Scott1
Well-Known Member
Editorial
POPE BENEDICT XVI has spent the first 100 days of his pontificate modestly and quietly, reminding those with memories long enough not of his immediate predecessor but of Pope Paul VI (the Pope who appointed him Cardinal). He has done almost nothing controversial, which means that those who rejoiced that the papacy had shifted to the right with his election have nothing yet to confirm their judgement. Nor indeed have those who feared such a shift.
His most significant act to date so far has been the appointment of Archbishop William Levada, Archbishop of San Francisco, to replace himself as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The American is a subtle and nuanced theologian and administrator, a reconciler rather than a punisher, and for this reason the choice bodes well for other appointments.
Benedicts personal style as Pope has been good-humoured, even making self-effacing jokes about being German. On one occasion he wore a white baseball cap; he smokes, plays the piano and likes cats. It seems to be in keeping with all this lack of pomposity that he has had the triple tiara, the anachronistic heraldic symbol of a pope as temporal ruler, dropped from his papal coat of arms in favour of a mitre, symbol of spiritual authority only. He is not, he said on one occasion, a monarch. He admitted that some people were scared of him, but insisted they should not be.
Inevitably with his election, some of the recent glory of the papacy has departed. Maybe that is not such a loss: populism has a price. It is already clear that Benedict is less comfortable in crowds than Pope John Paul II. Considering his age (78), it is not so surprising that he has confirmed only one foreign visit, to a youth congress in Cologne in the autumn. It will be watched closely. It is an obvious occasion for him to expand on the spiritual perils facing Europe through secularism and relativism, which greatly exercised him before his election.
This is an area, however, where he will make little headway without the support of national hierarchies in Europe, who may well read the signs of the times a little differently. A relativist and secular continent it may be, but Europe is enjoying an unprecedented period without war between its nations, is a laboratory for a unique experiment in international co-operation through the European Union, and is a place where human rights are enshrined as never before. Though not all of this progress bears an explicitly Christian label, that is no basis for a papal condemnation. It would be fairer to say that none of this can be secure without a spiritual foundation, and Europe is living off a constantly depleted stock of moral capital.
John Paul II was perhaps the last Pope to embody the best of the Counter-Reformation tradition; Benedict XVI offers a link with far older roots of European civilisation such as those of the Fathers of the Church, and of the founders of European monasticism, like his namesake. That may give him a deeper insight into the European soul than his predecessor, and suggests this could be a much more creative and surprising papacy than many might at first have expected.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi/tablet-01061