BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Ignacio Ingrao has been quite combative where Benedict XVI is concerned, so I was surprised by this piece in which he acknowledges the virtues of the man and the Pope. And without ulterior motives, it appears. But for obvious reasons, I do dispute his hypothesis that the Pope has emerged strong after five years as a result of an 'profound interior transformation'. To echo the Pope's words in a different context, "It isn't the Pope who has changed - it's Ingrao!"


The theologian Pope who humbles himself
to change the Church quietly
by Ignacio Ingrao
Translated from

Issue of 12/2/2010


Liberation theologist Leonardo Boff recounte that when he was called to the Vatican by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be questioned about his writings, the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had him in for coffee and conversed with him quite cordially as if they were old friends. So much so that, leaving the CDF that day, Boff was convinced that he would be upheld. Instead, he shortly received the CDF statement severely condemning the theology of liberation.

That was Cardinal Ratzinger, the 'German shepherd' guardian of the faith - the Panzerkardinal, the nickname given him even after he became Pope. There was something true in that appellation, for a man who is kind and shy but also vigilant and inflexible.

Today, after five years as Pope, Benedict XVI appears to have changed profoundly: [I will say it once and not have to raise it everytime Ingrao mentions it: What profound transformation? The focus and style may have changed, by virtue of the change in office, but the change is 'superficial' because circumstantial - the core is unchanged.]

"This is a Pontiff who proceeds by subtraction bot by addition", as Fr. Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, has neatly summarized. [Does he mean because Benedict XVI strips down everything to the essentials?]

Under the pitiless glare of mass media from around the world, Benedict XVI has in the past five years sought to have the Church focus on her essential problems - loss of faith by the West, moral degradation even within the Church, the superficiality of Liturgy, divisions among Christians.

Little by little, he has let go of all other concerns, delegating them to his co-workers in the Curia - government, power, diplomacy, finances.

"It is a teaching Pontificate," says Fr. Lombardi, "to show the Church the way of renewal".

The interview-book Light of the World reveals the intimate character of Benedict XVI, laying bare the Pope's own interior transformation.

A few months away from his 84th birthday, Papa Ratzinger is clear about the priorities of his mission. If you compare this book with the two other interview books he did with Peter Seewald (Salt of the Earth in 1996, and God and the World in 2000), there is the same steeliness of the intellectual cardinal who is always able to surprise and to catch the reader off guard with his direct but never banal answers. [There you are! If there is the same steeliness, etc., how can you then speak of an interior transformation????]

But one will also catch some subtle but profound differences now that he is the leader of the Church. Now he can expose all the complexities, the lights and shadows, the contradictions, the difficulties.

Perhaps some previously granitic certainties have given way to doubts. Moral inflexibility is tempered by a more pastoral attitude. The abstraction of the theologian must measure itself against political reality.

But what emerges above all is the Pope's extraordinary humility. It is the paradox of Benedict XVI: the unwanted accession to the Chair of Peter, instead of feeding his self-esteem in being the Vicar of Christ, has made him cultivate a humility which is even more profound - and rare for an intellectual of his fame and stature.

It is a humility that cannot be compared to any of his predecessors in the 20th century - not Paul VI, much less John Paul II. Or perhaps, but only in part, John XXIII.

"...There must be, besides the great Popes, little ones also, who give that they can", he says in Light of the World, thinking of his predecessor Karol Wojtyla. [The context of this reply was that he was explaining why he called himself a 'simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord' in his first message to the world as Pope.]

He is sincere: he admits errors and distractions, he apologizes, he shows himself to be well aware of his limitations. In short, this is a king who can step down from his throne.

But it is not just this book that demonstrates the development of 'the humble Pope'. Benedict XVI's annus horribilis that is now behind him has accelerated his interior change. The scandal of pedophilia in the Church, with the unjust accusations that he smothered investigations and procedures were for him 'a shock' as he says in the book. [And he uses the English word.]

He was also greatly perturbed by the violent polemics provoked by his Regensburg lecture in 2006 and the Williamson case in 2009.

But the 'shock' that followed upon these episodes did not paralyze him into inaction. The 'fragile Pope' reacted with firmness and found the strength to indicate to the Church the essential points it needed to change for a new course. [Which he was able to do because all that strength was there all the time!]

And here is the other Ratzinger paradox. The Pope of continuity with Tradition has shown himself to be one who is working for a profound renewal of the Church. A pastor determined to create a turnaround that will enable Christian communities to measure up to the challenges of the contemporary world.

Therefore, not at all a Pope who escapes to the gold and lace of liturgical tradition [as if that were all liturgy was!], but a Pontiff resolved to face modernity directly and without prejudices.

In this way, he has also caught the so-called Ratzingerians off guard - those 'men of modest means' but vociferous epigones of his, who would reduce his message of reform to nothing but a 'reassuring' doctrine aimed only at consolidating the little that remains of the powers and privileges of the clergy and the Church. [If one mentally passes in review the few 'Ratzingerians' there are, that accusation seems unfair, unless, for instance. someone like Cardinal Bertone is seen to be a power-grabber! I think he is well-meaning, but his main problem is his style, or lack of it, and an institutional inertia despite his physical bulk and athletic persona. But Amato, Bagnasco, Burke, Canizares, Koch, Ouellet, Piacenza, Ruini, to name the most prominent???? Their record and their reputation have been as honest (often brilliant) work in the Lord's vineyard.]

