When Joaquin Navarro-Valls signed up in 2006 to be a columnist for La Repubblica, one had hoped he might write something weekly. Instead, he has written only occasionally, but when he does, what he says about Benedict XVI is doubly interesting, because it is refracted through the prism of his intimate knowledge of the Vatican gaiend from 20 years of working closely with John Paul II for over 20 years.
Benedict XVI's pastoral
ministry of intelligence
by JOAQUÍN NAVARRO-VALLS
Translated from
July 6, 2010
Many commentators, for obvious reasons, have concentrated their attention on an apparent 'discontinuity' between the long Pontificate of John Paul II and that of Benedict XVI.
Clearly, no two Pontificates can be equal, although the legacy of the past always falls squarely on the shoulders of the one man, who for 2,000 years has been destined to carry the burden of the Church for a certain time. That is why it is difficult, not to say impossible, to make appropriate comparisons.
Hoewever, each Pope's biography help us to understand the individual Pope. With Benedict XVI, one cannot ignore his long academic career and his extraordinary theological and intellectual course as Archbishop of Munich and then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when he was a close collaborator and intimate friend of John Paul II.
Thinking back to his intense career before he even became Pope, one must also remember all the difficulties he met along the way, confronting issues that had earlier not emerged so clearly as they do now: the crisis of the West, which has taken more and more the attributes of a devastating cultural relativism, to which has been added the difficult management of ecumenical relations in a rapidly-changing international context, and now, the internal problems of the Church, made worse by the vicious attacks on the priesthood, the pedophile scandal and the crisis in vocations.
Despite all this, Benedict XVI has shown himself perfectly able to comprehend and interpret the risks and challenges facing the Church today with far-sighted lucidity, never letting his guard down and providing secure leadership for Christianity.
His Magisterium can be summarized under three aspects:
The first is the wise and cultured interpretation that he has given, since his first homily as Pope in April 2005, to apostolic function.
In his homily upon taking possession of St. John Lateran, for instance, tne new Pope took the time to explain the significance of the ancient religious symbols before him - so remote from the mentality of today, but essential in order to understand the abiding faith of Christians.
He was thus performing a double operation: On the one hand, he did not aim to imitate John Paul II in his way of establishing an immediate relationship with the congregation. But on the other hand, he was placing his intelligence, his knowledge and his extraordinary theological wisdom in the service of the universal Church.
After John Paul II had returned the public presence of religion to modern-day practice in a way suitable to the times, Benedict XVI now re-proposes brilliantly the permanent and solid meanings of the truth about our faith.
Papa Ratzinger's thought is aimed at opening up the world to human religiosity, to a mature and rational consciousness of it.
These ends, like the two Pontificates themselves, are complementary.
Benedict XVI has been mapping out his apostolic style, in an increasingly clear way, as a pastoral ministry of intelligence. The expression was used by Benedict XVI himself to explain the criteria he has been following in presenting the Christian faith to the world.
An acute way to understand such ministry are the great universal catecheses that he has been giving during the Wednesday General audiences, in which he paints word portraits of the most important Christian figures in the history of the Church, starting with the Apostles.
The example may not be as apparent but it is nonetheless just as emblematic of the supreme importance to his intellectual vision of the
ratio fidei, the reason of the faith, or the role of reason in religion.
And in the now classic Regensburg lecture, he highlighted the very close bond between a detailed reading of Christianity and the profound roots of inter-religious and ecumenical dialog. It is an effort that he makes continually, as he did once more on his recent trip to Cyprus.
To paraphrase the medieval theologian Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, much loved by this Pope, one can say that according to Benedict XVI, faith has absolute primacy in defining the essence of Christianity - that only through believing in Christ is it possible to enter the ultimate inexhaustible mystery of truth.
The dialog among various confessions, united in a cultural front against non-believers, is made possible hrough the existence of a single rational horizon shared by them in common. Thus, faith always needs reason, in order to comprehend its truth and to make the intentions of believers effectively known to non-believers, as well as to those who doubt or who think differently.
