Once again, I must thank Lella and her blog
for the following two articles - which are not online - in which Andrea Tornielli and Paolo Rodari restate their case for Benedict XVI as they have advanced in their regular reporting on the Vatican, and in their recent book ATTACCO A RATZINGER. The articles appear in the December issue of the magazine FORMICHE, a journal of politics, economics, international affairs and culture, which has a special section this month entitled "Why an 'inconvenient' Pope is in the crosshairs". The rest of the articles give an idea of the special:
Un nodo a tre fili - Marco Andrea Ciaccia
La teoria dei cerchi concentrici - Paolo Rodari
La risposta della serenità - Massimo Introvigne
Una bussola nel difficile rapporto con i media - Norberto González Gaitano
La “glasnost” finanziaria dello IOR - Gianluigi Nuzzi
Le due chiese - Alessandro Gnocchi e Mario Palmaro
La necessaria virtù dell’ingerenza - Massimo D’Alema
Un magistrale magistero - Benedetto Ippolito
B-XVI, cronaca di un papa scomod - Aldo Maria Valli
La realtà supera la mistificazione - Andrea Tornielli
1848. Anche quello fu un attacco - Angela Pellicciari
Benedict XVI:
Reality overwhelms the distortion
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from the December 2010 issue of
Among the most striking aspects about Benedict XVI are his humility and capacity for saying words that go straight to the heart of the men and women who listen to him.
Even if it is said - often exaggerated and giving the statement too much significance - that John Paul II spoke more with his actions, while his successor is the Pope of 'words', the reality is quite different, if one looks more closely.
Indeed, not only is it certain that Papa Wojtyla was also a Pope of words, but one who used strong words, sometimes inconvenient, and proclaimed with all the force he was capable of.
It is equally true that Pope Benedict, before he even speaks, already impresses by his humility and gentleness. This is best seen in his international travels, especially those that are pre-announced as being 'the most difficult' and 'full of traps' - such as that to
France and to the United Kingdom - during which, instead, Benedict's manner immediately 'resolved' the fears and tensions expressed before the visit.
Unfortunately, even before he became Benedict XVI, a negative prejudice - which in technical communications terms might be called a frame - had weighed over Joseph Ratzinger who, since the mid-1980s had been portrayed as the Panzerkardinal, retrograde, and nostalgic for the past.
[Not having been aware of Joseph Ratzinger before 2005, I would deduce that the negative image came primarily after the publication of The Ratzinger Report in 1985, which apparently shone the spotlight on him as never before on a cardinal of his rank, for having dared to describe the state of the Church as he did.
George Weigel in his biography of John Paul II credits the book for having inspired John Paul II to call the special Synodal Assembly of 1985 to examine how the Church had 'received' the teachings of Vatican II in the 20 years since it ended. Meanwhile, Cardinal Ratzinger's misgivings were interpreted by the Vatican-II 'spiritists' as a desire for a Restoration. no less, of the 'pre-Conciliar Church'. The book apparently caused such a furor in Italy that a leading cardinal complained in public that the Synodal Assembly was not about a book!... One might say that just as in 1968, Ratzinger's Introduction to Christianity had spelled out orthodox Christianity in basic doctrinal terms, the Ratzinger Report was his analysis of the Church in terms of that fundamental theology and the ecclesiology it implied.]
The media ended up contrasting him with John Paul II - to whom he had been a most faithful and much appreciated collaborator, to the point that Papa Wojtyla refused to accept the thrice-offered resignation after he turned 75 of the man who had been alongside him longer than any other in the Roman Curia.
This negative prejudice, built through a media campaign by ecclesial dissenters, still weighs on him today, unfortunately, and along with other factors (among which, the 'inadequacy' of the Curial machine in many cases), has mostly prevented the true message of the Pope from being transmitted to the public.
"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction" - These words at the start of his first encyclical,
Deus caritas est, define better than any other the heart of Papa Ratzinger's message, the thread that runs through his Magisterium.
