Two days ago, Sandro Magister came out with an article he rather extravagantly subtitled 'The Autobiography of a Pontificate', to which my first reaction was that the phrase would appear to be tailormade for the Pope's new interview book with Peter Seewald. I did not rush to post it because after all, most Benaddicts would have seen it and read it already, and because it took off from the Rodari-Tornielli book and its conclusions.
Magister's twist is to pick out statements made by Benedict XVI himself in the past several months that have to do with these attacks against the Church, and to relate these statements to the declared priority of this pontificate: to bring back God to the world.
Today, he has a new article that picks out the 'autobiographical' content in the Holy Father's Message for World Youth Day 2011 (which I have read about five time now in its English translation and twice in the Italian, because it is one of those messages where I can almost hear him speak the words directly to me, so conversational and naturally fluid does he express himself, like an ideal father figure or grandfather transmitting his wisdom).... So I will post both Magister articles together. I am not too happy about his melodramatic titles, especially this first one - it sounds too egocentric and one cannot imagine Joseph Ratzinger every expressing himself that way!
'Why they are attacking me':
Autobiography of a Pontificate
Ever since he was elected Pope, Joseph Ratzinger
has been the target of a crescendo of assaults,
from inside and outside the Church.
Here's how the Pope sees and explains it
ROME, September 3, 2010 – Two books have been released this summer, in the United States and in Italy, that reconstruct and analyze the merciless attacks on Benedict XVI from various sides, since the beginning of his pontificate, with a crescendo that reached its peak this year.
The book by Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson, editors of Catholic publications very widely read in the United States, focuses on the scandal of sexual abuse by the clergy.
The book by the Italian vaticanistas Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli extends the analysis to a dozen episodes involving actions or statements by Benedict XVI: from the lecture in Regensburg to the liberalization of the traditional Mass, from lifting the excommunication of the Lefebvrist bishops to his statement on the problem of using condoms to prevent AIDS, from welcoming Anglicans into the Catholic Church to the scandal of pedophilia.
Rodari and Tornielli provide a highly detailed reconstruction of each of these episodes, including some previously unknown background information.
Their conclusion is that three different attacks are under way against Benedict XVI, carried out by three different sets of enemies.
The first and main enemy is external - public opinion fomented by centers of power hostile to the Church and to this Pope.
The second enemy are Catholics – including not a few priests and bishops – who see Benedict XVI as an obstacle to their project of 'modernizing' the Church.
And the third enemy are officials in the Vatican curia who hurt the Pope instead of helping him, because of their incompetence, ignorance or even opposition.
These three fronts obviously do not seem to be commanded by a single general.
[Nor necessarily by a 'general' on each front!] But this does not rule out a unifying reason that would explain such bitter and constant attacks concentrated on the current Pope.
This is what Rodari and Tornielli do in the last chapter of their book, collecting the opinions of various analysts and commentators.
[But from the final chapter excerpt Il Foglio published - and which I translated on Page 131 of this thread - they give no conclusion, leaving each of their resource persons to their individual conjectures. Except for the hoity-toity and self-righteous Rachel Donadio of the New York Times, everyone agrees that there is a massive attack against the Pope but that it is not a campaign because it is not organized.
It may not be organized, without a formal command structure, but it certainly is systematic and near-unanimous, which makes it a campaign, insofar as a herd mentality rules the MSM and they generally tend to agree, day in and day out, expliitly or implicitly, on what their 'narrative of the day' will be about their pet polemic.
The best answer one can glean about why Benedict is so set upon is that he does not conform to the dominant thinking and ways of the world - and the unspoken consequence is that the papacy as an institution, and Benedict himself, with his formidable intellect and undisputed personal holiness (the Hullerman case is really the only 'blotch' anyone has cast on his life] is truly an extraordinary personality, even among that most exclusive club of Popes, even in one-on-one comparison with his great predecessor - and that therefore, both Jack and the beanstalk (the Church) have to be brought down at any cost. Giant-killer is a fantasy that has titllated every newsman since Woodward and Bernstein, and the Pope is a far greater target than any President of the United States or any other secular leader one can think of.]
But it is no less important to know how Benedict XVI himself interprets the attacks brought against him.
In the homily at the concluding Mass of the Year for Priests, last June 11, Benedict XVI referred to an 'enemy' as follows:
It was to be expected that this new radiance of the priesthood would not be pleasing to the 'enemy'; he would have rather preferred to see it disappear, so that God would ultimately be driven out of the world.
And so it happened that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light – particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood, whose task is to manifest God’s concern for our good, turns into its very opposite.
In this case, the enemy the Pope means is obviously Satan. But we all know Satan takes many forms...]
