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A Gentle Man
Don’t bet against the unexpected pope from Bavaria.
(Page 2 of 2)
I said the “triumph will draw closer.” This is equivalent in meaning to our praying for the coming of God’s kingdom. The statement was not intended to express any expectation on my part that there is going to be a turnaround and that history will suddenly take on a totally different course. The point rather was that the power of evil is restrained again and again and again and the power of God himself is shown in the Mother’s power and keeps it alive! The Church is always called upon to do what God asked of Abraham, which is to see there are enough righteous men to suppress evil and destruction. I understood my words as a prayer that the energies of the good might regain their vigor. So you could say that the triumphs of God, the triumphs of Mary are quiet, but they are real nevertheless.
Light of the World has a preface by George Weigel, the biographer of John Paul II who probably knows more about the contemporary Catholic scene than any man this side of the National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen. The book’s appendix is especially valuable, as it collects several of the most important short statements and interviews of Benedict’s pontificate, along with biographical data, curriculum vitae, and a “Brief Chronicle” of the pontificate that runs right up to his November 2010 trip to Spain.
Whatever your religious convictions or lack thereof, you will be charmed by the sincere, simple, and deep reflections on both the Church and the World by this man of God who also possesses one of its greatest intellects. While John Paul II is indubitably “the Great” and was in a certain sense the mentor of his successor, the greatest goal of John Paul’s pontificate was left unmet — the union of all Christians. It would be a stretch for Benedict to live to 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Revolution, but given his close relationship with the autocephalous Orthodox churches and the ongoing disintegration of traditional denominational Protestantism, the pontificate of Pope Benedict could achieve giant steps towards the greatest wish of the Founder of the Church: “That all may be one!”
I would not bet against the unexpected pope from Bavaria.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (40) | Leave a comment
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Ken (Old Texican)| 2.28.11 @ 8:06AM
Mr. Kenefick,
praise be to God, we Christians are one as I write. We are a choir with many voices singing the same song: Hosana In The Highest. (John 3:16)
Alan Brooks| 2.28.11 @ 4:36PM
This Pope can heal the rift created by WWII.
Too bad we can't have a Japanese Pope- but perhaps we will, a long time from today.
It is so tedious to have the Pope criticized for being a soldier; after all, Kerry was in 'Nam but no one called him a bad guy for fighting.
And the Swift Boat detractors said he didn't fight enough!
Frisbee| 2.28.11 @ 9:07PM
Amen brothers Ken and Alan:
We Christians are one as Ken says. However this unity is not complete.
"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me. " John 17:23
One of the great scandals of our time is the disunity among Christians, and it is as Jesus said, why the world does not accept that the Father sent Him.
Alan Brooks| 2.28.11 @ 10:52PM
I accept Christianity as long as it isn't far-Right Christianity.
Conservative Christianity that conserves something-- anything-- aye, but not Rightist Christianity.
Ryan| 3.1.11 @ 8:23AM
What is "Rightist Christianity," in your view?
Ryan| 3.1.11 @ 8:23AM
And yet the Father still uses that disunity to spread that word.
Gretchen| 3.2.11 @ 5:14PM
Joseph Ratzinger was a CONSCRIPT in the WWII German Army; he deserted as soon as it became clear that Germany had lost.
KyMouse| 3.1.11 @ 11:17AM
When the Bible and the Magisterium disagree, I follow the Bible. I have, and need, no intercessor other than Jesus (Hebrews 7:25), and He made the sacrifice to pay for ALL of my sins when He died on the cross (Hebrews 7:27).
I will never call Mary the Queen of Heaven or any other title, and I trust directly in Jesus for everything I need. The last time we read of her in the New Testament as Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in Acts 1:14. She is meeting with other members of a prayer group, and there is no mention that she is receiving any kind or veneration or degree of devotion from them.
I receive God's grace directly from Him, not through the Church (Ephesians 2:18). And there is nothing -- not praying the Rosary, not going to Confession every day, not participating in Eucharistic Devotion -- that will earn me any more salvation than I already have through Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). Every bit of my salvation is a gift from Him.
