Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Benedictus XVI
I've read several comments from all over the place on the election of the new pope, Benedict XVI.
It strikes me to see how dismayed many people seem to be. Myself, I can say I was positively impressed by his homily in the mass pro eligendo romano pontifice (read it here, in Italian); his reference to "the" Truth and to Charity (I am studying these days John 18-21, and specifically 18:37-38 resonated in this context: πᾶς ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μου τῆς φωνῆς. λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος, Τί ἐστιν ἀλήθεια;), to the real meaning of humanism, and to the danger (or more properly "dictatorship", as he said) of relativism sound very modern and appropriate.
It seems to me that it is a bit early to dismiss the man just by saying that he is a conservative, and traditionalist, and dogmatic person (some of the qualities that right now I see attributed to him a lot), especially when these comments come from people outside the Church, people sometimes without even a clear idea of what these terms actually mean. We'll see what he wants to do, what he does not want to do, and what he will be able to actually do, as my old acquaintance and Church historian Alberto Melloni writes today on the Corriere della Sera.
Perhaps one could start looking at his bibliography to get an idea of what his interests are, and of the things he wrote about, and one could maybe even read some of them. That's what, time permitting, I shall try to do.
As a Christian, though, I think that the first thing to do now, and the thing he asked first when he appeared yesterday at the balcony after the election, is to pray for him. So, to start, as the Roman missal has it, Da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum.
It strikes me to see how dismayed many people seem to be. Myself, I can say I was positively impressed by his homily in the mass pro eligendo romano pontifice (read it here, in Italian); his reference to "the" Truth and to Charity (I am studying these days John 18-21, and specifically 18:37-38 resonated in this context: πᾶς ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μου τῆς φωνῆς. λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος, Τί ἐστιν ἀλήθεια;), to the real meaning of humanism, and to the danger (or more properly "dictatorship", as he said) of relativism sound very modern and appropriate.
It seems to me that it is a bit early to dismiss the man just by saying that he is a conservative, and traditionalist, and dogmatic person (some of the qualities that right now I see attributed to him a lot), especially when these comments come from people outside the Church, people sometimes without even a clear idea of what these terms actually mean. We'll see what he wants to do, what he does not want to do, and what he will be able to actually do, as my old acquaintance and Church historian Alberto Melloni writes today on the Corriere della Sera.
Perhaps one could start looking at his bibliography to get an idea of what his interests are, and of the things he wrote about, and one could maybe even read some of them. That's what, time permitting, I shall try to do.
As a Christian, though, I think that the first thing to do now, and the thing he asked first when he appeared yesterday at the balcony after the election, is to pray for him. So, to start, as the Roman missal has it, Da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum.