Here are the seven key reform points of the Ratzinger Pontificate:

Morality - After a life spent defending the principles of Catholic morality, the words of Benedict XVI on condom use represent his 'pastoral' face. He does not renounce the conviction that abstinence and faithfulness are the better arms to combat AIDS, as he said on his way to Africa in 2009.

But he acknowledges that use of a condom by an infected man is the start of taking responsibility for avoiding the transmission of the virus. It could be a helping hand to missionaries trying to fight the pandemic in the frontiers of the world. Perhaps those of them who have been distributing condoms will no longer feel as if they are on trial. [Obviously Ingrao is of the persuasion that the Pope has made a blanket statement, instead of what he clearly cited 'in this case or that'!]

Power - Benedict XVI has made it clear that power should be understood as service, and asks his co-workers to have this attitude, especially bishops. However, not all the nominations he has made in the past five years have been bishops who understand their appointment as a mandate for service. He rejects ordination of women, but he knows that women can and should play a leading role in the Church. [Just not in the way the militant feminists think, but in the footsteps of the great medieval women saints who have been the subject of his current catechetical cycle, none of whom needed to be a priest!]

Authority - Collegiality and moderation are the two words of order that the Pope wishes to apply to the exercise of authority in the Church. It means participation of bishops and their communities in making decisions. And a reform of the Curia so that it is streamlined and can act faster. But it is precisely this reform that raises fear among his co-workers who seek to place obstacles in his way. [Again, which co-workers exactly are being obstructionist? From what I read in the Vaticanistas' blogs, the main obstacles are the entrenched middle-level bureaucrats of the Secretariat of State whose loyalties are to their role models in the past decades, and who are insubordinate to Cardinal Bertone whom they resent because he is 'not one of them'. Benedict XVI has now appointed most of the dicastery heads and secretaries so the Curia is his Curia now, but not the Secretariat of State!]

But Papa Ratzinger is not yielding, especially since he is convinced that the pedophile scandal was the result of the wrongful exercise of authority aimed at protecting the reputation of the Church rather than the victims.

Money - The recent IOR scandal, in which the Vatican bank is accused of violating anti-money laundering regulations, has troubled Benedict XVI in recent months. The Pope proclaims that the Church is not interested in money except as it can use it to do its missionary and social work, and certainly not in being entangled in any power play. He appears to be unheeded even by his closest collaborators, but one hopes that in the next few months, concrete actions will prove there is financial morality in the Vatican. [Yet another wild generalization! Does anyone really think Ettore Gotti Tedeschi is anything less than upright? There has been nothing said about the IOR 'scandal' for several weeks now. Perhaps Gotti was right that he simply needs time to work out arrangements with the European Union and with the Italian government over special requirements demanded of IOR because it is not a regular bank.]

Dialog - For months after he became Pope, Papa Ratzinger had never even mentioned the Muslims. The aftermath of the Regensburg lecture opened the Pope's eyes to the importance and difficulty of dialog with Islam. [Excuse me! In how many essays in how many books before he became Pope did he foresee this confrontation with Islam? One might consider that he said what he said in Regensburg precisely because he was aware that the orientation of inter-religious dialog which developed under John Paul II was not substantive - it was mostly for show, and the person who led the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialog was bending over backwards too much to 'humor' the Muslims. So he sent him to the Arab League in Cairo, and named Jean Louis Tauran, a veteran diplomat who has his head on right, and would not simply sing Kumbaya with Islam.]

It was the first 'shock' to this Pontificate. But Benedict XVI turned the page with his visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul However, the dialog with the Jews has been just as acerbic because of Pius XII and the Williamson case. Dialog with other religions is now at the top of Benedict's agenda. [For some reason, Ingrao is increasingly losing his grip as he proceeds. Benedict XVI clearly stated from his first homily as Pope that the cause of Christian unity - i.e., ecumenical dialog - would be one of his priorities. Ingrao fails to mention the progress achieved with the Orthodox Churches, with a theological dialog now focused on the role of the Pope in a reunified Christianity! Nor does he mention Anglicanorum coetibus, which is a historic and unprecedented initiative.]

Politics - For three years, Benedict XVI seemed uninterested in Italian politics. [Not as a partisan exercise, no, but certainly he has always upheld the need and the right of the Catholic voice to be heard in public discourse. Has Ingrao forgotten the decennial convention of the Italian Church in Verona where he urged Italian Catholics to make themselves heard? Or the 2006 referendum where a Catholic boycott defeated the proposed liberalization of Italy's reproductive health laws? Or the Family Day rally in 2009 and the Italian bishops' opposition to the Prodi government's plan to introduce a bill that would give equal rights and privileges to common-law partners and same-sex unions as normal families have?] But in 2008, in Cagliari, the Pope launched an appeal for a new Catholic political class to emerge, a call that has been taken up by the Italian bishops.

Science - Before he became Pope. the frontiers of bioethics were already a primary concern for Joseph Ratzinger. Last November 20, he made a cardinal of Elio Sgreccia, who had founded the Institute of Bioethics at the Catholic University of Milan and later became president for many years of the Pontifical Academy for Life. It is a signal that he is not letting his guard down in this respect.

In short, Light of the World is not just an extraordinary work with great 'image' potential. It reveals the true character of the Pope.

Now, he can look forward to the next year with confidence: The second volume of JESUS OF NAZARETH, will be released on March 13; He has four trips abroad on the program [Croatia, Spain, Germany and Benin), and very likely, the beatification of John Paul II. For Papa Ratzinger, it is an indispensable tribute to his predecessor.