"Thou art the Way to God,
Thy blood our ransom paid;
In Thee we face our Judge
And Maker unafraid.
Before the throne absolved
we stand:
Thy love has met Thy
law's demand."
KyMouse| 3.1.11 @ 11:30AM
I hope the book makes clear that it is Jesus who is "the light of the world" (John 8:12). He says in that verse that "he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Notice that He was telling his followers that they could follow Him based solely on what they learned directly from Him and from Scripture.
All that we need to know about salvation is contained in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Not in the Magisterium -- in the Bible.
We have God's word on it.
Tony in Central PA| 3.1.11 @ 9:55PM
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he did not leave his Apostles with a Bible, that would not appear until almost 400 years later. He left them The Church.
Christian| 3.2.11 @ 11:08AM
The church is us, it isn't a building or a Religion.
The Catholic church didn't begin for a few hundred years after, bringing in myriads of false doctrines. The "true church" is not Catholicism, the true church is made up of true Christians who receive the words and gospe; of Jesus Christ, and NO other gospel.
Tony in Central PA| 3.3.11 @ 9:16PM
Why do you accept the Canon if it was decided by the Church ?
Mimi| 2.28.11 @ 8:17AM
This Pope turned out to be a "TREASURE" . A superior mind and man of great humility. Thanks for writing about him....and his recent book " Light Of the World". As to living until 2017 and perhaps many years beyond ....It is in God's hands. We must all work towards a Ecumenical world including MUSLIMS they can evolve...like Chrisianity to be spiritual and get rid of political destructive ways that prevent PEACE in the WORLD. This is a wise POPE!!
Alan Brooks| 2.28.11 @ 10:56PM
"Too bad we can't have a Japanese Pope"
There are a substantial number of Christians in Japan, in 1976 I met a Christian activist who fled to America for some reason related to his activism-- he didn't go into detail and the language barrier made it worse.
Brian Mc| 2.28.11 @ 9:18AM
The "Deposit of Faith" will not allow the Catholic Church any opportunity to take a single step towards Islam. Islam must come to Catholicism and cannot make a single demand of it. Nothing can change within Catholicism, it can only be expounded upon. The instant change occurs, the whole edifice will come crashing down. If I could go back and change one thing in its history: the first bishop who had proof of child molestation would have picked up that phone and called the sheriff...and treated the abusive priest as any other child molester. Shame on him, whoever he is.
David T| 2.28.11 @ 10:43AM
This Pope continues to confound the wise of this world.
Occam's Tool| 2.28.11 @ 11:22AM
Unfortunately, he knows that he will be rescuing just a remnant. That is not good.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.28.11 @ 1:25PM
Doctor,
neither you or I, or the Pope can do more than rescue a remnant.
Even the Messiah, can only rescue a remnant, but everyone who looks forward to His coming is part of that remnant.
We can only be a witness to God's work in the world.
God's speed
Christian| 3.2.11 @ 11:15AM
The Pope can't rescue anyone. Only Jesus Christ has the power to rescue anyone. Jesus claims to be the Way, the Truth and the Life, and NO ONE comes to the Father (God) except through Him. That's what the Bible says. John 14:6.
Al Adab| 2.28.11 @ 3:15PM
As most can tell by may name. I am not an adherent of the Roman Catholic rite. Nonetheless, this Pope is one of the great theologians of all time. His books provide great wisdom and insight into the works of our God in this world. As Ken said we speak with one voice and yes friends a remnant will survive. It is up to us all to see that it is a large one.
CalMark| 2.28.11 @ 4:18PM
Like many Eastern-rite Catholics I'm very cool to Benedict. His rock-star status with the Catholic commentariat continues to puzzle.
Tradition--to say nothing of the Church's own laws--entitle Eastern churches to Patriarchates. Benedict won't allow new ones. Why? The Russians don't like it. It would weaken Russian claims of moral hegemony over all Eastern Christianity--a claim presuming to include even Catholics who never had ties to Moscow.
