Theology of Pope Benedict XVI
Encyclopedia
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
letters on love
Deus Caritas Est
Deus Caritas Est is a 2006 encyclical—the first written by Pope Benedict XVI, in large part derived from writings by his late predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Its subject is love, as seen through a Christian perspective, and God's place within all love...
(2005), hope
Spe Salvi
Spe Salvi is an encyclical letter by Pope Benedict XVI promulgated on November 30, 2007 about the theological virtue of hope. The title comes from St. Paul's letter to the Romans...
(2007), and "charity in truth"
Caritas in Veritate
Caritas in Veritate is the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI and his first social encyclical. It was signed on June 29, 2009, and was published on July 7, 2009...
(2009), as well as apostolic
Apostolic constitution
An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope. The use of the term constitution comes from Latin constitutio, which referred to any important law issued by the Roman emperor, and is retained in church documents because of the inheritance that the canon law of the...
documents and various speeches and interviews. As Pope, Benedict XVI has wider responsibilities than previously. Therefore, it remains to be seen how the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI will develop theologically.
The theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger underwent developments over the years, many of which were characterized by his leadership position in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
, which is entrusted with preserving the Catholic faith in its entirety. His theology originated in the view that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
speaks to us through the Church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
today and not just through the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. The Bible is not a natural science textbook, but rather it is the essential testimonial of God’s revelation. One cannot get from it a scientific explanation of how the world arose; one can only glean religious experience from it. Thus Scripture would not wish to inform us about how the different species of plant life gradually appeared or how the sun and the moon and the stars were established. Its purpose ultimately would be to say one thing: God created the world.
The world is not a chaos of mutually opposed forces; nor is it the dwelling of demonic powers from which human beings must protect themselves. Rather, all of this comes from one power, from God's eternal Reason, which became—in the Word—the power of creation. All of this comes from the same Word of God that we meet in the act of faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
. The Bible was written to help us understand God's eternal Reason. The Holy Scripture in its entirety was not written from beginning to end like a novel or a textbook. It is, rather, the echo of God's history with his people. The theme of creation
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
is not set down once for all in one place; rather, it accompanies Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
throughout its history, and, indeed, the whole Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
is a journeying with the Word of God. In this respect, the Old and New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
belong together. Thus every individual part derives its meaning from the whole, and the whole derives its meaning from Christ. The Bible is constantly readapting its images to a continually developing way of thinking. In this way, a gradual and interactive process reveals something deeper and greater. We Christians do not read the Old Testament for its own sake but always with Christ and through Christ.
The theology of Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessors, intends to present and the Word of GodWord of God
Word of God or God's Word may refer to:*Divine revelation**certain Religious texts**Prophecy**Biblical literalism*Logos as "divine word"** in biblical creation, see Genesis creation narrative**in trinitarianism, see Jesus Christ the Logos...
to his time. As Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and Bishop of Rome he explains the message of Jesus Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, utilizing in part the array of theological analysis, methods and axioms, for which he is well known. To some this raises the question of the relation of Pope—theologian and of the distinction of papal teaching and theological point of view. Nevertheless, official theological statements such encyclical letters constitute part of the theology of Pope Benedict XVI.
God is Love
In his first Encyclical as Pope, Deus Caritas EstDeus Caritas Est
Deus Caritas Est is a 2006 encyclical—the first written by Pope Benedict XVI, in large part derived from writings by his late predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Its subject is love, as seen through a Christian perspective, and God's place within all love...
Benedict XVI describes God as love, and talks about the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others through acts of charity.
His letter has two parts. A theological speculative part, in which he describes "the intrinsic link between that Love and the reality of human love". The second part deals with practical aspects, and calls the world to new energy and commitment in its response to God's love.
