Thoughts on a new Pope

With Canada's Parliament on the verge of self-destructing amid the allegations of the Gomery Commission, it seems an odd time to be reflecting on something as remote as the election of a new Pope. However, in the midst of Canada's governmental upheaval, events in the Vatican have gone ahead oblivious to our more local crisis. Last week, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elevated to the Papacy by his peers in the College of Cardinals.

I'm not a Roman Catholic, so it's not as though I feel any personal "bond" to the Pope. Frankly, I've often viewed the Papacy as substantially irrelevant to me. The edicts from the Vatican in Rome have often left me feeling that the Church leadership was so out of touch with my reality that it was largely irrelevant. However, the Roman Catholic Church holds an enormous political weight on the world stage, and the Pope is the man who sets the policy of the church, and directs its Cardinals, Bishops and Arch-Bishops who act as its representatives on the rest of the world. The Vatican's status in the United Nations as an Observer State gives it a political weight on the world stage, and one that influences all of us, Catholic or not.

Pope John Paul II did wonders for the Roman Catholic Church among the youth of the world. He was an eminently capable "show man" who seemed able to establish a connection with the youth generation. However, at the same time, it was under his direction that the Church policy hindered a great many otherwise positive movements in the world. The policy of pushing abstinence in Africa, and denying people in those countries the knowledge of how condoms could help prevent the spread of AIDS is one of the more glaring misuses of scriptural teaching in the context of the human price to be paid. Cardinal Ratzinger authored the following Letter about AIDS in his capacity of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Cardinal Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, oversaw the very body that has its roots in what used to be the Inquisition. If there was ever a body created by the Roman Catholic Church that abused its position and authority, it was the Inquisition. The never-ending search for "heresy" led the church to dispossess people of their lives, livelihoods, and worldly goods on the word of others whose self-interest was either preservation or aggrandizment. Although redefined and reconstituted many times over the centuries, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is hardly a body that stands tall in the Church's accomplishments. In University, I spent a good deal of time learning about the Inquisition and its work. After that experience, I came to the personal conclusion that the Roman Catholic Church owes the world an apology for its conduct during this period. (An apology that has never been made)

As the man responsible for "the purity of the faith", Cardinal Ratzinger has written many documents over the years that speak loudly to where he is going to lead the church. As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger has held perhaps the most inherently conservative part of the Church hierarchy. If past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour, then the world is in for a rocky period with Ratzinger in the Papacy.

Why? Consider the following list of writings, all of which are Ratzinger's own:

Dominus Iesus

This is a long document, but it essentially argues that "salvation" can only occur in the greater context of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Pope Benedict XVI has spoken of "listening" to the world, but it hardly makes it seem likely that the Roman Catholic Church under this Pope will make positive progress in its relationships with other faiths. If Pope Benedict XVI believes as Cardinal Ratzinger believed that other Churches are essentially "wayward children", there is little or no chance of any meaningful theological reconciliation between the different branches of the Christian faith, much less with practitioners of Islam.

Pastoral Letter on Homosexual Persons

This document refers to homosexual acts as "evil". It references back to documents that were written in the Church in the mid-1970s and earlier. Although the letter very cautiously hedges around the notion of "evil", claiming that homosexual acts are "evil" simply guarantees that most readers will read into it that homosexuals themselves are evil, and therefore should be persecuted/marginalized etc. (As Bishop Fred Henry has argued in the very recent past)

The letter I referenced earlier about AIDS is another example of how the good Cardinal has taken stances which are completely out of touch with the realities of the human experience.

You will observe, quite correctly, that these letters are quite old, dating back to the mid-1980s. Therefore, one could argue that perhaps Cardinal Ratzinger has moderated his views on the road that has led to his elevation to the Papacy. In response, I refer you to two more recent publications that bear his name:

1) A "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World"
2) "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons"

Cardinal Ratzinger is also known to have spoken out very strongly against "moral relativism", continuing the Church's ongoing stance of absolute "right and wrong" in the world. Unfortunately, the Church's absolutism is precisely the reason that there is a problem today. The Church continues to assert positions and believes based on archaic and disproven assumptions. It defends those positions on the basis of scripture and ignores the cold reality of the world that we live in today. A thousand years ago, it was a rare thing for someone from Europe to travel into the Middle East. Today, a journey like that is a plane ticket and a mere few hours away. The Internet allows people all around the world to communicate more readily than ever before, further reducing barriers. It is only in regions where the leadership actively supresses such open communication that the rigid belief systems of the Church continue to truly flourish in the day to day lives of the people.

Unless there is a serious change of heart happening as he settles into his new role as Pope Benedict XVI, the world is likely to be subjected to an ongoing, and ever more rigid interpretation of Catholic faith. The special status of Vatican State as an observer nation in the UN gives it a voice in the political and secular world of government. That voice is very troublesome. The Roman Catholic Church will continue to attempt to assert political sway over the laws and policies of the governments of the world. Religion has all too often served as a justification for war, aggression and abuse of people. To characterize people as evil, as the Roman Catholic Church has done repeatedly in the past (recent and distant) is not just troubling, but frustrating indeed.

I will refrain from the "Darth Ratzinger" gags that have been rippling about ever since he was elevated to Pope, however, I will watch his acts as Pope very carefully. I can hope that this man is capable of growing beyond what he has expressed this past year, but I have my doubts. Non-Catholics as well as Catholics have a legitimate reason to watch the leadership of the Catholic Church carefully.