Defender Of The Faith
The Vatican's longtime enforcer promises a kinder, gentler pontificate. Can he deliver?
On the opening day of the conclave, after hearing Ratzinger's manifesto against modern relativism, some observers certainly feared so. "I agree with what he says about relativism, but he doesn't have anything positive to offer," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit weekly America, as he walked down the Via Conciliazone in the heart of the Vatican. "To preach the Gospel in the 21st century, we have to free up the conversation. We have to have theology engage with the modern world. That is not what we were hearing."
Others agree. "The absolutist approach has never been Catholic," said Sister Joan Chittister on the morning of the second day of the conclave, citing the example of how the church changed its position on usury, abandoning the view that charging interest on a loan was a mortal sin. "I am afraid," she continued, "of what may happen to the church and the world if we think we can crawl back into a 19th-century cocoon. If we do, the world will go without our great spiritual insight." But it was also possible to find other Catholics in full support of Ratzinger's style of orthodoxy. "After the Holy Father," said James Peak, a seminarian in the diocese of Spokane, Wash., standing in St. Peter's Square later on the same day, "Cardinal Ratzinger is the most articulate explainer of the faith."
That was apparently a view that somewhere between 40 and 50 cardinal electors held as the conclave opened. According to reports in the Italian press, the first round of votes saw close to an equal number going to Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a standard-bearer of the reform wing of the college but thought to be too infirm to be a real contender. By Tuesday morning, many undecideds were throwing their lot in with Ratzinger, and at lunch, after what some reports suggested was a conversation and gentlemen's agreement between Ratzinger and Martini, most of the reformers decided to get behind Ratzinger. About 10 percent of the reformers did not--the same 10 percent who, the Italian press reported, supposedly did not attend the evening celebration in honor of the new Pope Benedict.
An abbott's legacy. Was the message delivered the next day at the Sistine Chapel, surrounded by Michelangelo's frescoes, a first attempt to make good on the gentlemen's agreement--if, indeed, there had been one? Perhaps. If so, it might signal some slight shift away from the former Cardinal Ratzinger's view that the church is better off remaining a small but devout "remnant" of the faithful who hold fast to orthodox teaching until better times come. That would give some reassurance to those in the church who believe that the best way of turning the tide against rising secularism is by engaging it in a more vigorous and passionate discussion. That group might also be reassured to think that this pope will be just as engaged as his predecessor in fighting for social and economic justice in the developing world, even while he supports a stronger spirit of collegiality among bishops in leading a truly global church.
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