BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

I will end this page with two articles which I posted this time last year - both an appreciation of Benedict XVI's seven years of Pontificate six weeks before the actual anniversary came around. The timing seems eerie now... As does the discussion on resignation in the second article!



For an economist, Dr. Gregg always makes a compelling commonsense 'theological' analysis when he writes about Catholic subjects. He 'gets it' spot on.This is one great introduction to an appreciation of Benedict XVI's first seven years as Pope (of which I hope we will get many excellent ones. Articles, I mean, but in a different sense, many more wonderful years with B16 as our Pope...

Benedict XVI and
the irrelevance of 'relevance'
by Samuel Gregg

March 8, 2012

Over the soon-to-be seven years of Benedict XVI’s papacy, it’s been instructive to watch the shifting critiques of this pontificate.

Leaving aside the usual suspects convinced that Catholicism should become what amounts to yet another liberal-Christian sect fixated with transitory politically-correct causes, the latest appraisal is that “the world” is losing interest in the Catholic Church.

A variant of this is the claim that the Irish government’s 2011 decision to closing its embassy to the Holy See reflects a general decline in the Church’s geopolitical 'relevance'.

[And you'd think a veteran Vatican observer like John Allen - who is also a sort of self-appointed expert on world Catholic affairs, since no one else is doing what he does, taking snapshots of the state of the Church worldwide bu visiting some key capitals to talk to the locals - would be one of those who would not respond with this knee-jerk banal commonplace, but that was exactly what he led off with last year, commenting on the Irish government's decision! Not one of the Italian Vaticanistas made that almost non-sequitur leap of logic! Clearly, Irish PM Kenny's government wanted to twist into its backstab on the Church to make it hurt more, and that's the only reason one should give. No other country has followed Ireland's example in the months since, even if the financial crisis drags on, so where does that put the 'irrelevance' claim?]

Whenever one encounters such assertions, it’s never quite clear what’s meant by 'relevance'. On one reading, it involves comparisons with Benedict’s heroic predecessor, who played an indispensable role in demolishing the Communist thug-ocracies that once brutalized much of Europe. [And those who argue this completely ignore that the global picture is radically different today from what it was when the free world was still fighting the 'evil empire', and terrorism as a daily political instrument was just in its beginnings, only becoming 'routine' after 9/11/2001. Islam was not the active threat for global hegemony that it is today via its surrogates who rule the Muslim countries.]

But it’s also a fair bet that 'relevance' is understood here in terms of the Church’s capacity to shape immediate policy-debates or exert political influence in various spheres.

Such things have their own importance. Indeed, many of Benedict’s writings are charged with content which shatters the post-Enlightenment half-truths about the nature of freedom, equality, and progress that sharply constrict modern Western political thinking.

But Benedict’s entire life as a priest, theologian, bishop, senior curial official and Pope also reflects his core conviction that the Church’s primary focus is not first-and-foremost “the world,” let alone politics.

Rather, Benedict’s view has always been that the Church’s main responsibility is to come to know better — and then make known — the Person of Jesus Christ. Why? Because like any orthodox Christian, he believes that herein is found the summit and fullness of Truth and meaning for every human being.

Moreover, Benedict insists the only way we can fully comprehend Christ is through His Church – the ecclesia of the saints, living and dead.

These certainties explain the nature of Benedict’s long-standing criticisms of various forms of political and liberation theology. His primary concern was not whether such movements reflected some Catholics’ alignment with the left, or the liberationists’ shaky grasp of basic economics.

Instead, Benedict’s charge was always that such theologies obscured and even distorted basic truths about the nature of Christ and His Church. [And those who claim otherwise simply parrot the totally unfounded media stereotype of Joseph Ratzinger as the pedantic, dogmatic and robotic enforcer of orthodox Catholic teaching - without once reading what he has actually written and said about liberation theology.]-

There is, of course, a 'relevance' dimension to all this. Unless Catholics are clear in their own minds about these truths, then their efforts to transform the world around them will surely run aground or degenerate into the activism of just another lobby-group amidst the thousands of other lobby-groups clamoring to be considered 'relevant'.

