pontifical Academy on Women's Rights in the Church," a complete and unequivocal renunciation of capital punishment and "the possibility of just war by a superpower." They're still waiting.
On a lighter note . . .
"The Pope and the Puzzling African King" (Boston Globe August 4, 2005) - Globe columnist Alex Beam speculates on the origins and meaning behind the "Moor of Freising" found on Pope Benedict XVI's coat of arms. According to the Vatican website "this is the ancient emblem of the Diocese of Freising, founded in the eighth century." There are many theories as to its origin, but I thought it funny how the Globe couldn't help but indulge in the most incendiary of suggestions:
. . . There are two other possible identities for the unknown Moor. He could be St. Maurice, a Roman commander from Africa whose Christian soldiers refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods after an important victory, and were themselves massacred. . . . And there is a more grisly possibility. At the time of the Crusades, some Christian kings displayed a severed Moor's head on their flags or crests to symbolize victories over their Islamic enemies. It is conceivable that the king, known as the ''Moor of Freising," evolved from such an image, although the figure shown on Benedict's coat of arms is wearing a collar and has suffered no violence.
The Boston Globe's provocative speculations are rivaled by the hyperventilating rant of Michael Cain @ Daily Catholic (comical, if it weren't so disturbing), for whom Benedict's choice of insignia "breaks with tradition" and reveals his capitulation to the Islamic horde:
As for his personal symbols, evidently the rooster-like Aztecan head bust is, in actuality a "Moor of Freising" - in other words a royalty from Ethiopia - caput ethiopicum. Yeah, it's caput alright! Moor as in Muslims? The very Moors St. Anthony of Padua wanted to convert? Racially politically correct? Who knows.
According to the Vatican website, "Italian heraldry . . . usually depicts the Moor wearing a white band around his head instead of a crown, indicating a slave who has been freed; whereas in German heraldry the Moor is shown wearing a crown."
Among the more benign possibilities are the proposals that the depiction may be that of Saint Maurice, a Roman-Egyptian martyr, Saint Zeno, frequently shown as a Moor, Saint Sigismund, often confused historically with Saint Maurice, or Saint Corbinian, founder of the Diocese of Freising, mistakely thought to have been a Moor.
So, liberated slave, Ethiopian royalty, severed head . . . or Catholic saint?
If Pope Benedict has the trads fuming about a "break with tradition", wait until they see what he has in store for the Mass. (As Prof. Bainbridge says, "This is just wrong in so many ways . . .")
Meeting the Holy Father
Some people have confuse me with this guy because we share the same name. Regretfully, I've yet to have the pleasure of meeting the Holy Father in person. Hence, it is always a delight to hear from members of the RatzingerFanClub (or, rather, the Pope Benedict Fan Club who have the opportunity. Agnes Santos (from California) writes:
I thought I’d update you on my trip to Europe. My mother and I were in Rome, 8 Aug through 12. The most amazing thing happened, we attended the Papal audience on the 10th and we were lucky enough to be able to shake the Holy Father’s hand. My mom was even able to kiss his ring. It was at the Pope Paul VI hall in the Vatican and since we had aisle seats, the Pope shook hands with the people on the center aisle. . . .
By the way, at the Papal audience, the Pope spoke in 6 languages. I would say English is one of his weaker languages although he’s very fluent but his German accent is very heavy. I am enclosing the pictures taken by the official photographer. I’m the one in the pink shirt and my mother is beside me.
A very happy photo indeed! -- Thanks again, Agnes. If you have a photo from Rome you'd like to share, contact me at webmaster "at" ratzingerfanclub "dot" com.
This post will be updated daily with new material over the course of this week. Likewise, check out Amy Welborn who has all the goods, including links to all those live-blogging the events. - Christopher
Addresses of Pope Benedict XVI during WYD '05 / Visit to Cologne
" Holy Father, can you tell me what you would like to transmit to the youth of the world? What is the main issue you would like to "bring about"?
Yes – I would like to show them how beautiful it is to be Christian, because the widespread idea which continues to exist is that Christianity is composed of laws and bans which one has to keep and, hence, is something toilsome and burdensome – that one is freer without such a burden. I want to make clear that it not a burden to be carried by a great love and realization, but it is like having wings. It is wonderful to be a Christian with this knowledge that it gives us a great breadth, a large community: As Christians we are never alone – in the sense that God is always with us, but also in the sense that we are always standing together in a large community, a community for The Way, that we have a project for the future - and in this way a Being which is worth believing in. This is the joy of being a Christian and is the beauty of believing.
For the traditionalist-minded of my readers, here is some liturgical eye-candy from the Juventutem website -- first photographs from World Youth Day 2005. As Brian from the new blog The New Liturgical Movement says: "Look at the traditionalist pilgrims' Cologne schedule [.pdf format] . . . and then tell me you're not just a touch jealous."
According to AsiaNews, Benedict XVI has expressed the hope that WYD will become a "starting point for the re-evangelization of Europe." He's got a good audience to work with:
. . . Participation in the six digits is expected when young Catholics gather for the 20th World Youth Day (WYD) on August 16-21 in Cologne, Germany. The event will culminate with the presence of the Pope.
Some 400,000 young participants have already officially registered inspired by this year’s theme: "We have come to worship Him". Organisers expect that number to be twice as much on the days of the main events and reach a million on August 21 when Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist in Marienfeld, Mary’s Field, 17 km west of Cologne. Overall, about 1.2 million people are expected to come. . . .
And for those who can't make it, please note:
On this occasion, the Pope has granted the plenary indulgence to all those who will present in Cologne. For all those who cannot but who will pray for the young people, he has granted the partial indulgence.
Please keep the Holy Father and all those attending in your prayers, that they may carry that same enthusiasm for Christ, the Pope and his Church to their homes, families and schools in the days following the event.
John Allen Jr's "Word from Rome" is, of course, a must-read for weekly coverage of Pope Benedict's pontificate. This particular segment lays out the background and expectations for World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany:
World Youth Day is the largest regular gathering of Catholics in the world, and therefore offers the pope a critically important opportunity to exercise his "bully pulpit." Any event that involves a million people will draw media attention, and the theatre of a high papal Mass offers the global press irresistible imagery. All of this means that when Benedict XVI speaks in Cologne, the world will be listening in a way it generally doesn’t to papal addresses. (Some 4,000 journalists are already accredited for the event). It’s an "at-bat" for the pope as a global communicator, and whether he strikes out or knocks it out of the park will make a difference in the Catholic Church’s capacity to "evangelize," meaning to spread its message.
As well as the Holy Father's relationship to Lutheranism, another topic of marked interest as he encounters Germany's Catholic population (which, host to such organizations as Call to Action, harbor the rebellious spirit of their Protestant brethren):
As a German theologian, and a convinced Augustinian, Joseph Ratzinger has long admired the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther. In 1965, commenting on the document Gaudium et Spes from the final session of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Ratzinger criticized the text for relying too much on the optimism of French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin, and not enough on Luther’s consciousness of the Cross and of sin. (Note that Ratzinger was complaining that a Catholic document neglected the father of the Protestant Reformation; that alone says something about his ecumenical attitudes).
Also covered is the Holy Father's relationship with the Jewish people (he will visit the Cologne synagogue for a prayer service on Friday, August 19) as well as Muslims (he is scheduled to meet Muslim leaders the following day at the archbishop's palace).
One of the perks of his profession -- my brother Jamie is "attending World Youth Day in Cologne, through a fortunate series of coincidences, which happened to make it a more or less business related trip." Having Vienna in Three Hours, he's now blogging his first day in Cologne -- check it out at AdLimina.Blogspot.com.
Fr. Willy Raymond of Hollywood, CA will be audio-podcasting at Couragio ("a pilgrim's journal for WYD 2005"). He "will be travelling with a party that includes Jim Caviezel and his wife Kerri and Clarence Gilyard and his wife Elena and their three children; Rachel, Paul and Max.
. . . We are sponsoring a major English language event at World Youth Day on Friday, August 19, at the UTL Arena in Dusseldorf from 2 PM to 6 PM. We will welcome Jim and Kerri Caviezel to address the assembly, then we will screen the film "The Passion of the Christ". (Thanks go to Mel Gibson for donating a copy of the film for this event. Finally, we will pray the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in five different languages. Clarence Gilyard will also speak, he is best known for his role on "Walker Texas Ranger."
The late University of Chicago Professor Allan Bloom noted the absolute relativism among university students in The Closing of the American Mind (1987), and how this relativism is believed to be a moral postulate of the free society, rather than a theoretical insight. “The danger they have been taught to fear from absolutism in not error but intolerance. Relativism is necessary for openness, and this is the virtue, the only virtue, which all primary education for more than fifty years has dedicated itself to inculcating,” wrote Bloom.
As an antidote to relativism, Pope Benedict proposes an adult faith, one “deeply rooted in friendship with Christ,” making “truth in love”. Young people need to be taught and shown that there is such a thing as knowable objective truth. They need to learn how freedom and moral responsibility work together and lead to a virtuous life. A society that does not recognize truth cannot defend itself when challenged, as Europe currently is, and World Youth Day is the perfect setting for this message.
The choice of Cologne for the 20th WYD was not Benedict’s; it now appears providential. Besides serving as a homecoming for a German Pope, Cologne boasts an awe-inspiring Gothic cathedral, a university that hosted Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus as teachers, and a Carmelite convent that housed St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, the Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and died in Auschwitz. If there is a place to show how the Christian faith shaped Europe and formed heroic persons even in its darkest hours, this is it.
Cologne Day 2 - My brother speaks highly of the Legionairies of Christ and their evangelization efforts:
. . . The Legionaires never cease to amaze me. They managed to secure a hotel about one block from the Cathedral, a prime spot for young people. They are running a 'coffeeshop' with live internet access and dirt-cheap food available for any pilgrims who stop by. An hourly mass and six confession stations (in about 20 languages) run twelve hours a day. Live bands and intermittent vocation speakers exchange places on the stage. Books and flyers from Legionaires and Regnum Christi criss-cross the room. The kids come in droves. Hundreds every hour flock in and out, peppering the confession booths, chattering up the priests (why is it that the Legionaire priests are the best-looking priests around?), and crowding in for masses. No site at WYD is as successful. They blatantly promote priestly vocations, parade their priests around, and push (literally) the kids into confession booths, and the kids respond en masse. No one else is pushing confessions. The Legionaires are there. I am incredibly grateful, because spiritual renewal is impossible without penance: I know that, and the Legionaires know that. . . . I caught a confession with a Legionaire who barely spoke English (no worries, a fantastic confessor!). We left both utterly amazed by what the Legionaires had put together. No fuss. Just substance.
COLOGNE, Germany (AFP) 8/18/05 - An emotional Pope Benedict XVI arrived in his native Germany sparking a rapturous ovation from a welcoming party of young pilgrims at the start of the first foreign visit of his pontificate. . . .
"With deep joy I find myself for the first time after my election to the Chair of Peter in my beloved homeland, in Germany," Benedict said in a speech after being officially welcomed by President Horst Koehler.
Plenty of photos of World Youth Day and the arrival of Pope Benedict via YahooNews. (I've got EWTN's coverage taping as we speak).
Amy Welborn notes the difficulties w. transportation and crowd-control -- A German recipe for sardines -- and takes account of the mixed reports by the press:
in between stories of mob scenes, I also read stories of young people being challenged in the catechesis given by bishops, of appreciating the opportunities for Adoration and Reconciliation. So we'll hope and pray, that in the end, for these young people, the good experiences outweigh the difficulties.
And is WYD for everyone? Is it heaven on earth? Of course not. When you get half a million youth together, you have a riot of mixed motives, of raging hormones, conflicting personalities and intensity. Take your local youth group or religious ed class and multiply by hundreds of thousands. I do think you'd find a higher proportion of seriously engaged youth at WYD, simply because of the trouble it takes to make the trip, but at the same time, there's probably a good party vibe going on - in the context of exhaustion and discomfort.
A bit of trivia: Why is this event called "World Youth Day" even though it's almost a week long?
The answer is that the idea for World Youth Day was born in 1983, when John Paul II invited youth from around the world to join him in Rome on Palm Sunday. The first event staged under the title of "World Youth Day" was in 1986, again on Palm Sunday. As the event evolved, it rapidly outgrew its original one-day program, but by that stage the name had stuck.
One other note: In Vatican argot, "youth" refers to anyone between the ages of 16 and 30. Hence "World Youth Day" is not designed for young children, who for the most part are discouraged from attending. Official communiqués from the German organizers warn that anyone under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, or, in lieu of that, the sponsoring diocese, parish or organization's group leaders must assume full responsibility. Special forms have to be filled out for minors who wish to come.
EWTN had some great footage of past World Youth Day events this morning, wonderful moments of John Paul II capturing his sense of humor -- moments which bring a tear to the eye. Perhaps he is even now smiling and watching, as his successor carries on his tradition, visiting with the future generation of our Church.
It struck me while watching coverage of World Youth Day in Cologne that, as you look out over the vast crowd with flags flying from virtually every country on Earth, you are seeing the real United Nations. The Catholic church is truly catholic.