Benedict writes about love of God, and considers this important and significant, because we live in a time in which "the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence":
Benedict develops a positive view of sex and Eros in his first encyclical, which finally does away with the traditional Victorian view of the human body. Love between men and women is a gift of God, which should not be exploited:
Nowadays Christianity of the past is often criticized as having been opposed to the body; and it is quite true that tendencies of this sort have always existed. ... but ... Eros, reduced to pure "sex", has become a commodity, a mere "thing" to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity. This is hardly man's great "yes" to the body. On the contrary, he now considers his body and his sexuality as the purely material part of himself, to be used and exploited at will.
By admitting negative Church attitudes towards the human body he sets a new tone. By referring to the erotic Song of Songs, Benedict XVI stresses caring for the other in a most sensual way and thus openly transcends the traditional Catholic procreation view of sex. Unlike previous writings of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
, the document of Pope Benedict does not contain condemnations, indicating a more pastoral approach of the new Pope. At the same time, his discussion of love is implicitly within the confines of conjugal relationships.
Faith-based hope
In his second letter, Spe SalviSpe Salvi
Spe Salvi is an encyclical letter by Pope Benedict XVI promulgated on November 30, 2007 about the theological virtue of hope. The title comes from St. Paul's letter to the Romans...
Benedict XVI explains the concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early Church. Benedict suggests a redirection of often short-sighted hopes. Real hope must be based on faith in God. God is love. Christ, the most manifest expression of God's love, dies on the cross not to end slavery, miseries or other temporal problems.
Benedict argues in his letter against two mistaken notions of hope: 1.) Christians who may have focused their hopes too much on their own eternal salvation, and 2.) those who have placed their hope exclusively on science, rationality, freedom and justice for all, thus excluding any notion of God and eternity. Christians find lasting hope by finding their loving God, and this has real consequences for everyday life:
Benedict refers to St. Paul, who wrote from prison "Paul is sending the slave back to the master from whom he had fled, not ordering but asking: 'I appeal to you for my child ... whose father I have become in my imprisonment ... I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart ... perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother'" (Philem 10–16). He refers then to the Letter to the Hebrews, which says that Christians here on earth do not have a permanent homeland, but seek one which lies in the future (cf. Heb 11:13–16; Phil 3:20).
To Benedict, this does not mean for one moment that they lived only for the future: present society is recognized by Christians as an exile; they belong to a new society which is the goal of their common pilgrimage and which is anticipated in the course of that pilgrimage. A Christian has a present and future, because of the hope for Jesus Christ, which is life changing. All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. This hope gives a realistic perspective to understanding suffering and helping others: We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater.
Benedict believes that not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering are we healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.
The Eucharist and the Church
In a special letter on the Eucharist and the Church, Benedict describes the Eucharist, causal principle of the Church.He opines that the Church was founded by Christ in the sacrifice of the Cross. At the same time, he describes the Church as his Bride and his body. This concept, the Church as the mystical body of Christ, goes back to St. Paul and has been subject to many conversations by The Fathers of the Church but also more recently at Vatican II.
A contemplative gaze "upon him whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37) leads us to reflect on the causal connection between Christ's sacrifice, the Eucharist and the Church. The Church "draws her life from the Eucharist" (31). Since the Eucharist makes present Christ's redeeming sacrifice, we must start by acknowledging that "there is a causal influence of the Eucharist at the Church's very origins." The Eucharist is Christ who gives himself to us and continually builds us up as his body. Hence, in the striking interplay between the Eucharist which builds up the Church, and the Church herself which "makes" the Eucharist, the primary causality is expressed in the first formula: the Church is able to celebrate and adore the mystery of Christ present in the Eucharist precisely because Christ first gave himself to her in the sacrifice of the Cross. The Church's ability to "make" the Eucharist is completely rooted in Christ's self-gift to her.
What does this mean? According to Benedict, the Eucharist which is union with Christ has a profound impact on our social relations. Because "union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own."
