Sunday, September 03, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI Roundup!

Greetings and welcome to another installment of the Pope Benedict Roundup, an occasional -- usually monthly -- roundup of news and commentary on the Holy Father and all things Benedict. You can view previous editions at the recently-established Benedict Blog, the blog of the Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club.

Pope Benedict XVI and the "Evolution Debate"

This weekend (September 2-3, 2006) Pope Benedict is taking some time to gather with a group of close friends, students and scholars in a private seminar to discuss the topic of Darwinian evolution. Ian Fisher ( Pope Benedict and his ex-students holding seminar on evolution, by Ian Fisher. The New York Times Sept. 2, 2006) reports on those attending:

As might be expected from a German professor, all sides of the evolution question will get a hearing, though with an emphasis on skepticism. The seminar on Friday reportedly began with a presentation by Peter Schuster, an eminent molecular biologist, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a defender of evolution.

There will be three other speakers to the study group, most notably Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, who sparked a contentious debate last year after he wrote an Op-Ed article for The New York Times questioning evolution. The article was submitted by the same public relations firm used by the Discovery Institute.

The two other speakers are Professor Robert Spaemann, a German philosopher who has criticized evolution as a full philosophical theory; and the Reverend Paul Elbrich, a Jesuit priest and scientist whose work on proteins questions whether chance alone could play the decisive role in evolution.

Insight Scoop's Mark Brumley also provides some useful information on the participants in the Schuelerkreis:

This meeting is not an official Vatican function. The participants are former theology students of Joseph Ratzinger who are interested in this topic but who are, for the most part, by no means experts on the subject, certainly not on the scientific details of it. Nor do they represent themselves as experts. Their expertise is theology.

To be sure, the organizers of the Schuelerkreis have asked some experts on evolution and philosophy to participate. But their participation seems aimed at helping the theologians present to discuss the subject matter with greater scientific and philosophical precision. There is no indication of a forthcoming formal agreement by theologians and scientists or formal statement on the subject once the discussion ends.

(Hat tip: Blog by the Sea).

The seminar has been the source of much (and sometimes conflicting) speculatation by the press:

  • The New Scientist asserted that Benedict's intention was to "firm-up the Catholic Church’s stance on Darwinian evolution" in response to "mixed messages, with some senior figures supporting Darwinism and others denouncing it" (Papal summit to debate Darwinian evolution, by Andy Coughlan August 30, 2006)
  • John Hooper of The Guardian announced that the Pope prepares to embrace theory of intelligent design (August 28, 2006), and that the meeting "could herald a fundamental shift in the Vatican's view of evolution."
  • AlterNet suggested that Pope may ditch evolution / Ratz flirts with creationism. Quipped Lindsay Beyerstein, "Maybe he'll re-condemn Galileo next."
  • And Time journalist Jeff Israely downplayed the notion of a "decisive shift' (The Pope and Darwin Time August 31, 2006):
    . . . don't expect the Catholic Church to start disputing Darwin's basic findings, which Pope John Paul II in 1996 called "more than a hypothesis." Moreover, advocates of the teaching in U.S. schools of intelligent design — which holds that nature is so complex that it must be God's doing — should not count on any imminent Holy See document or papal pronouncement to help boost their cause. This weekend's private retreat is an annual gathering of the Pope's former theology students to freely discuss one topic of interest, without the aim of reaching any set conclusion.
Only a week ago, it was reported that Pope Benedict had "sacked" papal astronomer Fr. George Coyne over the evolution debate" (Simon Caldwell, Daily Mail. While Fr. Coyne submitted his need for chemotherapy treatment as the reason for stepping down from his post, his criticism of Cardinal Schonborn in the August 2005 London Tablet and alleged reputation for "theologically risque statements", together with Schonborn's invitation to address this weekend's seminar, no doubt prompted some of the speculation by the press surrounding the event.

For an introduction to the weekend's debate as it relates to the Holy Father, you could do no better than to check out Benedict's thinking on creation and evolution, by John Allen Jr. in this week's edition of "All Things Catholic," in which -- drawing from Ratzinger's In the Beginning: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall -- he provides a summary of Pope Benedict's thinking on the subject in four basic concepts:

  1. Whatever the findings of the natural sciences, they will not contradict Christian faith, since ultimately the truth is one;
  2. As a scientific matter, the evidence for "micro-evolution" seems beyond doubt; the case for "macro-evolution" is less persuasive.
  3. Evolution has become a kind of "first philosophy" for enlightened thinkers, ruling out the possibility that life has any ultimate meaning. Here Christianity must draw the line.
  4. On the moral level, the widespread acceptance of evolution as a "first philosophy" is dangerous.
See also Reading Genesis with Cardinal Ratzinger, by Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco. Homiletic & Pastoral Review December 2003.

Update [9-3-06]: Reuters Religion editor Tom Heneghan provides a good post-discussion report: Pope and former students ponder evolution, not "ID" Reuters, Sept. 3, 2006. "The three-day closed-door meeting at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome ended as planned without drawing any conclusions but the group plans to publish its discussion papers, said Father Joseph Fessio S.J."

Pope Benedict and the Middle East

  • "Our Lord Has Conquered With a Love Capable of Going to Death" Zenit News Service offers a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during a ceremony for Mideast peace over which he presided in the church of Rhemes-Saint-Georges in the Aosta Valley (July 25, 2006):
    The Lord has conquered on the cross. He has not conquered with a new empire, with a force that is more powerful than others, capable of destroying them; he has not conquered in a human manner, as we imagine, with an empire stronger than the other. He has conquered with a love capable of going to death.

    This is God's new way of conquering: He does not oppose violence with a stronger violence. He opposes violence precisely with the contrary: with love to the end, his cross. This is God's humble way of overcoming: With his love -- and only thus is it possible -- he puts a limit to violence. This is a way of conquering that seems very slow to us, but it is the true way of overcoming evil, of overcoming violence, and we must trust this divine way of overcoming.

    To trust means to enter actively in this divine love, to participate in this endeavor of pacification, to be in line with what the Lord says: "Blessed are the peacemakers, the agents of peace, because they are the sons of God" . . .

    Precisely at this time, a time of great abuse of the name of God, we have need of the God who overcomes on the cross, who does not conquer with violence, but with his love. Precisely at this time we have need of the Face of Christ to know the true Face of God and so be able to take reconciliation and light to this world. For this reason, together with love, with the message of love, we must also take the testimony of this God, of God's victory, precisely through the nonviolence of his cross.

    See also At the Summit on the Middle East, Benedict XVI Preaches the Cross of Jesus, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa July 26, 2006.

  • Mideast war brings pope's foreign policy agenda into clearer focus, by John Thavis. Catholic News Service August 4, 2006:
    With the war in Lebanon, the Vatican's Middle East policies under Pope Benedict XVI have come into clearer focus.

    To the surprise of some, they look just like the policies of Pope John Paul II.

    The Vatican's insistent call for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon has highlighted a basic disagreement with the United States and some other Western governments. Backing Israel, the U.S. wants a cease-fire conditioned on a wider accord ultimately aimed at disarming Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.

    The pope, on the other hand, has urged all sides to lay down their weapons now, saying nothing can be gained by the current fighting.

    Some parties have read into Benedict's words a "moral equivalence" between Israel and Hezbollah. In August, First Things Robert T. Miller criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, later vehemently objecting to what he perceived as the Pope's "unsupportable" pacifism. In War "no good to anyone" - The words of a Pacifist Pope? (August 19, 2006), Against The Grain (with due credit from RatzingerForum member "rcesq") explained why such a pacifist portrayal of the Pope was ultimately unsupportable. See also Mark Brumley's Does Israel = Hezbollah in B 16's Moral Calculus? Insight Scoop August 1, 2006.

  • Lebanon and Clashes of Civilization: How to Recognize the Enemy, by Sandro Magister. www.Chiesa. August 22, 2006: "More Gospel and less diplomacy: this is the new course set by Benedict XVI. But geopolitics also has its reasons." The theses of Vittorio E. Parsi, Giulio Andreotti, and the Jesuit scholar of Islam Samir K. Samir. Plus a comprehensive analysis by Pietro De Marco. (With Reactions and discussion on Amy Welborn's Open Book).

  • In July, Benedict also asked the cloistered religious of the Carmel of Quart, the monastery he visited near his summer retreat in the northern Italy on Sunday, to pray for peace in the Middle East and for the conversion of terrorists.