For the most part the United Nations that we all know from the newspapers is a group of mutually suspicious, grudging, scheming members united mainly in their desire to get a larger piece of the pie. They are united in the same way that hyenas are united around a carcass.
By contrast World Youth Day shows us a gathering of people who come together spontaneously, joyfully, with no greater desire than to demonstrate their love for Christ by showing love for one another. It is easy to sense, even through the satellite feed, that they are united in their love for their Papa and the One he represents.
Despite the over-produced music that smacked of "look at what we can do" rather than "let's reflect on the mystery of God," the Mass was an incredible experience - hearing so many youth responding in each of their languages. It was also incredible how the giant crowd went from chants and songs to absolute silence after Mass had started.
The homily was quite clear and continued to expand upon the theme that Pope Benedict started last night - that of adoration. It focused very pointedly on the Eucharist and the youth responded with cheers on several occasions.
The loudest cheers came after he said that "free time is empty if God is not present," and after he said that religion, when pushed too far, "becomes like a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it."
(Tim's live-blogging throughout the course of WYD has been nothing short of incredible, with on the spot reporting and many photographs. As one of many who could not make it, I offer my gratitude).
Twelve young people who have been involved in the preparations for World Youth Day for quite some time now -- most of whom had interrupted their studies to do so -- were invited to eat lunch with the Pope in the seminary in Cologne on Friday. The symbolism of the occasion was not lost on the young people: just as Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples, so the Pope wanted to spend some time with them, talk to them, and celebrate with them.
Omelette was on the menu for the young people, and trout for the Pope. But the Holy Father declined the offer because he felt it would be too complicated to eat fish and speak at the same time. So Benedict XVI was served an omelette and nothing stood in the way of communication; not even the variety of languages spoken by the diners, because on top of everything else, the Pope proved to be an excellent interpreter.
As mentioned previously, plenty worth reading from John Allen, Jr., covering WYD for the National Catholic Reporter:
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Jews of Cologne was a historic one -- "The Jewish community in Cologne is the oldest in Germany, with a history which stretches back 2000 years," according to Kirsten Serup-Bilfeld (Deutsche Welle August 19, 2005), providing the background for the tragic history of Jewish-Christian relations that the Church is only recently amending. Pope Benedict XVI also became First Pope to Visit a Synagogue in Germany, the other being his predecessor, John Paul II in Rome, 1986.
While I'm at it -- a Roundup of my brother's posts from WYD:
Cologne Day 1 - Arrival in Cologne; attending Mass with bishops Skylstad (Spokane), Sheridan (Colorado Springs), and Zurek (San Antonio auxiliary) -- Sheridan "is a hulking beast of a man, with shoulders as broad as a gorilla and a frat boy haircut, and a glance that lets you know he could kill you in less than three seconds. But quite cordial."
Cologne Day 2 - passing himself off as a seminarian (to attend meeting w. B16); receiving the chalice at Mass from Msgr. Fay, General Secretary of the USCCB; admiration for the coffeeshop and vocation work run by the Legionaires of Christ ("No site at WYD is as successful. They blatantly promote priestly vocations, parade their priests around, and push (literally) the kids into confession booths, and the kids respond en masse."); visiting the Cologne Cathedral and an unusual dinner experience ("When you order food in Germany, make sure you ask the waiter whether or not the meal is served in gelatin form").
Cologne Day 3 - visiting various catechetical sites around the WYD area; noting the youth's creative response to Planned Parenthood poster campaign ("from the hour the pilgrims started arriving, the posters started coming down. Most pilgrims ripped selectively, crossways and upwards, to tear out the shape of a cross across the posters. Others took the whole things down. . . . By the end of the first day, nothing was left on the subways but ripped-out crosses and bare walls"); attempting to locate the tombs of Bl. Duns Scotus and St. Albert the Great and discovering the practicality of "the universal language")
Cologne Day 4 - strategizing to get a good view of the Pope's arrival; visiting the tomb of Duns Scotus and Albertus Magnus ("Inside the church [of San Andreas] was worlds apart from any others I had visited. The Dominicans had slapped up posters on every available space, both around the entrance and over and beside every door, indicating 'SILENCIO' in every language on earth. They pulled no punches: this was no tourist spot, but a house of prayer")
Cologne Day 5 - attending mass at St. Panteleon's church ("[security] me at the gates, priests only, but Fr. EJB called out that I was his personal 'sacristan' and he never went anywhere without me. 'Sacristan?'"); Benedict's visitation with the seminarians ("Please note: our Pontiff is short"); the vespers' service ("Through the vespers service [Benedict] remained stoic, looking straight ahead, his mouth whispering the psalms. But the seminarians clearly love him, and the energy was high"); hearing another's report on meeting Cardinal Francis Arinze ("Arinze had the kids rolling on the floor the whole time, mostly because he would heartily laugh at his own jokes every other sentence")
Cologne Day 6 - finding an English-speaking mass in Cologne (the youth having relocated to Marienfeld); admiring the stained-glass windows of the cathedral ("These windows are epics. Around one central artistic motif, entire narratives are woven, in smaller sections of the window. In one relatively small window one can 'read' the entire life of a saint"); encountering the proselytizers ("The plaza, now nearly empty of tourists, is now filled with propagandists. Fundamentalists, anti-globalization protestors, anti-war (in Iraq) peaceniks, Falun Gong agitators, and some weird guitar-strumming love cult calling itself the 'Community of the Twelve Tribes'"); visiting the Cologne City Museum ("the traditional piety of the people of Cologne also stands out"); the wretched coverage of the BBC on WYD ("They brought one religious commentator in to explain the significance of the Holy Father's visit, and he spent five minutes discussing why the Catholic Church's position on gay sex was self-contradictory").
After Cologne: The Remarkable Lesson of Professor Ratzinger, by Sandro Magister. www.chiesa August 25, 2005. On April 20, his first morning as Pope, Benedict XVI said "the Eucharist will be the centre of the World Youth Day in Cologne in August.” Providing a wonderful recap of the week's events (on and off camera), Magister believes he delivered on his promise:
From August 18-21 in Cologne, Benedict XVI did not bestow upon the crowd a mere theatrical gesture, or nothing more than a striking phrase. He led the young people to look, not at him, but always and only at the true protagonist: that Jesus whom the Magi adored in Bethlehem, the “House of Bread,” and who is now concealed in the consecrated host.
Read on for details on the Pope's meetings with Jews at the Cologne synagogue (in which he urged "progress towards a theological evaluation of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity") and the Muslim community ("no pope had ever been so explicit and hard-hitting in facing the question of terrorism on a personal level").
Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI, was recently hospitalized for heart trouble. He has since been released, but Amy Welborn posted this endearing photo of the two brothers visiting in the hospital. As she tells her eldest sons: "you know, there will come a time when all you'll have is each other." Update: Here is a recent photo of Georg, attending a mass celebrated by the Pope during the Assumption festival in the small church of Castelgandolfo village, outside Rome August 15 (YahooNews). Quick recovery!
The Pope Opens Up to the Priests of a Small Mountain Diocese Sandro Magister on "Pope Benedict XVI's surprising question and answer session with the priests of Aosta. On the West‘s weariness of God, Christianity in Africa, parishes without priests, communion for divorced and remarried persons . . ." www.Chiesa July 29, 2005:
On how to bring those who are far away back to the Church, like the birds on the mustard tree:
"Only moral values and strong convictions, together with sacrifice, offer the possibility to live and build up the world. […] It is only love that permits us to live, and love is also suffering. […] Here too, naturally, we need to have patience, but this is also an active patience in the sense that it shows people: you need this. And even if they do not convert immediately, at least they draw near to the circle of those in the Church who have this interior strength. The Church has always recognized this group of persons who are strong inside, who really carry the strength of the faith, and the persons who almost latch onto these others and let themselves be carried along and participate in that way. I think of the Lord's parable about the tiny mustard seed, which then becomes a tree large enough for the birds of the sky to nest in it. And I would say that these birds could be interpreted as the persons who have not yet converted, but have at least perched upon the tree that is the Church.”
Benedict XVI's Top 15 "Words" Used during his first 100 Days a unique compilation of "some of the most striking 'words,' as Benedict XVI likes to call the formulation of his thoughts, articulated during the first 100 days of his pontificate." Zenit. July 27, 2005.
On Benedict XVI's 100 Days, Interview with Marco Tosatti of La Stampa and author of the Italian The Dictionary of Pope Ratzinger: Guide to the Pontificate. July 27, 2005.
has, certainly, complained that "after the Council, in the place of the Liturgy as the fruit of organic development came fabricated liturgy" a "banal on-the-spot product." And he has stated categorically in God in the World and elsewhere that proscriptions against the traditional Mass should be lifted. So there is little doubt that we shall see freedom granted to the traditional Latin Mass. But we shall not see its forcible re- imposition, nor the reversal of the reforms of Paul VI.
What we may well experience, however, are the first steps along the path of the "reform of the liturgical reform" about which Cardinal Ratzinger has spoken for many years. Traditionalists need not fear, as the Cardinal made perfectly clear in 2001 that he means by this not the modernising of the traditional Missal (though he is in favour of its enrichment), but getting back to "a faithful ecclesial celebration of the Liturgy" everywhere. What will that mean in practice? . . .
One of the interesting things I've noticed is the mention given to our new Pope by politically-oriented bloggers outside the realm of "St. Blog's Parish". Lexington Green from the excellent blog Chicago Boys -- who reads a lot of books -- gives this appraisal of God and the World:
I started it in the Fall, before I had any idea he'd be Pope. This is the third in a series of interviews with Cardinal Ratzinger. The fact that he is able to answer with this sort of clarity and modesty when speaking off the cuff is interesting, and shows the depth of his scholarship (and wisdom) and his style of thinking, which is at once traditional and yet aware of the modern world and its challenges. For a person who is supposedly a hard-headed proponent of orthodoxy, he is much more open to discussion and even "thinking out loud" than one might expect. Ratzinger is a man who comes off as sound on dogmatic theology, and moral theology, without being "dogmatic" in any simplistic sort of way. Of course, anyone either within or without the Church who is hoping for some basic change in long-standing theological or moral principles will find little cheer. Finally, Ratzinger seems to be a more practical and dour man than his predecessor. John Paul II was a man of preternatural cheer rooted in a deep personal prayer and an all-embracing sense of the Divine, mystical dimension of life and the world. This led him to make optimistic pronouncements which were cheering to the faithful, but also seemed at odds with the empirical facts. Ratzinger is not of that sort of mind. I expect a more focused and practical and disciplined approach -- a more German approach -- to the papacy from Ratzinger. I loved John Paul II and I miss him. But Joseph Ratzinger is a tough and brilliant man and I have great hope that he will serve the Church and humanity very well in whatever time he is granted as Pope. I pray for the Pope every day.
. . . And my idea is that really the springtime of the Church will not say that we will have in a near time buses of conversions, that all peoples of the world will be converted to Catholicism. This is not the way of God. The essential things in history begin always with the small, more convinced communities. So, the Church begins with the 12 Apostles. And even the Church of St. Paul diffused in the Mediterranean are little communities, but this community in itself is the future of the world, because we have the truth and the force of conviction. So, I think also today it should be an error to think now or in 10 years with the new springtime, all people will be Catholic. This is not our future, nor our expectation. But we will have really convinced communities with élan of the faith, no? This is springtime — a new life in very convinced persons with joy of the faith.
Raymond: But, smaller numbers? In the macro?
Cardinal: Smaller numbers, I think. But from these small numbers we will have a radiation of joy in the world. And so, it’s an attraction, as it was in the old Church. Even when Constantine made Christianity the public religion, there were a small number of percentage at this time; but it was clear, this is the future. So we can live in the future, just give us a way in a different future. And so, I would say, if we have young people really with the joy of the faith and this radiation of this joy of the faith, this will show to the world, "Even if I cannot share it, even if I cannot convert it at this moment, here is the way to live for tomorrow."
As posted by Rod Dreher to Amy Welborn's post discussing the same topic: "Big Tent" v. "Remnant."
The First Three Months of Benedict XVI: New Pope, New Style, by Sandro Magister. www.chiesa July 25, 2005, offering an appraisal of the Holy Father's pontificate thus far, with attention to those who criticize him as "an enemy of modernity" as well as the Father's ability to "captivate the crowd" in a new way:
The same masses of the faithful that applauded the gestures or striking phrases of pope Karol Wojtyla, while almost completely missing what it was that he was talking about, are doing the opposite with the new pope. They follow Ratzinger's homilies word for word, from beginning to end, with an attentiveness that astonishes the experts. Verifying this takes nothing more than mingling among the crowds in attendance at a Mass celebrated by the pope.
The new pope's style is sober in terms of his contact with the masses. His symbolic expressiveness comes entirely from the liturgy, which he celebrates with a great sense of authority. But apart from the Masses, catecheses, and blessings, Benedict XVI is a minimalist. "The pope must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God's Word," he said when taking possession of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on May 7. And he keeps to this standard even in regard to public gestures. He does very little of his own. He wants the faithful to pay attention to what is essential, which is not his own person but Jesus Christ alive and present in the sacraments of the Church.
