The American Spectator

So I look forward to some dim recognition by the media that Pope Benedict, while mysteriously choosing to remain Catholic despite exposure to the bracing intellectual and spiritual winds blowing from the summits of our Hiltonic media culture, still has some good points and does not seem to be as mean and anti-intellectual as member of our journalistic class have been assuring one another he is.

This tiny movement of the grey matter, while no great shakes by itself, could be a prelude to at least some of our chattering classes attempting to familiarize themselves with the immense oceans of light and lucidity that are his works. For though his bodily presence may be “weak” (to use Paul’s term) or “unphotogenic” (to use the language of the image-obsessed media), his letters are indeed weighty and strong.

Strong enough, I pray, to speak to a culture that is desperately in need of the clarity, humility, beauty, and love of Christ that he preaches with such marvelous grace.