A New Pope: Benedict XVI
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is
certainly viewed with appreciation by many Roman Catholics and others. But
notes of concern are also being sounded. Here's a selection of reports and
comments. [4-20-05]
A New Pope: Benedict XVI
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a renowned theologian and
hard-line enforcer of Catholic Church doctrine for the last two decades, was
chosen Tuesday to succeed his friend and close ally Pope John Paul II.
Ratzinger, 78, became Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th leader of the world's
largest and most powerful Christian institution. The LA Times
presents a good overview of the election of Pope Benedict, and varying
reactions to his elevation to the papacy.
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Ratzinger called
"arch-conservative" in Reuters report
The story begins: "Arch-conservative German cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope on Tuesday in a surprise choice that
delighted traditionalist Roman Catholics but stunned moderates hoping for a
more liberal papacy."
Read this on
TruthOut.org,
or in
the Reuters posting.
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Rabbi Michael Lerner sees the selection of
Cardinal Ratzinger as bad news for the world and for the Jews
Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of the progressive Jewish
magazine, TIKKUN, and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in San Francisco, took
the unusual step of criticizing the choice of Cardinal Ratzinger as the new
Primate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is concerned about the Pope’s early
involvement in Nazism, however reluctant he may have been. He points to more
immediate concerns as well: Ratzinger’s suppression of creative theologians
such as Hans Kung and Leonardo Boff, and his opposition to policies that
would aid the world’s poor and oppressed.
Read his statement >>
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The Gentle Watchdog
The LA Times carries a
report focusing on Joseph Ratzinger’s background in Germany, growing up
under the Nazis and in post-war Germany. While he shows some rigidity in
enforcing traditional doctrines and morals, he is seen doing that as a way
of defending the Church against the dehumanizing dangers of modern culture.
Regarding accusations that Ratzinger supported Nazism, the
story notes that "Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los
Angeles agreed that Ratzinger's father was anti-Nazi and said Ratzinger's
membership in the Hitler Youth should not be taken as an indication of Nazi
sympathies because membership was mandatory. Hier said his group likes
Ratzinger and expects him to continue John Paul II's outreach to Jews."
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Steadfast Beliefs in a Tumultuous World
The Washington Post suggests that "his searing experience
as a World War II Nazi conscript left Pope Benedict XVI with a distrust of
nationalism and socialism, and a passionate belief in holding firmly to
enduring truths."
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A polarizer or a reconciler?
Pope Benedict is seen by one analyst (in the LA Times)
as likely to have an activist agenda, aiming to "to revitalize the Roman
Catholic faith and identity where it is threatened by secularism,
particularly in Europe."
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New Pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign
Agence France-Presse reminds us that it was Cardinal
Ratzinger who "intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops
to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential
candidate John Kerry."
An example:
One of Cardinal Ratzinger’s statements on this subject was
in
a
memorandum he sent to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington last
year on how the church should treat pro-choice politicians and their
supporters.
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What’s in a (pope’s) name?
Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon Issues Analyst and church
historian, sees reasons for hope and for concern in Cardinal Ratzinger’s
choice of the name of Pope Benedict.
On April 19 Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope on the
fourth ballot. Sylvia Poggioli on NPR had the courage to say that he had
headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once called the
Inquisition. She'll probably catch plenty of flak for telling that truth. In
any case, Ratzinger was the enforcer for the hard line positions taken by
John Paul II.
A new pope's choice of name can be significant. When Roncalli was elected
in 1958, he came out and said, "I shall be called John." It was an allusion,
of course, to Luke 1:60. But it also contained a message--that he intended
to resume the conciliar movement that saved the papacy following the Great
Schism (the years were 1415-17), then was betrayed by the papacy, which
ignored or bypassed most of its decrees.
Pope Benedict XV's years were 1914 to 1922. His first task was to seek
peace, then to hold the Catholics of warring European powers together. His
entries in the Denzinger collection of authoritative decrees mostly hold the
line against the softening of doctrine and biblical interpretation.
What may be most memorable about him, however, is that he brought to an
end the anti-Modernist crusade carried out under Pius X by the secretive
Sodalitium Pianum, a sort of papal FBI. He himself, like Roncalli, the
future John XXIII, had been under suspicion. He told the leader to clear out
his office, saying, "We forgive but we cannot forget."
The papacy of John Paul II saw not only the enforcement of orthodoxy,
carried out by Ratzinger, but the centralization of power, resented by many
of the bishops, even many of the cardinals. If taking the name Benedict
means that there will be some loosening of the reins of authority, perhaps
even the undoing of past abuses, then this, at least, could be good news.
The new pope's promise to stay loyal to the directives of the Second Vatican
Council may carry the implicit criticism that his predecessor did not do so.
If we look for more auguries, the last Germans to be popes lived during
the eleventh century--Leo IX (1048-54), Victor II (1055-57), and Stephen IX
(1057-58). They were part of the Northern Reform, in which renewed study of
canon law led to reform of church practices under the sponsorship of the
German Emperor. This happened before the centralization of church authority
under the great but controversial Italian, Gregory VII (1073-85). This papal
reform had mixed results--not only reform but uniformity, decreed in ways
that were widely resented and resisted.
Hadrian VI (1522-23) was from the Netherlands, not part of the German
Empire, and was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II. While he
sympathized with the calls for reforms made by Erasmus and Luther, he was a
traditionalist in doctrine.
In sum, popes from north of the Alps could sometimes bring a surprising
breath of fresh air. But we can't count on it.