The most effective aspect of this personal approach is the demanding argumentation on human rights. As he had previously done when he was a cardinal, with the atheist philosopher Juergen Habermas or in contexts as different as Oxford and New York, the Pope has argued that reason allows every man to grasp the dignity of the human being regardless of his culture or tradition or origin.
The argument leads basically to the fact that ethics is the final goal of any rational dialog among cultures.
In recent months, a new aspect of his Magisterium has been added to the two earlier aspects, to 0intelligence and ecumenism. That aspect is his reflection on moral evil.
In effect, in the face of the mediatic inflation of the scandals about pedophile priests, Benedict XVI has neither been defensive nor evasive.
Rather, the obvious presence of evil within the Church as in all of society has given him the opportunity to bring the theological question of sin into the center of the public debate.
From this point of view, his intellectual Magisterium and his wise perception of problems have proven to be an unparalleled resource that has enabled him to deal with the shame and humiliation to the Church brought on by the 'scandals', with great practical resolution and mature wisdom.
Because the crimes that gave rise to the scandals require not just mercy and penitence, but a precise assignment of responsibilities, appropriately severe punishment, and inflexible rigor.
"Forgiveness does not replace justice," Benedict XVI has said rightly. it is not difficult to recognize the great equlibrium that the Pope has sought between the opposing tendencies to forgive and to punish.
The Christian faith, in fact, throughout its long experience, has always called for an integral and careful evaluation of the inexhaustible mystery of evil, which like good, is an insuppressible tendency of the human being because it is rooted in the human heart itself.
From one Spaniard to another: Senor Restan masterfully ties together what has happened in the past week.
Benedict XVI:
The flight of the eagle
Translated from
7/9/10
I will always remember a comment made by a friend, hardly a conservative, who told me in the mid-1990S, "Razinger flies like an eagle, while his critics seem like rats".
They were the difficult years when the Prefect of the Doctrine for the Faith was doing all he could to comnbat a secularized theology that enjoyed great press.
We could say, with Ecclesiastes, that there is nothing new under the sun. Yes, there can be. Or at least, we see it better now.
One could say that the first half of 2010 was a veritable rack of torture for Benedict XVI, but he has used it as an opportunity to teach anew what Christianity is, an occasion to return to the sources of faith and to regenerate the Christian people.
There has been no respite for the Pope: his historical letter to the Catholics of Ireland; his apostolic visits to Malta, Portugal and Cyprus; his meeting with abuse victims in Malta; his leadership acclaimed by a popular rally in St. Peter's Square on May 16; his new emphasis on dialog and mission; the unforgettable conclusion of the Year for Priests; his new appointments to the Roman Curia and to important bishoprics ...
All this amidst all the muck that the most powerful media on earth have sought to pile on, in which he himself has often been the direct target - he, Benedict XVI, this Pope who is an unusual blend of intelligence and humility, of passion and serenity, a man who loves and trusts the living Tradition of the Church so much that he does not fear the disquieting questions posed by the present.
This week, the
New York Times mounted its nth attack, outrageously ideological and full of deceitful constructions and coarse lies, against a man who chooses not to defend himself, against the Peter of the third millennium who does not quake at the persecutions but cries at the betrayal by men of the Church themselves.
Not just for the horrible sins against minors (against which he has launched a formidable operation of cleaning up and transparency) but for the immense damage to a faith they have contaminated and deformed, if not gutted.
Also this week, a miserable mimic of the
New York Times, our own rancid
El Pais, launched its own editorial pap concocted from wild lies. Though it is true that a certain part of the MSM have come to treat Peter as little more than garbage, one does expect a certain level of professionalism from the 'reputable' newspapers. What a naive hope!
But the misunderstanding and hate do not just come from outside the Church.
La Repubblica boasted of an article by the so-called theologian Vito Mancuso, who launched total anathema against the Church of Benedict XVI as a den of evil, even as he sang the praises of an imagined community that is completely spiritual and spotless, democratic and self-governing, the new beginning for true Christianity.