So, every time there's even a whisper about this, or for that matter anything they don't like, the Russians threaten to stomp away from Catholic-Orthodox reunification talks. Benedict, a man obsessed, blithely acquiesces to the blackmail.
That isn't the only thing. Remember the Muslim comments flap a few years ago? This "great man" spoke the truth, then backed down.
Benedict gives the impression of a man concerned above all with his P.R. image. With great fanfare, he nibbles at the edges of Church reform, but when the chips are down Benedict seems incapable of boldly doing right by his Church and telling those who disagree to go "in God's peace," let alone (sometimes more appropriate), "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
Benedict is a slick, canny Vatican politician and political survivor. Successor of Peter? Yes. Great man? No--emphatically.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.28.11 @ 5:52PM
CalMark
Every one of us has fallen short...every one of us.
...It's just that some of us have lived a life in the spotlight of responsibility. That spotlight is very unforgiving with our flaws.
...comes with the territory.
CalMark| 2.28.11 @ 8:44PM
At defining moments, Benedict has, or gives the appearance of having, repeatedly appeased enemies and betrayed friends, worse yet seemingly without remorse. His adulators overlook the fecklessness, even brutality, he has shown at these moments.
Benedict's actions have done lasting harm to his Church, Christianity, and the world. Popes and other such leaders enjoy great power; the price is great responsibility. The condition of his soul notwithstanding, the blots against him appear indelibly on Benedict's pages in history.
Frisbee| 2.28.11 @ 8:59PM
CalMark: I didn't realize Patriarchates were entitlements. I thought they had to be Apostolic, and that neither Moscow nor Constantinople were ever recognized in the west. (I may be wrong.)
CalMark| 2.28.11 @ 9:47PM
It's complicated.
Patriarchates are entitlements for churches who would traditionally have a Patriarch. Six "Ancient Churches" (Chaldeans, Maronites, etc.) have had a Patriarch for more than a millenium--they're untouchable.
A half-dozen Eastern European and Asian Churches, by virtue of their tradition, are entitled to one, but reunification politics stands in the way. The weaseley "compromise solution" is a Major Archepiscopate, which is a long way from the real thing.
PJ| 2.28.11 @ 7:02PM
"Benedict gives the impression of a man concerned above all with his P.R. "
Are you insane? This guy is so PR inept!
CalMark| 2.28.11 @ 8:53PM
I understand where you're coming from. Let me clarify.
Benedict's P.R. appears to be successful with his target audience: the blinkered-cheerleader Catholic media and religion's backroom boys, both in the Vatican and worldwide in other soft-socialist Christian denominations.
Frisbee| 2.28.11 @ 9:10PM
Faithful Catholics were relieved when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope. Liberal "soft socialist" catholics, like those at the National Catholic Reporter, were enraged.
CalMark| 2.28.11 @ 9:52PM
He talks a good game. But as I say, he's nibbling at the edges.
He hasn't reined in the Marxist useful idiots that infest American and European Catholicism. He allows bastions of Leftism like Notre Dame and Georgetown to keep on teaching questionable, if not heretical, theology.
Grim times call for strong measures. I see nothing of the sort. Quo vadis?
Clint| 2.28.11 @ 7:08PM
"Bridging the Gap Between Rome and Constantinople
June 26, 2008
As the Vatican goes about expanding its influence further and further east, it has now set its sights on Ukraine. That is why Pope Benedict xvi sent his right-hand man, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to Ukraine in late May. During his trip, Bertone met with high-level Ukrainian political and religious leaders to discuss issues relating to Christian unity and European integration. At the end of his trip, the vice prime minister of Ukraine thanked Bertone for the Vatican’s support of Ukraine’s aspirations to enter the European Union.