Via Cosmos, Liturgy, Sex -- what a great name for a blog! -- comes Benedict XVI, Vatican II and Modernity July 24, 2005. A Zenit interview with Tracey Rowland, dean and permanent fellow of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family - Melbourne and author of "Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II (Routledge, 2003), on the Holy Father's role in the Second Vatican Council ("I don't think that the Council changed his views so much as his views shaped the Council") and the Church's role and its relationship to "the world":
Contrary to popular perceptions, his Augustinian spirituality does not mean that he is against the world or that he believes that Catholics should crawl into ghettos.
What it does mean is that he is no Pelagian. He doesn't think that with sufficient education the New Jerusalem can be built on earth. Civics education alone, lectures on human rights, exhortations about brotherly love and the common good, will get nowhere unless people are open to the work of grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
A humanism that is not Christian cannot save the world. This was the conclusion of his fellow peritus Henri de Lubac, and Benedict has made some very strong statements against the pretensions of a mere secular humanism.
Moreover, while he is not advocating a retreat from the world, he has exhorted Catholics to rediscover with evangelical seriousness the courage of nonconformism in the face of the social trends of the affluent world.
He has said that we ought to have the courage to rise up against what is regarded as "normal" for a person at the end of the 20th century and to rediscover faith in its simplicity. In other words, one can engage the world, and be in the world, without being of the world.
(Here is Part II of the interview with Dr. Rowland).
There are some affinities between Rowland's perception of Benedict and that of Fr. Komonchak's sketch of Pope Benedict's Augistinian, or Bonoventurian, perspective (The Church in Crisis: Pope Benedict's Theological Vision, Commonweal June 3, 2005 / Volume CXXXII, Number 11).
According to Komonchak:
"Much has been made of his experience of student unrest at the University of Tübingen in 1968. Many see that experience as the best explanation of the apparent intellectual about-face that turned the young progressive theologian of the Second Vatican Council into the poster-child of conservative reaction in theology and in church politics. There is something to this, and Joseph Ratzinger was not the only European intellectual to have been deeply affected by the excesses of the fascists of the left at the time. (We all know the definition of a neoconservative: a liberal who's been mugged.)
But overemphasizing that Tübingen experience may lead one to overlook the deeper continuity in the new pope's basic theological approach and vision. . . .
Komonchak describes Benedict's perspective as a "Bonaventuran" theological vision, presenting "the Christian message as the only truly liberating force" over and against "contemporary philosophy or the human and natural sciences," sharply critical of post-Vatican II theology which had "lost its critical distance and has become a handmaiden of the various forms of positivism":
. . . In Ratzinger's writings, there are very few positive references to intellectual developments outside the church; they almost always appear as antithetical to the specifically Christian. There are no cultural or social pierres d'attente. Instead, dichotomies abound, contrasts between the Christian notions of truth, freedom, nature and those current in Western culture. The faith must be presented as countercultural, as an appeal to nonconformity. It can appeal to the widespread sense of disillusion to what modernity has promised but been unable to deliver. It will make its appeal by presenting the Christian vision in its synthetic totality as a comprehensive structure of meaning that at nearly every point breaks with the taken-for-granted attitudes, strategies, and habits of contemporary culture. The gospel will save us, not philosophy, not science, and not scientific theology. The great model for this enterprise is the effort to preach the gospel in the alien world of antiquity and to construct the vision of Christian wisdom manifest in the great ages of faith before philosophy, science, and technology separated themselves into autonomous areas of reflection and activity.
One can tell where this is headed. In the latter part of his article, Komonchak portrays then-Cardinal Ratzinger's role as Prefect of the CDF as one in staunch opposition to and suppression of "theological pluralism", academic freedom and a progressive "dialogue with the world." In a condescending reproach, he expresses the hope that with his ascension to the chair of Peter he might "recognize that the necessary proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ will include moments for listening . . . to others -- of different minds and different approaches -- within the household of the faith."
Thankfully, a well-deserved and substantial critique of Fr. Komonchak's article is penned by Jamie Blosser at Ad Limina Apostolorum, budding patristics scholar at Catholic University of America and himself an "inveterate Augustinian."
On the eve of the feast of St. Benedict (July 11, 2005); Pope Benedict devoted his weekly Angelus address to his namesake, St. Benedict of Norcia (480-547):
. . . here is a particular aspect of his spirituality, which today I would particularly like to underline. Benedict did not found a monastic institution oriented primarily to the evangelization of barbarian peoples, as other great missionary monks of the time, but indicated to his followers that the fundamental, and even more, the sole objective of existence is the search for God: "Quaerere Deum."
He knew, however, that when the believer enters into a profound relationship with God he cannot be content with living in a mediocre way, with a minimalist ethic and superficial religiosity. In this light, one understands better the expression that Benedict took from St. Cyprian and that is summarized in his Rule (IV, 21) -- the monks' program of life: "Nihil amori Christi praeponere." "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ."
Holiness consists in this valid proposal for every Christian that has become a true pastoral imperative in our time, in which one perceives the need to anchor life and history in solid spiritual references.
A Sublime and perfect model of sanctity is Mary Most Holy, who lived in constant and profound communion with Christ. Let us invoke her intercession, together with that of St. Benedict, so that the Lord will multiply also in our time men and women who, through an enlightened faith, witnessed in life, will be in this new millennium salt of the earth and light of the world.
You can find the full text of Pope Benedict's address here, courtesy of Zenit News Service. (Or better yet, hear him here, via Vatican Radio -- now podcasting).
Friend on HighGulfshore Life interviews Fr. Joseph Fessio on his friendship with Pope Benedict XVI, among other things:
Q: Are people overreacting to his conservative stance?
A: I think some of the hostility [among Catholics] is projection. He has to tell people, "You can support women's reproductive rights if you want, but you can't be a Catholic in good standing." They get angry, and they project that anger back on him. He's not an angry man; he's serene. But he's serenely proclaiming controversial truths.
Q: Will there be any changes?
A: We have a creed, and that's not going to change. John Paul II knew he couldn't change the teachings -- he didn't want to -- so he changed the location. His travel was big news, but what he said was old news.
Q: How will he surprise people?
A: With the depth and richness and clarity of his intellect. The man is phenomenal -- and part of that is his capacity to listen.
From David Major Jones' la nouvelle théologie blog comes an excerpt from interview with Henri De Lubac (30 Giorni July 1985), in which the famous theologian offered his impressions on "the ['very public'] manner in which Cardinal Ratzinger conducts the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."
One would have hoped that their response would mirror that of the Polish people when Karol Wojtyla became John Paul II, if only for purely nationalistic reasons. Nothing of the sort happened: "No one is a prophet in his own country" sadly applies in this case. The cool response of many Germans, and the outspoken antagonism of others, speak volumes for the state of Catholicism in the country that gave us Luther. . . .
According to Hildebrand, it was the Cardinal's post-1960's disillusionment with post-VII liberalism that led to his unpopularity among Germans:
As His Eminence relates in his autobiography, Milestones (Ignatius, 1997), after Vatican II, he became conscious of the poison contained in some innovative theological ideas that were spreading like wildfire. Once in Bamberg in 1966, he gave a talk in which he articulated his concerns. Afterward, Julius Cardinal Döpfner expressed "his surprise at the conservative streak he thought he detected." Was he not recanting positions he had previously defended?
Having perceived the dead alleys into which some of the theses he'd previously endorsed were leading, the still-young theologian didn't hesitate to change course. From this moment on, his popularity declined.
She mentions as well then-Cardinal's clashes with prominent liberals Bishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz and Bishop Walter Kasper of Rottenberg-Stuttgart on various pastoral issues.
Mrs. Hildebrand goes on to praise the Holy Father for "accepting the cross of the papacy" and his courage in the face of the attacks that are sure to follow, recalling his Christlike patience in dealing with protestors at a 1988 talk in New York city (at the invitation of then-Lutheran Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus). She closes with a reflection on his choice of name and his views on the liturgy: "This is the pontiff whom the Holy Ghost has inspired weak and imperfect men to give us as the representative of Christ on this earth. A Te Deum and a Magnificat are called for."
Reading Ratzinger. Amy Welborn reviews "the second long piece on Roman Catholicism that the New Yorker has run in recent months." The article itself is not available online, but judging by her comments it's probably not worth purchasing the magazine. Ah, well -- at least they made the effort. As Amy says, "What other secular magazine is attempting to take this moment seriously?"
Chris Young designed this bumper sticker for his dad, and then had it printed in volume due to the popular response it received. If you'd like to get one for World Youth Day -- one of the many enjoyable traditions is the giving of gifts to pilgrims from other countries -- you can order them here. Price is $3.95 each (with postage of $1.50 for 1-2; $3.50 for 3-10; $5.50 for 11-20; etc.).
It's summertime . . . meaning vacation . . . and here's Pope Benedict On the Value of Vacation: "Days in Which More Time Can Be Dedicated to Prayer" Zenit. Address before praying the midday Angelus with some 6,000 people gathered in the Alpine village of Les Combes, Italy. July 17, 2005. (Photographs from Benedict's vacation in Italy can be found on the Ratzinger Forum -- leave it to the fans to find the best)
Amy Welborn (Open Book) blogs on the Pope Benedict's trip to Val Grisanche in the alpine region of Valle d'Aosta in northwest Italy, with photographs and excerpts from a meeting with journalists in which the Holy Father gave his opinion on the 7/7 London bombings.
Planning on traveling to Europe yourself? Deutsche Welle reports that the Holy Father's native land has become something of a tourist spot, with the help of an Italian guidebook to Benedict's favorite haunts:
Not content with providing guided tours of his current address, an Italian entrepreneur based in Germany has copied the business ideas of her Vatican-based cousins by compiling a guidebook to the pope's Bavaria.
Now with the help of the 152-page book "The Bavaria of Joseph Ratzinger; a practical guide to the origins of Benedict XVI", papal devotees can plan their vacations in the southern German state around the places where the pope lived, the churches where he celebrated Mass and his favorite places to eat.
The book, which also contains essential information such as where the young Joseph Ratzinger first raised a bierstein of Weizen, goes on sale this week in Italian bookstores."It's a different way to get to know this holy man, for Catholics and non-Catholics," Jeanne Perego, the Italian author, told reporters.
Back in April Deutsche Welle reported on Ratzinger's birthplace, the "sleepy village" of Marktl am Inn, now coping with the flood of tourists, journalists and pilgrims. The Charlotte Observer also reports on the increasing trend of Following in the pontiff's footsteps (July 24, 2003).
After weeks of speculation, the cat is out of the bag -- Pope Benedict XVI loves felines. It turns out that the pope is the proud owner of Chico, a black-and-white domestic short hair that lives at the pope's home in the Bavarian town of Tübingen, Germany.
Agnes Heindl, long-time housekeeper to the pope's brother, Father Georg Ratzinger, who lives in nearby Regensburg, told MSNBC.com that Chico is currently being looked after by the caretaker of the pope's private residence [due to regulations against pets in Vatican apartments].
Cat lovers rejoiced in the election of Pope Benedict. According to Vatican officials, the Holy Father's email address "has been swamped with messages from animal lovers asking for blessings and his prayers. Even in Rome his love for cats was well known:
According to local news reports, the pope used to walk the streets of Borgo Pio, his former Roman neighborhood just east of the Vatican, where neighbors likened him to Dr. Dolittle with a Pied Piper charm. Stray cats would run to him when they saw him coming and he used to prepare food for them daily on special plates.
See the rest of the lengthy article for a look at the favorite pets of past popes and the "special place" felines have in the hearts of Italians.
Finally, why would Pope Benedict XVI's secretary Father Georg Ganswein send an Irish journalist living in Moscow a bottle of Old Bushmills Irish Whiskey and the note "His Holiness Remembers the Bet"? -- FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF. A truly delightful story and a testimony to the Holy Father's good humor.
Update: The downside to the internet - rumors travel fast. The upside: readers kind enough to engage in fact-checking. Etienne relays the following:
Here ist the answer the German news agency send to me after contacting the Vatican about the story:
"Wie unsere Nachfrage beim Vatikan ergab, ist die Geschichte leider frei erfunden. Der in der Meldung genannte Sekretär des Papstes, Georg Gänswein, verwies darauf, dass der Papst strikter Alkohol-Abstinenzler sei. Er wäre also niemals eine Wette um Alkohol eingegangen, auch nicht als Kardinal."
I think a translation is not necessary. The story was denied by Fr. Georg Gänswein.
Pope Benedict XVI and Harry PotterTurning now from what I imagined was a somewhat substantial post on Islam and the religious roots of terrorism to a far weighter topic which absolutely demands our readers' attention: the INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SCANDAL involving Pope Benedict's alleged CONDEMNATION of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series in an apparent reprisal of his former role as the VATICAN ENFORCER. (News at 11).
When I half-jokingly mentioned Cardinal Ratzinger's comments on in our last Benedict Roundup as one that may cause international division, I didn't anticipate that it would recieve this much attention. . . . never underestimate the power of a hysterical MSM (Mainstream Media) to blow this out of proportion.