Liturgical Music Revisited

Further Commentary on Deus Caritas Est Other News and Commentary
  • The Activist Trap, National Review contributor Colleen Carroll Campbell examines Pope Benedict's caution to Christians concerning "faith based political activism":
    The activist trap that Pope Benedict warns against is a common and familiar one: The temptation to align too closely with a particular political party and demonize opponents, to equate one’s personal judgments with the eternal truths of the faith, and to define “the Christian position” on every policy issue, thus losing focus on the few fundamental moral questions where authentic Christian witness is most countercultural and most needed. Lurking beneath those temptations is the one Benedict criticizes most forcefully: The human urge to use social and political activism to distract from our deepest questions, most intimate struggles, and most urgent longings for truth, goodness, beauty — and God.

    While Benedict’s admonition against utopian social schemes and a materialist worldview seems particularly relevant to a Catholic liberals influenced by Marxist theories, conservatives should also beware becoming co-opted by political parties, hardened by ideology, negligent in charity, and hollowed out by incessant activity. In some ways, conservatives may need to hear Benedict’s message more than liberals. Those who believe most fervently in the socially transformative power of personal responsibility and personal conversion and in the existence of universal moral laws cannot expect to change the world through external activity and political victories alone. Their hope must lie in something deeper and more enduring, in the transcendent truths that can only be discovered in silence, solitude, and contemplation. As we leave summer behind and head into another contentious campaign season, Benedict’s advice — that we slow down, be still, and ponder the principles that inspire our activism — could not be more timely.

  • Pope Benedict brings new style to Vatican August 24, 2006. Philip Pullella, Reuters' Senior Correspondent in Rome, reflects on how the new Pope had introduced a change in style from his predecessor, Pope John Paul II:
    A much more reserved man than his predecessor, Benedict has installed a new, quieter style in the Vatican's "Sacred Palaces", as the Holy See's buildings are known in Italian.

    A German, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger lets few "outsiders" into his private apartments, so hints of what is on his mind rarely trickle out.

    Even Vatican officials on other floors in the papal palace say they sometimes have trouble guessing what the Pope will decide.

    One source famously told me during the first year of the papacy: "I can assure you, we not only know zero, we know less than zero."

  • On Benedict XVI and Ecumenism August 21, 2006. Zenit News interviews Manuel González Muñana, professor of ecumenism at the San Pelagio Seminary in Cordoba, is author of "Ecumenismo y Nuevos Movimientos Eclesiales" (Ecumenism and New Ecclesial Movements), recently published by Monte Carmelo.

  • Pope chose unpretentious and thoughtful Bertone as Secretary of State within first months of Pontificate Catholic News Agency. August 18, 2006. An article published in the Italian journal “Il Riformista” provides a unique glimpse into the man Pope Benedict XVI chose to head what is arguably the most important dicastery of the Vatican. A surprising choice many Vatican insiders say, decided almost a year before it was announced.

    Amy Welborn (Open Book) provides excerpts from an interview with Bertone (from the Italian Il Giornale), along with an explanation of the responsibilities of the office.

  • On August 16, 2006, Pope Benedict remembered Brother Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical Taizé Community, one year after his death:
    "We pray to the Lord that the sacrifice of his life will contribute to consolidate the commitment to peace and solidarity of all those who have the future of humanity at heart," the Pope added.

    A day before Brother Roger's death, Benedict XVI received an affectionate letter from him in which he assured him of his ecumenical community's intention to "walk in communion with the Holy Father."

    Zenit News interviewed Roger's successor, Brother Alois Loeser, on the future of Taizé and its first year following the loss of its founder.

  • On August 13, 2006, Pope Benedict gave an unprecedented television interview to German television. Although giving one-on-one television interviews, no head of the Catholic church has ever gone before the cameras to handle a panel of questioners for a full hour.

    Pope Benedict XVI's interview with broadcasters Bayerische Rundfunk, Deutsche Welle, ZDF and Vatican Radio was held at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo on Aug. 5, 2006. The interview was conducted in German and translated and authorized by the Vatican. A transcript of Benedict XVI's interview is provided by Vatican Radio as well as a audio recording [RealAudio format]. Video of the interview is also available online.

    See also How the Pope Deftly Steers Through a Biased Media Interview, by John-Henry Westen. LifeSiteNews August 16, 2006.

  • At the August 9, 2006 General Audience, Pope Benedict spoke on John the Evangelist (continuing his catechesis on the 12 Apostles), and began with a brief explanation of the rationale behind his first encyclical (thanks to Amy Welborn):
    “It is not by chance that I wanted to start my first encyclical letter with the words of this Apostle: ‘God is love’ (Deus caritas est); those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them’ (1 Jn 4:16). It is very difficult to find such writings in other religions. And so such expressions bring us face to face with a fact that is truly unique to Christianity.”

    Starting out not from “an abstract treatment, but from a real experience of love, with direct and concrete reference, that may even be verified, to real people”, John highlights the components of Christian love that the pope summed up in three points. . . .

  • Fr. Edward T. Oakes on the "Dictatorship of Relativism" (First Things "On the Square" August 3, 2006):
    Ever since he coined the term “the dictatorship of relativism” shortly before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, the phrase has continued to haunt me. At first glance it sounds like an oxymoron: How can a relativist seek to impose a dictatorship? Aren’t dictators called absolutists for a reason? If we define a relativist as someone who says that ethical norms vary from one community to the next and from one period of history to the next, how can a relativist forbid the moral norms that another community chooses to live by? But, of course, that happens all the time, as when Catholic Charities in California is ordered by a court to provide contraceptive costs in the medical insurance plans for their employees. Personally, I think David Bentley Hart is right, who once told me in conversation that there are no relativists, except maybe a few sophomores in a dorm on the campus of Arizona State University. . . .
    A somewhat more snide and ridiculing treatment of the phrase is delivered by the New Oxford Review (Bishop Morlino Discusses the 'Dictatorship of Relativism' July / August 2006).

  • Elizabeth Schiltz, of the Catholic legal theory blog Mirror of Justice, devotes her first post to Benedict XVI on Women and St. Augustine (July 24, 2006). The discussion is carred on by Ave Maria law professor Kevin Lee (Lee on John Paul II and Benedict XVI August 1, 2006).

  • During his summer vacation in northern Italy, Pope Benedict was reported to be working on a new book and encyclical (Catholic News Agency, Jul. 18, 2006):
    According to Salvatore Mazza, special correspondent for the Italian daily Avvenire, “It seems that, among other things, he has in his hands the book which he was writing before being elected to succeed John Paul II...a theological text.”

    The book, according to other sources close to the Vatican, will consider Christ and his relation to the human race, as well as the relationship between Christianity and the other world religions.

    Another work that may be occupying the Pontiff’s time prior his trip to Germany in September, is a new social encyclical centered on the value of human work.

    The previously noted sources speculate that the work may take the name, “Labor Domini,” or, “The Work of the Lord.” The encyclical is to speak about a Christian view of human labor, of the importance of work in society, and of work as a human necessity and duty.

  • "I am learning how to be the pope", by Salvatore Mazza. Avvenire. A translation of the article kindly provided by Teresa Bendetta, relayed by Closed Cafeteria.

  • The August, 2006 issue of Inside the Vatican features an interview with Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ. Founder and director of Ignatius Press (leading publisher of Pope Benedict's works in English), co-founder of Adoremus, and Provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, Fessio completed his doctoral thesis on "The Ecclesiology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar" under then Professor Joseph Ratzinger, at the University of Regensburg, Bavaria in 1975.

    In his interview, Fr. Fessio addresses various issues of B16's first year, including the expectation that "many of his supporters expected a tough crackdown on dissenters in the Church," the significance of recent appointments in the Curia; the appointment of Cardinal Levada as new prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, liturgical renewal and the prospect of a "universal indult" for the celebration of the Tridentine liturgy.

  • Pro Multis - by Fr. Z (What Does The Prayer Really Say?"):
    Back in 2004 when I wrote my weekly columns about the Eucharistic Prayers, I lingered over the consecration of the Precious Blood in four articles. In those articles I exposed the bad philological arguments used to justity the bad translation "for all". To my knowledge no one had ever looked at it from that angle before. My old boss and still great friend, His Eminence Augustine Card. Mayer, one of the holiness men on earth, gave my articles to his close friend and colleague Joseph Card. Ratzinger. Soon thereafter I had a note from his Eminence (now His Holiness) about those articles. Also, I was able to write something up for a certain Prefect of a certain Congregation on this point. . . .
New Books by Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI: Servant of the Truth

Do you know the real Pope Benedict?

Journalist Peter Seewald does. After writing an unfair attack on Cardinal Ratzinger, he was urged by Catholic readers to meet with the man he was maligning. He did so—and the result was two book-length interviews, Salt of the Earth and God and the World. Seewald also returned to his Catholic faith, saying that Ratzinger was the one who “taught me what it meant to swim against the stream.”