Theology, science and the dialogue with other cultures
In an address to the faculty at the University of RegensburgRegensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, Germany, Benedict discussed the preconditions for an effective dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
with Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and other cultures. This requires a review of theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
. The Pope considers the modern concept of science too narrow in the long run, because it allows the determination of "certainty
Certainty
Certainty can be defined as either:# perfect knowledge that has total security from error, or# the mental state of being without doubtObjectively defined, certainty is total continuity and validity of all foundational inquiry, to the highest degree of precision. Something is certain only if no...
" only from the interplay of mathematical and empirical elements. "Anything that would claim to be science must be measured against this criterion. Hence the human sciences, such as history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, attempt to conform themselves to this canon of science".
This limited view of scientific method excludes the question of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, making it appear an unscientific or pre-scientific question. For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
ity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction
Restriction
Restriction may refer to:* Restriction , an aspect of a mathematical function* Restrictions , an album by Cactus* Restriction enzyme, a type of enzyme that cleaves genetic material...
of our listening and responding.
Benedict acknowledges "unreservedly" the many positive aspects of modern science, and considers the quest for truth as essential to the Christian spirit, but he favours a broadening our narrow concept of reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
and its application to include philosophical and theological experiences, not only as an aim in itself but so we may enter as a culture the dialogue with the other religions and cultures from a broader perspective
Perspective (cognitive)
Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another...
:
This objective of Pope Benedict XVI has so far not been widely reviewed.
Congregation of Faith
Ratzinger became known as a theologian through his position at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
, which he headed until his election to the Papacy. It has been frequently overlooked that he opened up his congregation to theological and historical research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
, by providing greater access to the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican , commonly referred to as the Archive of the Inquisition , contains the Catholic Church's documents dealing with doctrinal and theological issues related to church...
. On January 22, 1998 the Ratzinger congregation made publicly available all Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
archive documents dated before and up to the death of Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
in 1903.
In absence of a large body of papal teachings of Benedict XVI, the Ratzinger theology is often cited. While there are likely to be many similarities between the teachings of Benedict and Ratzinger, the theology of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has been somewhat unique because of his "watchdog" office, which required him to address a larger variety of issues. This differentiated Ratzinger from virtually all other bishops or cardinals, except of course, the Holy Father himself. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was much on his own, since he had only a small staff at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
.
Young Ratzinger was something of a "rebel", who early on discarded the Thomism
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
of his professors and much of the dominant traditional school theology. He viewed the early proposals for Vatican II, "as narrow, stiff and insufficiently pastoral." Only in the seventies, Ratzinger felt that he had finally developed his own theological view.
Karl Rahner's question
This "own theological view" has raised questions by critical liberal theologians, like Hans KüngHans Küng
Hans Küng is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic . Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing", but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology...
and Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner, SJ was a German Jesuit and theologian who, alongside Bernard Lonergan and Hans Urs von Balthasar, is considered one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century...
.
Karl Rahner raises these issues. Does the Prefect defend "only" the official Magisterium
Magisterium
In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome , who has authority over the bishops,...
, Church teachings within the framework of Canon Law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
? If so, he is clearly speaking for the Church and not on his own. Does he in so-called gray areas of theology, questiones disputatae, where the Magisterium has not ruled, impose his theological view on others?
Ratzinger's own theological view began with an open rebellion against powerful established thomist theology.
Divine revelation
It all began with the "drama of my dissertation", as he called it, a seemingly unimportant postdoctoral degree on BonaventureBonaventure
Saint Bonaventure, O.F.M., , born John of Fidanza , was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the...
, which he was almost denied because of serious reservations of some conservative professors with his interpretation of divine revelation.
Ratzinger held that God reveals and revealed himself in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and throughout history and not just once to the authors of the Bible
Authors of the Bible
The various books of the Jewish and Christian Bibles were the work of many persons over many centuries. While most biblical books have traditional authors ascribed to them, biblical scholars regard few of the books in either the Jewish or Christian Bibles as being the work of the individuals whose...