Consequently, here is the obligatory "Harry Potter" roundup for those who are interested:
In 2003, a month after the English press throughout the world falsely proclaimed that Pope John Paul II approved of Harry Potter, the man who was to become his successor sent a letter to a Catholic German critic of Harry Potter outlining his agreement with her opposition to Rowling's offerings. . . .
The main thrust of Kuby's objection to Potter is that the books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.
In the Zenit interview, Kuby quotes from the letter she received from Cardinal Ratzinger. In the letter, then-Cardinal Ratzinger specifically pointed to the fact that the danger in the Potter books is hidden was greatly concerning. "It is good that you shed light and inform us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable and precisely because of that deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it (the Faith) could properly grow," said Cardinal Ratzinger.
. . . A private communication to a German friend saying, "ja, good article, you're probably right," is not a public statement that merits much attention without further reason. Even if the Pope had read the series and made the comments, which it is fairly certain he did not, Catholics are not bound to papal literary criticism. Catholics, said Chesterton, are bound in faith to agree on a few things, but tend to disagree about everything else.
Domenico Bettinelli's commentary here, who reminds us that "In 2001, at Catholic World Report, we ran an article by Catholic author Michael O'Brien that was critical of the Harry Potter novels and the paganization of children's culture": "Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children's Culture"Catholic world News Oct. 10, 2001. (Michael O'Brien has posted his own views on Pope Benedict and Harry Potter on his website).
Additional commentary -- on the book, not the article -- by Catholic author Amy Welborn, Sorting Through
Harry Potter":
There's only one reason the Harry Potter books are in the least bit controversial. Just one.
Wicca.
That's it. If we didn't have this ridiculous little "religion" bustling around, forming "covens" in dorm rooms and getting army chaplains, I doubt one parent in a million would even think to waste even a minute being concerned about these books. . . .
If you want to chat about the article, one need only turn to Ms. Welborn's commentariat, 106 comments and counting.
. . . The trouble with articles like the one on Lifesite is that they cause a lot of controversy without much substance. The same was true a couple of years ago when Roman exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth nixed the Potter series. Naysayers pounced on this and trumpeted it to fans of the series while failing to mention that Fr. Amorth was only speaking on his own authority and not the Church's. Now that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has become Pope Benedict XVI, naysayers are hoping to stir the cauldron again. Granted, the remarks should be discussed, even investigated, to ascertain what was said and the context in which it was said. But misleading headlines and sensationalistic articles are not the way to foster calm and reasoned inquiry.
Jimmy Akin himself has a series of posts: LifeSiteNews Calls Kettle Black ("LifeSiteNews.Com, best known for reporting pro-life issues, has just performed a disservice to both the Catholic community and the newsreading community in general. . . .").
Pre-B16 on Harry Potter, containing a substantial analysis of the original letters sent to Gabriele Kuby, the author of a German anti-Harry Potter book and subject of the LifeSiteNews' report
Vatican Radio On Pre-16 Potter Brouhaha, posting in full "a transcript [of] a recent broadcast of Vatican Radio dealing with the alleged remarks of then-Cardinal Ratzinger on the Harry Potter books . . . [given by] Msgr. Peter Fleedwood, the Vatican official who initially made (what turn out to be) moderately pro-Potter comments when asked a question about the books at a press conference."
When I originally blogged the LifeSite article, I quipped that "the Holy Father's personal judgements on certain issues have been a source of division between the Papacy and orthodox American Catholics . . . no, I'm not talking about the war in Iraq: here is a far graver issue with potential for division on an international scale" -- of course, it was only a matter of time before the Open Book Commentariat turned to the question of this very matter. Jim Cork:
But seriously, I seem to recall that when then-Cardinal Ratzinger stated that the Iraq war could not be morally justified, many people protested that we were not bound by his private opinions, and that there was room for legitimate disagreement. I guess a children's book is a more serious matter than war and peace and all that.
Reactions aplenty, although the conversation has shifted from Potter to the familiar territory of Iraq, WMD's, Bush lied, etc.
As Greydanus contends, whether it's C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K. Rowling, the use of magic itself is secondary to the larger and deeper themes of the works -- the relationships btw/ characters, the choices they make, the moral lessons learned.
In any case, one should bear in mind that these are matters of personal judgement. Archbishop Pell of Sydney expressed his qualified enjoyment of the Harry Potter series in a column:
"I like Harry Potter, a more pleasant escapism for me, but also much more superficial, predictable and sentimental than Tolkien's world.
Tolkien had fought in the First World War and his masterpiece was written with the Second World War as background. He knew evil at first hand and has written powerfully of the attractions of wicked power, treachery, human weakness and inconstancy.
The Harry Potter series are brilliantly written children's books, which many adults enjoy. Tolkien has produced much deeper, sterner stuff; an escapism certainly, which he describes not as the flight of the deserter, but as the escape of the prisoner. Into a world guided by a hidden benign Providence where a host of coincidences, occasional heroism, the weakness of the good and the dark scheming of the evil are all brought to achieve a partial victory for goodness.
I personally concur with Archbishop Pell. Hopefully children and adults who cut their teeth on Harry Potter will eventually come to appreciate the challenging but ultimately rewarding fiction of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
That's a roundup of Catholic commentary. As Domenico Bettinelli predicted:
Whatever your opinion of the Potter books (and the disapprobation of a pope before he was elected does not bind Catholic consciences), it is clear that the mainstream media will see this as a fun newsworthy story to fill the summer news doldrums with a ginned-up controversy.
So, finishing off with a few choice headlines from the MSM:
Harry Potter and the Vatican Enforcer, by Jack Malvern. Sunday Times UK July 14, 2005. (Good grief, I thought with the advent of Ratzinger to the See of Peter we'd leave "The Vatican Enforcer" behind?)
Pope Pans Potter CNN International. July 14, 2005: "A Vatican official was not immediately able to comment on the remarks attributed to the pope, who is currently on holiday in the Alps. Reuters was unable to reach Kuby by telephone." You'd think CNN would have more important things to discuss?
Fr Michael Kelly told a breakfast TV presenter this morning that reporting of Pope Benedict´s private views about the children´s literature phenomenon Harry Potter do not constitute an authoritative Church statement.
The usual line of criticism is that it's The Church that's preoccupied with sex, or "the pelvic issues." Not so, according to John Allen Jr.:
Earlier this week, headlines in the American press reported that Pope Benedict XVI had attacked gay marriage. Though the statement fell into the "Dog Bites Man" category of utterly predictable news, it nevertheless illustrates how any pronouncement by an official of the Catholic church on a sexual topic will draw attention.
One point perhaps worth noting: In his 48,978 words of teaching as of June 9, Benedict XVI had used the word "sex" exactly once, while the word "Africa," mostly in the context of an appeal for attention to the problems of Africa, appeared 11 times. It's no mystery which has been given greater prominence in the international press. . . .
From the news coverage, one could get the impression that Pope Benedict's statement was primarily "about" gay marriage, since that's all that was quoted. In fact, the line above was one sentence in a 3,000-word speech delivered at a convention on the family for the diocese of Rome. The broader theme was the Christian concept of the family.
A middle-aged man in a wheelchair, who was among dozens of people led up to the pope at the end of the audience, handed Pope Benedict a mobile phone and asked him to talk. The pope did so. . . .
[Italian News Agency] ANSA later interviewed the cell phone owner, Emilio Testa, and the 44-year-old nun with cancer, Sister Maria Cristina, a member of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist in Angri, Italy.
"When I heard his voice I could not believe it was Pope Ratzinger," the nun said. "I thought it was a dream, but instead it was real.
"He asked me how I was, he told me to stay calm and that he would pray for me," she said. "The most surprising thing was that he remembered my name. He kept calling me Sister Maria Cristina, almost like we already knew each other."
Testa told ANSA: "I knew how badly Sister Maria Cristina wanted to see the pope, but her health would not permit it. So when I saw the pontiff, I did not think twice. I got close, kissed his hand and, without pausing, asked him to pray for Sister Maria Cristina and perhaps say hello to her on the phone.
"The pontiff immediately said 'yes,' took my cell phone and, smiling, began to speak to her," Testa said.
"When it was all over, I started bawling like a baby. I realized that something extraordinary had just happened," he said. "I was happy because I knew that with that call Sister Maria Cristina's heart filled with joy."
In Search of Freedom; Against Reason Fallen Ill and Religion Abused, on the 60th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy. It was initially published in the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and was translated from the German by Jeffrey Craig Miller. Logos Vol. 4, Issue 2 (Spring 2005). The Holy Father addresses on a number of pertinent issues: "the breakdown of the sustaining power of law" and the rise of terrorism ("in order that force in the defense of law and right shall not be itself do wrong, it must subject itself to stringent measures. It must pay heed to the causes of terror, which so often has its source in standing injustice"); the relationship of Islam and the West ("what is it, the West? And what is Islam? Both are multi-layered worlds with great internal differences - worlds that, in many ways, also intersect. In this respect, the crude antithesis West-Islam, does not apply"), political order ("Christian belief - following in the way of Jesus - has negated the idea of political theocracy. It has - to express it in modern terms - produced the worldliness of states, wherein Christians along with the adherents of other convictions live together in peace"). As usual, a very provocative essay and one worth discussing at length. I'll probably return to it in a later post but wanted to note it for the benefit of my readers.
Apropos of the compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in an interview in the April 2003 issue of 30 Giorni magazine, the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said that in some circles "there is a certain opposition to any attempt to 'crystallize' a doctrine in words, in the name of flexibility."
"The post-conciliar catechetical movement accentuated the anthropological aspect of the question and believed that, if a catechism is too doctrinal, it would be an impediment to the necessary dialogue with the man of today," the future Benedict XVI noted.
"We are convinced of the contrary," he said. "To dialogue well, it is necessary to know what we must talk about. It is necessary to know the essence of our faith. For this reason, today a catechism is more necessary than ever."
As a veteran fighter of the liberal catechetical establishment in Australia, to hear words like that are music to one's ears. For so long the conventional wisdom here has been "Don't teach the kids doctrine, but good Christian living". Yeah, but orthopraxis proceeds from orthodoxy. How wonderful that the man who uttered the highlighted words is now the pope, and shared our concerns.
A new book by Cardinal Ratzinger entitled The Europe of Benedict: In the Crisis of Cultures was published this past week in Italy, according to Catholic World News ("Pope's new book affirms Europe's Christian roots" June 22, 2005). The book was introduced in Rome on June 21, at a press conference chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar for the Rome diocese, who discussed the themes of the book:
Cardinal Ruini, in introducing the book, told reporters that Pope discussed "the fundamental points of European culture in relation to Christianity," adding that the faith remains a dominant formative influence on European society.
The ties between Europe and the faith, the cardinal continued, "today are at risk of being broken, not by accident" but through the influence of an aggressive secularism. Cardinal Ruini spoke of an ideology which believes that "God does not exist, or at least doees not have to be accepted, and thus no reference to Him can be made in public life."
The Italian prelate added that in the book, Pope Benedict/Cardinal Ratzinger appeals to lay Catholics to combat the spread of that ideology, and to "orient their lives as if God exists.
The three speeches contained in the Pope's new book are "What it Means to Believe," delivered in 1992 at Bassano del Grappa, Italy; a talk on "The Right to Life in Europe," delivered at a pro-life conference in 1997; and a speech on "The Crisis of Cultures," delivered on April 1 of this year-- the eve of the death of Pope John Paul II at Subiacco, where St. Benedict founded his first monastery in the 6th century, as Cardinal Ratzinger received the "St. Benedict for Europe" prize.
Catholic News reports that "shortly after his election, the Pope assigned all the rights to his works to the Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana" -- I'm curious as to how this affects the Pope's relationship with Ignatius Press, which was the authorized translator / publisher of the Holy Father's books in English?
On the subject of books, Zenit News Service interviewed Ave Maria University's Father Matthew Lamb, discussing Joseph Ratzinger's "Primer on Ecclesiology": Called to Communion -- Part I ; Part 2. June 23/24, 2005.
Finally, for all the clubbers out there, Jamie McMorrin gives us Pope Benedict XVI: The Dance Mix - "a re-mix of the announcement from that glorious day when our Holy Father ascended the throne of Peter." =)
The Promise of Benedict XVI, by Timothy George. The Dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, thinks that:
"John Paul II will long be remembered as the greatest pope since the Reformation. His successor, Benedict XVI, may well turn out to be the harbinger of a new reformation. . . .
I am not predicting that Benedict XVI will follow suit and preside over a new council, Vatican III. But I do believe his pontificate will be one of great moment for the Christian church, not least for evangelicals.
George offers five reasons why "evangelical Protestants, and orthodox believers of all persuasions, should be pleased at the election of Pope Benedict XVI." Take a look.
Just as I avoid the caricature that certain progressive environments have made of Ratzinger over the past 20 years, I also try to be on guard against a certain error: to think that he will be a Pope on the basis of what Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was and said.
I don't think that Benedict XVI's "program" is to combat relativism. I believe, instead, that he will seek to proclaim and witness the simplicity, purity and beauty of faith in Jesus Christ.