Which brings us to another great 'relevance' of Benedict’s pontificate: his desire to ensure that more Catholics understand the actual content of what they profess to believe.

It’s no great secret that Catholic catechesis went into freefall after Vatican II. It’s true that much pre-Vatican II catechesis was characterized by rote-learning rather than substantive engagement with the truths of the Faith.

But as early as 1983, Joseph Ratzinger signaled his awareness of the lamentable post-Vatican II catechetical state of affairs in two speeches he gave in Paris and Lyons.

Much to the professional catechists’ displeasure — but to the delight of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger and every young priest present — Ratzinger zeroed in on the huge gaps in the catechetical text-books then in vogue.

Two years later, the 1985 Extraordinary Synod of Bishops suggested that a new universal catechism be published. [Every time this is brought up, I cannot resist adding that in George Weigel's account of that Synod in his biography of John Paul II, it was the later much-maligned Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston who put forth the suggestion for the Catechism during that 1985 Synod. It doesn't make up, of course, for his terrible judgment lapses in almost coddling abusive priests in his diocese, but he does earn a positive footnote in history for this.]

This bore fruit in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church produced under Ratzinger’s supervision. Significantly, it followed precisely the fundamental structures he had identified in his 1983 addresses as indispensable for sound catechesis.

Fast-forward to 2012. Now Benedict is launching what’s called “a Year of Faith” in his apostolic letter Porta Fidei to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vatican II’s opening.

Reading this text, one is struck by how many times Benedict underlines the importance of Catholics being able to profess the Faith. Of course you can’t really profess — let alone live out — the truths of the Catholic Faith unless you know what they are. Nor can you enter into conversation with others about that Faith unless you understand its content.

Hence, as one French commentator recently observed, at least one sub-text of Benedict’s Year of Faith is that the “doctrinal break-time” for the Church is over.

This point was underscored by the recent Note issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Along the other practical suggestions it gives for furthering the Year of Faith, the Note emphasizes “a profound bond between the lived faith and its contents” (i.e., true ortho-praxis can only be based on ortho-doxy).

It also stresses that Catholics need to know the content of the Catechism and the actual documents of Vatican II (rather than, sotto voce, the ever-nebulous [and rather noxious] “spirit of Vatican II” that seems indistinguishable from whatever is preoccupying secular liberals at any given moment in time.

[Documents which, it would seem, the liberal progressivist spiritists have not really read, or bothered to read, judging by the untruths and half-truths they have been spewing abundantly in the past four decades, passing off their own ideas of what they would like the Church to be, as the 'spirit of Vatican II'. Until Benedict XVI became Pope, few contested them at all!

Just start with all the inventions they stuck on the Mass, many of them never mentioned in Sacrosanctum concilium(SC), the Vatican II constitution on the Liturgy (e.g., sidelining the tabernacle and tearing out the old altars to give way to bare tables -with the corollary of celebrating the Mass ad populum; receiving Communion in the hand), and some directly contradicting SC (e.g., eliminating Latin completely from the Mass, allowing all sorts of profane music -instruments and lyrics - instead of SC's encouragement of Gregorian chant, religious texts (preferably Scriptural) for lyrics, and organ music; and worst of all, using Vatican II as an excuse for any priest to say and do as he pleases when saying Mass, instead of sticking to the ritual and the words that make a Mass a Mass. None of everything that has made a Novus Ordo Mass objectionable as commonly practised since 1970 is to be found in SC!]

The predictable retort is that this proves that, under Benedict, the Church is turning in upon itself. Such rejoinders, however, are very short-sighted. To paraphrase Vatican II, Benedict understands the Church can only have a profound ad-extra effect upon the world if it lives its ad-intra life more intensely and faithfully.

