The Pope's 'divisions':
Benedict XVi's power and powerlessness
by Hans Winkler
Translated from
Dec. 6, 2010
"How many divisions has the Pope?" Josef Stalin asked once, disparagingly, by which he meant that the man in the Vatican was really powerless. For him, power could only come from the barrel of a gun.
In the interview book
Light of the World with Peter Seewald, the journalist tells Benedict XVI that he is now 'the most powerful Pope of all time'. Benedict XVI relativises Seewald's statement by citing Stalin.
"Stalin was right in saying that the Pope has no divisions and cannot issue commands. Nor does he have a big business in which all the faithful of the Church are his employees or subordinates. In that respect, the Pope is a completely powerless man". In any case, [the Pope is saying that] the large number of Catholics in the world gives him no power.
John Paul II and Benedict XVI represent two very different ways of understanding and exercising the Papacy. John Paul II embodied the charismatic type (in the political sense) who through his personality, his grand gestures that could be directly understood without reflection, helped to bring about a togetherness that went far beyond the boundaries of the Catholic world. And that was evident from the worldwide participation in his suffering and death.
[Much of the first statement is unconsidered myth. Does not Benedict XVI - lacking his predecessor's theatrical presence and simply being who he is - communicate just as directly to the crowds even without 'grand gestures'? Has he not proven that abundantly in five and a half years of audiences, Angelus prayers and liturgies at the Vatican, topped by his successful trips abroad?]
In the case of Joseph Ratzinger, the markers of his effectiveness are not dramatic - no assassination attempt or spectacular meetings or revelations, but books and other writings:
Introduction to Christianity, the Jesus book, the encyclical on love, for example.
But, as this new book shows, it would be wrong and unfair to describe him only as a man of the institution.
[Why would anyone, to begin with, even think of circumscribing Joseph Ratzinger, after his long and eminent career even before he became Pope, to being a 'man of the institution'????] In the often providential succession of Popes, he could even have greater sustainability than his predecessor.
[Considering that the predecessor is on the path to sainthood, the statement is rather rash!]
What then constitutes the power of a religious leader? Benedict observes that the Pope is "to a certain extent the leader, the representative, and the same time, the one responsible for making sure that the faith that keeps the faithful together is believed, that it remains alive, and is inviolate in its identity".
As for how much he can do, he obviously has no illusions. He cites St. Augustine, "There are many outside who seem to be inside, and there are many inside who seem to be outside".
Benedict sticks to his basic theme: that faith should not be considered as pious sentiment, no more and no less, but as concrete teaching that will not evaporate in the arbitrariness of post-modernity.
Already in the Foreword to his standard text
Introduction to Christianity, from 1968, then Professor Ratzinger had this to say: "The question as to the content and sense of Christian faith is surrounded today by a fog of uncertainty as never before in history".
It is an embarrassment for those who had read the book initially as a maniffesto of the post-Conciliar upheaval and now accuse the Pope of pushing back Vatican II.
[How anyone could ever have considered it 'a manifesto of post-Conciliar upheaval' at all is mystifying!]
The answers given by this author of many theological books are not new, but what is surprising is the tone: The Pope reins in the apologetics-like eagerness of his interviewer and formulates critical objections himself when Seewald postulates dogmatic certainties. It's scientific skepticism against rash certainties.
The Pope is very careful about the idea of 'truth': From scientific theoretical knowledge and historical experience, he points out, "We do not have truth, it has us".
Nonetheless, Seewald has done a service in getting to interview the Pope - the first time for a Pope, moreover - over a number of sessions.
Most intersting is the distinction that the Pope makes between himself as Benedict XVI and theology professor Joseph Ratzinger: namely, that when he says what Joseph Ratzinger thinks, he uses the pronoun 'I', but when he speaks 'in communion with the Church" then he says "we".
And, he points out that obviously, a Pope can have "mistaken private opinions". It is not just a semantic trick or a proffer of scientific correctness, but simply a catholic attitude. [The adjective, whether small c or capital C, does not seem appropriate. He is simply being
real!]]
It is very touching how the Pope describes his private life. The leader of one of the world's major religions does not spend his evenings dining with powerful men from politics and the cultural world or in some celebration or other
[Not that any Pope before him has ever done so!], but very simply.
Many times he refers to his 'papal family' - the four lay sisters of Memores Domini and his two secretaries, with whom he shares all his meals. With them, he also watches a film on DVD now and then, and he says he enjoys the Don Camillo films most. One can call it a petty-bourgeois lifestyle that he shares with tens of thousands of his priests around the world.
Afterwards, he goes back to his study to work some more, surrounded by furniture he began to acquire in the 1950s and that he took to the Vatican with him
[because they contain all his books].
Benedict XVI does not mind talking about the the toll that age takes: "[The work of Pope] really taxes an 83-year-old man", but he also sees the other side: "The older you get, the less initiative you have"
[to engage in physical activity, he means].
It speaks well for him that he did not strike out sentences like that from the transcript.
[Why would he? He said these things freely!] All in all, one has the impression of simply meeting a man, in a way that does not usually come out when politicians are interviewed who usually craft even their supposedly personal remarks to make a specific point.
"I also note that my strength is waning," the Pope observes But he hopes that God will give him the strength "that I need so I can do what I need to do". But he "must organize his time correctly and make sure he gets enough rest, so that one is suitably alert at the time when one is needed".
In any case, he would not hesitate to resign when he no longer feels he has the strength to carry out his office.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/12/2010 12:10]