The antidote to relativism is not a program, it is not a theory, it is not and can never be an invective or a denunciation. An invective, a denunciation, however, were more useful vis-à-vis communism. No, the antidote is in a people, even small in number, that lives the faith and witnesses the fullness of life.
In his latest Word from Rome, John Allen Jr. assesses the first 45 days of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate:
The pope has been more critical in describing negative trends in the broader culture. Yet so far, the overwhelming tone of his teaching has been positive, rather than the condemnation of error. Benedict XVI may prove to be less censorious than many had expected.
Second, it's interesting to note that despite Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's frequent criticism of what he described as hasty or excessive reforms following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Vatican II is by far the most-cited source in Pope Benedict's teaching other than his immediate predecessor, John Paul II. So far, the pope has explicitly cited Vatican II fifteen times. That seems a signal that Benedict, who was a peritus, or theological expert, at Vatican II, intends to align himself with the council, at least as he understands and interprets it.
After presenting five "big ideas" that have distinguished themselves in the Holy Father's words to date, Allen turns to Benedict "as governor," as "collegial pope," and thoughts on his style of leadership. An interesting development from one who had formerly portrayed the Pope as "The Vatican's Enforcer."
Pope Catholic - Media Shocked! - Jeff Miller aka. The Curt Jester critiques the media response to an address by Pope Benedict XVI, in which he reiterated basic Catholic teaching on a number of moral issues. The MSM (Mainstream Media) took it as a revelation that the Pope is not as cute and cuddly as they had hoped for.
Father Joseph Ratzinger, a member of the International Theological Commission, was appointed archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI on March 24, 1977, and received episcopal ordination from the hands of Bishop Josef Stangl of Wuerzburg the following May 28.
Father Ratzinger, who had just celebrated his 50th birthday, became the first diocesan priest in 80 years to assume the pastoral governance of the large Bavarian archdiocese. Paul VI elevated him to cardinal just a month later, on June 27.
In his autobiography "Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977" (Ignatius Press, 1999), Cardinal Ratzinger recalled the date of his episcopal consecration as "an extraordinarily beautiful day," "a radiant day at the beginning of summer, on the vigil of Pentecost of 1977."
"The Sacrament of Unity" translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave today in Italian during the closing Mass of the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress, in the esplanade of Marisabella. Zenit. May 29, 2005. According to Zenit News Service, "the Eucharistic congress, which has gathered representatives of all the ecclesial entities of Italy, opened with the theme "We Cannot Live Without Sunday." The theme is taken from the words expressed by the 49 martyrs of Abitene, a city of the Roman province of Proconsular Africa, today's Tunis, in the year 303, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian."
"Parousia" is the Greek New Testament term meaning "presence" that is used to refer to the Second Coming of Christ. In a popular EWTN video series by Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina, Hahn speaks of the Eucharist as an experience of the parousia, both in the sense that Christ comes in the Eucharist and in the sense of looking forward to Christ coming again at the end of the age. Hahn notes in the video series that the ancient Christian Aramaic prayer "maranatha" is both a plea of "Come, Lord Jesus" and a proclamation that the Lord Jesus has already come.
Well, back in 1977, theologian Joseph Ratzinger, as he embarked on his career as a bishop, made the very same observation . . .
Writing on the pernicious effect of relativism on Christian missions, one encounters this little display of what I believe is the Holy Father's sense of humor:
The dogma of relativism has, however, yet another effect: Christian universalism, which is carried out concretely in mission, is no longer the obligatory handling on of a good meant for everyone, that is, of truth and love; with this presupposition, mission becomes the mere presumptuous attitude of a culture that imagines itself to be superior, that tramples upon a whole multitude of religious cultures in the most shameful fashion, thus, it is held, depriving these people of what is best: their own heritage. Thence comes the imperative: Give us back our religions, as the right ways for the various peoples to come to God and God to them; where these religions still exist, do not touch them! Is this demand appropriate? It is at any rate there that the good sense, or nonsense, of the dogma of relativism in the sphere of cultures and religions must be demonstrated.
At least, in the face of such demands, one ought to look carefully at each religion to see whether its restoration would really be desirable. When we think, for instance, of how on the occasion of the most recent rebuilding of the main Aztec temple, in the year 1487, "at the very lowest estimate, twenty thousand people" bled to death, "over four days, on the alters of Tenochtitlan" (the capital city of the Aztecs, in the upper Mexico valley) as human sacrifices to the sun god, it would be difficult for us to encourage this restoration of religion. . . . To the earth gods and the vegetation gods, the Aztecs offered "men and women, who were for the most part flayed alive"; to the gods of rain, who were thought of as being like dwarfs, they offered up little children, who were drowned in springs, in water holes, and in certain parts of the Lake of Tetzcoco. There were rituals, a part of which was the slaughter of human beings. All of this derived, as W. Krickeberg has established, not from some inborn "inclination to bloodthirstiness", but from a fanatical belief in the duty of men to provide in this fashion for the continuation of the world. This, of course, is an extreme instance, but it nonetheless shows that one cannot simply see in any and every religion the way for God to come to man and man to God.
From Truth & Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions pp. 73-75 (Ignatius, 2004). According to Ratzinger, differing variants of the lecture from which this was excerpted was read at the Salzberg Higher Education week in 1992, at a meeting of the CDF with the Asian Bishops Conference in 1993, and at an educational function in Sassari (Sardinia). I must say I'm curious whether the above passage made it into the lecture? =)
Writing for the Jewish World Review, Suzanne Fields calls Pope Benedict "A Good Egg", recalling the time when her son-in-law was a teenager and was tutored for 15 days by Joseph Ratzinger:
At the retreat, the boy was sworn to a fortnight of silence except for talking with his tutor. He remembers Joseph Ratzinger vividly, the most brilliant mind he had ever encountered before and since that time. Joseph Ratzinger had been through World War II, had been in the Hitler Youth and knew firsthand the irrational evils of fascism. Marxism was alive and well in the Soviet Union and behind the Iron Curtain and Joseph Ratzinger understood the dangers that emanated from the ruthless materialism of Communism in the Cold War.
But he didn't talk to the boy about such things. Instead he had him read Aristotle and Plato, the novels of Thomas Mann, the philosophy of Heidegger, and the most critical think piece of all, "The Grand Inquisitor," that powerful legend embedded in a single chapter of The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevski. . . .
"White Smoke" a 'Wide Angle' PBS television special on the Conclave, as presented from a largely liberal standpoint (the show closes with a Bill Moyers' interview with James Carroll, if that tells you anything). To their credit, they include a few brief interviews with some token faithful, sorry, CONSERVATIVE Catholics.
"Pope in Talks with Traditionalist Anglicans" -- Anglican blog titusonenine on the news that "THE new Pope has established links with a faction of discontented Anglican traditionalists seeking to form their own church affiliated to the Vatican." The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) represents some "400,000 Anglicans around the world who have either left their church or are protesting against its liberal policies. It is estimated that 400-500 Church of England parishes may support the group in the long term."
Readers might recall back in October 2003, Cardinal Ratzinger had sent a letter to the American Anglican Council, conveying his personal support to another network of traditional-minded Anglicans. You can read about the conference, and the text of Cardinal Ratzinger's letter to them, here.
. . . On the basis of his copious writings as Ratzinger, we know that Benedict is robustly skeptical of sociological depictions and analyses of the Church. The general media, as well as many scholars, are obsessed with statistical assessments of the Church's fortunes and misfortunes in history. For Pope Benedict these assessments are almost beside the point. The media will have a hard time adjusting to this. They do not want to talk about revealed truth or the redemption worked by Jesus Christ. Benedict insists that to speak of the Church is to speak of Christ. Which may result in the secular elites in control of the commanding heights of culture declining to talk about either.
The circumstance was nicely summed up by a comment of Ted Koppel on Nightline the night of the election. The subject turned to interreligious dialogue, and I had referred to the radical Christocentrism of the new pope. "So which is it, Father," Koppel asked, "Christ or interreligious dialogue?"
But, of course, it is interreligious dialogue because of, and upon the premise of, Jesus Christ as the redeemer of the whole world, including the world's religions in which, as Catholic teaching holds, elements of truth and grace are to be discovered. The same confusion arises with respect to Dominus Iesus, a document issued by Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith a few years ago, which is regularly cited as claiming that "Catholicism is more true than other religions and even other Christian churches." But of course. There is but one Christ and therefore, at the deep level of theological understanding, there can be only one Church, and the Catholic Church claims to be that Church most fully and rightly ordered through time. That is not in tension with ecumenism; it is the foundation of the ecumenical quest for full communion among all Christians.
The argument that Ratzinger has tried to make through these many years, and the argument that Benedict will undoubtedly be making, is that there is no tension, never mind conflict, between truth and love. The caricature is that liberals are big on love while conservatives are big on truth. As Ratzinger said in his homily before the conclave, love without truth is blind and truth without love is empty. Without truth, love is mere sentimentality and, without love, truth is sterile.
This is, of course. in perfect continuity with John Paul's favored passage from Gaudium et Spes that Christ--who is the way, the truth, and the life--is the revelation of man to himself. If Christ is the truth about everyone and every thing, then the way forward is by following the way of Christ. This is the genuine progressivism proposed to the Church and the world by John Paul and by Benedict. The Church does not seek to be counter-cultural, but it is unavoidably counter to the modern mindset in proposing that fidelity and continuity, not autonomy and novelty, are the paths toward a more promising future.
Lest we forget . . ." - Chris Burgwald has a roundup of a few "radtrad" (radical traditionalist) reactions to the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Whew . . . if you thought the left was hysterical over the prospect of the PanzerPope, guess again!
Ithillien has been dipping into Cardinal Ratzinger's various addresses and articles since the election, and posts his reflections on what he's learned:
The central and consistent theme of Ratzinger's thought is communion. Not authority, not law, not order, not even tradition. Human beings are created for communion with God and one another. The Church is the fellowship in which this communion takes place--a fellowship that sums up God's work of creation throughout the aeons, and God's work of revelation throughout the centuries. The purpose of doctrine and liturgy and discipline is to shape this fellowship of communion. All the history of the universe and the human race is pointing toward the eschaton, in which the creation to which God has given freedom will freely return to communion with Him. The Church exists as a sign of that final goal of all creation. This is the context which Ratzinger's critics repeatedly miss. And without it nothing he says or does makes sense.
The new Pope's abhorrence of relativism stems from its threat to this doctrine of communion. If the truth is changing and uncertain, then the history of the universe lacks a goal. Communion is not simply a matter of warm feelings or of tolerance. It involves a deep spiritual unity, and this requires a shared vision of the truth. . . . READ MORE
From Off The Record, discussion of the article "The Document That Put Ratzinger on Top", by Marco Tosatti La Stampa April 22, 2005 -- and a look at Cardinal Ratzinger's thoughts on a "crisis of faith" in the priesthood prior to the conclave, as expressed in the first reflection of The Way of the Cross:
The first of the series took place during his reflections accompanying the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, the reflection on Jesus' third fall under the weight of the cross. The Pope's theologian-friend wrote: "Ought we not call to mind how much Christ has to suffer in His own Church? . . . How many times we celebrate only ourselves without so much as taking Him into consideration! . . . How much filth there is in the Church, even among those who, by virtue of their priesthood, ought to belong entirely to Christ! How much vainglory, how much self-complacency! How little respect we show the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which He awaits us to raise us up again every time we fall!"
It was a reflection in which he spoke of the Church as a "boat on the point of sinking, a boat taking in water on all sides. And also in Your field we see more darnel than wheat. To see the vesture and visage of Your Church so filthy throws us into confusion. Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray you time and time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures."
Two days later, near the Vatican, Cardinal Ratzinger met on the street a retired curial monsignor who asked him the reason for giving what seemed a discouraging reflection. "We must pray much, we must pray much," answered Benedict XIV, "You weren't born yesterday; you understand what I'm talking about; you know what it means -- We priests! We priests!" he concluded in a tone of pleading, adding, "Remember the prayer to the Sacred Heart, in which we ask particular pardon for the sins of priests. I know it hurts to say the boat's taking in water from every side, but it's true, it's true. We priests . . . "
Struck by the manner in which Ratzinger said, "we priests, we priests," the monsignor recognized his inner suffering and asked him nothing further.
Rich Leonardi responds to the Dennis Doyle's criticism of Ratzinger's assessment of Paul Knitter in Truth & Tolerance. (Book review: National Catholic Reporter April 22, 2005).
Cardinal Ratzinger's favorite beer? - From the New York Times April 24, 2005:
. . . The new pope is not, however, a teetotaler: Cardinal Bertone said he occasionally allows himself a glass of "excellent" wine from Piedmont. Manuela Macher, co-owner of the Cantina Tirolese, a Bavarian restaurant near the Vatican where he is a regular, said he also liked an occasional German beer, Franziskaner Weissbier. Which raises a question: Does he order the large size or the small?
Once again, we knew that we were not alone, we knew that we were surrounded, led and guided by the friends of God. And now, at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How can I do this? How will I be able to do it? All of you, my dear friends, have just invoked the entire host of Saints, represented by some of the great names in the history of God's dealings with mankind. In this way, I too can say with renewed conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone. All the Saints of God are there to protect me, to sustain me and to carry me. And your prayers, my dear friends, your indulgence, your love, your faith and your hope accompany me.