Far from being a retreat into a ghetto, it’s about helping Catholics to, as the first Pope said, “be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Peter 3:15).

And therein lies the Church’s true contemporary significance, as understood by Peter’s present-day successor. It’s not to be found in turning the Catholic Church into something akin to the Episcopal church of America (otherwise known as the preferential option for self-immolation).

It’s about bringing the Logos of the Lord of History into a world that lurches between irrationality and rationalism, utopianism and despair, so that when we die, we might see the face of the One who once called upon Peter to have faith in Him and walk on water.

And what, after all, could be more relevant than that?




The following is a positive evaluation of Benedict XVI from another angle, although it begins, unfortunately, by buying into all the 'public opinion' commonplaces that most commentators have used to interpret and thereby further promote the wildly disproportionate hype over the leaked documents from the Vatican. None of those documents objectively constituted or indicated any high crimes or genuine scandal. To any objective view, they represent, at best, the interplay of conflicting interests inherent and normal in any human institution, especially bureaucracies (the Vatican bureaucracy is obviously no exception).

NB: Il Regno is a twice-monthly publication out of the Bologna-based Centro Editoriale Dehnoniano run by the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart founded by the late French priest Leon Dehon, whose cause for beatification has been stalled because of accusations that he was anti-Semitic.]

Benedict XVI:
Spiritual renewal in the face
of worldliness in the Church
by Gianfranco Brunelli
Translated from

March 8, 2012

The kindness of his gaze, the elegance of his manners, the calmness of tone that distinguish Benedict XVI did not veil the firmness of his words.

In his series of interventions during his fourth consistory to name new cardinals, he assembled a collection of unequivocal spiritual and doctrinal references following a recent spate of poison allegations aimed at the Vatican.

It could not be otherwise. The media clamor had been generated first around the confidential letters written by the ex-secretary-general of the Vatican City Governatorate, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, now Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, to the Pope and to Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone regarding questionable financial transactions at the Governatorate. Then a couple of internal memoranda on the new anti-money-laundering laws to be enforced at the Vatican 'bank' IOR: and finally the 'delirious' anonymous memorandum inferring a supposed assassination plot against the Pope within this year - all had created great perplexity in the Church and in international public opinion.

The fact that some parties had resorted to leaking confidential documents, of various levels of importance, in order to feed any existing conflicts within the Roman Curia but most of all, calling to question the role and the ability of the Secretary of State, offered the image of a moral and institutional crisis within the Church's principal organ of governance. [2013 P.S. It would be three more months before we would find out that it was all largely the work of one 'party' - the Pope's treacherous, devious and magalomaniacal valet.]

[The general impression that the leakers intended to create was precisely for public opinion to think the worst - that unimaginable crimes have been happening inside the Vatican, even if the incidents reported did not include any really major 'scandal' and merely reflected normal internal rivalries within any bureaucracy. But for an informed 'analyst' to simply echo that intended impression as the actual outcome of the leaks is lazy and almost irresponsible.]

In a consistory February 2012] in which a number of Curial officials were made cardinals, the Curia was therefore under scrutiny both in terms of image and of substance.

[I beg to disagree. In fairness to the media, practically no one projected the negatives created by the leaks to the Curial officials who became cardinals - perhaps because, even if most reports kept referring to the 'revelations' as affecting 'the Curia', the targets, as well as the leakers, were clearly all within the Secretariat of State, which is by no means the entire Curia.

The running beef was that yes, the Pope had elevated more curial officials than metropolitan bishops to cardinal in this consistory .but that's an argument that has been discussed several times on this thread. But it must also be noted that no one, not even the Italian media, faulted any of the new Curial officials for lack of qualification or competency for the jobs that Benedict XVI named them to. Even if some of them may be proteges or friends of Cardinal Bertone, that does not make them less competent or qualified; surely, no one could say Benedict XVI named some cardinals to their positions of responsibility if he did not think they were the best men for mostly administrative and technical responsibilities.]