This book, written mainly by Seewald, describes the paths of Joseph Ratzinger’s life from his birthplace in Bavaria all the way to being the first German Pope in 482 years. It is illuminated with a stunning collection of some of the most personal, and most surprising, photographs. These show the Pope as he really is: “a humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord”.

You can preview sample pages of Servant of the Truth on Ignatius.com.

Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feasts

In Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feasts, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) masterfully weaves together Scripture, history, literature and theology as he reflects on major feasts of the liturgical calendar. In each chapter, he examines works of sacred art that illustrate the hope we celebrate in our most important Christian holy days.

What do the humble ox and ass at the manger of the Christ Child tell us about Christmas? In an icon of Christ's Ascension, what do the Savior's hands held in blessing promise us? What is the meaning of the sword held by the great statue of Saint Paul before the Roman church that bears his name?

These and many other questions are explored with depth and sensitivity in this collection of meditations by the man who became Pope Benedict XVI. Several beautiful colored images of the relevant paintings, mosaics and sculptures accompany the rich and detailed text.

What It Means to be a Christian (Ignatius, June 2006):

Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, writes eloquently and persuasively about how one can live as a serious Christian in today’s secular world. He talks in depth about the true meaning of faith, hope, and love--the love of God and the love of neighbor. He also discusses at length the crucial importance of a lived faith, for the believer himself as well as being a witness for our age, and striving to bring faith in line with the present age that has veered off into rampant secularism and materialism. He passionately encourages the reader to practice a deep, abiding Christian faith that seeks to be at the service of humanity.

As Joseph Ratzinger mentions in the preface, "the book presents in written form three sermons that the author preached in the Cathedral at Muenster to a congregation from the Catholic Student Chaplaincy, December 13-15, 1964."

Ignatius Insight recently published an excerpt from the text: Why Do We Need Faith?.

And on a Lighter Note . . .

  • Baby Benedict is only 10 weeks old and already he's received a special letter from the Pope The personalised note on Vatican headed-notepaper arrived on baby Benedict's doorstep after officials in Rome learned the tot had been named after the Pope, with whom he also shares a birthday. Lancanshire Evening Post June 28, 2006.

  • "Suited Up", by Michelle Arnold. Apparently radical Traditionalist site Tradition In Action has blown a gasket over a photograph of Then-Cardinal Ratzinger wearing a Suit. (TIC mistakes it for a recent photo of the Pope on vacation, while others have dated the photo to a retreat the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his brother took together in 2004).

    Rocco Palmo (Whispers in the Loggia) comments on the photo of "The Brothers Ratzi":

    More than anything, though, the shot underlines the strong bond the Pope enjoys with his one living relative, his older brother Msgr Georg Ratzinger. The two were ordained priests together in 1951, share a deep affinity for music (the Papstbruder served for many years as director of the famed choir of Regensburg Cathedral), and on next month's Bavarian homecoming, little brother Joseph has blocked out a private day with Msgr Georg at the home the former built on a cul-de-sac, which then-Cardinal Ratzinger was anxiously looking forward to retiring to.... For those who've forgotten, everything porcelain and feline decorates the house in the Regensburg suburb of Pentling. (The other Ratzinger sibling, Maria, served as her brother's housekeeper and companion until her death in 1991.)

  • A group of altar boys from the Bavarian city of Ratisbona are handing out the Pope’s favorite cookie in preparation for his September visit. During the Pope’s visit to Ratisbona on September 12, 15,000 altar boys from all of the dioceses in Bavaria will take part in the Papal Mass. (Catholic News Agency). Zenit News Service has also relayed what's on the agenda for the Pope's Bavarian trip, the fourth international trip of his pontificate, from Sept. 9-14.

  • Eggs Pope Benedict, by Jimmy Akin: "While wandering the Web sniffing out something to blog about, my nose latched onto an aroma of eggs. Curious, I checked it out. Apparently, in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's election, some people were having a bit of good-natured fun with the new pope's chosen name."

  • Nice shots of Pope Benedict playing the piano and writing in his study, courtesy of la Repubblica.it. According to Avvenire's reporter, Salvatore Mazza, "the Pope sits at the piano at least twice a day -- in the morning and the afternoon -- and plays his favorite classical pieces."

  • "When is a necklace not a necklace? Most likely when the Pope gives you one", says Robert Duncan, responding to the Spanish Prime Minister's office announcement that Pope Benedict XVI gave the wife of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero a "pearl necklace with a cross" after their meeting in Valencia.

  • Matthias Beier's Pope Benedict XVI: The First Year (Tikkun, July 2006) gets the nomination for the most ridiculous appraisal of B16's first year in office, beginning with a demand for the Pope to "put on the table" his title as Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church as a "true test for openeness to ecumenical dialogue." Mr. Beir finds the Holy Father deficient on all counts -- from his activity on "peace and justice issues" to interreligious dialogue to his "attitude towards Islam."

    Even Benedict's reminder to the European Union of its “indispensable Christian roots" is found to be "dangerously reminiscent of the Nazi Christian argument that Jews had no place in a Christian country such as Germany." Beir ends his indictment with a demand that Benedict retract the claims of the "extremely inflammatory 2000 statement" Dominus Iesus and invite "Eugen Drewermann, Joan Chittester, Matthew Fox, Hans Kung, and Leonardo Boff, to a truly open dialogue."

    Matthias Beir is a Methodist pastor and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Fordham University, and has recently published what he boasts is "a comprehensive analysis of a violent and fear-driven God-image in the heritage of the Judeo-Christian tradition from a theological, philosophical, and psychoanalytic perspective." Nice 'ecumenical' spirit, his.

    While some Catholic readers will be prompted to wonder what he is doing teaching at a Jesuit school, Carl Olson (Insight Scoop) protests: "what is most bothersome to me is not that Beier teaches at Fordham, but that someone who demonstrates the rhetorical acumen of Howard Dean and the polemical touch of a Jack Chick teaches at a university."

    Meanwhile, Gerald Augustinus (Closed Cafeteria) provides a fisking of Beier's rant against the Pope.

  • Finally, from Ignatius Press, Pope Benedict XVI "Wallpaper" for your computer desktop.
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Friday, July 07, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI - 'Deus Caritas Est' - Reactions & Commentary

"Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere “command”; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us. In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others."

Deus Caritas Est is essentially the meditation of Pope Benedict XVI on love -- love as it is (sometimes erroneously) considered to be by the world and love as expressed in all its richness in the biblical tradition, in the love of God for Israel and as it is exemplified in the Eucharistic sacrifice of our Savior.

The second part of the encyclical is an explication of how love is to be embodied in our daily life as Christians, -- in our love of (and service to) our neighbor, and what that entails in light of our faith.

Question: Why did he choose love as his theme? -- The Holy Father answered this question in an address he gave on January 23, 2006, to participants in a meeting organized by the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" on the theme "But the Greatest of These Is Love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Zenit News Agency provides the translation:

Today the word "love" is so tarnished, so spoiled and so abused, that one is almost afraid to pronounce it with one's lips. And yet it is a primordial word, expression of the primordial reality; we cannot simply abandon it, we must take it up again, purify it and give back to it its original splendor so that it might illuminate our life and lead it on the right path. This awareness led me to choose love as the theme of my first encyclical.

I wished to express to our time and to our existence something of what Dante audaciously recapitulated in his vision. He speaks of his "sight" that "was enriched" when looking at it, changing him interiorly [The textual quotation in English is: "But through the sight, that fortified itself in me by looking, one appearance only to me was ever changing as I changed" (cf. "Paradise," XXXIII, verses 112-114)]. It is precisely this: that faith might become a vision-comprehension that transforms us.

I wished to underline the centrality of faith in God, in that God who has assumed a human face and a human heart. Faith is not a theory that one can take up or lay aside. It is something very concrete: It is the criterion that decides our lifestyle. In an age in which hostility and greed have become superpowers, an age in which we witness the abuse of religion to the point of culminating in hatred, neutral rationality on its own is unable to protect us. We are in need of the living God who has loved us unto death.

There is simply no excuse for not reading the encyclical in full. I quickly realized (reading it over a Saturday afternoon) that it's one of those texts where, if I went after it with a highlighter, I'd quickly run out of ink. =) So if you haven't read it already, I strongly recommend taking the time to do so -- and especially before you read this roundup and any "commentary" or reaction from bloggers, journalists and pundits.

General Observations

Tom of Disputations refers to Vatican documents as having a particularly high Ginger Factor: most of it will make no sense at all to the journalists reporting on it.

