S
stumbler
Guest
While some journalists have been quite fair in their reporting on the new pope, unfortunately, they stand as the exceptions. Mostly we’ve heard a string of inaccuracies and inanities. Here are the four most common myths about Pope Benedict XVI.
By Brian Saint-Paul
1. "Benedict XVI ‘campaigned’ for the papacy, outmaneuvering the liberal faction to win the job."
Unfortunately, it’s a tendency of the American media to project the styles and categories of U.S. politics onto every other kind of election. Such is the case here. Following this model, the former Cardinal Ratzinger is said to have maneuvered his way into the papacy, through behind-the-scenes campaigning and deft use of his prominence as the Dean of the College of Cardinals. His magnificent homily at John Paul II’s funeral and his no-nonsense criticism of moral relativism preceding the conclave are offered as evidence.
But this is simple nonsense, and it ignores several well-established facts:
First, in the modern era at least, the vast majority of cardinals do not want to be elevated to the papacy, and the few who do are not elected. The life of the Supreme Pontiff is a difficult one. His life is no longer his own. Gone is his privacy, his freedom, his leisure, and his regular contact with friends and family.
Second, it’s well known that Benedict XVI did NOT want to be pope. By his own admission, he was never completely comfortable in his role as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and tried to resign several times (John Paul II would have none of it). Furthermore, it was Benedict’s dream to leave the Vatican to return to the slow-paced world of teaching. In an interview with Matthew Schofield of Knight Ridder, the pope’s brother, Father Georg Ratzinger, recalled a conversation with him over Christmas where they discussed his retiring to a quite life back in Germany.
But what about his strong homily taking on moral relativism at the opening of the conclave? Much of the secular media has described it as though it were a kind of campaign event (one particularly clueless journalist referred to the homily as a “stump speech”).
The truth is quite the opposite. Most informed Vatican observers recognized the homily as Benedict XVI’s last attempt to avoid election to the papacy. After all, if he were actually campaigning, he would have delivered something softer that appealled to the moderates within the College of Cardinals…
Full article
Also covers:
By Brian Saint-Paul
1. "Benedict XVI ‘campaigned’ for the papacy, outmaneuvering the liberal faction to win the job."
Unfortunately, it’s a tendency of the American media to project the styles and categories of U.S. politics onto every other kind of election. Such is the case here. Following this model, the former Cardinal Ratzinger is said to have maneuvered his way into the papacy, through behind-the-scenes campaigning and deft use of his prominence as the Dean of the College of Cardinals. His magnificent homily at John Paul II’s funeral and his no-nonsense criticism of moral relativism preceding the conclave are offered as evidence.
But this is simple nonsense, and it ignores several well-established facts:
First, in the modern era at least, the vast majority of cardinals do not want to be elevated to the papacy, and the few who do are not elected. The life of the Supreme Pontiff is a difficult one. His life is no longer his own. Gone is his privacy, his freedom, his leisure, and his regular contact with friends and family.
Second, it’s well known that Benedict XVI did NOT want to be pope. By his own admission, he was never completely comfortable in his role as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and tried to resign several times (John Paul II would have none of it). Furthermore, it was Benedict’s dream to leave the Vatican to return to the slow-paced world of teaching. In an interview with Matthew Schofield of Knight Ridder, the pope’s brother, Father Georg Ratzinger, recalled a conversation with him over Christmas where they discussed his retiring to a quite life back in Germany.
But what about his strong homily taking on moral relativism at the opening of the conclave? Much of the secular media has described it as though it were a kind of campaign event (one particularly clueless journalist referred to the homily as a “stump speech”).
The truth is quite the opposite. Most informed Vatican observers recognized the homily as Benedict XVI’s last attempt to avoid election to the papacy. After all, if he were actually campaigning, he would have delivered something softer that appealled to the moderates within the College of Cardinals…
Full article
Also covers:
- “Pope Benedict XVI was chosen as a transitional pope.”
- “Benedict XVI has a dark, Nazi past.”
- “Pope Benedict XVI is a doctrinal hardliner who opposes the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.”
