Word: benedicts
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...subjects that are not in his purview, say those close to him. "He's not an armchair politician," says one German scholar who's known Ratzinger for years. "He's not an armchair anything." Still, being Pope, especially the successor of the diplomatically adroit John Paul II, means Benedict is expected to make his mark on world politics...
...arrives for his first papal visit to the world's lone superpower, geopolitics remains the great open question in Benedict's three-year reign. The six-day visit to the United States - which includes a White House visit, an address at the United Nations and a prayer at Ground Zero - may be the best opportunity for the theologian pontiff to define his leadership in international relations. "The Pope per se is simply the custodian of the Catholic tradition," says a senior Vatican official. "He can become a global leader if he manages to embody a battle of ideals that...
...Benedict's theological background provides good tools to face what may be the most pressing 21st century global challenge: the rise of religious conflict and violence. He will have two key opportunities in New York - with words, then with gestures - to transmit his basic message of faith and reason in a world inching toward a clash of civilizations. In his speech at the U.N., he will reiterate his predecessors' commitment to peace and diplomacy as the best way to tackle world problems. But he will likely challenge political leaders to defend religious liberty as the first priority for building...
Still, in the three years since his election, Benedict has suffered from a mix of diplomatic stumbles and a tendency to shy away from sweeping symbolic gestures that his predecessor utilized to connect with a worldwide audience. His biggest impact on the world stage came the day after the five-year anniversary of 9/11. Benedict gave a riveting lecture at his former university in Regensberg, Germany, outlining what he sees as the pivotal duality of reason and faith. The Sep. 12, 2006 speech questioned whether Islam's notion of God transcends, and could even defy, reason...
...speech, and the violence it provoked from some corners of the Muslim world, became a watershed moment in Benedict's papacy. And though the Pope clearly wanted to speak out about Islamic-inspired violence, Vatican officials pointed out that the Pope's other aim in the Regensberg speech was to challenge the West to rediscover its own religious roots. This twin clarion call - to Christians who have lost their religious passion and Muslims who may have too much - was supposed to create a "more frank" dialogue among the world's two leading faiths. After the uproar quieted, there has indeed...