Unfortunately, papal encyclicals are no exception to this rule. Give them something as elementary as the Christian view of love, and not suprisingly, there are always some who will completely botch it.

  • Fr. Richard Neuhaus reviews Deus Caritas Est ("The style is that of the Ratzinger whom we have known over the years: precise, almost crisp, and relentlessly Christocentric") and notes with humor the predictable response of a journalist:
    In intellectual rankings at universities, journalism is just a notch above education, which is, unfortunately, at the bottom. . . .

    What prompts me to mention this today is that I’m just off the phone with a reporter from the same national paper. He’s doing a story on Pope Benedict’s new encyclical. In the course of discussing the pontificate, I referred to the pope as the bishop of Rome. “That raises an interesting point,” he said. “Is it unusual that this pope is also the bishop of Rome?” He obviously thought he was on to a new angle. Once again, I tried to be gentle. Toward the end of our talk, he said with manifest sincerity, “My job is not only to get the story right but to explain what it means.” Ah yes, he is just the fellow to explain what this pontificate and the encyclical really mean. It is poignant.

  • The Encyclical “Shuns Strictures of Orthodoxy”? - Alejandro Bermudez' Catholic Outsider responds to Ian Fisher's ridiculous reading of the encyclical in The New York Times Jan. 26, 2006, noting that it "did not mention abortion, homosexuality, contraception or divorce, issues that often divide Catholics"; to which the Outsider adds:
    Fisher list stops too short. He forgot to mention that the encyclical did not mention other highly divisive issues among Catholics: cars, restaurants, yoga and who should win the Superbowl, a very, very divisive question now that the Broncos are out of the picture (snif!)

    Ah! The Pope did not mention dish washing machines either. You can’t imagine how divisive this issue can be among Catholic households.

    Carl Olson fisks Ian Fisher's article as well, wondering Did I read the same encyclical as The New York Times? (Insight Scoop January 26, 2006).

  • Passionate prose is a real revelation - Times [UK] columnist Ruth Gledhill finds her preconceptions of the Panzerkardinal abruptly shattered:
    I STARTED reading Deus Caritas Est expecting to be disappointed, chastised and generally laid low. An encyclical on love from a right-wing pope could only contain more damning condemnations of our materialistic, westernised society, more evocations of the “intrinsic evil” of contraception, married priests, homosexuality. It would surely continue the Church’s grand tradition of contempt for the erotic, a tradition that ensures a guilty hangover in any Roman Catholic who dares to indulge in lovemaking for any reason other than the primary one of reproduction. How wonderful it is to be proven wrong.
    To which Insight Scoop's Mark Brumhill comments: "It is always good to see bigotry and prejudice destroyed--or at least diminished. More helpful still would be for commentator Gledhill to get biblical and pause (selah) to consider how it is that her expectations could have been so far off the mark (hamartia) to begin with and whether, perhaps, it isn't really Benedict XVI's fault that they were." One would hope.

  • The Pope's Labor of Love, by Alexander Smoltczyk (Der Spiegel January 25, 2006) starts off on a good note:
    Benedict XVI has decided to follow directly in the steps of his predecessor. Until just before his death, John Paul II had been working on an encyclical about Christian love. Benedict XVI's treatise, addressed to "men and women religious and all the lay faithful," completes that project and begins with a reference to love as "one of the most frequently used and misused of words."
    but can't resist the opportunity to take a condescending tone:
    . . . the pope quickly turns it down a notch to make it clear he's only talking about one type of erotic love -- that between a man and his wife in the marriage bed. "From the standpoint of creation," the pope writes, "eros directs man towards marriage, to a bond which is unique and definitive; thus, and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest purpose." A God, a husband and his wife. It may not quite represent the most up-to-date ideas of gender research -- much less the scenes in some seminaries -- but it does have the advantage of dogmatic precision.
  • The Tablet hails the encyclical as "the true face of Catholicism":
    Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical confirms him as a man of humour, warmth, humility and compassion, eager to share the love that God “lavishes” on humanity and display it as the answer to the world’s deepest needs. On his election last spring, the former Cardinal Ratzinger was widely assumed to have as his papal agenda the hammering of heretics and a war on secularist relativism, subjects with which he was associated as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Instead he has produced a profound, lucid, poignant and at times witty discussion of the relationship between sexual love and the love of God, the fruit no doubt of a lifetime’s meditation. This is a document that presents the most attractive face of the Catholic faith and could be put without hesitation into the hands of any inquirer.
    Funny how the author sees a radical disjuncture between the "kindler, gentler" Ratzinger and the "hammerer of heretics".

  • Whispers in the Loggia reports that Deus Caritas Est is "Ratzinger-Written, Kung-Approved", at least insofar as Kung perceives that the encyclical "isn't a manifesto of cultural pessimism or of restrictive sexual morality towards love, but to the contrary takes on central themes under the profile of theology and anthropology."

    Meanwhile, Reuters reports that

    "The Catholic Church's leading dissident theologian praised Pope Benedict for his encyclical on love on Wednesday and asked for a second one showing the same kindness concerning birth control, divorce and other Christians.

    The Swiss theologian then urged the German-born Pontiff, the Vatican's stern doctrinal watchdog for 23 years before his election last April, to be kinder to his Catholic critics and to Protestants offended by frank statements he has made about them.

    "Joseph Ratzinger would be a great Pope if he drew courageous consequences for Church structures and legal decisions from his correct and important words about love," Kueng wrote in a statement, using the Pope's real name.

    Alongside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former Inquisition office that Ratzinger used to head, the Pope needed "Congregation of Love" to vet Vatican documents and ensure they are truly Christian in outlook, he suggested.

    Via Curt Jester, who retorts:
    "Congregation of Love" is right up there with Dennis Kucinich wanting of a "Department of Peace". Though I would argue that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is already a congregation of love. If you love someone you tell them when they are doing something that endangers your eternal life or can lead others astray. What Kueng is really suggesting is a Congregation of Indifference where you can just do whatever you want and being its prefect would be the world's easiest job.

  • The Surprising Message Behind 'God Is Love', January 25, 2005. Rocco Palmo (Whispers in the Loggia) reviews the encyclical for Beliefnet.com. Overall a good plug, although I'd take issue with this:
    While conservative Catholics will agree that the concept of human love, eros "reduced to pure 'sex,' has become a commodity, a mere 'thing' to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity," the absence of the divisive doctrinal questions of sexuality, contraception, and abortion from the document might further add to the suspicion, already aired in some quarters, that their man has "gone soft." It is not what they would have expected--or, perhaps, wished. . . .
    Oh, I'd say that Pope Benedict XVI has been making his views on the "divisive doctrinal questions" of contraception, abortion and sexuality explicitly known for some time. I certainly don't need (nor would I expect) him to mention it with every given opportunity.

    The "progressive" interpretations of the Deus Caritas Est (for example, by Andrew Sullivan and Hans Kung) try to pit Benedict's teaching on love in opposition to the Church's prohibitions against sexual immorality. I would suggest, rather, that in choosing love as the topic of his first encyclical, Benedict is offering a necessary reminder to us that the moral teaching of the Church is best understood in its proper context, as issuing from the love of God and His vision for humanity. (Further reference, John Paul II's theology of the body).

  • On a better note, from Zenit News Agency -- interviews with Legionary of Christ Father Thomas D. Williams, a dean at Rome's Regina Apostolorum university; Sister Maria Gloria Riva, a contemplative religious of the Perpetual Adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and film director Liliana Cavani.

  • And from Ignatius Insight, commentary by Fr. James V. Schall:
    Walking along the corridor of our department just hours after Deus Caritas Est was issued, I ran into a young man I did not know. He asked me if I had seen the new document. I was impressed that he ever heard of it. I had not seen it, though I knew about it. He told me its title. He added that he had hoped for something more "relevant," like bio-ethics.

    I replied that I thought charity was a pretty good topic since it is central to the Church’s teaching about who God is and what our lives are about. And it has not a little to do even with such a perplexing topic as bio-ethics, such as addressing the foundations of bio-ethics. One of the reason some bio-ethicists get things wrong when they do is, I suspect, because they do not understand the primacy–even the physical primacy–of charity, in its full theological and philosophical meaning, even as applies to the fact that we, as individual persons have both minds and bodies to be what we are.

    and Fr. Joseph Fessio:
    those who have read his works, are familiar with his life, or have had the privilege of knowing him, the encyclical is no surprise. He has a penetrating intellect which always goes to the heart of the matter. He has a sense of the poetry of life and of revelation, which gives his writing clarity, depth and beauty. And he is someone who listens both to the living and those whose thoughts come to us through their books and works of art. Then from all that he's seen and heard, he's able to synthesize and organize and present an idea or position in a coherent way that always illuminates.