Indeed, the communion of Saints consists not only of the great men and women who went before us and whose names we know. All of us belong to the communion of Saints, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we who draw life from the gift of Christ's Body and Blood, through which he transforms us and makes us like himself. Yes, the Church is alive – this is the wonderful experience of these days. During those sad days of the Pope's illness and death, it became wonderfully evident to us that the Church is alive. And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future. The Church is alive and we are seeing it: we are experiencing the joy that the Risen Lord promised his followers. The Church is alive – she is alive because Christ is alive, because he is truly risen. In the suffering that we saw on the Holy Father's face in those days of Easter, we contemplated the mystery of Christ's Passion and we touched his wounds. But throughout these days we have also been able, in a profound sense, to touch the Risen One. We have been able to experience the joy that he promised, after a brief period of darkness, as the fruit of his resurrection. . . .
One of the most significant novelties took place at the beginning of the Mass on Sunday with a visit to the grottoes underneath St. Peter's Basilica to pay homage at the tomb of the first Pope, St. Peter.
Monsignor Valenziano explained that Benedict XVI had in mind to underline that he "was not elected successor of John Paul II, but of Peter."
The Holy Father, accompanied by the Eastern patriarchs, went down from the Altar of the Confession to the first Pope's sepulcher. At that moment, two deacons collected the two symbols that would later be imposed on the Pope: the Fisherman's Ring and the pallium, which had been laid by the tomb throughout the night.
"I leave from where the apostle arrived," Benedict XVI said before processing to St. Peter's Square.
The liturgist of the St. Anselm Pontifical Liturgical Institute explained that in the past, popes were sometimes crowned in the Sistine Chapel, while others were crowned in the basilica.
However, Benedict XVI began his pontificate solemnly in St. Peter's Square "because it is the place of Peter's martyrdom," he explained, and not for logistical reasons.
It was great being with people my age (in our 20's) who were so fired up about the "Hammer of Heresy". That was another great thing - the crowd was so young. We tried making new cheers for Benedict XVI. When it was dark, my group of friends sang the Salve Regina together. Immediately afterwards we spotted two men with black coats and hats trying to walk casually through the square. But bits of red were poking out. Most of the girls kissed their hands and thanked them. Their faces were beaming as they in turn patted the young people's faces. Part of their joy I think was seeing the young people so happy and supportive. They were humble cardinals from Zagreb and Sarajevo. One of them granted our request for a blessing. So we knelt to receive it in Latin. Not long after, we went out for German beer, shouting "Viva il Papa!" along the way.
Right now I am so full of adrenaline I think I could explode. . . . Probably one of the quietest place on earth was the offices of the National Catholic Reporter. For myself I was jumping up and down and screaming with excitement when his name was announced.
What his election portends for the Church is continuity and consolidation of the work of Pope John Paul the Great. We can expect continued, strong doctrinal clarity, leadership, and discipline, as well as the continued authentic interpretation of Vatican II. All-in-all, steady as she goes for the Ship of Peter.
Dr. Philip Blosser, aka "The Pertinacious Papist", issues a pro lepos in iocando mea (or "A Defense of My Sense of Humor") -- after he was prominently featured by CNN and the international press for having prominently displayed Robert Duvall's words I love the smell of napalm in the morning ... it smelled like victory ..." in Apocalypse Now as a foil for introducing reflections on the election of Pope Benedict XVI. You know, Blossers do have a strange sense of humor. =)
Men I work with who haven't smiled in a month were as giddy as children. It was very hard to give a coherent lecture with all the thoughts of the coming pontificate. I am sure at the other educational establishment I frequent they have to keep a suicide watch over certain members of the theology department. . . .
According to Patrick Henry Reardon, the election of Cardinal Ratzinger was a big hit among the staff at ecumenical Christian magazine Touchstone.
JMiller @ Fiat reports on the mood from a Benedictine seminary.
Joseph Ratzinger is not the cruel, heartless, Dark Lord of the Sith turned Theologian that many attempt to portray him as. He is a man of his time and of his place. a man with an artists soul and worldview. He is a man whose intelligence can be measured by his humility. His numerous debates with friends and foes demonstrate this. He is a man who was given one of the hardest jobs in the Church. The Head of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has a thankless job. It is his responsibility to ensure that the eternal truths of our faith are maintained. This is especially hard in the world of today where somehow we have come to believe that every idea has equal importance and relevance. Just as a child resents a parent telling him "No.", many theologians resented being told that their ideas and theories could possibly be flawed or in fact wrong.
For the past quarter century we've only seen one side of Benedict XVI. While that side is very important to understanding him, we need to learn more about the other sides of him that we haven't seen. This Pope will be more complex than most people realize or expect. He is a man who lives in a world that demands everything in as great a quantity as possible in as short a time as possible. Quantity over quality. Action without consideration. Activity without meaning. The world that believes a song should only last three minutes will be confronted by a man who understands the beauty of symphonies.
You know, one of the funny things about the media hysteria about Benedict is the faux fear that "sincere believers" from other traditions are going to somehow feel deeply threatened if the Pope, like, you know, believes that the Catholic faith is, you know, like, true.
In reality, one of the things that serious Protestants (like serious Jews and serious Muslims) *respect* is the fact that Benedict actually believes there are truths which are revealed by God and not simply the product of whoever happens to have won the raffle for Power in the great historical process of warfare between race, class and gender. The one and only alternative to Truth is Might Makes Right.
Chris Burgwald @ Veritas: "I couldn't be happier! This man is a towering intellect, one of the greatest theologians of our time... and I've got a book of his he signed for me!" -- Lucky guy! =)
. . . Pope Benedict XVI will probably be one of the most persecuted and even hated men in the world (the most hated since President Ronald Reagan). The liberals and secularists already take a very dim view of the man, because he is strongly orthodox and stands up for the truth. There is a place for this. All the early popes were martyrs. There is also a martyrdom of sorts which comes through slander and lying and severe opposition from the waves and currents of the presently fashionable zeitgeist. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is precisely the sort of man, I think, who is willing to suffer in that way, in order to strongly assert doctrinal, theological truth. It is good to be loved by the world, as Pope John Paul II was, if it is for the right reasons. The world saw the goodness and holiness in John Paul II. But it is also good to be willing to be persecuted for His name's sake, and to draw clear lines and boundaries.
Judging by the present hate-fest that's going on in the press, the persecution has already begun.
So, I'm thrilled at the election of Benedict XVI. I don't think he will be divisive at all, any more than the Gospel itself is divisive. Certainly, some will not be happy when he hands on the Tradition that he himself has received. But, really, what does anyone expect? A Pope does not invent new things, but simply hands on the Deposit of Faith intact. . . . People who simply want to try to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ under the guidance of Holy Mother Church, though, have every reason to rejoice and support our new Pontiff with their prayers.
The stereotype-defying "gay, Catholic and conservative" Australian John Heard, aka. Dreadnought:
Watch out limpid European religion, especially ailing German Catholicism! Watch out moral relativists! Watch out heretics! More importantly, however, watch the world fall in love with this magnificent man who has for too long been the straw man of anti-Catholics of every description.
For decades the Vatican enforcer of doctrine, a scintillating intellect focused on rooting out heresy, Benedict XVI served as the bad cop to John Paul's good cop. Any serious Vatican-watcher, however, knows that there is no such thing as a bad cop in the Church. The Pope served at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith out of love.
From the mildly disappointed to absolutely horrified . . .
The election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI while George W. Bush is in the White House feels like the world is collapsing.
It feels as though Adolf Hitler is in the White House in control of the world's sole superpower, and Benito Mussolini is in the Papal Palace in charge of the largest religious institution on earth.
It feels as though a dark cloud has settled over the whole earth as we prepare for the final confrontation between good and evil.
Paging the authors of Left Behind, we have all the makings of a new novel. Disputations responds. (I must add in all fairness that JCecil's simply venting and his 'Bush = Hitler' / "Ratzinger = Mussolini" comparison is not necessarily indicative of the tone of his blog).
Calling for necessary restraint, Nathan Nelson pens "an open letter to Progressive Catholics" in response to the election of Joseph Ratzinger," (responding to some nefarious tactics by Call to Action "to pit victims of sexual abuse and their advocates against the newly-elected Universal Pastor"), and urges a cease-fire in light of Hans Küng's reaction: "Küng says that we should give Pope Benedict XVI at least a hundred days before we initiate the firestorm of condemnations and Progressive anathemas, and I agree with him."
Barbara Nicolosi @ Church of the Masses had difficulty finding a celebratory mass:
I called four parishes in L.A. this afternoon trying to find a celebratory Mass in the archdiocese. At the gay parish in West Hollywood, the secretary sniffed and was almost shocked at the inquiry, "Oh no," she said. "We don't have anything planned." At the North Hollywood parish which has the newly installed homo-erotic Jesus staue in the sanctuary, the secretary defined desultory. "No. Father has no plans to do anything yet. Check back in a few days." The Jesuit parish phone answerer just said, "NO."
The election of Pope Benedict XVI affirms one thing. The Church is primarily about one region and "race." The Catholic church is about Europe. The cardinals of the Catholic Church unanimously gave one big "F__ you" to all of Africa, all of Latin America and all of Asia. . . .
I'm not bitter, angry or anything (My shaking fingers on my keypad indicate unfilter blissfulness and joy). I decided to give all this more time to sink in but the more time passes, the more unpleasant the whole experience is. There really isn't much of a bright spot.
And what is the creed of the Church? That is for the Grand Inquisitor to decide. Everything else - especially faithful attempts to question and understand the faith itself - is "human trickery." It would be hard to over-state the radicalism of this decision. It's not simply a continuation of John Paul II. It's a full-scale attack on the reformist wing of the church. The swiftness of the decision and the polarizing nature of this selection foretell a coming civil war within Catholicism. The space for dissidence, previously tiny, is now extinct. And the attack on individual political freedom is just beginning.
Disgruntled ex-Dominican Matthew Fox has "22 Questions for Cardinal Ratzinger and the Silver Lining in the Election of this first Grand Inquisitor as Pope." (And you thought Rev. Fox's fulminations against Pope John Paul II were bad . . .)
Anti-Benedict Comments - Fr. Sibley is leaving space for compilation of "links to sites or quotes from other sites that bemoan the election of Ratzinger as the new Pope. It should provide a large amount of amusement." Indeed. =)
". . . unwilling to let go of what he believed to be G-d given truth merely because social mores had changed. He nonetheless made a career of interpreting old teaching in a manner that upheld the religious dignity of others – Jews in particular. Even as guardian of the old, he could not give up his feeling and understanding that G-d cared deeply for others.
If we had to pick a passion to share, I can’t think of a better one.
The New Pope, special feature of PBS' weekly "Religion & Ethics". April 22, 2005, with Fr. Fessio from Germany:
But I was waiting, saying, "I wonder, I wonder. Could it be, could it be?" And I saw the curtains open. Once I heard "Ratzinger" I just burst into tears. It was so amazing to see someone that I've known, someone that I've talked to, someone that I've been with there, dressed up like the pope -- because he was the pope. And the joy for me is knowing what a gift this is for the Church.
More comments from Fr. Fessio here, along with two great photographs of joyful Catholics celebrating the election.
Catholic Reaction: Let's Study - Expagan provides two examples of Catholic Women. Example #1 Those who want Women's Ordination . . . and Example #2 Those who are excited with Pope Benedict XVI. (Me? I wanna hang out with the latter).
"It seems a shame, really. The man hadn't been pope for two hours when the lefty blogs went (literally) profane and disgraceful (and - of course - adolescent) and the press was hardlining their memes and caricatures of him.
Benedict XVI, it seems, is a relentless and remorseless hard-ass who takes-no-prisoners and wields a clumsy and undiplomatic sword, cutting a path of hard-hearted destruction no matter where he goes, and he will be a disaster for the church, and oppressor of women, gays, people of girth, people of mirth, people with brains, and people without, little puppies, small furry rodents and children he doesn't like.
Or, something like that.
I have one thing to say to all of this - to all of the breathless ranting from the left and the grim, woe-is-us prognostications of SOME members of the press. It is this:
The Psycho Left reacts to a new Pope LogicMonkey has a great roundup of hysterical reactions from the virtual wellspring of hysterical reactions, 'The Democratic Underground.'
What's in a Name? Part 1 and Part 2 - interesting speculations by Arthur Chrenkoff on the historical meaning and selection of Pope Benedict XVI's name.
Note: To Amy Welborn, the only reason I haven't included her above is because I've yet to finish wading through all of her posts, of which there are plenty good. So perhaps a general link to Open Book should suffice with the recommendation to read her posts from 4/19 through the present for extensive commentary on the election, and coverage of the coverage.
Sao Paulo - German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, considered a high possibility to become the next pope of the Roman Catholic Church, was branded "odious" on Sunday by Brazilian leftist theologist Leonardo Boff, who predicted Ratzinger would never become pope. . . .