Upon returning home to Vatican City, Bertone expressed his conviction that Ukraine is a vital crossroads between the cultures of East and West. He went on to emphasize the need for religious dialogue between Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians in an attempt to forge further bonds of unity between the churches. This call for unity is picking up momentum from Rome to Kiev to Constantinople—and not just on the Catholic side.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church is an Eastern rite church that still pledges fidelity to the pope of Rome. Its major archbishop, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev, has for some time been proposing that a unified Ukrainian patriarchate for all Eastern Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, should be established. To facilitate this goal, he has also been calling for a system of “dual unity” that would allow his church to establish full communion with the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople while maintaining communion with Rome.
Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew i has responded favorably to this suggestion, saying it would produce a situation in the Christian world akin to the one that existed before the Catholic-Orthodox split in a.d. 1054. Bartholomew says the people of both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches have come together at the grassroots level and are now waiting for church leaders to reach agreements on remaining doctrinal questions.
Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic leaders have already drafted a joint consensus declaring the pope’s primacy over all Catholic and Orthodox bishops. If attempts by the Ukrainian Catholic Church to establish “dual unity” work out, it will signal another major mile marker on the road toward communion between Latin Rite Catholics, Eastern Rite Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. "
Frisbee| 2.28.11 @ 9:11PM
Wow Clint - I didn't know this. Thanks.
CalMark| 2.28.11 @ 9:36PM
Smoke and mirrors. The news article is 3 years old: what's happened since, and what's stopping Benedict from granting Patriarchates to a half-dozen Eastern Catholic Churches? Nothing to both--except fear of offending the Greeks and the Russians.
The same Greeks who released statements of astounding hatefulness and intolerance against the Papacy on the eve of John Paul II's visit to Greece in 2000.
The same Russians who actively collaborated--for seven decades--with a Communist regime to persecute other religions and steal their property.
The "grand compromise" quoted above is in response to a stunning betrayal. In 2003, John Paul II was on the verge of granting a Ukrainian Patriarchate. The Russians pitched a fit; Cardinal Kasper (President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) immediately flew to Moscow--to APOLOGIZE. The Ukrainian Cardinal (a papabile at the conclave less than two years later, no less) was not invited
Many Eastern Catholic Churches suffered grievously under Communism, and Rome, at their expense, is making common cause with their persecutors. "By your friends, shall they know ye." Benedict's choice of friends is telling.
Clint| 2.28.11 @ 11:04PM
Your further posts expose you for what you are.
Just an Eastern Rite Agenda Boy with An Ax To Grind.
Pope Benedict has dealt with your kind before & will again.
Solomon| 3.1.11 @ 5:30PM
And God will deal with your kind.
Richard Baker| 2.28.11 @ 8:53PM
The Holy Father is trying to heal the damage done after Vatican II. I wish him the best and remember the Church of my childhood as a place of solemnity and feeling the presence of God within the sanctuary. That is what church is about and not abandoning the Faith for the secular to be worldly relevant and popular. AMDG.
Jeremy Stevens| 2.28.11 @ 11:37PM
Well said, Clint.
The vast majority of Eastern Rite Catholics appreciated the obvious love of John Paul II for our traditions and his appreciation, seen close up in Poland, for our fidelity under persecution. Pope Benedict, with his vast liturgical and, even more, his patristic scholarship and spirituality is much appreciated on both the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic sides of the "divide" which still remains.
What also, sadly, still remains, and on both sides, are the bitter folks like the verbose and vociferous poster on this thread. NOTHING the Pope of Rome could do would be enough. And the history on both sides bears embarrassing witness to this bitterness and anger.
SF_Exile| 3.1.11 @ 12:14PM
The February issue of First Things had a well written article by George Weigel regarding the demise of the Bernardin era within the American Catholic church. In reading it I had one of those ah-hah moments. It explained a lot. And in small ways, one of them being the re-embracing of the Latin Mass, the American church is working towards reform. It's a long road, folks. Reform and conversion is a daily commitment. http://www.firstthings.com/art.....nardin-era
Creative Recreation | 8.11.11 @ 2:41AM
is good
العاب بنات | 4.11.12 @ 6:15PM
thank you ...is goood