    I see this as a foundational encyclical. And I hope he has a long enough papacy to build on this strong foundation. He has taken the very heart of Christian revelation as a starting point, the central truth of the Christian faith: God is love.

Part I: "The reconciliation of Eros & Agape"
  • Clairity provides a good summary of "the marriage of eros and agape, with mention of the influence of Luigi Guissani. More reflections from Ancient & Future Catholic Musings.

  • Neil at Catholic Sensibility also contributes with some related strands of thought by Antonio Socci and the Dutch Protestant minister W.A. Visser 't Hooft.

  • Liberal Catholic JCecil (In Today's News) addresses Pope Benedict's views on "ecstacy," or "the ecstatic experience":
    I suppose if you've never experienced the intoxicating beauty of deep prayer or sacramental married love or the ecstatic joy of the birth of a child, or the ecstatic joy of knowing you really helped another human person in a way that will effect the course of their life, and so forth, the first line might sound puzzlingly prohibitive in an otherwise joyous letter.

    All I hear the Holy Father saying is that if you want ecstasy, there are far better ways to achieve it than with temple prostitutes or drugs and such.

  • In "Unity in Difference", Daniel (Cosmos, Liturgy, Sex) responds to a commentator at Amy Welborn's who "sees this Encyclical as an olive branch to “gays” because B16 does not explicitly limit eros to heterosexuality and limit “gays” to agape. This sad thinking, besides being delusional, completely misunderstands the faith and the Trinitarian foundation of love." Daniel responds:
    Self-gift can only be rooted in Trinitarian love. The Father’s total gift of Himself to the Son and the Son’s reciprocation are fruitful. This mutual Love is a Person . . . the Holy Spirit. Being the Source of everything that exists, this total self-giving establishes the framework for creation and so it is the interpretive key for understanding creation and most especially the human person who is created in the image of this Self-giving God.

    This framework shows that love must be true to the order of creation. This is where those who mistakenly believe that B16 is somehow now saying that same-sex genital relations are suddenly not a disorder, completely miss the Trinitarian nature of creation. The Encyclical says that “…man is somehow incomplete, driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole, the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become ‘complete’” (DCE 11). Here B16 follows JPTG’s theology of the body in which the latter shows that man is made, male and female, in the Trinitarian image. Husband and wife are a unity in difference, made complementarily for one another. The structure of heterosexual anatomy demonstrates their complementarity and their having been ordered to the one-flesh union which is the only genital union that has the capacity to be fruitful in a life-giving way.

    B16 uses the phrase unity and difference also to describe the hylomorphic union of body and soul. Because the soul is the substantial form of the body, the body expresses something in the soul. This includes sex differences. Sex differences are ontological and created for the unity in difference of love, manifested in its dimensions of eros and agape.

    (Readers of The Pertinacious Papist will recognize the commentator in question as being one Fr. O'Leary, aka. "The Spirit of Vatican II").

  • Fr. O'Leary is not alone in his illusions -- Andrew Sullivan, now blogging for Time magazine, writes: "I also, obviously, share Benedict's wonder at conjugal love. I see no conflict between the love of two homosexual men or women for each other and the mystery of heterosexual love." And of his delighted remark that the encyclical "is not as extreme or as repressive as Benedict's well-earned reputation", Amy Welborn counters:
    The "well-earned" reputation for repression is getting so old. Sing that to the institutions of higher learning in the Jesuit tradition that have flourished, repression-free, for the past thirty years. Better yet, read some of this pope's theology. As I mentioned, anyone familiar with Ratzinger will find no surprises in Benedict.
  • John Heard (aka. Dreadnought), on the other hand, asks What if anything, does the Pope call same sex attracted men to via this Encyclical?, and arrives at an answer:
    What of gay men? The Pope speaks eloquently of the love that animates heterosexual unions via the proper balancing of eros and agape (love that 'goes up' and the love that 'comes down') but he leaves a small section, surely enough, to describe the understanding of philia or brotherly love much respected by the ancients.

    Philia describes a love no less significant than that which expresses 'the relationship between Jesus and His disciples'. It is this love, somewhat removed from the central animating focus of the Encyclical, that same sex attracted men must desire, pursue and celebrate. Twisted eros, described by the Pope as previously subsisting in 'sacred prostitutes' and other degraded forms of sexuality in the Pagan world, too often stalks the edges of the 'gay community' today.

    (Probably not the kind of answer O'Leary and Sullivan were looking for, but hey).

  • Oswald Sobrino praises the encyclical for "going on the offensive"):
    The Pope, as those before him, is seeking to capture all things for Christ precisely because all things were made through Christ and find their fulfillment in Christ. So the eros that is so central to us as human beings, the eros that is so distorted, falsified, and misused, the eros that has the potential for so much flourishing and for so much self-destruction certainly can never be left out of the Christian equation. The Pope, so to speak, parachutes the Gospel into territory that has been ceded for far too long to pagans, secular or otherwise. Eros was made by God through Christ to unite with agape.

    As someone with a graduate degree in economics, let me offer some mathematical analogies. If we take eros (the intense mutual attraction of male and female) and add agape (the selfless love focused on the good of the other) we then get true Christian philia (the love of friendship). If agape is left out of the equation, then eros is left adrift like an orphan with no constructive horizon. And what we get is disaster: jealousies, conflict, and eventually mutual hatred. It happens all the time.

    Another analogy: if we take philia (the love of friendship) and add agape, we end up with a transformed friendship, a Christian philia that ennobles both. Without agape, friendship can easily become simply a conspiracy in mutual self-destruction or manipulation. Again, it happens all the time.

Part II - on the meaning and obligation of Christian charity

In the second part of his encyclical, Deis Caritas Est Benedict discusses the meaning of charity in the mission of the Church. The ministry of charity is placed alongside the proclamation of the Word of God and the celebration of the sacraments as expressions of God's love: "For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being." This obligation encompasses both our fellow Christians -- those within our ecclesial family -- and the world at large:

The Church is God's family in the world. In this family . Yet at the same time caritas- agape extends beyond the frontiers of the Church. The parable of the Good Samaritan remains as a standard which imposes universal love towards the needy whom we encounter “by chance” (cf. Lk 10:31), whoever they may be. Without in any way detracting from this commandment of universal love, the Church also has a specific responsibility: within the ecclesial family no member should suffer through being in need. The teaching of the Letter to the Galatians is emphatic: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10).
Responding to the argument of Marxism (and certain proponents of "liberation theology") -- that "works of charity are in effect a way for the rich to shirk their obligation to work for justice and a means of soothing their consciences, while preserving their own status and robbing the poor of their rights"; that the poor do not need charity but rather justice, and a just social order in which all will share the world's goods -- Pope Benedict responds:
There is admittedly some truth to this argument, but also much that is mistaken. It is true that the pursuit of justice must be a fundamental norm of the State and that the aim of a just social order is to guarantee to each person, according to the principle of subsidiarity, his share of the community's goods. This has always been emphasized by Christian teaching on the State and by the Church's social doctrine.
This goal, however, cannot be found through Marxism ("revolution and the subsequent collectivization of the means of production") -- "such an illusion has vanished today." Rather, "the Church's social doctrine has become a set of fundamental guidelines offering approaches that are valid even beyond the confines of the Church," as encompassed in the social encyclicals of Benedict's predecessors and which "has now found a comprehensive presentation in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church."

The responsibility for the just ordering of society properly belongs to the realm of politics, "the sphere of the autonomous use of reason." At the same time, insofar as the origin and goal of politics is justice, it is naturally concerned with ethics -- and it is likewise here that the Church can exercise its influence through the formation of conscience by appeal to natural law:

This is where Catholic social doctrine has its place: it has no intention of giving the Church power over the State. Even less is it an attempt to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith. Its aim is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just.

The Church's social teaching argues on the basis of reason and natural law, namely, on the basis of what is in accord with the nature of every human being. It recognizes that it is not the Church's responsibility to make this teaching prevail in political life. Rather, the Church wishes to help form consciences in political life and to stimulate greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice as well as greater readiness to act accordingly, even when this might involve conflict with situations of personal interest. Building a just social and civil order, wherein each person receives what is his or her due, is an essential task which every generation must take up anew. As a political task, this cannot be the Church's immediate responsibility. Yet, since it is also a most important human responsibility, the Church is duty-bound to offer, through the purification of reason and through ethical formation, her own specific contribution towards understanding the requirements of justice and achieving them politically.

The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.