And this is what the Pope said at the beginning of his trip to Fatima, last April 11:
The attacks on the Pope and the Church come not only from outside[...] The greatest persecution of the Church arises from sin within the Church, and the Church thus has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification.
Benedict XVI thuis makes clear that for him, even the
annus horribilus of 2010 must be lived as a year of grace, because it provides the occasion for purification and renewal.
For him, the tribulation produced by sin is the common condition of mankind in need of salvation. A salvation that comes only from God, and is offered in the Church through the sacraments administered by the priests.
Because of this, the Pope points out, rejection of God coincides so often with an attack on the priesthood and the trait that most distinguishes it in public, celibacy.
Last June 10, on the eve of the closing of the Year for Priests, Benedict XVI said that celibacy is an anticipation "of the world of the resurrection... (the sign) that God exists, that God matters in my life, that I can base my life on Christ, on the future life."
Thus, he continued, elibacy "is a great scandal", not only for today's world, "in which God does not matter", but even for Christians when "God's future is no longer considered, and the now of this world alone seems sufficient."
Papa Ratzinger has said repeatedly that "making God present in this world" is the priority of his Pontificate, particularly in the memorable letter he addressed to the bishops of the whole world in March 2009.
Linking the question of God to the priesthood and priestly celibacy is not a usual association, but Benedict XVI does this constantly.
For example, at the end of 2006, making an assessment of his trip to Germany that had made an impression because of his lecture in Regensburg, after emphasizing that "the great problem of the West is forgetfulness of God," he continued by saying that "this is the central task of the priesthood: to bring God to men." But the priest "can do this only if he himself comes from God, if he lives with and from God." And celibacy is a sign of this full dedication:
"Our world, which has become totally positivistic, in which God appears at best as a hypothesis but not as a concrete reality, needs to rest on God in the most concrete and radical way possible. It needs a witness to God that lies in the decision to welcome God as a land where one finds one's own existence."
It is therefore no surprise that, just before his election as Pope, Ratzinger called for a reform of the Church that would begin with purifying God's ministers of "filth."
It is no surprise that he conceived and proclaimed a Year for Priests intended to lead the clergy to a holy life.
It is no surprise that the liturgy is so central to this pontificate. The priest lives for the liturgy. It is the priest that God "has enabled to set God’s table for men, to give them his body and his blood, to offer them the precious gift of his very presence."
Restoring full legitimacy to the traditional Mass, lifting the excommunication for the Lefebvrist bishops, welcoming traditional Anglicans disaffected with their Church's liberalizing trends - they are all part of the plan to bring God back to the world.
[And on the secular side, Joseph Ratzinger's virtual one-man Crusade to re-Christianize Europe, broadening the idea of mission from places that have ner known the Gospel to places that have chosen to forget the Gospel.]
There is a
mysterious lucidity of vision [There's a reason that the arch-rebel angel was called Luficer!] that seems to 'unify' the attacks on the current pontificate. Like an "invisible hand" at work and hidden from the attackers themselves. A mind that sees Benedict XVI's basic plan, and therefore does all it can to oppose it.
[And Benedict quickly named him 'the enemy', a traditional term for Satan.]
In the Gospel of Mark, there is a "messianic secret" that accompanies the life of Jesus and remains hidden from his own disciples. But not from the "enemy." The devil is the one who recognizes Jesus immediately as the savior Messiah.
The paradox of today's attacks on the Church is that, even as they are intended to reduce it to impotence and silence, they reveal its essence, as the privileged home of the God who forgives.
"Seraphic Doctor" is the nickname of Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, one of the first successors of Saint Francis as head of the order he founded. It could also be applied to Benedict XVI, for how he is guiding the Church through the storm.
In the catechesis he dedicated last March 10 to this saint – whom he studied extensively as a young theologian – Papa Ratzinger also spoke his mind about his "enemies" within the Church.
To those who, discontented, demand a radical palingenesis [transformation] of the Church, a new spiritual Christianity reduced to the naked Gospel with no more hierarchies or precepts or dogmas, Benedict XVI noted that it's a short step from spiritualism to anarchy.
The Church "is always a Church of sinners, and (nonetheless) always a place of grace." It progresses and evolves, but always in continuity with tradition.
To those who think Church reform is entirely a question of new command structures and new commanders, he points out, following Bonaventure, "governing is not simply an activity, but above all thinking and praying": which means "guiding and enlightening souls, directing them to Christ."
