H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 22°, L 6°To many observers, the hopes of progressive Roman Catholics were dashed this week with the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Patriarch of the West. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the new Pope Benedict XVI was nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” for his sometimes-aggressive defense of conservative Catholic doctrine, especially with regard to birth control, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women. He continued the fight against moral relativism started under earlier popes and was often seen as less-than-gentle in his views on other religions.
But as many papal pundits will attest, views and politics inside the Vatican are often not as clear as they seem. When the conclave elected John XXIII in 1958, they expected a short and uneventful papacy; what they received was one of the most beloved, radical and reform-minded pontiffs in the history of the Church. Paul VI, John XXIII’s successor, was expected to be a more conservative pope, but his conservative nature did not extend to rolling back the changes of the Second Vatican Council, much to the dismay of many within the Church.
It is highly unlikely that Pope Benedict XVI will become another John XXIII, or the Paul VI that electors had hoped for. He has already taken steps to signal that he will continue following the footsteps of his predecessor and has made it clear that he will not give in to pressure to make fundamental changes to Church dogma or change the Church’s stance on birth control, same-sex marriage or abortion.
But popes do not work like politicians in the United States. They do not have the authority to fundamentally change long-held beliefs and dogma, nor do they have the power to take the Church in radically new directions. John XXIII was able to convene the Second Vatican Council only because it was already in the air.
And, contrary to speculation in the United States and Europe, a Third Vatican Council is not in the air. The concerns that many in the First World consider of paramount importance for the Church are barely even being discussed in other parts of the world. Homosexuality and same-sex marriage, ordination of women, abortion and priestly celibacy all take a backseat to issues of poverty and health that plague the Third World. It is the “Global South” that dominates world Catholic politics. At the start of the last century, 70 percent of Catholics were found in Europe. Now, 42 percent are in Latin America, 12 percent in Africa and 11 percent in Asia.
Roman Catholics in the United States should not expect significant changes from the direction laid out by John Paul II. During his tenure in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger helped to clarify and address most of the concerns facing the faithful during John Paul II’s reign. As a close aide and ally of the pontiff, Cardinal Ratzinger is the theological heir to John Paul II’s legacy.
His conservative nature on some of the more hot-button issues, however, masks his conciliatory views. Pope Benedict XVI is likely to more thoroughly engage in dialogue with the Eastern and Russian Orthodox churches. His ecumenical writings have been part of the driving force behind his predecessor’s attempts at reconciliation with other Catholic churches and outreach to Protestant denominations.
How successful these attempts will be is still up in the air. Pope Benedict XVI has always been, first and foremost, an academic man. While his writings are well-reasoned and considered, they lack the tact and approach that is sometimes necessary and often insists upon the primacy of the papacy. This has been a sore spot with the Patriarchs of the Orthodox churches.
It is unlikely that Pope Benedict XVI will reverse the tradition of priestly celibacy, but it is probable that he will continue to relax the restriction of celibacy that had started since Vatican II. Since the council, married deacons have been permitted and married priests from other denominations with a direct apostolic line, which include all Orthodox churches and the Anglican and Episcopal churches, may remain married when they convert. In addition, married protestant ministers from outside the apostolic line may apply for the priesthood and will be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
Cardinal Ratzinger was key in clarifying the ordination of married Protestant ministers and the rules by which converted priests from churches out of communion with Rome may be accepted. He was also influential in affirming the right of Eastern rite churches within the Roman Catholic Church to ordain married men. These churches agree theologically with Rome and admit to papal primacy but do not adhere to the Latin liturgical rite.
Most likely, the new pope will not concern himself with progressive issues. Instead, he will focus on peace between nations and religions. With growing tension among the Big Three faiths, Benedict XVI will rise and fall on his ability to appeal to the commonality of the religions. At least in this, his background as an academic and as “God’s Rottweiler” cannot be used to gauge success. After all, who would have thought a bookish Polish cardinal would have been influential in the downfall of Communism?
Charles Parsons ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in literature.
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Downfall of communism? yeah right.
New pope? who cares.
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As long as the Vatican remembers that the rest of the world is not Catholic. There are some issues where the Pope’s opinion won’t fly.
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True. It’s not like the entire Catholic membership is a solid voting block. They aren’t.
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I hear Isreal is thrilled that the world is now worshiping an ex Nazi. No matter if his stay there was compulsory or not, they are not at all happy.
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“New pope? who cares.”
For starters, how about the 20% of all people in the world who are Catholic?
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“Homosexuality and same-sex marriage, ordination of women, abortion and priestly celibacy all take a backseat to issues of poverty and health that plague the Third World.”
Which is an excellent reason the new Pope should revese the archaic rules on contraception use to help stop the AIDS plague of the third world. Except he wont because of antiquated notions of sex that will hurt the third world further, and continue to frustrate the first world.