While the Church must not usurp the proper role and end of the State, Benedict also reminds us of the inherent limitations of the State in the satisfaction of man's fundamenal needs:
Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable.[20] The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)—a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.
  • As Kishore Jayabalan of The Acton Institute puts it: "This is the Catholic case for limited government par excellence. Justice and politics are necessary and good objectives to pursue, but they are not what human life is ultimately about. Divine love transcends politics. This is the language of a political philosophy that points beyond itself to theology, and it’s perfectly fitting as Benedict’s first encyclical. ("Pope Benedict on Limited Government" Acton Institute Powerblog January 25, 2006).

  • Gregory Popcak (Heart, Mind & Strength) praises Benedict's recognition of the difference between social work and social justice.

  • Michael Liccione (Sacramentum Vitate) comments:
    That will probably be the most controversial aspect of the encyclical among those who care what popes think. It has something to please everybody and something to offend everybody. The Church must not control or replace the State, but neither can she "remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice." Her social teaching plays a valid political role with its "rational arguments" yet, at the same time, she "purifies reason" with insights made possible only by faith. And whatever the political situation, her vast charitable works will always witness to Christ in civil society. They can never be replaced by just "structures" of the kind that government can create and regulate.

  • Amy Welborn agrees:
    To me, the most interesting point of this section was what will doubtlessly be referenced as Benedict's Augustinian pessimism - he says outright that those who carry out the Church's charitable activity "must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at improving the world..." (33), and should be wary of at trying to do "what God's governance of the world apparently cannot: fully resolve every problem." (36) It gives those of us reared in the "we're helping build the Kingdom" mentality something to think about, that's certain.

    It's pretty bracing and clarifying, and I'm placing bets that this will be the most contentious part of the document. Benedict say, additionally, that professional competence is fine, but is not the standard by which charity operates - person-to-person compassionate love is. He says quite directly that the "growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work" is a problem.

    What does this mean? Does this mean don't try to change things? To just hand out water and be done with it? Far from it. . . .

    It is persons that are at the center here. From the very beginning of the document, as Benedict explains what faith is, in very CL [Communion and Liberation] kind of lingo, I believe:

    We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.
    And it ends with a person - you and me as part of the Body of Christ, having encountered the total love of God in Jesus, being graced over and over again as we meet him in Eucharist, being joined every more intimately to our brothers and sisters through that same Eucharist, and not only able, but moved by the Spirit to live in that reality in which eros and agape merge, nourish each other, and it becomes simply who we are, because we are in Christ.

Updates!

First, I'd like to extend a welcome to readers of Mark Shea, Amy Welborn, Get Religion, First Things and "The Daily Dish" (Andrew Sullivan), and thank the authors for their graciously linking to this post. Here are some additional posts and commentary for your consideration:

  • Oh, to be a "Catholic Scholar", exclaims Amy Welborn, responding to the latest piece of journalistic coverage (An unexpected letter of love, by Michael Valpy Minneopolis Star Tribune January 27, 2005):
    Few Catholic scholars contacted this week had read the encyclical or planned to do so. Two professed amusement at the notion that the pope had written about love. And what puzzled some scholars is why Benedict had chosen the subject.
    Amy responds:
    to address an issue that's popped up down below. I'm not suggesting that a papal encyclical should immediately be at the center of every Catholic's - even Catholic scholar's - consciousness and concern. I actually spent some time musing - although I never blogged on it - about why I was interested and why I should care.

    But you know, this is the first papal encyclical since 2003, it's the first from this new Pope, who also happens to be a renowned theologian, who has been an object of controversy in the past and whose papacy so far has confounded some. So yeah, it's of interest, it's not very long at all, and any "Catholic scholar" who's on the newsroom rolodex (and once you get on, you learn to expect calls for reactions regularly), you'd think might have something to say besides, "Sniff." If that is, indeed, an accurate metaphor for what they said.

    Michael Valpy, take note.

  • Greg Sisk (Mirror of Justice) concludes that Deus Caritas Est is A Continuity With, Not a Departure From, the Witness of John Paul II:
    In emphasizing the proper role of the Church in the awakening and formation of conscience, while insisting that the Church must not enter into the “political battle” that remains instead the separate vocation of the laity, Pope Benedict XVI’s words have been portrayed by some as a departure from the public witness of his predecessor. After all, John Paul II addressed civil authorities regularly with boldness and spoke with prophetic directness on issues of human rights, pointedly including the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.

    I submit that these observers both have misread Benedict XVI as foreshadowing something of a withdrawal by the Church on direct engagement with civil regimes on basic matters of human rights (including sanctity of life issues) and have misunderstood the non-political nature of John Paul II in his forthrightly religious witness in the public square. In other words, I see Benedict XVI's first encyclical as steadily in continuity with John Paul II in the understanding of the appropriate role of the Catholic Church when it encounters the temporal civil order. . . .

    Read the rest here; discussion (as usual) by Amy Welborn's Commentariat here.

  • Pope B16 & CL - David Jones (Nouvelle Theologie) provides the background on Pope Benedict's relationship with Fr. Giussani and Communion & Liberation.

  • A Commentary on "Deus Caritas Est" by Pastor John Wright. Jan. 29, 2006:
    It might surprise some to find a theologian and pastor in the Church of the Nazarene not only caring, yet positively endorsing, the writings of the contemporary bishop of Rome. I am convinced, however, that the commitment to holiness of heart and life in the tradition of the Church of the Nazarene must drive us to conversation and shared life with those within the Roman Catholic church, even or especially the bishop of Rome. We must because our Lord prayed that we be sancified in truth so that we might be one as the Father and the Son are One. Secondly, the message of holiness finds its most consistent teaching and embodiment in the Christian tradition within the teachings of the Catholic Church and the bodies of the saints. Thus I offer this series of essays, as I can get to them, in hope that the fragmented body of Christ may some day be healed so that the world may know the God who is Love.
    (See also Part II of Pastor Wright's Commentary).

  • "What is this thing called love?" January 31, 2006. (You can also find Maggie at the Institute for Marriage & Public Policy's MarriageDebate.com).

  • "Benedict Genius Est" - Panel discussion on "The Religion Report," headed by Stephen Crittenden religion correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The show features "Leading Catholic moral theologian Charles E Curran" -- did he say "leading?" -- journalist Rocco Palmo of “Whispers in the Loggia," and the Jack de Groot- the National Campaign Director of Caritas Australia. A review of the Crittenden interview here by yours truly.

  • "For the Love of God", by Lorenzo Albacete. New York Times Feb. 3, 2006.

  • The Controversy of Love and Love and the Will of God, two excellent reflections on the encyclical by Teresa Polk (Blog by the Sea.

  • The Discipline Love Requires, by Al Kimel (Pontifications). Feb. 3rd, 2006:
    "I have not yet read Pope Benedict’s new encylical; but when one finds Hans Küng, Charles Curran, Luke Timothy Johnson, Joseph O’Leary, and Andrew Sullivan applauding the document, one gets a bit nervous . . ."
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Thursday, July 06, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI Roundup!

In the News

  • Speaking after a concert given at the Sistine Chapel on Saturday, June 24, Pope Benedict XVI called for an authentic updating of sacred music that takes into account the tradition of the Church (Zenit News):
    "Sacred polyphony," the Holy Father said Saturday after a concert held in his honor by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation, "especially the so-called 'Roman school,' is a legacy that must be carefully conserved, maintained alive and made known."

    It will be of "benefit not only to scholars and enthusiasts, but to the ecclesial community as a whole, for which it represents an inestimable spiritual, artistic and cultural heritage," the Pope said, after the concert in the Sistine Chapel.

    "An authentic updating of sacred music cannot occur except in line with the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian Chant, and of sacred polyphony," the Pontiff added.

    The members of the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas will no doubt be overjoyed at the news.

    For detailed background on the concert and the significance of its conductor, maestro monsignor Domenico Bartolucci, see A Change of Tune in the Vatican – And Not Only in the Secretariat of State, by Sandro Magister. www.chiesa June 27, 2006, while Get Religion examines the usual disconnect between what was said and what's being reported by the mainstream press (Pope demands end to crappy church music June 30, 2006):

    Pope Benedict XVI has harshed on guitars in Mass, according to various media reports. I don’t see why you need the Pope to tell you that if you walk into a sanctuary and see a drum riser where the altar should be that you may want to get the heck out of dodge, but I guess some of us do need a bit of guidance. . . .
    For more on Pope Benedict's views on music, see Music and Liturgy: Excerpts from The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, courtesy of Ignatius Press, and Pope Benedict XVI on Sacred Music, additional excerpts compiled by St. Michael's Catholic Church in Auburn, Alabama.

  • Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, a member of the International Theological Commission, recently presented 8 Keys to Reading Joseph Ratzinger's Work at the closing the first course of Specialization in Religious Information, organized by the University of the Holy Cross (Zenit News, June 25, 2006).

  • On June 23, 2006, Pope Benedict explained to the archdiocese of Genoa, Italy, reasons for appointing Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. as secretary of State (Catholic News Agency, June 23, 2006):
    During the three years Cardinal Bertone has led the diocese, the Holy Father tells the faithful in his letter, "you have learned to appreciate those gifts and qualities that make him a faithful pastor, especially capable of combining pastoral care and doctrinal wisdom.

    "It is precisely these characteristics, together with the mutual understanding and trust we developed over our years of shared service at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that have induced me to choose him for this exalted and delicate task in the service of the Universal Church at the Holy See.

    "I know that I have asked a great sacrifice of Cardinal Bertone; and I know that the sacrifice of the faithful entrusted to his care in Genoa is no less, but I am certain that his affection and his prayers for your community will be brought 'ad Petri sedem.' The history of your diocese demonstrates your generous fidelity to the Vicar of Christ, to which I appeal also by virtue of the name I chose for my own Petrine ministry: the name of the last Genovese Pope, so devoted to the 'Madonna della Guardia.' To her I entrust you all in this moment of change, delicate but full of grace, because 'in everything God works for good with those who love Him.'

    Meanwhile, Richard Owen of the London Times notes some lamentation of the appointment: "Critics said that putting a Ratzinger-Bertone alliance at the top of the Vatican hierarchy meant that the Church would be in the hands of "arch-conservatives" at a time when many Catholics, especially in the Third World, are calling for reform." (Pope promotes 'hardliner' in reshuffle of his top team June 22, 2006).

  • On June 21, 2006, Pope Benedict was made "honorary citizen" of Regensburg, Germany (Source: Zenit News).

  • Pope Benedict will travel to Valencia, Spain next month for the World Meeting of Families. Zenit News Service interviewed Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City on Benedict's concern for the renewal of the family (Zenit News. June 11, 2006):
    His decision to attend the World Meeting of Families is a public affirmation of the invaluable worth he places on the family. We have already seen in just the year since his election that renewing the family is a priority of his pontificate.

    His first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, gives much attention to the love between a man and a woman, how human love, especially eros, must be connected to divine love and the good of children, and the important role of love in the public life.

    And since the family is the first school of love, we can infer that a healthy family is essential to a healthy society.

  • In late May 2006, Pope Benedict devoted his weekly audience to the topic of the primacy of St. Peter. Teresa Polk (Blog by the Sea) provides us with a roundup of links to B16's addresses and commentary.

Elsewhere . . .

  • It came as no suprise that, with the death of Pope John Paul II, vociferous critics of the traditionalist right turned their sights on Pope Benedict, with groups like the comical Novus Ordo Watch predicting the worst. Pope or Heretic? An Evaluation of Benedict XVI and "trueCatholic.org" touting the alleged Heresies of Anti-Pope Benedict XVI.

    In Pope or Heretic? An Evaluation of Benedict XVI, Jacob Michael of LumenGentleman Apologetics, examines some of the quotations from Benedict (whether Pope or Cardinal Ratzinger) which are cited as "proof" of heresy, and finds them wanting. According to Jacob:

    . . . the problem lies in the "hermeneutic of suspicion" that so many well-intentioned Catholics fall into; a kind of cynicism that takes a defensive approach to any Church document issued after the reign of Pope Pius XII. Heresy hunting is easy; words by their very nature require interpretation, and most words can be bent, twisted, and taken to conclusions that the speaker or author never intended. As a former Protestant, I am more than well-acquainted with this fact; this "hermeneutic of suspicion" is the grid through which I learned to read the Catholic Church's teachings. The worst possible motive is always assumed; if something can be interpreted in either a good sense or a bad sense, the bad sense is presumed to be the sense intended, and false conclusions are drawn. . . . It is not difficult to see this principle at work in the way some choose to receive and deal with the council, and especially with papal teachings and actions. . . .
    Concludes Jacob: "I have yet to see a quote that wasn't ripped from its context, squeezed through the filter of deep suspicion, interpreted in the worst possible light, and isolated from other statements within the body of Benedict XVI's work." As it was for John Paul II, so it is for Benedict XVI. Pray for the Pope, and his enemies as well. (Article via Rorate Caeli).

    In Benedict XVI and the "Real Presence", the blog Hallowed Ground diffuses a charge that Benedict "once taught against the practice of eucharistic adoration and has even promoted heresy with respect to the Real Presence" with further citation from his writings.

  • Series of Reflections on Deus Caritas Est Since early May, L'Osservatore Romano has been running a series of reflections on Benedict XVI's first encyclical, with contributions by Cardinal Renato Martino, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, Bishop Rino Fisichella, Cardinal Angelo Scola and Archbishop Paul Cordes. Zenit News Service has a roundup of commentary with the highlights.

  • Orthodoxy and Islam: Benedict XVI Prepares for His Trip to Turkey, by Sandro Magister. www.chiesa June 16, 2006.

  • A new volume published in Italian by Libreria Editrice Vaticana gathers key phrases pronounced by Benedict XVI in the first year of his papacy. Pensieri Spirituali (Spiritual Thoughts) gathers phrases chosen from his encyclical, homilies, meetings and audiences, and from moments when he spoke without notes. [Source: Zenit News. June 13, 2006].

  • From the Vol 9:2 -- Spring 2006 edition of LOGOS: Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture: The Church and the Secular Establishment: A Philosophical Dialog between Joseph Ratzinger and Jürgen Habermas, by Virgil Nemoianu. [.pdf format]

  • Lajolo and Kasper, Two New Additions to Team Ratzinger www.Chiesa June 7, 2006. Sandro Magister profiles archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Secretary for Relations with States (or the Vatican's foreign minister) and Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, discussing how their thought has developed in relation to "new course charted by pope Ratzinger."

    Those familiar with the RatzingerFanClub's archive will remember the frequent intellectual disputes between Ratzinger and Kasper on ecumenism (provoked by the publication of Dominus Iesus) and ecclesiology (see our special compilation on The Ratzinger-Kasper Debate). Consequently, to hear Magister speak of "the new “ratzingerian” course" charted by Kasper and a convergence of thought, particularly on ecumenism, is indeed an occasion for hope. Magister covered this same issue back in March 2005, in which he described an address by Kasper as "a cold shower for the Church's left wing." (Kasper and Kolvenbach, Converts to the Neocon Way www.Chiesa March 8, 2005).

    Incidentally, the Ratzinger Fan Club, was inspired by the outcry over Dominus Iesus, rallying in defense of the Cardinal against the vehement criticism of Cardinal Ratzinger which followed. Earlier this month, Gerald Augustinus (Closed Cafeteria) reminds us just what was so important about that document).

  • Even the Pope has Rights: The Vatican and Copyright Privileges, by Philip F. Lawler. Ignatius Insight May 2006. The editor of the Catholic World Report provides much-needed clarification on a topic about which there was much confusion and misinformation:
    In January a Vatican correspondent for La Stampa, Marco Tosatti, had received a bill from LEV, demanding payment of 15,000 pounds (at the time, about $18,400) for the use of material by Pope Benedict. Not coincidentally, it was Tosatti who led the editorial charge when La Stampa criticized the Vatican for asserting control of the Pope's intellectual-property rights.

    But Tosatti's use of Pope Benedict's written work was not a matter of a simple quotation or two. The Italian journalist had published a book entitled The Dictionary of Pope Ratzinger, composed almost entirely of the Pope's spoken and written words. In his preface to the book, Tosatti had assured readers: "Everything you will find here, beyond this introduction, comes from the pen or the voice of Joseph Ratzinger." In short, Tossati had tried to do precisely what he now charged Vatican officials with doing: make a profit by publishing the Pope's work.

    Lawler clarifies the nature and demands of the copyright policy of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV) and its affect on papal press and journalism.

  • Benedict Contra Nietzsche: A Reflection on Deus Caritas Est, by Benjamin D. Wiker. Crisis May 9, 2006:
    Deus Caritas Est is a declaration of war, and it is loaded with ammunition—much of it stealth in design, and of such power that the Church under Benedict XVI will certainly be the Church Militant. For while on the surface Benedict only seems to be offering a theological platitude, that “God is love,” hidden to the hasty eyes of the press, buried in the intricacies of his philosophical and theological analysis, obscured from all but those initiated into Benedict’s inner circle, he really is declaring that God is love.

