In interviews before LOTW came out, Peter Seewald said "I believe everyone will be surprised that the Pope was so accessible and open". Except, of course, those who have followed Benedict XVI closely as we Benaddicts gave done since April 19, 2005. Which hasn't detracted from our fascination with the book that is very easy to read and easy to re-read at whatever pafe you may choose... But not even Seewald has said openly what Luigi Accattoli dares to say in this article. Accattoli, who was the lay presentor for LOTW at the Vatican two weeks ago, has apparently crystallized his ideas since then...
The most surprising novelty oF LOTW:
In agreeing to answer everything,
Papa Ratzinger is changing the papacy
by Luigi Accattoli
Translated from
December 8, 2010
Whether the burqa should be prohibited or not, what about 1968 and its consequences, how should we look at 'progress', what should we do about the drug problem and the 'inebriation' of the Western world, is there a 'German charism', what to say about condoms when they are used by a male prostitute... Are these topics for a Pope to talk about openly?
According to the image of Popes that has come down to us from history and tradition, No. It was always considered 'inopportune'
[if not downright inappropriate] for the Bishop of Rome to express his personal opinions, especially about down-to-earth human affairs!
But with the interview-book LIGHT OF THE WORLD, which was published on Nov. 23, Benedict XVI did not disdain to express himself on such subjects and dozens of others. Why did he do it, and what does he mean to accomplish by doing so?
I think he did it first to speak out on matters that had raised much controversy. And more generally,
in order to be 'everything to everyone' as an apostle in our day needs to be.
[I would rephrase that to read: "in order to once again make God 'everything to everybody' in our time" - because the Pope is not offering his personal opinion simply as his personal opinion, but as the opinion of someone who talks to God 'with whom I have a long acquaintance' for help and guidance, or to thank him, or 'simply out of joy'.]
But also to make his contribution to the profound modification of the papal image begun by the Popes of Vatican II, of whom he is one - John, Paul, the two John Pauls, and Benedict XVI.
The novelty of this book has yet to be fully perceived. It has been obscured initially by the polemics over condoms, which tended to hark back to earlier papal teachings - Paul VI said this and Benedict XVI now says this. But this is a different occasion altogethere.
Also misleading was the fact that there had been previous Q&A books with earlier Popes, such as that of Jean Guitton with Paul VI, and those of Andre Frossard and vittorio Messori with John Paul II.
Similar insofar as it reports a conversation between a Pope and his guest (as it was with Guitton and Frossard), or a Pope's written responses to a set if questions (as it was with Messori.
[I had the impression from earlier background articles that the Guitton and Frossard 'interviews' were also conducted by correspondence.I will see if I can check this out.]
But there is a substantial difference both in the method - this time, it was a true interview transcribed from tape recordings) - as well as in the content.
Both Papa Montini and Papa Wojtyla spoke about themselves and the topics raised to them, but strictly as a function of their office
[i.e., not as Giovanni Montini and Karol Wojtyla].
But Benedict XVI chose to answer with a global approach, open, freely expressing his opinions, and speaking to the wider world of the faithful, the curious, and his opponents.
Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi called it an act of 'communications courage', and I find that a perfect description.
This interview-book, in my opinion, has only one precedent - and it was by Benedict XVI himself: his letter to the bishops of the world in March 2009 following the Williamson controversy - in which he explained what he meant to do by lifting the excommunication of the four Lefebvrian bishops, made clear he was well aware of the resulting commotion, acknowledged mistakes in the Vatican's handling of the communications aspect, and reproached the Lefebvrians for their self-importance, as well as those who purport to be the great 'defenders' of Vatican II.
Well, in this book, he explains, he takes note, he acknowledges, and he reproaches - all around, from 360 degrees. As if to say that
the Pope today does not intend to limit himself to affirming the Church Magisterium and government, but also wishes to communicate - as much as he can - his own experience as a Christian who happened to be called on to be the Bishop of Rome.
This is where I believe the novelty lies. That
contemporary Popes must offer themselves as witnesses to faith and not just teachers of the faith. [How often has Benedict XVI recalled Paul VI's remark that the world prefers to learn from witnesses not from teachers!] As members of the Church themselves, and not simply as the ones responsible for its governance.