Joseph Ratzinger has chosen as the keys to his Pontificate the words that most recur in his discourse - love, joy, truth, beauty. It is significant that from his first message urbi et orbi, in the homily he gave at the Sistine Chapel the morning after his election, the new Bishop of Rome said, "In carrying out his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to make Christ's light shine out before the men and women of today: not his own light, but Christ's".
These words pre-announced the style of his Pontificate: Papa Ratzinger does not want to be the protagonist, but to make the true Protagonist emerge.
Am important indication, in this regard, took place in the first months of his Pontificate. Starting with World Youth Day in Cologne (August 2005), and in many other occasions afterwards. Benedict XVI has wanted major Church events to end with the Eucharistic Adoration, when stage center is held not by the Vicar of Christ, but by the True Protagonist.
It is along the same line that one must consider Papa Ratzinger's Magisterium on the liturgy. Well aware that continual changes imposed from above are not appropriate for liturgy and are difficult to accept and assimilate, Benedict XVI has chosen the way of teaching by example.
Papal Masses have gradually been transformed: the Crucifix has been brought back to its centrality on the altar, in front of the celebrant, and there is more use of Gregorian chant. [
Not to mention Latin for the Canon of the Mass!]
In 2007, the Pope restored full 'citizenship' to the traditional Mass which was used until 1970. With this, the Pope wished, not to return to the past nor to nullify the post-conciliar reform of the liturgy. It was to promote a reonciliation and reciprocal enrichment so that the celebration of the ordinary Form - which was is, and remains that which followed Vatican II - can rediscover the beauty and sacredness if the old Mass; and those who prefer the Extraordinary Form, which is as valid as the new Mass, can discover the richness of the patrimony of Sacred Scripture introduced by the reform.
Thus the Pope is doing everything to promote the healing of old wounds and reconciliation. That is how one musr read his decision to revoke the excommunication of the Lefebvrian bishops and to issue the apostolic constitution
Anglicanorum coetibus for the Anglican communities who wish to be in full commuinion with Rome and in doing so, who can retain their traditions.
"The Church", he has said, "is not our Church, but his, the Church of God. The servant must account for how he has managed the good that has been entrusted to him. We do not bind men to us, we do not seek power, prestige nor esteem for ourselves".
Moreover, he says, the Church does not consist of her organizational structures, nor does it live through conferences and commissions. As he said in Lisbon in May 2008: "Often we are anxiously preoccupied with the social, cultural and political consequences of the faith, taking for granted that faith is present, which unfortunately is less and less realistic. Perhaps we have placed an excessive trust in ecclesial structures and programmes, in the distribution of powers and functions; but what will happen if salt loses its flavour?"
Another important thread that runs through the Magisterium of Benedict XVI is the relationship between faith and reason, which was the focus of his Regensburg lecture. The nucleus which he owuld take up in many other documents and interventions was the synthesis of faith and reason as a common ground for an authentic dialog between the Muslim world and Christianity.
Benedict XVI has explained that dialog cannot be above all a question of politics or diplomacy, but the search for the fundamental rationale held in common by all men.
Speaking of reason itself, the Pope has shown how our time - starting with the Enlightenment, which did have some merit - has been characterized by a restricted and limited concept of reason, a self-limiting one, which claims that nothing can be said about God, about the ultimate questions that agitate man's heart, on that which is transcendent.
All this, the sense of religion, is not censured by the modern era, which relegates it however to the limbo of subjectivity, claiming that there can be no reasonable and objective knowledge of it. And so faith ends up being considered irrational and subjective.
This reflection also includes the reference often made by Pope Benedict XVI to natural moral law, namely, man's capacity to tell good from bad. He intends it to favor dialog and confrontation between believers and non-believers, not only on matters of faith, but also those that have to do with ethical emergencies in order to construct a common 'grammar'.
Nor must other important aspects of this Pontificate be forgotten, though they are not as well emphasized because they do not fit the prejudices about a conservative Pope.
