The contrast between the Francis and Benedict XVI: comparison between the current pope and the former

[Lekazard]

Next month will mark the first anniversary of pope Francis’ election. During his first year Pope Francis has made it quite evident that in many aspects his papacy differs quite strongly from the style of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s, but on the other in many cases they resemble each other really closely.

I would be really interested on hearing, how do you see the comparison between these two really significant and remarkable, but really different leaders of the Catholic church?

 

[Joe_5859]

It was actually one year ago today that Benedict announced his retirement. What a year it has been!

Not to downplay the differences (because there are differences), but I think many people make much more of the differences than actually exists. I have seen so many news stories in the past year about Pope Francis saying such-and-such about economic issues or women’s issues, or about Pope Francis hugging disabled people and little children. And I stop and think, “Wasn’t anyone paying attention when Benedict was pope and said or did exactly the same things?”

Pope Francis is a great pastor and has been emphasizing the simplicity of our faith: go out and spread the Gospel; share Jesus with everyone. Benedict was a great theologian who wonderfully articulated the great depths of our faith. But there was simplicity in Benedict just as there is depth to Francis. It’s more of a shift in tone than in substance. And even there, a lot of this shift is in people’s perceptions more than anything else. Hopefully lots of good fruit will come from it.

 

[TRH1292]

It was actually one year ago today that Benedict announced his retirement. What a year it has been!

Not to downplay the differences (because there are differences), but I think many people make much more of the differences than actually exists. I have seen so many news stories in the past year about Pope Francis saying such-and-such about economic issues or women’s issues, or about Pope Francis hugging disabled people and little children. And I stop and think, “Wasn’t anyone paying attention when Benedict was pope and said or did exactly the same things?”

Pope Francis is a great pastor and has been emphasizing the simplicity of our faith: go out and spread the Gospel; share Jesus with everyone. Benedict was a great theologian who wonderfully articulated the great depths of our faith. But there was simplicity in Benedict just as there is depth to Francis. It’s more of a shift in tone than in substance. And even there, a lot of this shift is in people’s perceptions more than anything else. Hopefully lots of good fruit will come from it.

This is also pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

 

[kozlosap]

I think that the differences are style, not substance! Pope Benedict’s resignation was an unbelievable act of courage and love for the Church. Papa Francis is working towards our One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church looking more to the Gospels and Corporal Works of Mercy as the areas of emphasis, which I think was also Pope Benedict’s focus, but he realized that his health and political atmosphere at the Vatican would not allow him to move forward.

 

[pianistclare]

This is also pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

Agree totally as well…although in my mind, Benedict was a pretty deep intellectual and Francis is more simple, “user friendly” if you will.
Funny huh?
But,
The need to contrast is just another ploy by the secular media to persuade people that doctrine will change.
Uh, NO.

I’ve always found it fascinating that a culture that pretty much discounts what the Catholic Church teaches, is also so fascinated by it, almost in a morbid sort of way.
I guess those people are just *wishin and hopin…*like the song.

Both men are amazing, holy, and exemplary. How good God is to His church!

 

[otjm]

I am now on my seventh Pope; and I don’t compare any of the to any of the other of them.

Benedict has, on numerous occasions and by numerous writers, been called the most brilliant theologian alive, and head an shoulders above most of those who are dead. I think it far more important to take each one of them, while they are Pope, for what they bring to the Church and to Christ.

 

[Seamus_L]

It’s pretty much just a percieved difference. When Benedict became Pope, I remember liberals within the church openly worrying that there would now be a purge. When Francis came along some of the same people were joyfully proclaiming that “Now you conservatives are in trouble”. In reality, not that much actually changed.

 

[Joe_5859]

It’s pretty much just a percieved difference. When Benedict became Pope, I remember liberals within the church openly worrying that there would now be a purge. When Francis came along some of the same people were joyfully proclaiming that “Now you conservatives are in trouble”. In reality, not that much actually changed.

Indeed. There was lots of needless hand-wringing on one side and giddy whooping on the other side at the start of both pontificates. But the Church goes on being the Church.

 

[OraLabora]

I am now on my seventh Pope; and I don’t compare any of the to any of the other of them.

Benedict has, on numerous occasions and by numerous writers, been called the most brilliant theologian alive, and head an shoulders above most of those who are dead. I think it far more important to take each one of them, while they are Pope, for what they bring to the Church and to Christ.

I must be close to your age: Pius XII (barely), John XXXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and now Francis, have all been alive during part of my life.

Good philosophy to have. Each have/had their own particular charism or focus and served the Church to the best of their abilities, and their best has been very good indeed. I have had the pleasure of seeing Benedict (twice) and Francis in person in Rome. Both moved me in their own way; what impressed me about Benedict was the gentleness in his voice (though the second time around, 5 years later, he had visibly and audibly aged… great weight to carry at such an advanced age), and his sheer intellect (lost count of how many languages he spoke in). On the other hand, Francis was able to still tens of thousands in St. Peter’s square into silent prayer.

Our abbot says that one went to Rome to see John Paul II, and one went to Rome to hear Benedict XVI.

 

[CarmelJerome]

Next month will mark the first anniversary of pope Francis’ election. During his first year Pope Francis has made it quite evident that in many aspects his papacy differs quite strongly from the style of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s, but on the other in many cases they resemble each other really closely.

I would be really interested on hearing, how do you see the comparison between these two really significant and remarkable, but really different leaders of the Catholic church?

Shortly after the death of Bl. John XXIII, the contrasts between popes, which had always been taken for granted, became a rhetorical device used to attack orthodoxy in Peter's See. Though absolutely nothing that John XXIII did or said could be interpreted in a sense foreign to Paul VI's or to Benedict XVI's, nonetheless he became the "good pope" in death because he could be used to piggy-back assaults on tradition, merely because he acted in a very informal manner within tradition, and did believe that Catholics had become too introverted, turned in on customs and less attuned to the cries of those who needed the Church the most. After John Paul began correcting theological deviations, Paul VI began to be represented as the pope who, after a good beginning, fell captive to conservatives; and I've even heard certain gays complain that Benedict XVI was unliked "their" pope, John Paul. 

Francis' manner and way of living is closer to the vast majority of popes in the early centuries, which didn't make them, or their successors who lived more lavishly or with more temporal power, any less successors of Peter either.