uExpress.com: Maggie Gallagher by Maggie Gallagher -- (04/19/2005) POPE BENEDICT XVI

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04/19/2005

POPE BENEDICT XVI

We have a pope!

I heard the news on my car radio and quickly swerved into the local bar, just in time to get a glimpse of the former Cardinal Ratzinger, addressing the cheering crowds in St. Peter's Square. Even I could translate his first Italian words, his nod to the "the great John Paul II."

When I first heard the news, I felt, well, just happy. That vague void was filled; my momentarily headless family has been granted another holy father to lead us. We have a pope!

But as I scooted into the darkened bar and looked up at the television images, I felt a momentary shock of sadness as I looked our new holy father for the first time in the face. Such a nice face, but not his face. A new pope, yes, but never again John Paul.

The commentary was agonizing, as usual. On NPR, one clearly disappointed pundit talked about Pope Benedict XVI's "rigid" doctrinal conservatism. Another suggested "Torquemada the First" as the appropriate name. On ABC News, another disgruntled commentator worried that the crowd (which appeared to be cheering wildly) might be disappointed in his "awkward" manner, compared to John Paul II.

The Irish barmaid practically snorted in disgust at that one. "Oh, he looks like a nice old man, doesn't he?" she said in a thick brogue.

What kind of pope will this nice old man become?

One can perhaps find clues in two homilies he preached recently in Rome.

People concerned that Pope Benedict XVI will reverse John Paul's historic outreach to other religions and the world may find comfort in his homily at John Paul II's funeral:

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"I would like only to read two passages of today's liturgy which reflect the central elements of (John Paul's) message. In the first reading, St. Peter says -- and with St. Peter, the pope himself -- 'I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ -- he is Lord of all' (Acts of the Apostles 10:34-36). And in the second reading, St. Paul -- and with St. Paul, our late pope -- exhorts us, crying out: 'My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.'"

In the homily at the mass just before the conclave convened, then-Cardinal Ratzinger expounded on that second message in the funeral homily, "Stand firm in the Lord":

"A dictatorship of relativism is being built that recognizes nothing as definite, and which leaves as the ultimate measure only one's ego and desires ... Having a clear faith, according to the credo of the church, is often labeled as fundamentalism," he said. "Yet relativism, that is, letting oneself being carried 'here and there by any wind of doctrine,' appears as the sole attitude good enough for modern times."

What were the cardinals thinking in selecting such a man? My best guess is a recognition that, with the death of communism, the great challenge to the church comes from secularism. Benedict is the patron saint of Europe, where Christianity is in sad decline. Even in Italy, only 25 percent of Catholics attend mass weekly. Europe poses the question most starkly: How can the Catholic Church continue to respond to modernity, confidently and successfully?

I suspect (or perhaps merely hope) that Pope Benedict XVI understands that having large numbers of merely nominal Catholics is a recipe for continued despair and decline. Building authentic communities of vibrant faiths, creating Catholic institutions that can "grow the base," helping parents pass on the faith to their children, is the long-run solution to the disease of secularism.

(Readers may reach Maggie Gallagher at MaggieBox2004@yahoo.com.)