Word: benedicts
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Marking one year since the April 19 election of Pope Benedict XVI can make the two dominant figures from last spring - John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - already seem like ancient history. But it is a testament to both the Catholic church?s durability and continuity and the speed of the modern news cycle that the only man in white on our minds now is Pope Benedict, while images of the same Ratzinger in cardinal red appear almost odd and outdated. For Catholicism, this is a necessary thing. The church counts on the very earthly process of an election...
...elevation of Ratzinger, who was probably the best-known cardinal ever to become Pope, has offered a particularly dramatic transformation. Our era of 24-hour information and instant analysis has no doubt helped. Stepping into the papacy, Benedict quickly erased the stereotypes surrounding him from the quarter-century he spent overseeing orthodoxy for John Paul. Even in the first weeks, it was clear that he was not a chilly and unbending bureaucrat, but a basically gentle man with excellent listening skills and a gift with words. He has welcomed his longtime theological nemesis Hans K?ng for a long chat...
...upper ranks of the Vatican hiearchy. And more than ever the piercing intellect of Professor Ratzinger will hold sway over the entire spectrum of Catholic Church life - its customs, policies, institutions and, naturally, the papacy itself. The changes now on the way were being worked out well before a Benedict papacy was in the cards. In the throes of John Paul?s greatest popularity, Cardinal Ratzinger was looking for ways to rein in the papacy and its Curia, or papal court. In his 2000 book God and the World, Ratzinger declares that the Vatican?s essential purpose is "to ensure...
...These very practical (and spiritual) concerns of Cardinal Ratzinger are already being addressed by Pope Benedict. He halted John Paul?s practice of holding morning mass with visitors; there are fewer meetings with Church officials (apostolic nunzios visiting from around the world get a brief chat - on their feet - at the end of Wednesday general audiences); speeches are shorter; lunches tend to be restricted to his personal secretary and perhaps one or two visitors. How far he extends this management policy into the heart of the entire Vatican bureaucracy remains to be seen, though already two Curia offices have been...
...apparent downsizing, we should remember that this master thinker is too smart not to appreciate the singular power of his new office or the importance of John Paul?s legacy. Benedict does not want to toss away the hard-won leap in relevance for the papacy achieved by his predecessor: for unifying and purifying the Church, for preaching to the world, and for inspiring the masses. In this day and age, a strictly cerebral Pope, or administrator Pope, would waste much of what can be accomplished from this unique public perch. At the same time, a merely made-for-media...