"Ratzinger is one of the (Catholic) church's most odious cardinals because of his rigidity, and because he humiliated the bishops' conferences and fellow cardinals in an authoritarian manner on questions of faith," Boff wrote in the newspaper O Estado.
A former priest who was condemned to silence by Pope John Paul II in 1985 for supporting radical liberation theology, Boff said Ratzinger "will never be pope, because it would be excessive, something the intelligence of the cardinals would not permit".
First Hans Kung and Matthew Fox, now Leonardo Boff . . . the media speculation over the papability of Cardinal Ratzinger presents an opportunity for every heterodox theologian "silenced" by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to reassert themselves and grab their 15 minutes of fame.
Ratzinger a Nazi? Don't believe it, by Sam Ser. Jerusalem Post April 18, 2005. A Jewish newspaper promptly dismisses the scurrilous charges of Ratzinger's 'Hitler Youth': "not even Yad Vashem has considered it worthy of further investigation. Why should we?" -- While we can't Don't expect the rabid wolves of the press to roll over and give up that easily, let's thank the Jerusalem Post for their display of common sense.
The favourite to win is Joseph Ratzinger, 78, the late Pope's personal theologian, the massively orthodox heir to the Inquisition and "enforcer of the faith" who has been fighting to rid the church of all the "heretics" let in by the liberalism of the Vatican's Second Council.
"Massively orthodox"? -- As opposed to what? Skinny and malnourished?
Galvanised by reports that Cardinal Ratzinger may already have as many as 50 of the 77 votes needed to become the next Pope, liberal cardinals held talks under the guidance of Cardinal Achille Silvestrini of Italy. They hope to thwart the appointment of Cardinal Ratzinger, the late Pope’s long-serving hardline doctrinal "enforcer", fearing that he would be a divisive force in the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Silvestrini, who is over 80 and therefore unable to vote, has vigorously promoted the progressive agenda: collegiality, or Church democracy, ecumenism, global poverty, dialogue with Islam and a more open debate on celibacy and the role of women.
Which leads the reader to conclude that Ratzinger must, of course, be against all those things. Each of these topics can be discussed in greater detail, but a note on "Ratzinger and ecumenism" based on a discussion with a fellow blogger regarding the Cardinal's dispute with Kasper over Dominus Iesus (often cited as the chief evidence of Ratzinger's opposition to ecumenism):
Of course, we can argue about tact -- and it does make sense that Kasper would disagree. As President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, he and Ratzinger are at "opposite ends of the spectrum" in terms of their respective jobs, the former emphasizing what binds Christians together; the latter emphasizing the very real, very genuine differences that still separate us, and the hard truth that there exists a "historical continuity — rooted in the apostolic succession — between the Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church: "This is the single Church of Christ which our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care," subsisting in the Catholic Church -- as reasserted in Vatican II.
Naturally, this claim is a hard thing for Protestants to accept, and many wish for the Roman Church to relenquish such claims of about itself in the interest of unity. The reassertion of such a claim, however legitimate, prompted Cardinal Kasper to wish "for a different tone and different language," given he was the one dealing with the Protestant reaction. . . .
[R]egarding Lutheran-Catholic dialogue, according to John Allen, Jr., it was Cardinal Ratzinger of all people who is credited as personally resolving a 'roadblock' in ecumenical relations between the two (Ratzinger credited with saving Lutheran pactNational Catholic Reporter Sept. 10, 1999.
Also, being one with a Swiss Mennonite background on my father's side, I was pleased to note that Ratzinger 'made ecumenical history' in a 1995 meeting with the Bruderhof, an Anabaptist community*: "Discovering Mennonite-Catholic Dialogue" (blogpost to Against the Grain Feb. 11, 2004).
Point being: much as one could portray Cardinal Ratzinger as a bitter opponent or obstacle to ecumenical relations in light of the Kasper-Ratzinger scuffle over Dominus Iesus, a closer look reveals that this is not necessarily the case.
Given the nature of his job, Ratzinger is a stickler for "doctrinal precision", but he's not necessarily opposed to ecumenical relations or seeking out unity where it is possible.
* The Bruderhof was founded by Eberhard Arnold in the 1920's, and associated with the 16th century Hutterites. The Bruderhof has the distinction of being the first Anabaptist-origin community to enter into formal dialogue with the Catholic Church at the institutional level. According to Ivan J. Kaufmann, "Although this dialogue does not involve Mennonites directly, it has an important impact on Mennonites because of the theological positions they share with the Bruderhof." ("Mennonite-Catholic Conversations in North America: History, Convergences and Opportunities"Mennonite Quarterly Review, January 1999.
So, I'm inclined to think that a Ratzinger papacy would not necessarily be seen as bringing a sudden end to ecumenism by some Protestant denominations.
Opponents rail at Ratzinger, by Denis Barnett in Vatican City. (Herald Sun April 14, 2005) -- a rather provocative headline for a somewhat muted article, according to which "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – nicknamed 'God's Rottweiler' during a long tenure as the late pope's guardian of Catholic doctrine – is a polarising influence on the pre-conclave negotiations," with opposition to the CDF Prefect forming around "the scholarly Carlo Maria Martini", a former archbishop of Milan.
Fr. Greeley cashes in on the speculation with a look at the very different views of the "papal contenders," expressing his personal preferance for Martini.
The Daily News echoes Hans Kung's charges of subversive manipulation, attributing a role to 'Ratzinger's [unidentified] surrogates' in "creating a buzz" around Rome: "allies of the German cardinal who ordered the other 'red hats' to clam up about who might succeed Pope John Paul II are actively campaigning to make him the next pontiff."
La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, both respected Italian dailies with close contacts with the Vatican, say two powerful German cardinals, Karl Lehmann of Mainz and Walter Kasper, who is based in Rome, have lined up against their fellow German who has been the Catholic Church's controversial doctrinal watchdog.
Handicapping the conclave. "Italian newspapers, like nature, abhor a vacuum, and hence in reaction to the press blackout imposed this week by the College of Cardinals, all manner of speculation and rumor has been appearing in the local press," says John Allen Jr, who dismisses much of the rumors as "little more than guesswork," spotting "'trends on the basis of two or three chance encounters." However,
"The push for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger . . . is for real. There is a strong basis of support for Ratzinger in the college, and his performance in the period following the death of the pope, especially his eloquent homily at the funeral Mass, seems to have further cemented that support. One Vatican official who has worked with Ratzinger over the years said on April 13, “I am absolutely sure that Ratzinger will be the next pope.”
On the other hand, several cardinals have said privately that they’re uncomfortable with the prospect of a Ratzinger papacy. It’s not just that some don’t believe his strong emphasis on the protection of Christian identity in a secular world ought to be the guiding light of the next papacy, but there’s also a real-world concern about the election of a figure with his “baggage.” Fairly or unfairly, Ratzinger is to some extent a lightning rod for Catholic opinion, and in a church that’s already divided, some cardinals worry about exacerbating those divisions. One said April 12: “I’m not sure how I would explain this back home.”
More discussion of John Allen's article at Amy Welborn's Open Book.
Also from John Allen, Jr. - speculations as to what a Ratzinger papacy might look like. (National Catholic Reporter April 14, 2005):
In the main, it would likely take shape along predictable lines. Ratzinger would mount a strenuous defense of Catholic identity, resisting enticements from secular culture to water down church teaching and practice; he would stress “Culture of Life” issues, doing battle against gay marriage, euthanasia and stem cell research; he would ensure that theological speculation is contained within narrow limits. He would likely travel less, and project a more ethereal style reminiscent of Pius XII. Ratzinger’s governing metaphor for the church of the future is the mustard seed – it may have to be smaller to be faithful, what he calls a “creative minority.”
One can also, however, anticipate elements of a Ratzinger pontificate that would come as a surprise, and that would mark a departure from the policies of John Paul II. . . . READ MORE
Europe needs a new - certainly skeptical and humble - acceptance of itself, if it wants to survive," the German-born Ratzinger wrote in excepts published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
"The ever more passionately demanded multiculturalism is often above all a renunciation of what is one's own, a fleeing from what is one's own."
He said people can respect the faith and culture of others only when they remain true to their own, "only when what is holy, God, is not alien to us ourselves."
European integration as represented by the European Union has become a mostly economic project, he wrote, "with far-reaching exclusion of the spiritual foundations of such a society."
Analysis: At 78, Ratzinger a rising star, by Uwe Siemon-Netto (UPI). The Washington Times offers a defense of the Cardinal from a Protestant theologian, howbeit anonymously:
. . . Ironically, the strongest resistance against Ratzinger's elevation seems to hail from his fellow German cardinals, most of who rank among the most liberal church leaders. In all, there are six German prelates of that rank. But Vatican insiders report that Ratzinger also has many opponents among the 11 U.S. cardinals who consider him too doctrinaire.
In truth, though, this soft-spoken Bavarian, who was consecrated priest at age 24, "is not so much doctrinaire as he is committed to the truth and sound doctrine," a leading Protestant theologian told United Press International Friday.
"He is arguably the Catholic Church's finest theologian, in addition to being a very humble and deeply religious man.
"If he is to be the next pontiff, we may expect extraordinary surprises of him," said this scholar who knows Ratzinger well but asked to remain anonymous.
Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth, screams the UK's Sunday Times, April 17, 2005. As if this were a sudden revelation, a magnificent triumph of investigative journalism . . . guess again, folks. From our Ratzinger FAQ: :
Was Cardinal Ratzinger a Nazi?
The story that Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth is true. It's a biographical fact that seems to have circulated on many a mailing list, and seems to surface at precisely opportune times when the Prefect finds himself in the media's spotlight. From the way it has been presented, one might assume this is one of those skeletons the Cardinal keeps tucked away in his closet (next to his executioner's axe and the token heads of Hans Kung, Matthew Fox, Leonardo Boff & Charles Curran).
The truth is that as Ratzinger mentions himself in Milestones: Memoirs: 1927 - 1977, he and his brother George were both enrolled in the Hitler Youth (at a time when membership was compulsory), and discusses family life under the Third Reich in chapters 2-4 of his autobiography.
Likewise, John Allen Jr., journalist for the National Catholic Reporter and author of 2002's biography of the Cardinal The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, supplies the historical details sorely lacking in other reports:
As a seminarian, he was briefly enrolled in the Hitler Youth in the early 1940s, though he was never a member of the Nazi party. In 1943 he was conscripted into an antiaircraft unit guarding a BMW plant outside Munich. Later Ratzinger was sent to Austria's border with Hungary to erect tank traps. After being shipped back to Bavaria, he deserted. When the war ended, he was an American prisoner of war.
Under Hitler, Ratzinger says he watched the Nazis twist and distort the truth. Their lies about Jews, about genetics, were more than academic exercises. People died by the millions because of them. The church's service to society, Ratzinger concluded, is to stand for absolute truths that function as boundary markers: Move about within these limits, but outside them lies disaster.
Later reflection on the Nazi experience also left Ratzinger with a conviction that theology must either bind itself to the church, with its creed and teaching authority, or it becomes the plaything of outside forces -- the state in a totalitarian system or secular culture in Western liberal democracies. In a widely noted 1986 lecture in Toronto, Ratzinger put it this way: "A church without theology impoverishes and blinds, while a churchless theology melts away into caprice." *
For more details of the Cardinal's life, click here.
Concurrent with the popularity of our PanzerKardinal, a few members of the press have taken notice that this "enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy" actually has admirers among the laity. Of course, many find the existence of such an organization -- even one as loose-knit as this -- offensive to their enlightened liberal sensibilities. Here's a brief roundup:
"Where Catholic bishops are virtually at home" Agence France Presse. April 13, 2005. Featuring "troublesome, left-wing" Bishop Jacques Gaillot, who after being exiled by the Vatican to "the abandoned see of Partenia, buried under the sands of the Sahara desert," makes use of his time by overseeing (www.partenia.org, the virtual "diocese without frontiers." Oh, and the latter half is dedicated to the fan club for "God's Rottweiler."
Potential popes meet faithful in cyberspace Reuters. April 6, 2005. Takes a look at a number of websites for papal candidates, lumping the Ratzinger Fan Club in with the rest (although we've been around for FIVE YEARS now?).
A piece of trivia: the "Bible quote [defending] Ratzinger's strict line: 'Preach the word ... convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching . . .' (St. Paul, 2 Tim 4:2)" is one of the Cardinal's personal favorites, about which the Cardinal stated in Salt of the Earth: "I don't want to overreach myself, but I would say that this expresses the essence of what I consider to be my standard at this time." (p. 114).
Which qualities Cardinals will look for in the next Pope, by Sophie Arie. Christian Science Monitor, mentions that "Ratzinger is an icon for conservative Catholics, who have set up a website (ratzingerfanclub.com) and distributed Ratzinger keyrings, speeches, and stickers." Ms. Arie betrays her ignorance, because we've never had keyrings. Likewise, she fails to mention the RFC was "set up" nearly five years ago, and with no intention for campaigning on behalf of the Cardinal. We've stated as much in our FAQ.
