This year, Benedict XVI’s conservatism might emerge
On April 19th 2005, thin white fumes came out of the Sistine Chapel's tiny chimney in Rome to announce that German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected Pope Benedict XVI. A year on, both liberals and conservative Catholics are puzzled: Benedict, who was hailed as a guardian of the true Catholic doctrine (he was precedently ...
On April 19th 2005, thin white fumes came out of the Sistine Chapel's tiny chimney in Rome to announce that German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected Pope Benedict XVI. A year on, both liberals and conservative Catholics are puzzled: Benedict, who was hailed as a guardian of the true Catholic doctrine (he was precedently known as “the bulldog”) with strong views on many sensitive issues has so far been moderate in his policies and statements, reaching out to Catholic pariahs to his right (the excommunicated bishop Marcel Lefebvre) and left (dissident theologian Hans Kung). Sandro Magister, a respected Vaticanist (whose work was recently reviewed in FP), argues that dialogue, rather than enforcement, has been the central feature of this first year of papacy.
On April 19th 2005, thin white fumes came out of the Sistine Chapel's tiny chimney in Rome to announce that German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected Pope Benedict XVI. A year on, both liberals and conservative Catholics are puzzled: Benedict, who was hailed as a guardian of the true Catholic doctrine (he was precedently known as “the bulldog”) with strong views on many sensitive issues has so far been moderate in his policies and statements, reaching out to Catholic pariahs to his right (the excommunicated bishop Marcel Lefebvre) and left (dissident theologian Hans Kung). Sandro Magister, a respected Vaticanist (whose work was recently reviewed in FP), argues that dialogue, rather than enforcement, has been the central feature of this first year of papacy.
But many still wonder about his plan for the Catholic Church — an institution threatened by scandals as well as declining worship and attendance rates. Rev. Joseph Fessio — a former student of Benedict's — predicts that we will see this Pope’s conservative side in this second year: he argues that his first encyclical, titled Deus Caritas Est, which was praised as a very sophisticated and nuanced perspective on the thorny issue of love, was actually a glorification of exclusiveness and permanence, which translates in an uncompromising view on marriage:
On the surface it was non-controversial — but underneath he was laying the groundwork, the principles, for conclusions that are controversial: I think this second year is going to be the one to look it.
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