Damian Thompson
Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph.
The legacy of ex-Pope Benedict XVI, one of the most important pontiffs in Catholic history
It's over (Photo: Mazur/Catholic News Agency)
As of a few minutes ago, there is no Pope. The ring of the fisherman has been smashed and Joseph Ratzinger, although bearing the title of Pope emeritus, is now the retired Bishop of Rome. He has no power to rule on matters of faith and morals, infallibly or otherwise; he cannot create saints or even cardinals. This is his choice – sad, but the right one, given his declining health. Not that he seemed sad today: tired, but a serenely happy man, as he should be. As I've written before, he has great achievements to his name.
Let me try to sum up the pontificate of Benedict XVI from my perspective, paying attention to its failures as well as its successes.
Benedict's central achievement was that he began – but came nowhere near finishing – the "purification" of the Catholic Church that was his most pressing concern. This necessitated the reform both of the liturgy and of the behaviour of the clergy entrusted with its performance. It might seem strange to yoke together the two, but Ratzinger has always emphasised that liturgy – properly orientated worship of God – is the ultimate purpose of Catholicism, requiring a holy priesthood and laity.
Benedict saw himself as continuing the mission of his predecessor, John Paul II, to restore the divine dignity of the Eucharist by renewing the celebration of Mass and encouraging adoration of the Sacrament. The extraordinary scenes in Hyde Park during his visit to Britain in 2010 testified to his success – but his reluctance to bully bishops into following his suggestions meant that the mission was not fully fulfilled. (A little example that infuriates me: the Pope encouraged priests to celebrate Mass facing a standing crucifix. He himself did so at Westminster Cathedral, but the tall cross was quickly removed after he'd gone. Why?) Benedict also restored Catholics' freedom to attend the Tridentine Mass, suppressed in the 1970s – but, again, many bishops did their "la-la-la-can't-hear-you-Holy-Father" act and Summorum Pontificum has yet to be enforced.
Still, Pope Benedict must take credit for the reintroduction of solemnity to worship in many churches, leading by example to a greater extent than Blessed John Paul II, whose heroic travels exposed him to countless liturgical atrocities. Non-Catholics who think this is a side-issue do not understand Catholicism.
The outside world, understandably, is more concerned with the revolting lack of purity shown by countless Catholic priests towards young people. Cardinal Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, was a hardliner in his wish to see these cases dealt with severely. That does not mean – as he has been constantly reminded over the past eight years – that he acted effectively. He made mistakes himself; he was sneakily opposed by wretched cardinals who wanted to protect their friends; and having a near-senile Pope in office as the storm broke did not help. Once he became Pope, Benedict was quick to punish one of the most rancid sex abusers in Catholic history, Fr Marciel Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, now dead; one can't help wondering whether Pope John Paul, had he been still alive, would have ignored evidence and beatified the old monster. But Benedict could not cope with the deluge of abuse claims since 2005; he was old, the rotten structures of the curia remained largely untouched, and the world's bishops seemed to have learned little from previous scandals.
Nevertheless, a message was conveyed, however falteringly. The Vatican realised it had been sinfully negligent in its duties to protect innocent children. Benedict's own apologies were sincere; he did not shrink from shouldering the burden of the Church's shame.
I'm unqualified to assess the intellectual legacy of Benedict XVI. His encyclicals emphasised the joy of Catholicism, and he worked hard to establish – in crystal-clear prose – a rational basis for Christianity's vigorous engagement with the secular culture it helped shape. As he would be the first to admit, he built on foundations laid by the philosopher-pope John Paul II, whose mighty encyclical Veritatis Spendor remains the definitive Catholic defence of objective truth.
There was a sense, however, in which Benedict's relatively short pontificate was a necessary corrective to the epic spectacle of John Paul's reign. Joseph Ratzinger was not a superstar; rather, he was a thinker and writer of international repute whose personal modesty reminded Catholics that the office of St Peter is more important than its occupant. He has now demonstrated this in the most extraordinary way, by ceasing to be Pope. He leaves the Catholic Church in a fitter state than that in which he found it, though the flashbulbs surrounding disgraced prelates may obscure that fact. The cardinals electing the next Pope should have a fairly clear idea of the direction in which the Church should move, something that was lacking when I stood in St Peter's Square and heard, to my astonishment, the name of Joseph Ratzinger broadcast from the balcony. Benedict may have felt at times that the Lord was sleeping when he was steering the barque of Peter; but steer it he did, and into fresh waters.
No comments:
Post a Comment