The attacks that are focused on Pope Benedict prove to him the magnitude of the wager he proposes to man today, even non-believers: to live as if God exists,
For his Sept. 6 article, Magister follows up with an even more melodramatic title, 'Confessions of a young Ratzinger', which is really misleading because they are rather 'The Pope's reflections from his youth'.... Obviously, I'm not a fan of soap-operatic titles. In this case, The Pope's statements were not 'confessions', first of all, because he is not revealing anything negative, and secondly, nor is he saying aything new - he has said these things before in other ways. All he did was to make these life experiences directly relevant to the young people he is addressing.
Benedict XVI offers reflections
from his youth in 2011 WYD message
ROME, September 6, 2010 – "Autobiography of a pontificate" was the title of the previous article from
www.chiesa. By a curious coincidence, on the same day that article was published, Benedict XVI released a message unusually rich in autobiographical details.
It is the message for the World Youth Day that will be held in Madrid in August of 2011. It is a text clearly written by the Pope himself, a concise summary of his vision for the Church. From the loss of God to God who makes himself near again in Jesus. A Jesus whom it is possible to "touch" in the sacraments of the Church.
It is a text that demands to be read in its entirety. But to begin with, here are the three passages in which Papa Ratzinger talks about himself, about his childhood during Nazism and the war, about the blossoming of his vocation to the priesthood, about the birth of the idea of writing a book about Jesus: "almost to help to see, hear, touch the Lord."
NAZISM AND THE WAR
[...] In thinking of my own youth, I realize that stability and security are not the questions that most occupy the minds of young people. True enough, it is important to have a job and thus to have firm ground beneath our feet, yet the years of our youth are also a time when we are seeking to get the most out of life.
When I think back on that time, I remember above all that we were not willing to settle for a conventional middle-class life. We wanted something great, something new. We wanted to discover life itself, in all its grandeur and beauty.
Naturally, part of that was due to the times we lived in. During the Nazi dictatorship and the war, we were, so to speak, “hemmed in” by the dominant power structure. So we wanted to break out into the open, to experience the whole range of human possibilities.
I think that, to some extent, this urge to break out of the ordinary is present in every generation. Part of being young is desiring something beyond everyday life and a secure job, a yearning for something really truly greater.
Is this simply an empty dream that fades away as we become older? No! Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. Nothing else will ever be enough. Saint Augustine was right when he said “our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you”...
THE CALL TO PRIESTHOOD
There is a moment, when we are young, when each of us wonders: what meaning does my life have? What purpose and direction should I give to it? This is a very important moment, and it can worry us, perhaps for some time. We start wondering about the kind of work we should take up, the kind of relationships we should establish, the friendships we should cultivate...
Here, once more, I think of my own youth. I was somehow aware quite early on that the Lord wanted me to be a priest. Then later, after the war, when I was in the seminary and at university on the way towards that goal, I had to recapture that certainty.
I had to ask myself: is this really the path I was meant to take? Is this really God’s will for me? Will I be able to remain faithful to him and completely at his service? A decision like this demands a certain struggle. It cannot be otherwise.
But then came the certainty: this is the right thing! Yes, the Lord wants me, and he will give me strength. If I listen to him and walk with him, I become truly myself. What counts is not the fulfilment of my desires, but of his will. In this way life becomes authentic...
WHY HE WROTE 'JESUS OF NAZARETH'
In the Gospel we find a description of the Apostle Thomas’s experience of faith when he accepted the mystery of the Cross and resurrection of Christ.
Thomas was one of the twelve Apostles. He followed Jesus and was an eyewitness of his healings and miracles. He listened to his words, and he experienced dismay at Jesus’S death. That Easter evening when the Lord appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not present. When he was told that Jesus was alive and had shown himself, Thomas stated: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25).
We too want to be able to see Jesus, to speak with him and to feel his presence even more powerfully. For many people today, it has become difficult to approach Jesus. There are so many images of Jesus in circulation which, while claiming to be scientific, detract from his greatness and the uniqueness of his person.
That is why, after many years of study and reflection, I thought of sharing something of my own personal encounter with Jesus by writing a book. It was a way to help others see, hear and touch the Lord in whom God came to us in order to make himself known.
Jesus himself, when he appeared again to his disciples a week later, said to Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe” (Jn 20:27).
We too can have tangible contact with Jesus and put our hand, so to speak, upon the signs of his Passion, the signs of his love. It is in the sacraments that he draws particularly near to us and gives himself to us.
Dear young people, learn to “see” and to “meet” Jesus in the Eucharist, where he is present and close to us, and even becomes food for our journey. In the sacrament of Penance the Lord reveals his mercy and always grants us his forgiveness. Recognize and serve Jesus in the poor, the sick, and in our brothers and sisters who are in difficulty and in need of help...
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/09/2010 22:01]