Was für einen Papst hätten Sie denn gern? [Google Translation], by Franc Patalong. Spiegel Online. April 13, 2005, according to whom "the enthusiasm of the "generation JP2" for the deceased Pope Karol Wojtyla surprised also the catholic church." Not to menton a rather jealous Hans Kung and Matthew Fox. The Spiegel ponders over the nature of the RFC's website: is it satire or genuine?, mentioning that another German television station has already concluded that our enthusiasm for the Cardinal is (gasp! shock! horror!) authentic.
"La popularidad del cardenal Ratzinger" [Google Translation], by Mirra Banchón. DW-World.DE Deutsche Welle. April 11, 2005. The author sounds somewhat upset by the existence of the club, and its expression of "absolute solidarity." Hmmmmmmm. Rather we be lukewarm?
Ratzinger Roundup!I found the photograph on the right while surfing the web -- It was hosted on a German website, although I don't know the context. I'm not sure if it's actually Cardinal Ratzinger or the Emperor from Star Wars, what with the shadow-shrouded face, dour expression and the ominous background lighting . . . but I find the photograph characteristic of some of the portrayals of the Cardinal in the press, for whom a pontificate under Cardinal Ratzinger would have the most apocolyptic overtones, spelling the doom for Jedi knights -- er, "progressive Catholics" -- across the globe.
Here's a roundup of the rather mixed reportage of Cardinal Ratzinger in recent weeks:
". . . this week, as either papal candidate or kingmaker, the German theologian, who was raised in Bavaria under the shadow of the Nazis, will wage a battle against the liberal forces of reform.
Yesterday the chief spokesman for the Catholic Church, Dr Joaquin Navarro-Valls, confirmed that no cardinal would speak to the press ahead of the conclave, a move understood to have been initiated by Ratzinger to prevent public debate of the issues now facing the church.
A church source said yesterday: "Cardinal Ratzinger doesn't want a pope as right wing as Pope John Paul II. He wants a Pope more right wing than Pope John Paul II. There were a lot of things which the Pope chose to do against the wishes of Cardinal Ratzinger."
Take Stephen McGinty and Richard Gray's word for it, folks. If this guy's elected, it'll be only a short time before the jack-booted Swiss Guard stormtroopers kick open the doors of every reform-minded parish to drag heterodox priests and wayward activist nuns kicking and screaming to the Inquisitor's rack.
While tainted by the customary liberal slant of his publisher, Daniel J. Wakins' profile of the Cardinal -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's doctrinal gatekeeper, The New York Times April 8, 2005 -- is a little less hysterical, and like John Allen Jr.'s biography The Vatican's Enforcer (Continuum, 2001), makes some effort to dispel the Dostoyevskian caricatures of Ratzinger as the "Grand Inquisitor" or Panzerkardinal:
A small, white-haired man, Ratzinger joined the pope as his doctrinal watchdog in 1981, when the pope named him leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which, in more dangerous times, for accused heretics was called the Inquisition. He came to have regular access to the pope, and was often consulted by him. The two spoke in German.
In that role, he has acted as theological police officer, coming down hard on theologians who deviate from his interpretation of Catholic teaching. At least that is his public persona. But those who know him say he is a subtle thinker, a courtly and urbane man.
"He is theologically innovative but at the same time very attuned to the church and theological orthodoxy," said John-Peter Pham, a former Vatican diplomat whose book "Heirs of the Fisherman" focuses on papal transitions. Pham says that unlike virtually all of his predecessors in the last century, Ratzinger is a professional academic theologian.
He lives frugally just outside St. Peter's Square in a modest apartment over a main bus stop, and usually walks across the square to work, during which he patiently puts up with many petitioners complaining about their priest or some other issue. He is an accomplished pianist with a preference for Beethoven.
UP Religious Affairs editor Uwe Siemon-Netto plays it safe for the most part in Analysis: Ratzinger in the ascendance (Washington Times April 2, 2005), brushing aside the usual Ratzinger stereotypes to interview Rev. Anthony Figueiredo, a former secretary of John Paul II and systematics theology teacher at Seton Hall University, on Ratzinger's strengths as a potential leader of the Church:
"At this point, doctrine is what matters. The world is in a state of flux. This is when you need consistency, and this is Ratzinger's strength. . . .
Again like John Paul II, Ratzinger considers evangelization and fidelity of faith the church's top priority, especially in the light of the growth of Islam in Europe and particularly in Italy, where it is estimated to be the predominant religion in as little as 20 years' time.
"In this situation, we need someone who is forthright in what the church teaches. We need consistency in our teaching, otherwise Muslims will not listen to us," Figueiredo insisted. "That's why Ratzinger is so important -- he will not flinch."
In Ratzinger's mustard seed (Asia Times Online. April 5, 2005), an author by the name of Spengler revisits Ratzinger's prophetic words concerning the rise of European secularism (and consequent diminishment of Christianity) in a provocative passage from the German edition of Salt of the Earth:"We might have to part with the notion of a popular Church. It is possible that we are on the verge of a new era in the history of the Church, under circumstances very different from those we have faced in the past, when Christianity will resemble the mustard seed [Matthew 13:31-32]".
According to the author:
[Ratzinger] added, "Christianity might diminish into a barely discernable presence," because modern Europeans "do not want to bear the yoke of Christ". The Catholic Church, he added, might survive only in cysts resembling the kibbutzim of Israel. He compared these cysts to Jesus' mustard seed, faith of whose dimensions could move mountains. Ratzinger's grim forecast provoked a minor scandal, complete with coverage in Der Spiegel, Germany's leading newsmagazine. The offending sentences did not appear in the English translation, "Salt of the Earth", and were not discussed further in polite Catholic company.
George Weigel took note of Europe's spiritual crisis in a March 2005 essay "Is Europe Dying?", giving credence to Ratzinger's predictions. Spengler goes on to discuss the various manifestations of the Church throughout the world ("social-welfare agency" in the U.S.; "quasi-revolutionary political movement" in Latin America) and sees John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger as part of the "'Augustinian' minority of senior clergy who tried to steer the Church back to its fundamental mission, namely repentance and salvation."
Shortly before the passing of our Holy Father, Sandro Magister offered a portrait of Cardinals Ratzinger and Ruini and their service to the Pope in the latter days of his life (The Pope and His Two Consuls, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa. March 30, 2005):
The pope's esteem for Ratzinger and Ruini goes beyond his entrusting them with the two ceremonies dearest to him, Palm Sunday and the Stations of the Cross. He has also seen them, from the beginning, as the two sharpest minds among the Church's leadership. He has always placed enormous trust in their analyses and decisions, and he keeps this trust alive.
And the latest news is that both Ratzinger and Ruini have increased rather than diminished the impact and intensity of their public activity. While the pope declines and remains silent, they are speaking and acting more than ever. And the tenor of their speech and activity is geared far more toward the future than toward the past. It's almost like they are revealing a plan for the next pontificate. Their recent declarations have already become required reading for the main electors of the future pope. . . .
The very fact that the pope entrusted the composition of these meditations to him is news in itself – in recent years, this task had been assigned more modestly to poets, monks, and journalists. But it is no less surprising that three days before the ceremony, Ratzinger's text was made available in various languages on the Vatican's website, and was immediately taken up and discussed all over the world. It is impossible not to come to the conclusion that John Paul II authorized this unusual early release of the text.
If Sandro is right, perhaps there's something to all this talk about Ratzinger being papabile after all. At the same time, I'd prefer not to indulge too much in such speculation, given the press appears to be doing a fine job of it already:
Finally, we learn from Reuters that Ratzinger made Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential" List. Subscription required to view the actual article, which I don't have (anybody care to email?)
* * *
I'll leave you with a better photograph of the Cardinal we all know and love, this one courtesy of the June 2003 issue of 30 Giorni, featuring Ratzinger's speech to the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the hundredth anniversary of its constitution.
And for the pessimists among us, a parting reflection from the Cardinal himself:
The loss of joy does not make the world better -- and, conversely, refusing joy for the sake of suffering does not help those who suffer. The contrary is true. The world needs people who discover the good, who rejoice in it and thereby derive the courage and impetus to do good.
We have a new need for that primordial trust which ultimately faith can give. That the world is basically good, that God is there and is good. That it is good to live and be a human being. This results, then, in the courage to rejoice, which in turn becomes commitment to making sure that other people, too, can rejoice and recieve good news.
Unlike most Catholic bloggers it seems that I have not yet finished Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth. My progress is hampered by the fact that I'm currently plodding my way through a pile of library books that are beyond the point of extension, and I hope to knock them out by the end of the month.
As Catholic News Agency tells us, 2007 promises "a world of busyness" for Pope Benedict, with "ad limina" visits by bishops from four continents, including Italy, Ukraine, Slovakia, Portugal, Serbia, Kenya, Togo, Benin, Gabon, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea and Laos; a May visit to Brazil (his first across an ocean); a June visit to Assisi to the birthplace of St. Francis, and a prospective visit to address the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Prayer of Protection for Pope Benedict XVI - Heavenly Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth takes its name, we humbly ask that you sustain inspire, and protect your servant, Pope Benedict XVI, as he goes on pilgrimage to Turkey — a land to which St. Paul brought the Gospel of your Son; a land where once the Mother of your Son, the Seat of Wisdom, dwelt; a land where faith in your Son’s true divinity was definitively professed. Bless our Holy Father, who comes as a messenger of truth and love to all people of faith and good will dwelling in this land so rich in history. In the power of the Holy Spirit, may this visit of the Holy Father bring about deeper ties of understanding, cooperation, and peace among Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and those who profess Islam. May the prayers and events of these historic days greatly contribute both to greater accord among those who worship you, the living and true God, and also to peace in our world so often torn apart by war and sectarian violence
On September 9th, a joyful Pope Benedict "set foot, for the first time since [his] elevation to the Chair of Peter, on German and Bavarian soil," to be among his homeland and his people and visit some cherished places in his life.
as encompassed in the social encyclicals of Benedict's predecessors and which "has now found a comprehensive presentation in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church."
Turning now from what I imagined was a somewhat substantial post on Islam and the religious roots of terrorism to a far weighter topic which absolutely demands our readers' attention: the INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SCANDAL involving Pope Benedict's alleged CONDEMNATION of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series in an apparent reprisal of his former role as the VATICAN ENFORCER. (News at 11).
Cardinal Ratzinger's Fan Club In the News
I found the photograph on the right while surfing the web -- It was hosted on a German website, although I don't know the context. I'm not sure if it's actually Cardinal Ratzinger or the Emperor from Star Wars, what with the shadow-shrouded face, dour expression and the ominous background lighting . . . but I find the photograph characteristic of some of the portrayals of the Cardinal in the press, for whom a pontificate under Cardinal Ratzinger would have the most apocolyptic overtones, spelling the doom for Jedi knights -- er, "progressive Catholics" -- across the globe.
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From the Benedict Forum, 
In mid-January, 
Ratzinger and Aquinas Much is made of then-Cardinal Ratzinger's preference for Augustine over Aquinas, as in when he admitted in Milestones that "I had difficulties in penetrating the thought of Thomas Aquinas, whose crystal-clear logic seemed to be too closed in on itself, too impersonal and ready-made."
On February 17th, 2007 Pope Benedict participated in a Q&A session with seminarians of the Roman Major Seminary. The Holy Father spoke of the discernment of God's voice and spiritual direction ("through his Word, in Sacred Scripture, read in the communion of the Church and read personally in conversation with God"); elements of his own priestly formation and his influences ("it was above all the figure of St Augustine who fascinated me from the very start, then also the Augustinian current in the Middle Ages: St Bonaventure, the great Franciscans, the figure of St Francis of Assisi").
I think this is very important: to recognize that we need an ongoing conversion, that we are simply not there yet. St Augustine, at the moment of his conversion, thought he had reached the heights of life with God, of the beauty of the sun that is his Word. He then had to understand that the journey after conversion is still a journey of conversion, that it remains a journey where the broad perspectives, joys and lights of the Lord are not absent; but nor are dark valleys absent through which we must wend our way with trust, relying on the goodness of the Lord. 
"After my election to the episcopal see of Rome, I used all of my free moments to work on it," he wrote. "Because I do not know how much time and how much strength I will still be given, I have decided to publish the first 10 chapters" as Volume One of "Jesus of Nazareth."
Meeting with the Prime Minister (
Turkish online newspaper Zaman later milked the meeting for all its worth:
Time's feature on the Pope also contains a brief point / counterpoint -- 
and from Tariq Ramadan, on 
Shouting "Allahu akbar," Muslim protestors occuppied the Hagia Sophia in Instanbul on Wednesday, to protest the Pope's visit (
On October 17th, the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff published 
Professor Khoury, what kind of day did you have yesterday?
On April 27, 2006, Pope Benedict used his Wednesday general audience as an opportunity to 
Challenging Crittenden's portrayal on B16's pontificate as one inherently in conflict with his predecessor is Edward Stourton, who evaluates Ratzinger's career as Prefect, 
Of course, when it comes to acerbic commentary about the Pope, Cornwell has some competition. Amy Welborn posts 
Writing for USA Today, 
Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI, was 
"It's a different way to get to know this holy man, for Catholics and non-Catholics," Jeanne Perego, the Italian author, told reporters.
