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April 19, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI
"We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI. The choice of name presumably offers some degree of symbolic continuity with Pope Benedict XV. As the first German Pope in a thousand years (I believe the last was Victor II) this name makes a gesture toward a man known for attempted reconciliation and peace-making in contrast with some of Germany's more recent history and the role some have contentiously argued was played by the Vatican in that history.
I expect we will be reading much about the former Cardinal's one-time membership in the Hitler Youth, something I believe was required by law at the time. Certainly, the optics of such a choice present a serious problem. That said, I would be more concerned about the new Pope's current views.
He upset many Jews with a statement in 1987 that Jewish history and scripture reach fulfilment only in Christ — a position denounced by critics as “theological anti-semitism”. He made more enemies among other religions in 2000, when he signed a document, Dominus Jesus, in which he argued: “Only in the Catholic church is there eternal salvation”.
I say "would be" because it seems peculiar to expect the leader of the Roman communion to believe eternal salvation could come about in any other way. Surely that would make him a Protestant? I see no point in painting over differences of opinion including, and perhaps especially from my point of view, those differences found amongst Christians. The last Pope described "homosexuality" as part of a "modern ideology of evil". Well, I believe that view itself to be a mistake whose ultimate inspiration is the very word John Paul II chose to use and, to parse Benedict XVI, a manifestation of an objective disorder of faith. Sex and morality are not the only issues in contention as the appropriateness of contraception, role of women in the church, etc. and so forth are all in dispute to say nothing of the the basic divisions amongst Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions or people of other faiths entirely. So we have serious disagreements amongst people of faith whose roots go back at least as far as Luther tacking a note to the door. The question now is how people with such basic disagreements can come together to address issues of social concern without demonizing one another. This may place me on the side of a "dictatorship of relativism" but I hope such could be a benign dictatorship. I think this is infinitely preferable to the imposition of absolutes - least of all my own - and our only choice if we are to find points of compromise that do not compromise our own most profoundly held convictions. We have much work to do.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at April 19, 2005 12:45 PM
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Comments
Didn't I used to be on your blogroll? Did I get removed during my hiatus?
Posted by: Jheka ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ghostofaflea.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 20, 2005 02:29 AM
After reading an awful lot about him, the sense I'm getting is this: The Church seems to have picked a Pope that has a realist, hard-boiled attitude towards geopolitics.
His prior writings, of course, were on things orthodox- that was his job- but beneath that you'll note a willingness to delve into regional concerns, especially those involving the Church's survival as Catholic and not something adapted to modernity.
They haven't picked a Pope that would try to exercise temporal power in quite some time- and we might be shocked if he does so now. I think it was Germany that was excommunicated back in the Middle Ages to punish the monarch there. Can you imagine if modern American Catholics were done by similarly?
He wrote 10 years ago:
"We might have to part with the notion of a popular Church. It is possible that we are on the verge of a new era in the history of the Church, under circumstances very different from those we have faced in the past, when Christianity will resemble the mustard seed [Matthew 13:31-32], that is, will continue only in the form of small and seemingly insignificant groups, which yet will oppose evil with all their strength and bring Good into this world."
There's a curious hint within that quote: He might be willing to abandon the city to fight from the mountains, metaphorically speaking. If he means it, he'd be certain to try to keep these 'mustard seeds' as pure as he could-- and remember the parable, too, for his probable regard for those who would balk...
So: Concern, yes. But also a degree of understanding for the difficulty of his position on my part.
Posted by: urthshu at April 20, 2005 04:34 AM
"Mustard Seed" has a great revolutionary sound to it... I am also a bit incredulous at the idea a denomination with 1.2b members would feel itself to be in a minority position but, yes, this reading does leave me sympathetic. It also leaves me wondering if the spiritual elitism in mystical religious traditions - including much of Protestantism - is a virtue being made of necessity. Then again the former Cardinal Ratzinger was quite clear in his view that Protestants are hardly Christians in the first place so it may look like the flock has been reduced to "small and seemingly insignificant groups"...
Posted by: Ghost of a flea at April 20, 2005 06:24 AM
