What is the Vatican Up To?

There's been an amazing amount of press around the Vatican recently - and in particular Pope Benedict XVI.

Earlier this week, I found myself reading an article in the National Post which was talking about the direction that Pope Benedict XVI wants to take the Catholic practice of the Liturgy. Sadly, I cannot find that article online, but its gist is this:

1. A return to the Mass in Latin
2. A move away from contemporary music as part of the Liturgy

From the perspective of an observer, this is an interesting development. Pope Benedict XVI has made it quite clear from the start that he's what we might euphemistically call a traditionalist. More and more, it appears that he desires a return to the Church of the High Middle Ages. It provokes an interesting question - why?

Then, poking around the Calgary Sun's editorial pages, I found the latest ranting from Bishop Fred Henry - Calgary's own "mini-Ratz". Once again, he is making all sorts of irrational assertions about same-gender marriage (SGM) which have exactly nothing to do with any reality. (Starting with trying to link it to some Hindu woman who married a snake in India - he gets less rational from there)

This morning, we start hearing the fears the RC Church has about being sued over their opinions about SGM, stem cell research and a host of other topics. Considering that the church has yet to take any real steps to deal with pedophiles in the priesthood, I find that worry on the Vatican's part both suspect and somewhat outrageous.

From a precedent standpoint, there's certainly risk that members of the clergy could find themselves in some serious hot water if they don't learn to couch their statements about things in terms of the scripture. Bishop Henry has already been the subject of a couple of complaints before the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, and there's probably going to be more if this most recent column of his is any indication.

A couple of things are becoming quite clear to me. First, the Pope is clearly bent on being far more politically active than any of his predecessors in recent memory. Second, is that the word is clearly being sent down the hierarchy for the ordained priesthood to become much more politically active. (Yes, Bishop Henry has a much longer track record of political activism than Pope Ratz, but I think we can look forward to seeing an awful lot of the RC clergy trying to inject themselves into the political dialogue of the land)

Why?

I suspect that the Pope has been watching the rise of conservative fundamentalism in the United States, and perceives that the world is "ripe" for a reintegration of church and state. From his point of view, the Church will be far more effective working from the top - the heads of state - down. Then he doesn't have to persuade the general population of his beliefs, but only a handful of legislators.