    It will become clear—as we dig into the encyclical—that a more dangerous and constructive idea for our culture could not be imagined. It’s a brilliant strategy on Benedict’s part to hide so explosive a truth under a simple truism.

  • Meekness and courage of the Pope in Poland: Benedict XVI in the land of Karol Wojtyla, by Marco Tosatti. 30 Giorni [30 Days] May 2006. "Of Benedict XVI’s visit many different images remain in the memory: from the homage to his predecessor to the human warmth of the crowd. From the defense of Tradition to the solicitude of the visit to Auschwitz. An account by the Vatican expert of La Stampa."

    Also on trip to Poland: Pope Benedict's Apostolic Journey to Poland (May 25-28, 2006) - Compilation of papal addresses and photo gallery from the Vatican website.

    The American Papist of course offers a magnificent and extensive roundup in The Great Poland Post of 2006, while we took a concentrated look at Pope Benedict XVI, Auschwitz, and the Nature of Anti-Semitism Against The Grain May 30, 2006 (and will likely devote another post to follow-up discussion of the issue).

  • The Story of Joseph Ratzinger: "The difficult years", by Gianni Valente (in collaboration with Pierluca Azzaro). 30 Giorni [30 Days] May 2006. "Former colleagues and students speak of Professor Ratzinger on the theological campus of Tübingen. Where his unrepentant adhesion to the reforms of the Council was put to the test by clerical triumphalism and middle-class foot-dragging."

  • Pope to India; India to Pope - Interesting discussion on Amy Welborn's Open Book on Pope Benedict's May 18, 2006 address to Amitava Tripathi, India's new ambassador to the Holy See (in which he noted "the disturbing signs of religious intolerance which have troubled some regions [in India], including the reprehensible attempt to legislate clearly discriminatory restrictions on the fundamental right of religious freedom"); the indignant protest of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP); and the papal appointment of Cardinal Ivan Dias, formerly the Archbishop of Bombay, to Prefect of Evangelization of Peoples. Cardinal Ivan Dias - Source: India Daily

    If Cardinal Dias' personal opinion of Dominus Iesus is any indication, he is a man after Benedict's heart and the perfect guy for the job (Source: AmericanCatholic.Org:

    . . . Speaking to reporters in Rome shortly after [Dominus Iesus] was released, the then-archbishop said, "It is a reaffirmation of what we believe and what we think," namely that "Jesus is the only savior of the world."

    "We have a right to say who we are, and others can accept it or not," he said.

    Giving strength to the suspicion that the document was prompted particularly by the interreligious efforts of Asian theologians, and especially those working in India, he said clarity was needed in countries where the vast majority of people are not Christian.

    Sandro Magister has more:
    As the new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the pope has called an Indian, cardinal Ivan Dias, 70, who has been archbishop of Bombay for ten years, but before that served at the secretariat of state and as a diplomat in many countries, including Albania (his last diplomatic post), and before that South Korea, Ghana, Indonesia, and Sweden, without counting the dozens of countries he followed as a Vatican observer, including Russia, China, Vietnam, and South Africa. He has learned many languages, speaking eighteen fluently having some familiarity with others.

    But even though this skill is very much adapted to his role, it is not the only reason why Benedict XVI chose him as the new prefect of “Propaganda Fide.” Much more influential was the fact that cardinal Dias, who has an excellent understanding of the Eastern religions, has never surrendered to that “relativism” of faiths that Ratzinger condemned in 2000 with the most important of his actions as the cardinal custodian of doctrine, the declaration “Dominus Iesus.”

    As archbishop of Bombay, Dias has on a number of occasions complained of the fact that the Jesuits, excessively enthusiastic supporters of interreligious dialogue, play the master in the seminaries of India. His goal was to evangelize and convert, and each year he administered many baptisms. Before the last conclave he was listed among the candidates for the papacy, but in reality he was one of Ratzinger’s most resolute supporters.

    (The New Curia of Benedict XVI Looks toward Asia. www.Chiesa May 26, 2006; via Domenico Bettinelli, Jr.).

  • Pope Benedict, the Holy Grail and El Cid, by Robert Duncan. Spero News July 6, 2006. "Truth is, Benedict has a tough row to how in Valencia. He doesn't only have to worry about just the Holy Grail, but the whole Cathedral for that matter is fraught with imagery . . ."

    More from Robert on Pope Benedict's trip: Benedict in Spain: Church-State tensions heat up SperoForum.com [reprinted from National Catholic Register July 2-8, 2006]; while in Valencia, Benedict will be visiting the site of a tragic subway accident in Valencia, Spain that claimed the lives of 41 people.

On a Lighter Note . . .

  • Fr. Andrew Greeley:"Give B16 A Break!" - Jimmy Akin wonders, "is it just me or does it seem to anyone else that Fr. Andrew Greeley -- priest, novelist, sociologist, Catholic progressive -- is mellowing in his old age? A few months ago, he was in the press defending Francis Cardinal George of Chicago against unfounded allegations of apathy on the priest abuse issue; now he's come out swinging for Pope Benedict XVI."

  • Just another day at the square with some friends . . . San Peter's Square, that is, as Pope Benedict XVI leads a liturgy of Vespers on the eve of Pentecost Sunday. June 3, 2006. Argent by the Tiber has some great photographs, both of the Holy Father and the crowd's reaction.

  • Shouts in the Piazza has a great photo and caption of the Holy Father Outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

  • Baby Benedict gets Letter from Pope "The personalised note on Vatican headed-notepaper arrived on baby Benedict's doorstep after officials in Rome learned the tot had been named after the Pope, with whom he also shares a birthday." Lancanshire Evening Post June 28, 2006.

  • That's One Happy Pope - serene in the peace and love of Christ. Inspiring photos from Closed Cafeteria.

  • Another Pope Forum - Amy Welborn, longtime follower of The Papa Ratzinger Forum, announces her discovery of The Ratzinger Forum -- not exactly "run" by yours truly, the forum took on a life of its own with the election of Pope Benedict XVI and pretty much runs itself. Forum participation requires a (free) EzBoard account registration and formal application to the RFC Forum -- requiring a bit of patience, but verification measures were instituted due to some extremely perverse attempts at sabotage by those irate over the new Pope.

    Amy also points us to a darling photograph of the Pope's visit with the Polish president and a great video of the Pope with the Polish president's family and 3-year old granddaughter. Speaking of kids, Amy has another link to a photo and .mp3 of Jeremy Gabriel - the Canadian boy who sang for the Pope in May 2006.

  • Rocco Palmo on the question of who does the Pope root for in the World Cup?:
    . . . the Pope, together with his trusty secretary, Msgr Georg Ganswein, and the four laywomen of the Memores Domini who assist in the papal apartment, will be spending Tuesday night watching the World Cup semifinal pitting the German pontiff's native side against the Italians.

    This news comes from no less a source than Ganswein, who told the ADNKronos news agency that, indeed, Germany-Italy "is at the center" of discussion and interest in the papal apartments. A big-screen television is being brought in just for the occasion, to boot.

    But who's the Ratzi-Bear rooting for? While Ganswein readily admitted to waving the flag for Germany, and the MD contingent are hard-core Italy fans, he made it known that "The Pope is always impartial and will have as great a heart on Tuesday for Germany as for the team of blue," a reference to the Italian side.

  • And now for the latest bit of sheer idiocy from the "Catholic" fringe: What does Pope Benedict XVI have in common with President George Bush, Prince William, Paul McCartney, Bill Clinton, Metallica, The Beatles, and Spiderman?!? (Source: PrisonPlanet.com)?

    Pope Benedict XVI stands accused by the "Most Holy Family Monastery" of giving [the] El Diablo satanic sign [scroll down]:

    Below we see Benedict XVI giving El Diablo (the devil) sign. This satanic gesture is popular among Satanists and satanic rock groups. Many give this satanic hand gesture without knowing it because they’re taken over by the evil spirit. Some point out that the devil sign is similar to the hand gesture for “I love you” in sign language. That’s true, but that’s probably because the inventor of the deaf signing system, Helen Keller, was herself an occultist . . . Some believe that she designed the “I love you” sign to correspond with the devil sign so that one making it would be saying that he or she loves Satan.

    Regardless, we believe that below Benedict XVI is giving the devil sign – the double devil sign, in fact – and that he knows what he’s doing.

    Yeeeeeaaahhh.

That's all for this edition, folks. Be sure to check out regular coverage of Pope Benedict XVI by Michael Rose of the Papa Ratzi Post; coverage of Vatican affairs by Whispers in the Loggia and Shouts in the Piazza; John Allen Jr.'s Word from Rome and Sandro Magister (www.Chiesa).

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