Already with his first book on Jesus (April 2007), Benedict offered the public 'my own personal search for the face of the Lord', as he said in his Preface, not as a magisterial act, and therefore, "everyone is free to contradict me".
This new interview-book is even less 'magisterial' - the subjects dealt with are far less limited to doctrine, and there is ample room for the Pope's personal opinion.
In coming out into the open, as it were, as a Pope who expresses his opinions in proclaiming his faith, Benedict XVI was preceded in some ways by those 'confidential' moments in the the preaching and diaries of John XXII and Paul VI, by the tsstaments left behind by Paul VI and John Paul II, and by the improvisations and authobiographical publications of John Paul II.
Benedict XVI amplifies all that with the 'full relief' [as in a sculpture] provided by his answers and by the information he provides regarding decisions he has taken.
By agreeing to answer even questions that are thorny or, at the very least, inconvenient, he introduces us to various compartments, as it were, of the papal laboratory.
He explains the changes he has introduced to the Good Friday prayer for the Jews in the traditional Missal. He defends Pius XII's record with thw Jews, calling him 'one of the great righteous men'
['Righteous' is what the Jews call anyone who saves even one Jewish life, and yet the anti-Pius Jews persistently deny the evidence of all the thousands of Jews who were saved through his interventions, while insisting only that he was 'silent' during the war years].
He explains what led him to start giving Communion on the tongue, rather than on the hands, and that the point is to teach by example not by authoritarian imposition, something that he considers optimal but will not impose, but rather, leave others the free choice to follow or not.
In some ways, this attitude is the key to the whole book. In it, Benedict XVI indicates how he is trying to find a pragmatic way by which missionaries and other Church workers can help battle the AIDS pandemic, without approving - but also without excluding - the use of condoms [by married couples].
He reaffirms the prophetic character of Paul VI's encyclical against artificial contraception,
Humanae Vitae, but he cknowledges that "in this field [i.e., sexual morality), many things should be rethought and expressed in new ways".
Even for divorced Catholics who remarry, he indicates that their situation requires deeper study, insofar as a more profound analysis of the validity of the first marriage, to begin with.
These are all disputed questions which the Pope has not been afraid to confront, reclaiming his right to express himself personally, and in this way, amplifying this right for all of us.
[Not that dissenters have ever had any problem pushing this right to the limit!]
Once, Popes could not be contradicted on anything, and now Benedict XVI says, "Anyone is free to contradict me"
[but not the Magisterium, obviously].
Once, Popes could never make a mistake, and now, Benedict XVI says "A Pope can have mistaken personal opinions".
Not even the extrovert John Paul II dared speak of a papal resignation despite his illness, and now, Benedict XVI has spoken about the circumstances when he thinks it would be proper.
The change is great. The image of the papacy is changing before our eyes, and we hardly realize what is happening, much less its import.
I must confess I have not thought of Benedict XVI's uniqueness as in any way 'changing the Papacy' - only that it speaks of his force of personality, if you will, that he could put his personal imprint on it so distinctly, after the legendary uniqueness of John Paul II's Papacy. Also, that what he has managed to do in five and a half years cannot possibly be considered 'inferior' or 'less significant' in any way than Papa Wojtyla's record in 26 years.
As for LOTW, I don't think anyone who has followed Benedict XVI as closely as we Benaddicts do are surprised by his openness and readiness to answer all questions, because we have all read The Ratzinger Report, Salt of the Earth and God and the World.
Even better, we have relished not just his homilies and formal texts, but perhaps even more, all his unscripted Q&As with various groups. Because even if most of his homilies and catecheses sound - to me, at least - like he is speaking directly to each of us, one on one, just as much as he is addressing the universal Church and all men of goodwill, in general, his off-the-cuff remarks and replies have been truly unprecedented for any modern Pope (nor, for that matter, am I aware that there exist records of earlier Popes speaking informally).
Of course, all that has not detracted in any way from the fascination with which one reads and rereads the book now, because it's an easy read, and I can open it at random anywhere and hear him talking to me as if I were there in the room with Seewald. And because, as Seewald noted, a cardinal is a cardinal, and a Pope is a Pope. So, he speaks now with the experience of being Pope, unlike in the first three interview-books, as no Pope before him has revealed himself....
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/12/2010 11:31]