But whoever wanted Cardinal Bertone replaced has failed at least for now, but he is expected to set everything straight in his own department. In fact, this kind of crisis affects the Pope by implying a crisis of authority in the Church. [Again, that was the kneejerk conclusion drawn by run-of-the-mill commentary, echoing the main criticism by the Pope's detractors who claim that he takes no part and no interest at all in the actual government of the Church. Detractors like Marco Politi deliberately ignore that the Pope holds weekly meetings with his chief Curial collaborators - the heads of CDF, of Bishops and of the Evangelization of Peoples, who head the curial offices with the greatest direct impact on churches around the world; and that every afternoon, he sits down with Bertone and/or his two deputies to discuss administrative issues. But gullible members of the public will simply take their cue from what the commentators say and do not question any of their (very faulty) premises.]

It is not accidental that the latter stages of the controversy also brought forth the hypothesis that the Pope may resign. [It really is a non sequitur, because the resignation hypothesis has been floated since last year, not however because of any controversies or administrative issues, but because of alleged health problems! And it is bound to be brought up more often, as the Pope gets older, since in Light of the World, Benedict XVI said clearly that he felt a Pope should resign if he was no longer physically, psychologically and mentally capable of carrying out the Petrine ministry.] [2013 P.S. How could we know the resignation would come less than a year after this article was published?]

In the three days associated with the consistory, the Pope touched all the necessary themes. Starting with what he considers decisive for the Church in this historical moment.

He reads this last critical development as a confirmation and an acceleration of what he called 'a crisis of faith' in his address to the Roman Curia last December. A crisis that cuts across all Christianity. But especially European Christianity.

And alongside the sex abuses by priests, supposed financial scandals, and rivalries for power, there is the more significant testimony of Christians in places where the Church is now the target of persecution for what she believes.It is this reality that concerns the Pope most.

In his allocution to the cardinals before the rites that actually made them cardinals, the Pope spoke the 'mundanization' of the Church, and to the logic of power pursued by some of her members. A logic that is directly anti-evangelical.

Thus he told the new cardinals that, following the example of Christ, they are called on "to serve the Church with love and vigor, with the limpidity and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and firmness of pastors, with the fidelity and courage of martyrs".

Then, commenting on the account of St. Mark regarding the request made to Jesus by the sons of Zebedee, James and John, about sitting next to him in his glory, to the right and left of him, dBenedict XVI quoted the words of Jesus: "You do not know what you are asking".

"James and John, with their request, showed that they did not yet understand the logic of life that ought to characterize the disciple, in his spirit and in his actions". But he pointed out that such erroneous logic did not just dwell in James and John, but "according to the Evangelist, it contaminated even 'the other ten' apostles, who "started to be indignant with James and John. They were indignant because it is not easy to enter into the logic of the Gospel, and to leave that of power and glory".

The episode narrated by St. Mark (cf Mk 16,37-45) ends with the admonition to all his disciples that "they may be servants" and 'slave to all'. An unequivocal admonition on the day of the consistory. To stigmatize an evil that has once again taken grip of the Church.

"Dominion and service, egoism and altruism, possession and gift, self-interest and gratuitousness - these profoundly contrasting approaches have confronted each other in every age and place", the Pope concluded.

"There is no doubt about the path chosen by Jesus. He does not merely indicate it with words to the disciples of then and today, but he lives it in his own flesh. He explains, in fact, 'For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mk 10,45).

"These words shed light on today's public Consistory with a particular intensity. They resound in the depths of the soul and represent an invitation and a reminder, a commission and an encouragement, especially for you".

The Pope calls on the Curia in general and to the various internal factions to stop their infighting. One doubts that his message will be heard at all.

Extending this admonition to pastors to the entire Church, on his homily of February 19, feats of the Chair of St. Peter, the Pope recalled:

"Everything in the Church rests upon faith: the sacraments, the liturgy, evangelization, charity. Likewise the law and the Church's authority rest upon faith. The Church is not self-regulating, she does not determine her own structure but receives it from the Word of God, to which she listens in faith as she seeks to understand it and to live it.