In the social encyclical
Caritas in veritate, Papa Ratzinger has included among the social emergencies the anthropological question and ethical issues, thus, another step of reconciliation, going beyond the consolidated divisions that would have 'proogressivist' Christians dedicated to the poor and to social works, whereas the 'conservatives' are concerned only with the defense of life and the family.
But the defense of life and the family are also social issues. And we must not forget the closeness that this Pope has always manifested towards the poor and the very least of people, in the first five years of his Pontificate.
We also must not forget that in his Magisterium one also finds strong words against savage capitalism and a globalization that ends up further impoverishing those who are already poor. His invitation to charity, to brotherhood, to sharing resources, and a more moderate lifestyle that is attentive to the needs of the very least among our brothers, are central in his teaching.
He has also reflected often upon the need for a more vigilant management of the resources of creation. His appeal for a human ecology, for the safeguarding of nature which God entrusted to man, is one of the other constants in the first 'lustrum' of his Pontificate.
Even if at the media level, the existence of negative prejudice ends by reporting only that which is compatible with the cliche
of the conservative Pope.
The theory of the concentric circles
against Benedict XVI
by Paolo Rodari
Translated from the December 2010 issue of
The first five years of Benedict XVI's Pontificate were characterized by attacks coming from many sides. Seen closely, one must speak of three concentric circles.
First of all, circles and power groups for whom it is convenient to 'depotentiate' the message of the Church, accusing her before the public tribunal and exploting elements that are indisputably serious such as the scandal of priestly abuse against minors.
The second circle is the internal dissent in the Church against the Pope. Papa Ratzinger, often defined by them as mean, conservative and retrograde, is not seen favorably by a part of the Church that is always ready to accuse him of not wishing to reform the Church by not adapting it substantially to the dictates of the world.
The third circle is composed of the involuntarily self-generated attacks at the Vatican as a result of many acts of imprudence and frequent errors by the Pope's co-workers.
Three circles that all lead to one conclusion: Papa Ratzinger, whatever you think of him, is constantly under attack.
The most acute crisis began last spring, with the introduction of accusations that the Pope himself had covered up episodes of pedophilia in the clergy.
But on March 10, when the criticisms were at their worst, it was the Pope himself who spoke up in St. Peter's Square - in which he explained his idea of governing the Church. He cited the example of St. Bonaventure who had said that "governance is not simply doing, but above all, thinking and praying".
"For Bonaventure," he said, "the Church is not governed simply through orders and structures, but by guiding and enlightening souls".
Since March 19, the Pope has not picked up the argument, But in the face of worsening accusations over Church leadership, he responded by
putting into practice the teaching of the great Franciscan theologian.
And that is, by sharing his own 'enlightened thought' in his pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland.
Words are the primary means through which the Pope leads and guides the Church, aware that the presentation of authentic Christian thought is the true 'sword' agains the world.
Of course, Papa Ratzinger is not the first (and will not be the last) Pope to be attacked. Furious reactions to papal thinking have happened in the past. But what bas been the determining factor for the attacks against Pope Benedict XVI?
The notion that this is a Pope who wants to turn back Church affairs to the way it was before the Second Vatican Council, to the Tridentine era
[which had lasted since the mid-16th century Council of Trent inspired by the Counter-Reformation], and that his thoughts are allegedly retrograde with respect to contemporary culture.
Paul VI wrote
Humanae vitae, and after having been initially hopeful about the new encyclical, the liberal media suddenly branded the Pope as the devil.
"The Pope is the devil," wrote Vittorio Gorresio in 1973. "The turnabout of Paul VI", wrote
L'Espresso's Vaticanista, ex-priest Carlo Falconi in 1978, meaning that with
Humanae vitae, Paul VI was placing a 'pre-Conciliar' brand on his Pontificate.
The same accusations would be made against John Paul II. Until 1989, Papa Wojtyla represented hope for everyone. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it seemed like his thought no longer mattered, and the criticisms started.
