The first , "Why Benedict Doesn't Connect", says Benedict puts feelings before intellect in one part, and calls him a cold fish in another. This is what happens when you are moral relativist with no attachment to logic. The media said the same negative things about Pope John Paul II, he was out of touch with twentieth century values, he was too rigid in adhering to Church doctrine, and he was not going to connect with American Catholics. They never admitted how wrong they were during his lifetime, and only praise John Paul in order to bash Benedict.They are useful idiots for the Culture of Death.
George Weigel, on the other hand, has a more cohesive take on the papacy of Benedict. He cites Pope John Paul II's June 1979 visit to Poland which ignited Solidarity and brought down Communism. The New York Times was skeptical.
The different personalities of John Paul II and Benedict XVI sometimes mask their shared (and unshakable) conviction that religious and moral ideas can redirect the course of human affairs. And that, in turn, suggests the possibility that Benedict XVI may have had his own "June 1979 moment"—a moment that was missed, or misunderstood, at the time.
That moment was the most controversial episode in Benedict XVI's pontificate: his Regensburg Lecture on faith and reason, delivered at his old German university on Sept. 12, 2006. (isn't that exactly five years after 9/11/2001?)By quoting a Byzantine emperor's sharp critique of Islam, Benedict XVI drew worldwide criticism. Others, however, including significant personalities in the complex worlds of Islam, took the pope's point about the dangers of faith detached from reason quite seriously. And over the ensuing 19 months, there have been potentially historic tectonic shifts going on, both within Islam and in the world of interreligious dialogue.
I refer to these tremors in this post, picked up by the Chicago Sun-Times. This shows amazing courage on the part of the elderly intellectual. I am burning to know what the Holy Father will discuss with President Bush in their private 45 minute conversation tomorrow.
HT Newsweek
1 comment:
I think the thing in all this coverage that has really ticked me off the most has been the awfully hackneyed comparisions between John Paul II and Benedict XVI, you know the one of JPII the "rock star" and BXVI the "rigid scholar". You think that there were more than a few of us who loved JPII because of what he actually had to say. (for me, reading his writings was a big influence on me coming into the Catholic Church) And we love Pope Benedict for the same reason.
Oh well, if even after 30 years some folks are still clueless about John Paul II, you can't expect them to "get" Benedict in three.
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