"The Fathers of the Church fulfill the function of guaranteeing fidelity to Sacred Scripture. They ensure that the Church receives reliable and solid exegesis, capable of forming within the Chair of Peter a stable and consistent whole.

"The Sacred Scriptures, authoritatively interpreted in the Magisterium in the light of the Fathers, shed light upon the Church's journey through time, providing her with a stable foundation amid the vicissitudes of history".

Summarizing symbolically the various elements of the Chair of Peter, and looking at the ensemble of the Bernini Altar of the Chair, the Pope underscored the simultaneous presence of a twofold = ascending and descending.

"This is the reciprocity between faith and love. The Chair is placed in a prominent position in this place, because this is where Saint Peter’s tomb is located, but this too tends towards the love of God. Indeed, faith is oriented towards love. A selfish faith would be an unreal faith.

"Whoever believes in Jesus Christ and enters into the dynamic of love that finds its source in the Eucharist, discovers true joy and becomes capable in turn of living according to the logic this gift. T

"True faith is illumined by love and leads towards love, leads on high, just as the altar of the Chair points upwards towards the luminous window, the glory of the Holy Spirit, which constitutes the true focus for the pilgrim’s gaze as he crosses the threshold of the Vatican Basilica". [How I agree so passionately! From the first time I ever entered St. Peter's Basilica, I always thought that that alabaster window was its most compelling feature.]

"Pray that I may be able to keep my hand on the tiller with gentle firmness". This was Benedict XVI's response to the speculation about his possible resignation.

He knows how this debate over the resignation of a Pope, occasionally aired by the media, can in fact weaken the exercise of the Papal role, since he had experienced this as an involuntary protagonist alongside John Paul II.

For now, resignation is out of the question. His health allows him to govern the Church fully even if he is about to turn 85. But his response was not - as John Paul II's was in 2003 - inherent to his state of health, but rather to the route and handling of the ship of the Church. That 'gentle firmness' says everything about his will to exercise pastoral direction and governance of the Church.

[2013 P.S. In 2012, I did not find the paragraphs above ominous or even cautionary in any way. I lived in the blissful coccoon I had built that Benedict would live as long as Leo XIII, if not longer, and would look older and obviously, less physically fit, but I never imagined how fast physical deterioration can take place in persons over 80.]

And here, the writer builds up to a wonderful conclusion that synthesizes the vision of Benedict XVI:

It is not accidental that he has placed before himself and the universal Church a demanding biennial on the symbolic and doctrinal levels: the Year of Faith which will open in October on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and will conclude towards the end of 2013.

It will be, in fact, a new Great Jubilee [marked by the Church in 2000 to celebrate the first 2000 years of Christianity]. This Conciliar Jubilee configures itself symbolically as a landing stage in his Pontificate.

All the points of reform in his Pontificate coalesce around the Year of Faith: a new season of evangelization, reinforced by a spiritual renewal to clean out all behavior that constitutes a continual counter-testimony to the message of the Gospel.

Nor was it accidental that at the pre-consistory assembly of the College of Cardinals on February 17, the Pope asked incoming Cardinal Timothy oDlan, Archbishop of New York, and president of the US bishops' conference, to introduce the subject of New Evangelization, and on Mons. Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, to present the initiatives programmed at various levels of the Church during the Year of Faith.

In this, the Pope calls on the universal Church to make an examination of conscience on the reception thus far of the teachings from the Second Vatican Council according to that hermeneutic of continuity that he has so often cited.

Along this line, Benedict XVI hopes to bring the Church out of the ruts of scandal and internal power conflicts.

Along this line, he hopes to lead the Church to a new season of faithful witness. It is a plan strongly characterized by the personal vision of the theologian Pope but which remains, at the same time, quite open. [Open to what? To tactical adjustments, perhaps, but not to strategic or substantial change!]