'Light of the World;:
The Pope's perspicacious and profound look
at the Church in today's world
Book review by Guillermo Luis Morado
Translated from
Nov. 27, 2010
This is a book which reproduces an 'interview' - a conversation between two people. The interviewer is German journalist Peter Seewald (born 1954), who knows Joseph Ratzinger rather well from two earlier interview books with him when he was a cardinal.
The interviewee is the same Joseph Ratzinger (1927) - the same person but with a different title. Since April 19, 2005, he has been Benedict XVI.
In this book, the Pope speaks, but not 'formally' as Pope, rather as Joseph Ratzinger. Popes, when they exercise their magisterial or teaching function, communicate in various ways. besides speaking literally ex cathedra when delivering a homily, they can write apostolic constitutions, encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, apostolic letters, papal decrees, speeches, messages and catecheses.
The kind of document used is important for analyzing, from the perspective of theological epistemology, the doctrinal value of each teaching. In this sense, not everything in the papal Magisterium has the same doctrinal weight.
In the Foreword to his first volume on JESUS OF NAZARETH, Benedict XVI explained, "It goes without saying that this book is in no way an exercise of the Magisterium". He makes a similar disclaimer in this new book about JON: "It is precisely not a book of the Magisterium... not a book that I wrote with my authority as Pope".
The warning applies as well to
Light of the World.
To better appreciate LOTW, it is well to consider its subtitle: "The Pope, the Church, and Signs of the Times". Throughout the book, the Pope is interrogated on the present situation in the Church and some historical events that mark significant changes in man's historical trajectory.
To what extent are there positive signs in history "which give us hope for the destiny of the Church and of mankind", as John XXIII put it? This question, in a sense, pulsates throughout the book.
"It seems to me important not to see only the negative side. While we must be very keenly aware of it, we must also see all the opportunities for good that are there: the hopes, the new possibilities for being human that exist", the Pope replies.
The book is structured in three parts: I. Signs of the Times; II. The Pontificate; III. Where do we go from here? Each part consists of six chapters, A documentary appendix and a 'biography and brief chronicle of the Pontificate' complete the text.
Its character as an interview limits the content, for obvious reasons. The Pope can only answer what he is asked. "Within the framework of this discussion, only a few questions could be addressed, and many could not be answered in depth," Peter Seewald warns us in his Preface.
But this singular book allows us a triple appreciation - of the person of the Pope, of the reality of the Church at this historical moment, and of the world situation today.
These three coordinates are seen from a single perspective: that of Benedict XVI. The perspicacity and depth of this perspective confers on the whole book its profound unity and consistency. Everything is well framed, and every opinion is situated in the context of a perfectly articulated thought process.
How is the Pope up close? Above all, a man who is very conscious of his responsibility.
"The Pope is, on the one hand, a completely powerless man. On the other, he bears a great responsibility. He is to a certain extent the leader, and at the same time, the one responsible for making sure that the faith that keeps people together is believed, that it remains alive, and that its identity is inviolate. But only the Lord himself has the power to keep people in the faith".
Responsibility for the faith of the Church, namely, for the announcement of Jesus Christ, who came "so that we might touch God", as he says at the very end.
The Church does not refer to herself but to God: Ultimately, "the point of the Church is to turn us towards God and to enable God to enter into the world". It is something that the Pope does not tire of saying.
Simultaneously, that gives rise to her responsibility with respect to the world and to man, to whom the Church, and the Pope in the Church, should make the faith 'completely understandable": "Today it is still the major task of the Church to unite faith and reason with each other, to look beyond what is tangible and rational responsibility... For after all, reason was given to us by God. It is what distinguishes man".
It is in this context that the Pope conceives of his responsibility: "I think that God, if he was going to make a professor Pope in the first place, wanted this element of thoughtfulness and precisely this struggle for the unity of faith and reason to come to the fore".
How does the Pope see the Church at this historical moment?
He sees it immersed in a process of internal renewal whose objective is "to succeed better at doing what is essential so that we can really hear God's Word".
"Today it is a question of setting forth the major themes, and at the same time - as with the caritas encyclical, God is Love - making visible again the center of Christian life, and thus the simplicity of being a Christian".
Renewal is oriented therefore to evangelization, the 'new evangelization', "in which the one Gospel has to be proclaimed both in its great, enduring rationality, and in its power that transcends rationality, so that it can re-enter our thinking and understanding in a new way".
In this perspective, saints constitute the reference point: "The great figures who throughout history have really brought about revolutions for the good have been the saints", and "the Eucharist is the place where men can receive the kind of formation from which new things can come into being".
How does the Pope perceive the present situation of the world?
In my opinion, his perception of this is realistic, critical and hopeful.
Realistic, because nothing which is truly significant seems to escape his sight. He has a direct knowledge, based on his own observation - it is important to note. when he reflects upon his foreign travels, how he describes attentively the reality that he encounters in each country - and from his direct dealings with all kinds of people from all over the world. "There are, I believe, few people who have as many meetings as I do," he says.
His perception is critical, based on a continuing 'theological' analysis, a rigorous examination in depth into the sense of events and historical processes. As such, it is a perception that tends to discern what is valid from what is not, generally without all-out condemnation nor all-out praise, but always, with careful nuances.
As an example, one might cite his judgment on the possible compatibility between modernism and Christianity: "Christianity is itself something living, something modern, which thoroughly shapes and forms all of my modernity, and in this sense, actually embraces it".
And it is a hopeful perception, aware of what St. Bernard called the
adventus medius, the "intermediate coming of Christ, thanks to which he periodically renews his intervention in history."
If one had to synthesize in a few words what is contained in
Light of the World, we can do it with this line from the book itself:
"We have to show - and also live this, accordingly - that the eternity man needs can come only from God. That God is the first thing necessary in order to be able to withstand the afflictions of this time".
That alone should inspire an attentive study and meditation on this important book. Through it, Benedict XVI speaks face to face with the reader, and helps him/her to interrogate himself about the decisive question, which is none other than the question of God - the relevance of God in the world, in history and in our lives.