. He further held that the static bible-based concept of divine revelation was nonexistent in the thirteenth century. Ratzinger contradicted traditional Catholic theology, which led to a bitter fight. Ratzinger passed after hours of heated debate, just barely. But he had established himself as an independent thinker.
His theology on revelation was discussed during Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. In Rome he continued the view that revelation, meaning God communicates with us, is always more than can be expressed in purely human words. God’s revelation is not a big cold stone fallen from heaven many years ago, a stone which only needs to be dissected and analyzed. God has a living message to us.
Theology of covenant
In his theology of covenantCovenantal Theology (Roman Catholic)
Covenantal theology is a distinctive approach to Catholic biblical theology stemming from the mid-twentieth century recovery of Patristic methods of interpreting Scripture by scholars such as Henri de Lubac...
, Benedict provides a unified interpretation of Scripture centered on the person and work of Jesus, with implications ranging from the Eucharist to the proper understanding of ecumenism. Benedict holds that Christology must be rooted the covenantal theology of the New Testament, which is grounded in the unity of the entire Bible. In this covenantal theology, the Abrahamic covenant, as fulfilled by the new covenant, is seen as fundamental and enduring, whereas the Mosaic covenant is intervening (Rom. 5:20). The covenantal promises given to Abraham guarantee the continuity of salvation history, from the patriarchs to Jesus and the Church, which is open to Jews and Gentiles alike. The Last Supper served to seal the new covenant, and the Eucharist is an ongoing reenactment of this covenant renewal. Following the Letter to the Hebrews, Benedict describes Jesus death, along with the Eucharist, in which the blood of Jesus is offered to the Father, as the perfect realization of the Day of Atonement (cf. Heb. 9:11–14, 24–26).
Role of the Church
To comprehend God's ongoing revelation is why the Church is important at all ages. Benedict's view of the church, ecclesiologyEcclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
places much emphasis on the Catholic Church and its institutions, as the instrument by which God's message manifests itself on Earth: a view of the Church's universal worldwide role which tends to resist local pressure to submit to external social trends in specific countries or cultures.
As such, like all his predecessors, he does not view the search for moral truth as a dialectic and incremental process, arguing that essential matters of faith and morals are universally true and therefore must be determined at the universal level: "the universal church ... takes precedence, ontologically and temporally, over the individual local churches. " Accordingly, too, he was often seen as a key player in the centralization of the hierarchy under John Paul II.
Role of liturgy
The ongoing revelation of God is also the reason why Pope Benedict XVI puts so much emphasis on sacred liturgyLiturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, and why he abhorred often tasteless experiments with it. To him the crisis of the Church is a crisis of the liturgy, in which clergy and community too often backslap and celebrate each other and themselves, almost as if God did not exist.
To Pope Benedict XVI, liturgy means openness to God, community of faith, worldwide unity with the Church and its history; it means “celebrating the mystery of the living Christ”. To get there, Ratzinger calls for an almost revolution like liturgical movement
Liturgical Movement
The Liturgical Movement began as a movement of scholarship for the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church. It has grown over the last century and a half and has affected many other Christian Churches, including the Church of England and other Churches of the Anglican Communion, and some...
to rekindle the spirit of Vatican II. Not surprisingly at one of the first masses of his pontificate he urged Catholics to show a greater devotion
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
to the "Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
ic Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. "
Continuity of Vatican II
This Ratzinger quote on the liturgical reform of the council is symbolic for his interpretation of Vatican II. He has spoken only positively about the Vatican II council, but differentiated between the council and a spirit of the council, which has nothing in common with its texts and resolutions. As noted above, believes that essential elements of the Council, such as the spirit if liturgy still need to materialize and has shown no evidence that he intends to reverse or limit the decisions of that council. He has, however, stated in books and interviews that Vatican II did not represent a radical break; a new age, but a more pastoral reformulation of old truths earlier doctrine, but applied the teachings of the Apostles and church fathersChurch Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
to the contemporary world. Indeed the council documents quoted 205 times the allegedly conservative Pope Pius XII more than any other person. Benedict has also spoken out against some post-conciliar innovations, especially liturgical novelties, which forget their purpose, and he continues to remind the faithful that the Council did not entirely do away with the former rite and many of its noble features.