[I have avoided referring at all to this Mancuso nut, who is the culmination of all things wrong with liberal Catholics, who want nothing of the Church as it has been during two millennia but think their mere say-so will in itself 'create' the Church of their personal fancy, and annul everything they do not like about the Church as it is. But there you have it - Repubblica seems to have consecrated him co-Pope in their alternative universe along with founder-editorialist Eugenio Scalfari. Neither the New York Times, nor other Anglophone MSM, has anyone as outrageous, venomous and arrogant as these two self-proclaimed anti-Popes.]
On the other hand, there are those who murmur among themselves and wonder perversely why this Pope keeps his sword sheathed, why he does not sally forth actively against his enemies; who thinks and prays a lot, they say, but fails to use historical forces to defend the great legacy of Catholicism; who does not seem to understand that Peter's mission is to launch all-out war against the enemy in a new Battle of Solferino
[the last battle in which reigning monarchs personally led their armies - Napoleon III of France and Vittorio Emmanuele of Sardinia defeated Franz Joseph II of Austria in 1859 in the Second Italian War for Independence].
But does this mean the Pope is alone, as so many analysts, even well-meaning ones, conclude so facilely? Not at all. First, because Benedict XVI has a unique genius, but he is not an asteroid from outer space. He is the product of his culture and his time, of the Church in the 20th century that maintained a vital, intellectual and emotional current nourished by the Spirit through those difficult decades.
He certainly does not lack associates with whom he lives a daily life of healthy affection and freedom, co-workers who are both loyal and frank, and who know as he does, that the response to these difficult times does not consist in prefabricated plans nor astute maneuvering.
The best response is the genuine daily conversion of Christians, even though this may sound strange to so many priests from both the right and the left.
Moreover, as on so many occasions throughout history, Peter has a special connection to the faithful, the 'simple' folk who are held in contempt by self-proclaimed 'adult Catholics' on both extremes.
Like the homeless woman who greeted him at the Caritas hostel in Rome's Stazione Termini: "Dear Holy Father, may God give you the strength to remain serene, strong and full of hope, as we are".
Or the lady who wrote
Avvenire to say it is not she who supports the Pope, but he who supports her, simply by carrying out his daily duties.
Or the Sicilian family who, just 15 minutes after getting to St. Peter's Square last May 16, had to leave in a rush so as not to miss the train back home. Long enough to carry with them the Pope's message: "Let us move ahead together trustingly on this path, and may the trials that the Lord allows urge us to a more radical and consistent witness to our faith".
Just as he does with the regular folk, the Pope is just as tireless in seeking peace and communion in the episcopal college, doing so with admirable and unequalled mastery.
Let us not forget the letter he wrote to all the bishops of the world last year, after the dust-up over his having lifted the excommunication from the four Lefebvrian bishops - a letter that was almost breath-taking for its evangelical purity and authenticity.
Recently, we saw how he sought to re-establish confidence in the College of Cardinals by bringing together Cardinals Sodano and Schoenborn, or how he availed of the sad experience undergone by the former Bishop of Augsburg to paternally admonish the other German bishops, reminding them that "in a time of conflicts and uncertainties, the world expects of Christians a common witness that is inspired by our encounter with the risen Lord".
Last Sunday in Sulmona, paying tribute to Pietro del Morrone, the hapless Pope Celestine V, the Pope reminded the faithful that Jesus expects his disciples to announce the Gospel calmly, clearly and courageously - even in times of persecution - without yielding to the tempations of fashion nor to violence and imposition by force.
Afterwards, he told the young people of Sulmona that "faith and prayer do not resolve problems but they allow us to face them in an enlightened way and with new strength, in a way that is worthy of man".
He asked them to trust in the future because "if we look at the history of the Church, it is rich in the figures of saints who... enlightened by faith, were able to find creative solutions, always new, to respond to concrete human needs, throughout the centuries".
The young people were enchanted with their Pope. But, of course, it's not as if any of this means anything to the sages at the
New York Times!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/07/2010 22:14]