May 01 , 2005
Ladies and Gentlemen: Pope Benedict XVI
New Pope’s conservative leaning staves off modernization for better or worse
By Chris St. Charles
QCF Magazine staff writer
As April came to an end the Vatican conclave chose a new pope. It should come as no surprise that the electors would pick Joseph Ratzinger, possibly the most conservative among an almost totally conservative conclave. All the hopeful talk about female priests, modern positions on birth control and Vatican-approved stem cell research has basically been extinguished. So what? Since the ascendence of John Paul II, the church has been forcefully moving against the grain of secular liberalization. So the question is not whether the Catholic Church will become modern, but rather, should it?
It should be noted that Ratzinger has a history of giving “equal time” in his admonishments. For example, in Latin America and Africa, areas that represent the most significant growth for the church, Ratzinger disciplined the “Liberation Theology” bishops who have urged their flocks to stand up to western oppression with violence, if necessary.
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In fact, only the American Catholics want serious doctrinal change, which makes sense considering the demands they are making mirror the overall secular culture. Further still, in a world where there is only one true super power, why shouldn’t the church bow to the needs of its wealthiest and most powerful congregants? One answer is that Rome doesn’t see America as its spiritual or financial future. Business Week Magazine has suggested the recent sex scandals alone cost the American Catholic Church nearly a billion dollars in settlements, but the more probable answer is the church feels it has found itself with a dire need to define what it views as the undeniable “Rock of Ages” truth, no matter what Dan Brown says.
Ratzinger is a man who has been termed in the New Republic, the “ Pope's intellectual tough guy.” His reluctance to modernity is based on his observations of the 1960s, an era marked by the phrase, “sex, drugs and rock and roll.” Ratzinger feels certain things are beyond open and free intellectual discussion.
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“I think that, in those years, I learned where discussion must stop because it is turning into a lie, and resistance must begin in order to maintain freedom," Ratzinger said to Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne in The New Republic.
The new pope is clear. Certain concepts are the truth, have always been the truth and will always be the truth. No further scientific revelation or social uprising can ever establish a new view of old truth. At this point, you can infer Ratzinger will never approve of artificial birth control, divorce, female priests, stem cell research or any sort of moderated position on abortion or euthanasia. The church is not going to change any time soon.
WHY DO AMERICAN CATHOLICS WANT CHANGE?
This is a question that has puzzled me my whole life. In Europe, Catholics, as well as most Christians from other denominations, have solved the problem by simply having the courage to abandon the dogma of their faiths in favor of a more personal spiritual relationship. Some have even gone the way of humanists. In the aforementioned burgeoning Latin American and African dioceses, the membership accepts the dogma without much grumbling, with the exception of the “Liberation Theology” advocates who have been already been brought into line. It is the Americans that want everything. They want to be Catholics, yet they want the doctrine of their chosen religion to suit there excessive needs. The fact that they demand this of Rome is no surprise; after all this is the country that invented Bud Light, Marlboro Lights and Diet Coke. Unfortunately for them, they have not found simpatico in Pope Benedict XVI. He wants them to know, once and for all, that Catholic Light does not exist. If you want that, become an Episcopalian. Or, if you’re like me, a half-assed Christian-Buddhist.
"The Podium" is Queen City Forum Magazine's opinion page. Guest writers and staff writers offer their take on social, political and life issues.
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