Once Again, Do Not Be Afraid!
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Benediction, not interdiction, is the surprising one-word summary of the change in leadership of the Catholic Church. The heady intellectual who succeeded the beloved John Paul II has lapped his critics while lapping up their criticisms. He proclaims peace and love, not war. He is the 265th leader in an historic line of two millennia--not all of whom were worthy of the role--but he is making more than his German mark. He is pushing ahead on engaging the modern world with the reasons and beliefs of a two thousand year institution and tradition.
Not all, however, were welcoming of the selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was greeted with calls of “Grand Inquisitor,” “Panzer Cardinal,” “God’s Rottweiler,” and a motley assortment of other open-minded appellations. Some went so far as to hazard a comparison to George Lucas’ Galactic Emperor, Palpatine. A newspaper in his native Germany succinctly summed up the reaction to his election with the stark headline, “Oh, mein Gott.” Pious lot, those Germans.
In spite of the groaning in some circles, Benedict was received with not a few hosannas by ordinary faithful in Rome, throughout Europe, and especially by the forgotten majority of the Catholic population living south of the equator. A year into his new job, if the press reports are anything to go by, he has surprised both allies and those who have made careers of “loyal dissent.”
What’s going on? Few people are sure. The white smoke rising from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel just a year ago was not a herald of some purging fire from Heaven. Mass is still said in native languages around the world, the number of recalcitrant theologians being disciplined has not sky-rocketed, nor has the number of babies being kissed plummeted. Word on the street is that women are still allowed into church. Some are relieved, others are disappointed, and many are satisfied. But few who knew Joseph Ratzinger before the election are surprised. The real Benedict is a warm person, an engaging mind, and a loving soul. It’s just that now, they say, it is more easily apparent.
This first year has been an intriguing catechesis. Though his style is different from his predecessor, the continuity is evident. The lesson is diversity in uniformity. Being individuals with different perspectives, talents and experiences, Catholics are not pitted one against the other, but rather they are one people unified by a common faith. Think Mother Teresa and Joan of Arc.
Benedict has shown willingness to listen, engage in dialogue, and work at unifying the Church. At his installation, he said, “My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen.” And listen he has. In the past year, he has conferred with liberal theologian Hans Kung, viewed by some as the embodiment of theological dissent, and has held talks with schismatic denouncers of the Second Vatican Council, the conservative Lefebvrites. Benedict personifies ordinary Catholicism, neither left nor right.
His commitment to unity is just as real outside the fold as it is inside. He has not pulled away from pursuing Christian unity, especially with the Orthodox and Eastern Churches. And he has continued John Paul’s groundbreaking work of dialogue with other faiths, especially the Jewish and Muslim peoples.
Is this the same man who denounced the “dictatorship of relativism” at the dawn of the conclave that appointed him leader of some one billion Catholics? Definitely; and he has not abated. His choice of words, though, has been a radical one. The world, Benedict notes, is replete with deserts. Deserts of poverty, hunger and thirst, abandonment, betrayal, terror, loneliness and destroyed love. The root cause of these he discerns as the vast “desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life.” His cure: A back-to-basics approach in explaining Christ to believers and non-believers alike. And if the crowds packing St. Peter’s Square to hear him are any indication, this chosen one is a true fisher of men.
The theme over the last year has been love. Benedict wishes all men and women to know that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary”. The cause of the plight of humans across the world is a rejection of love. He acknowledges the feelings of frustration, discontent, and dissatisfaction with life, and he proposes that the people of the world, especially the young, are disillusioned and afraid to love. His is to echo the now famous cry of his predecessor: “Do not be afraid!” He proclaims love as the victor over hatred and death, love as the “nuclear fission in the very heart of being” and the “greatest ‘mutation’” in the history of the development of life. Love not only redefines humanity but truly remakes the world. Queer ideas, for an archconservative. This thought is exemplified in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, in which he leads a meditation on the nature of God, love and justice. And in it, he reaffirms that Christianity does not fear Eros, erotic love, but rather ennobles it. (Ever wondered where all those Catholic babies come from?)
Love, certainly, is not divorced from truth. In the course of his first year, Benedict has not shrunk from asserting per(mill)ennial Church doctrines. A letter on homosexuality and the selection of candidates for seminaries is a case in point. It drew ire from many quarters, but a Vatican evaluation of American seminaries was nonetheless initiated. He has also boldly stressed the need for reciprocity of religious freedom between Western and Islamic nations. And in the escalation of Beijing-Vatican tensions caused by (at last count) three episcopal ordinations sans papal approval, the Vatican has not been shy about bringing up the question of excommunication.
The year with Benedict has been intriguing. His charm has silenced the skeptical litanies of his detractors. His writings on love are challenging the world. He has proven himself a capable and confident pastor. Can anything good come out of Benedict? Come and see … The Force is strong with this one!