In the pre-conclave mass to the assembled cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
, he warned, "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism
Relativism
Relativism is the concept that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration....
which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires."
Other theological opinions
Pope John Paul II and Benedict have strongly opposed liberation theologyLiberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
as a political movement. Benedict has acknowledged the good aspects of charismatic Catholicism while at the same time "providing some cautions. "
Benedict is a theologian in a modern orthodox (conservative) vein. His theology aims at a synthesis of Thomism
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
, philosophical personalism
Personalism
Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...
(with such proponents as Martin Buber
Martin Buber
Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....
, John Paul II—tempered however by phenomenology, and, more recently, Leon Kass
Leon Kass
Leon Richard Kass is an American physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual, best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research, and for his...
) and the 'Nouvelle Théologie
Nouvelle Théologie
Nouvelle Théologie is the name commonly used to refer to a school of thought in Catholic theology that arose in the mid-20th century, most notably among certain circles of French and German theologians...
' of Henri de Lubac
Henri de Lubac
Henri-Marie de Lubac, SJ was a French Jesuit priest who became a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century...
and Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar was a Swiss theologian and priest who was nominated to be a cardinal of the Catholic Church...
. This is a sharp contrast with the school of thought, until recently ascendant in the theological academy of Europe and the United States, represented by Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner, SJ was a German Jesuit and theologian who, alongside Bernard Lonergan and Hans Urs von Balthasar, is considered one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century...
, Hans Küng
Hans Küng
Hans Küng is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic . Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing", but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology...
, and Edward Schillebeeckx.
Dialogue with other faiths
Cardinal Ratzinger's approach to ecumenical dialogue was fundamentally centered on his theology of covenantCovenantal Theology (Roman Catholic)
Covenantal theology is a distinctive approach to Catholic biblical theology stemming from the mid-twentieth century recovery of Patristic methods of interpreting Scripture by scholars such as Henri de Lubac...
, as described in his work Many Religions—One Covenant: Israel, the Church, and the World (1999). In 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document entitled Dominus Iesus
Dominus Iesus
Dominus Iesus is a declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was approved in a Plenary meeting of the Congregation, and bears the signature of its then Prefect, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and of its then Secretary, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, now...
, which created a lot of controversy. Some religious groups took offense to the document because it allegedly stated that "only in the Catholic Church is the eternal salvation. " However this statement appears nowhere in the document. The document condemned "relativistic theories" of religious pluralism and described other faiths as "gravely deficient" in the means of salvation. The document was primarily aimed at reining in liberal Catholic theologians like Jacques Dupuis, who argued that other religions could contain God-given means of salvation not found in the Church of Christ, but it offended many religious leaders. Jewish religious leaders boycotted several interfaith meetings in protest.
Other Christian denominations
A remarkable but unappreciated aspect of Dominus Iesus can be found in the official Latin text, in which the famous "filioque" clauseFilioque clause
Filioque , Latin for "and the Son", is a phrase found in the form of Nicene Creed in use in the Latin Church. It is not present in the Greek text of the Nicene Creed as originally formulated at the First Council of Constantinople, which says only that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father":The...
("and the Son") is quietly omitted. The changed Latin sentence reads "Et in Spiritum Sanctum (…), qui ex Patre procedit" ("and in the Holy Spirit (…), who proceeds from the Father") instead of "qui ex Patre Filioque procedit" ("who proceeds from the Father and the Son"). The filioque clause has been a source of conflict between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church for about one thousand years. Leaving it out may be seen as Ratzinger's attempt to reach a hand across the theological/historical chasm separating Eastern and Western Churches. The Dominus Iesus also went on to state that any church outside of the Catholic Church "lacks the means of Salvation" stating that the Catholic Church is the one true church. In 2007, the Pope approved a document which stated that Orthodox churches were defective because they did not recognize the primacy of the Pope, and that other Christian denominations were not true churches because they lacked apostolic succession; a move which sparked criticism from Orthodox and Protestant denominations.
