Obligatory Pope Post
Blogged by James Preece on 12th February 2013
As others have said, Pope Benedict XVI is/was the first Pope people of my generation really knew and experienced firsthand rather than just through stories.
I first encountered the then Cardinal Ratzinger through a tattered copy of The Ratzinger Report which I flicked through before being assured by everybody that such a man could never become Pope because of his outrageous views on which way altars ought to face etc. Oops.
While he failed to get in a plane and fly around the world sacking Bishops (unreasonable or what!?) he has succeeded over the last seven years in taking those outrageous unspeakable views and making them, if not mainstream, then at least speakable.
Those of us who grew up wondering why the grown ups had taken everything beautiful and smashed it found in him at last someone who would blow the dust off the old boxes in the attic and show us not how things used to be, but how things could be.
Pope Benedict took things that had been consigned to history and made them a gift to our generation.
I for one am very grateful.
Reader Comments
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Philip said...
and he sent us a good nuncio and nothing may be more important than that in the long run
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Catherine said...
Just as his predecessor is increasingly appreciated for having gifted the Church his great visionary catecheis on human love in the Divine Plan, so too in time will Joseph Ratzinger be appreciated for his astounding insights and beautiful truths in his commentary on the Saints through his general audiences as pontiff. John Paul II left us a theology of the body and Benedict XVI will have left us a spirituality of intimacy and a theology of friendship in Christ - the two legacies complementing one another perfectly. Above all though the hallmark of this abdicating pontiff has been the very thing that he himself attributed to Pope Paul VI. In his book ‘Co-Workers of the Truth.’ under the entry for June 27th, in commenting on the ceremony when he himself received the cardinal’s hat from Pope Paul VI, he writes; ‘..he [Paul VI] then spoke of the English cardinal John Fisher who received the scarlet robe in the prison where he was confined for having opposed the King’s power over the Universal Church as whose representative he regarded the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. We are reminded of the second aspect of [his] pontificate ..described in his first address to the world – “fidelitas” – fidelity ..[opposing] the superficial dichotomy of conservatism and progress, the so-often forgotten other dimension, fidelity, which is creative in its preservation of the Faith.’
No one can accuse pope Ratzinger of not having been creative in preserving the Faith. God reward him with a peace-filled time of rest and meditation.
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Sarah said...
Also the Orinariate, and at such a providential time. We split nearly 500 years ago over the redefinition of marriage and we are reunited at a time when marriage is being redefined again. Thank you Pope Benedict!
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Mockery of the Sacraments said...
The Holy Father made a brave decision. He saw the problems at the end of JPII's time & felt it was better to get out before he was no longer strong enough for the job. His sense of stewardship is to be respected.
The Ordinariate was an inspired move, poach some of the most committed members of a competitor church & bring them into the fold. Their traditionalist social views bolster those ranks within the RCC.
Long-term, as James has said in the OP, I think he will mostly be remembered for backing the revival of the Old Mass. I think the revival of latin, smells & bells gives the RCC something unique in Western Christianity. Could it be that B16's true legacy is that the seeker of the future may yet find his heart captivated by The Mass of Ages?
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Ora Pro Nobis said...
Hope you don't mind. I name checked you on the blog today and used a couple of sentences.
I think you have summed it all up brilliantly. Spot On!
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Sarah said...
Great post OPN!
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