With Ratzinger, it all started on December 22, 2005. In his first address to the Roman Curia, he launched a challenge to those who want a Church not so much 'for the world', or 'close to the world',
but outright 'of the world'.
Speaking of Vatican II, the Pope said it was not a rupture with the past. He pointed out that those who have this interpretation align with "the sentiments of the mass media, and even part of modern theology".
"It was on December 22, 2005, that everyone finally understood who Ratzinger is", says the dean of Vaticanistas, Benny Lai. "Until then, there were those who still hoped that the 'first' Ratzinger, the one they considered progressive, would 'return'. But it was not so".
But he adds, "Even during Vatican II, many made the mistake of considering him a progressive theologian. Even the late Cardinal Giuseppe Siri thought so. But then Ratzinger showed soon enough that he was not at all what he had been labelled with. It is his perceived 'change to conservatism' that still causes much annoyance to his liberal critics in the Church and outside it".
Since that address to the Roman Curia to the present, 'Ratzinger thinking' has manifested itself in many forms that have usually unleashed indignant reactions from his critics.
On the way to Africa in 2009, he said that AIDS cannot be conquered by distrbution of condoms alone - and the secular intelligentsia of half of Europe set upon him. Nevermind that he made a correct statement: to fight AIDS requires educating human beings so that they may start considering their own body in a different way. Namely, not in the narcissistic and self-referential expression of human sexuality.
Another major reaction to Benedict XVI took place earlier in Regensburg. He spoke on the nexus between religion and civilization, pointing out that conversion through violence is against God's reason.
But the citation of a statement by the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologue - who said that Mohammed had introduced nothing but
"things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached" - unnleashed the fury of the Muslim world. And yet the Pope's words live on. Indeed, the Regensburg lecture has borne good fruit.
Ratzinger provokes strong reactions not only when he speaks, But even when he takes decisions that affect the very heart of the life of the Church.
Among these, the motu proprio
Summorum Pontificum which liberalized the use of the traditional Mass, and lifting the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated by Mgr. Marcel Lefebvre against the express wishes of John Paul II.
Revival of the taditional Mass was particularly opposed in France. "What would you say to those in France who fear that
Summorum Pontificum marks a step back from the great intuitions of Vatican II?", the Pope was asked in September 2008 on his way to Paris.
"It is unfounded," he said. "Because this motu proprio is simply an act of tolerance, with pastoral ends, for persons who grew up in the traditional lutrgy, who love it and know it well, and wish to live using this liturgy".
The accusation always goes back to this: that the Pope wishes to turn back Vatican II. And that therefore, he is against modernity. It's the same accusation made when he lifted the Lefebvrians' excommunication.
To which the Pope replied that "the magisterial authority of the Church cannot be frozen as of 1962"
[which is, in effect, what the Lefebvrians advocate].. And to those who claim to be the great defenders of Vatican II, he said "that whoever wants to be obedient to Vatican II should accept the faith as it has been professed down the centuries" and that "you cnanot cut off the roots from which the tree lives".
There's also part of the Protestant world that does not understand Ratzinger. In November last year, Benedict XVI promulgated the apostolic constitution
Anglicanorum coetibus by which Anglican groups who wish to convert to Catholicism can do so. The Pope had explained his move as a response to a request that had been presented [for almost two decades] by traditional Anglicans.
But many Anglicans and even part of the Catholic world did not udnerstand, and accused him of poaching on the left, meaning among those Christians who have become disaffected by the progressive and liberal trends of their own Churches.
When he visited the United Kingdom last September, he told the bishops of England and Wales: "I ask you to be generous in carrying out the directives of the Apostolic Constitution, in order to assist those Anglican groups who want to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am convinced that these groups will be a blessing for the entire Church".
Why do these Anglicans want to return to full communion with Rome? Because a church which opens itself to the world mindlessly by accepting woemn's ordination and gay marriages does not make sense.
The Pope is fighting for a Church anhcored in the truth, and because of this, many are hostile to him.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/12/2010 13:27]