Ratzinger's election as pope was met with enthusiasm from many prominent Anglicans. The Archbishop of Canterbury described Ratzinger as "a theologian of great stature, who has written some profound reflections on the nature of God and the church". Scotland's senior Anglican Bishop Idris Jones also had a positive view of the new pope and stated "I offer the warmest of welcomes to the new Pope…under his leadership the church will continue to work for the poor and underprivileged in the world. " However, a council of Bishops rejected the Pope's view of Catholic authority which was mirrored by Benedict's refusual to alter the Catholic position on refusing to recognise the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
Judaism
Even before becoming pope, Benedict advocated a "special relationship" between the Roman Church and the Jewish faith. Some Jewish organisations, such as the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Union of Reform Judaism, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, believe Ratzinger was responsible for Pope John Paul II's attempts to improve Jewish-Catholic ties. However, Pope Benedict did create some controversy when he said that the Church is waiting for the moment when Jews will “say yes to Christ. ” He went on to say, "We believe that. The fact remains, however, that our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the Messiah of Israel. ”Islam
Pope Benedict XVI has called for Christians "to open their arms and hearts" to Muslim immigrants and "to dialogue" with them on religious issues. The Pope also calls on peaceful talk with Muslims and was against the War in Iraq and is gravely concerned about events around the Middle East.Buddhism
Though his advent was congratulated by Buddhist leaders around the world, critics remembered that in March 1997 Cardinal Ratzinger predicted that BuddhismBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
would, over the coming century, replace Marxism as the main "enemy" of the Catholic Church. Some also criticized him for calling Buddhism an "autoerotic
Autoeroticism
Autoeroticism is the practice of stimulating oneself sexually. The term was popularized toward the end of the 19th century by British sexologist Havelock Ellis, who defined autoeroticism as "the phenomena of spontaneous sexual emotion generated in the absence of an external stimulus proceeding,...
spirituality" that offered "transcendence without imposing concrete religious obligations", though that might be a mistranslation from the French auto-erotisme, which more properly translates to self-absorption, or narcissism
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
. Also the quote did not address Buddhism as such, but rather about how Buddhism "appears" to those Europeans who are using it to obtain some type of self-satisfying spiritual experience.
Past and present views on social issues
Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was a well-known and quite controversial figure inside and outside the Catholic Church. Ratzinger's own interpretation of his theology is of course not known or shared by everyone. To some he is a traditional conservative unwilling to bend to the times: To this view, Ratzinger's theology is based on his early works, staunch Catholicism and ancient TraditionTradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
. According to this often held view, Benedict has made clear that he intends to preserve the Church doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
and not give in to modern pressures for change to fundamental dogma and teaching on such issues as birth control, abortion, and homosexuality. It is also noted, that the Pope has a strong opposition to moral relativism
Moral relativism
Moral relativism may be any of several descriptive, meta-ethical, or normative positions. Each of them is concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures:...
, which he sees as producing views ranging "from one extreme to the other: from Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
to liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, even to libertinism; from collectivism
Collectivism
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...
to radical individualism; from atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
to a vague religious mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
; from agnosticism
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
to syncretism
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
, and so forth."
Benedict XVI's views appear to be similar to those of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, in maintaining the traditional positions on birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and promoting Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
. Benedict has criticized genetic manipulation
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
and the cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of human embryos. He has said that even "good goals" cannot justify such means. Benedict, in his most recent book, indicated that evolution, although more than a theory, was still not and as a scientific theory could not be definitively proven and that in any case, the creation and evolution of the universe and its matter could not comprehensively be explained by empirical, existential, logical methods of science – necessitating other disciplines like philosophy and theology to fill in where science could not be wholly applied or where questions were not solveable by, or in the realm of, the sciences.