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“I hear Isreal is thrilled that the world is now worshiping an ex Nazi.”
Give it a rest. He was 14 and was conscripted.
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He also wrote a good chunk of “Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past” in which the church apologizes for their indifference to Jewish suffering during the holocaust.
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good article.
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Thanks for an insightful column. You got at some of the nuances completely overlooked by what has been, thus far, largely tabloid-style coverage of Pope Benedict XVI.
Brad Vogel
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Ideologies of the Nazi Party:
Contraception, abortion, eugenics: Benedict is against all of these things.
Racial Nationalism: If he were a racial nationalist, he would not be Catholic because Catholicism by definition and practice encompasses all nations and all peoples. In fact, the ultimate goal of Adolf Hitler was to destroy the Catholic Church, just like Napolean before him.
Socialism: the Catholic Church has consistently taught against the sin of Socialism since Leo XIII authored Rerum Novarum.
Anti-Semitism: while Benedict has said that everyone, even Jews, should accept Christ; he hardly thinks that the solution to the worlds problems is to murder millions upon millions of Jews.
So in what manner has the so-called formation of the compulsory Hitler Youth days impacted him presently? If you say that it has made him conservative, modern day conservativism has very little to do with Socialism or murdering Jews and Catholics. Yes, Three million Catholics were murdered in Auschwitz.
If these liberals keep on implying Benedict’s so-called Nazi sympathies, then I am going to remind everyone that the Democrats in this country were pro-slavery and so must still be, that Robert Byrd must still be a KKK member/sympathizer, and that all modern liberalism is nothing more than a smiling Josef Stalin.
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lol.. I didn’t get the nazi references at first but just heard it on the news and almost laughed at how silly it is.. He was a child and now is 70+ years old? that’s like saying you’re insignificant cause you wet the bed til 6.. Hell.. If I was in those times and had a choice of die or sign up.. I’d sign up.. Hell.. I’m a survivalist so in the scenario of kill or be killed… I’d definately choose the first..
But enough about my views, stop using the past against people.. It destroys the notion of people able to change.. which is what most of your ideas are fundamentally based on..
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Hey you just admitted that you would be a Nazi. Way to strike a blow for conservatives!
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“in which the church apologizes for their indifference to Jewish suffering during the holocaust.”
Gosh, that’s sweet, but it wasn’t until 20 years after the Holocaust ended that the Catholic Church finally conceded that collective Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus was wrong. Had they got around to it earlier, Hitler may never have gotten the support he was given to murder 6 million Jews.
Catholics were the first anti-Semities. They began their onslaught of Jews over 1800 hundred years ago, starting with the infamous Blood Libel. They wanted to destroy Judaism because Jews refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah, even though Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah the Jews were waiting for. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church insisted on murdering as many Jews as possible.
I sure hope the new pope keeps that in mind.
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“I’d definately choose the first..”
It’s spelled d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y, moron.
Also, if you’re not willing to defect from a country that would force such an inhumane choice of join-us-or-die, then God help us all if you’re ever elected to public office!
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Must be an English major if that one letter struck such a chord with you. Good luck with that major!
If defecting meant death, of course I wouldn’t. What’s the point in sacrificing my own life? Its funny how you think that saving anothers life is noble, when most likely, they wouldn’t do the same. If you defected to save me, I’d be like.. “sweet.. saved by a dumbass.. I’d never do that..”
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Who said I was a conservative? I just said I was survivalist. I believe in Darwin’s theories which is much different than most conservatives. My sole purpose on this Earth is to enjoy and to survive as long as possible. If it wasn’t to survive, why not just kill yourself now? You already whine to much about problems in the world instead of just focusing on the positives and being a happy person.
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Chill out people. It’s just a pope. Anything he does, anything you do, anything anyone does, will most likely be forgotten as history moves forward and back. Empires will rise and fall, laws will be made and broken, people will be born and die, so don’t bother. Unless you’re so insecure about your existence, that you need a “purpose” of making the world a “better” place. Haha
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“What’s the point in sacrificing my own life?”
Hey dumbass, do you know what defection means? It means fleeing your country because you totally disagree with what its leadership is doing, namely rounding up certain groups of the population and killing them. Sure, defecting may require risk, but it’s still a helluva lot better than being hunted down as a Nazi war criminal for the rest of your miserable life! Joe Ratzinger would’ve had plenty of opportunities to defect, let alone that he was still a kid at the time. Hell, ANY country would’ve taken him in just so Hitler would have one less future soldier to do his killing.
Obviously, you have no sense of values whatsoever.
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Values are overrated..
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“a country that would force such an inhumane choice of join-us-or-die”
Hmmm, sounds like Iraq under Saddam.