Right photo: Mons. Mueller at his book presentation last week.*CNS Photo)
Mons. Mueller on Benedict XVI and
his 70 years of reflecting on the faith
Translated from the Italian service of
January 14, 2013
"I know of few persons who have his breadth of vision and intellectual preparation". The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Ludwig Mueller, speaks in these terms of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and his teaching - before and after being elected Pope.
The Prefect, who as President of the Regensburg-based Institut Papst Benedikt XVI, has overseen the compilation and publication of
The Collected Writings of Joseph Ratzinger [
He is the nominal publisher], last week presented his latest book, published by the Vatican publishing house LEV, entitled
Ampliare l’orizzonte della ragione (Widening the horizon of reason) as a key to reading the writings of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. Alessandro De Carolis spoke to Mueller:
MUELLER: He [the Pope] has led a long life of reflection, which started when he was 15, and now he is 85. That makes at least 70 years of profound reflection and meditation. And he has had so many experiences in his life. As a boy and young man, he experienced Nazism, war, the whole spectrum of situations in the life of men...
If only for that, he has never been an intellectual who lives in his ivory tower - he has been very much 'present' in the life of the men of his time, profoundly part of the history of the 20th century, and now of the 21st.
He is one of the few men today who has had such a wide horizon: He knows the development of Western philosophy, starting with the Greeks and Romans, to the contemporary philosophers. And he knows the history of the Church, as well as the questions and challenges posed by progress in the natural sciences. I am aware of few persons who has his depth and breadth of thinking that is so necessary today.
During these years of service as the Pontiff, Benedict XVI has also shown that even a great theologian can speak the language of the common man, and also find new expressions for the ancient truths of the faith. What strikes you about this aspect of the Pope?
Let us put it this way. Jesus Christ is the Word of God, but when he came to the world, he spoke very simply, addressing the heart of all men. He spoke to Pharisees, to the great intellectuals in his world and in his time, but always showed the great respect that God has for all men.
That is why it is necessary and very important that all theologians should also be pastors, that they address themselves to all men, because God does not love only the intellectuals and brilliant pastors, but all men.
In your new book, you comment on the language of the new media. What have they been able to grasp of the essential in the Magisterium of Benedict XVI?
Faith and Revelation are two ways God uses to communicate with us. Through these means of communication, we can talk to each other - not ideologically as a way to influence men against reason - but to have a dialog that is open to the truth, because only truth can save man, not propaganda.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/01/2013 21:49]