R.I.P. Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger

[Arneb]

Papa Emeritus Benedict XVI., died today, in his home in Vatican City, basically of old age. He was 95.

I violently disagree with most of what he believed and fiercely defended, but I must admit that I never found anything I read of and by him to be uninteresting, boring, or weakly argued, as so much theological writing is these days. There was one sharp mind, and one who knew how to handle language.

He was, it seems, quite inept at actually administering or leading anything, including his diocese in the 80s and the brooding quagmire of criminal dealing that is the Vatican Curia. That was probably the reason to resign the papacy in 2013, an unheard-of step for more than a 1000 years. I still chuckle at him pronouncing his stepping down in the most public manner, speaking before a crowd of several hundred people - and speaking effortlessly and fluently in a language most fitting the Catholic Church but which most nobody in the audience could understand, Latin. Not immune to vanity, he must have loved that.

Had he wiped the slate clean about his inaction, and that means: complicity, in the various cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests under his responsibility as Bishop of Munich and Freising in the eighties, named his mistakes, named names, and repented to the vicitms, named individually, one could have respected him as a Christian who knows that "mea culpoa, mea maxima culpa" must be more that a phrase sputtered out during mass. But he failed in that, too. For him, as for too many others, defending the Church is more important than living what that Church proclaims.

[Heid the Ba]

Well said.

[Lance]

for more than a 1000 years

Are those metric years? Because in Imperial years it's more like 600.

[Мастер]

for more than a 1000 years

Are those metric years? Because in Imperial years it's more like 600.

[Richard A]

Interestingly, he was the only Pope I actually met face to face - albeit at that time he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He did indeed have a sharp mind, even if one disagrees with much of what he defended.

Yes, he could - and should - have been open about his own complicity in the sexual abuse of minors in the Diocese of Munich when he was Bishop. But at least, once Pope, he did use his experience as head of the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to open the lid of the cesspit. He did not, as Arneb says, acknowledge his own complicity in it, but he did start an investigation that led to other priests being called to account. Hence he did not put the Church's reputation above absolutely everything else in the way that his predecessor John Paul II did. He could have done more - but equally, I think he could certainly have done less.

It was interesting to see how in Poland, which I visited several times during that period, the attitude to the Catholic Church changed at the beginning of his papacy. John Paul II was practically worshipped: once Communism fell, no Polish city of any note was complete without an Aleja Jana Pawla Wtorego and any disrespect whatsoever towards the Church whatsoever provoked decidedly stony faces. The Catholic Church was an unassailable core of Polish culture. (But then, some would still argue that Solidarity and all that followed could not have succeeded without it.) Then Karol Wojtyła passed and swiftly Joseph Ratzinger's Bavarian background inspired memes that were laughed at as heartily in Poland as anywhere else. "Once again, Germany occupies territory formerly held by Poland." Or my favourite, but practically blasphemous previously: a beer stein on the altar in place of the usual chalice. The current Polish government is well known to be seeking to restore the values of the now canonised John Paul, but I suspect that people taking to the streets in protest has been made thinkable at least in part by the shift that took place under Benedict, even before Francis built on that.

I like the joke that was told by German Catholic friends in the late 80s. A journalist had been granted an interview with John Paul II and at the end, said, "Your Holiness, I just have three final questions. Do you think the Catholic Church will ever allow abortion in certain circumstances?" The Pope slammed his fist on the table. "While I remain Pope, never!" "Do you think the Catholic Church will ever allow priests to marry?" The fist slammed down again. "While I remain Pope, never!" "OK, my final question. Do you think that after your passing, there will be another Pope from Poland?" There was a massive crash of thunder and a voice from the heavens roared, "WHILE I REMAIN GOD, NEVER!"

[Мастер]

Interestingly, he was the only Pope I actually met face to face

I have never met a pope.

Until a few months ago, I do not believe I had ever met a head of government. Since then, I have met a current, former, and future head of government.

I am told that as a toddler, I met someone who was trying to become a head of state and government, but after spending the day at my neighbour’s brother-in-law’s house, he had his head shot off, and thus failed to achieve his objective.

I have met plenty of people who were the heads of religious organisations, but most of them commanded few or exactly zero followers.

I perhaps misquote “The Life of Brian”.

Whatever happened to the Popular Front of Judea?

He’s over there.

[Heid the Ba]

I have met several past Moderators of the Church of Scotland, who admittedly don’t wield the same power as the Pope.

[Lianachan]

I have met zero popes and one former moderator of the Church of Scotland.

[Arneb]

for more than a 1000 years

Are those metric years? Because in Imperial years it's more like 600.

I can't stand it any more with those Imperial Years. Confused it again, dayum!

[Richard A]

LOL and then you find that even the non-metric world can't agree. Our pints are bigger than their pints - and should the Government ever succeed in bringing gallons back, they'll be bigger than their gallons.

[Arneb]

I like the joke that was told by German Catholic friends in the late 80s. A journalist had been granted an interview with John Paul II and at the end, said, "Your Holiness, I just have three final questions. Do you think the Catholic Church will ever allow abortion in certain circumstances?" The Pope slammed his fist on the table. "While I remain Pope, never!" "Do you think the Catholic Church will ever allow priests to marry?" The fist slammed down again. "While
I remain Pope, never!" "OK, my final question. Do you think that after your passing, there will be another Pope from Poland?" There was a massive crash of thunder and a voice from the heavens roared, "WHILE I REMAIN GOD, NEVER!"

I am pretty sure the honour of having told you this one goes to me.

[Richard A]

LOL Arneb, you may be right. It was either you or one of the group I did a project with in Speyer in 1988 or 1989.

But my point is, I don't think anyone would tell the joke with the punchline, "Will there ever be another pope from Bavaria?"