Although teaching opposition to death penalty, he has stated that there may be among Catholics a "legitimate diversity of opinion"
He has also defended the traditional Church position on the indissolubility of marriage and thus rejected that the divorced be allowed to remarry during their spouses' lifetime. In a 1994 letter to the bishops he said that those who do so are not in a state to receive communion.
Ratzinger has maintained that the Catholic Church does not possess the authority to ordain women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
to the priestly sacramental ministry
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
(the Vatican, and the Catholic Church by extension, have long held that this is shown by Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
's choosing only men as apostles, saying this was the constant practice and consistent teaching of the Church).
During the 1980s, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he criticized liberation theologians
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
and twice silenced proponent Leonardo Boff
Leonardo Boff
Leonardo Boff was born 14 December 1938 in Concórdia, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. He is a theologian, philosopher and writer, known for his active support for the rights of the poor and excluded....
.
In The Spirit of the Liturgy in 2000, Ratzinger attacked Rock and Roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
as "the expression of elemental passions" and described some rock concerts as becoming "a form of worship … in opposition to Christian worship. " However, he is a great lover of classical and folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, and included much new music into his recent pastoral visit to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
.
While one needs to differentiate between pure theology and derived social teachings such as birth control and homosexuality, it is obvious, that, as with his predecssors, the often pointed positions of Benedict XVI are not without controversy
The dignity and inclusion of gays
For several decades, questions have been raised, especially in the USA and Western Europe, regarding the access of gays to Catholic services as an indication of their non-discrimination. The Church under Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger took the position based on the traditional MagisteriumMagisterium
In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome , who has authority over the bishops,...
of the Catholic Church, that while confirming respect for individuals, and showing "great respect for these people who also suffer", gay services are not to be tolerated and that Church facilities cannot be made available.
Homosexuality and LGBT rights
LGBT rights advocates widely criticized his 1986 letter to the Bishops of the Church, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual PersonsOn the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons
The Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, is a letter to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Roman Catholic Church written in 1985 and delivered in Rome on 1 October 1986 by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and...
, in which he stated that "although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder." However, then Cardinal Ratzinger also said: "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs."
In a separate letter dated September 30, 1985, Ratzinger reprimanded Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen
Raymond Hunthausen
Raymond Gerhardt Hunthausen is a retired American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Helena from 1962 to 1975 and as Archbishop of Seattle from 1975 to 1991.-Early life and education:...
for his unorthodox views on women, homosexuals, and doctrinal issues, stating, "The Archdiocese should withdraw all support from any group, which does not unequivocally accept the teaching of the Magisterium
Magisterium
In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome , who has authority over the bishops,...
concerning the intrinsic evil of homosexual activity. " Archbishop Hunthausen was temporarily relieved of his authority.
Same-sex marriage and gay adoption
The Pontiff also holds the traditional Catholic views on same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
; in 2004 he said to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica "Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living (also including those who wish to try to be gay and celibate). On the other hand, to create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people." The Pope later described gay marriage as "pseudo-matrimony" and declared that "The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages…by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom that wrongly passes for true freedom of man."
Benedict XVI is also against gay couples adopting children; he wrote a Vatican paper concerned with the adoption of children into same-sex couples. "Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development. "
AIDS
In 1988 a debate within the Catholic Church over the use of condomCondom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
s to prevent AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
sparked controversy again. The Church in 1968 had already stated in Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and issued on 25 July 1968. Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the continuing proscription of most forms of birth...
that chemical and barrier methods of contraception went against Church teachings. The debate was over the different issue of whether or not condoms could be used, not as contraceptives, but as a means of preventing the spread of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In 1987, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic...
issued a document suggesting that education on the use of condoms could be an acceptable part of an anti-AIDS program.
In response, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that such an approach "would result in at least the facilitation of evil" – not merely its toleration. For the full text of the letter, see: On "The Many Faces of AIDS" (See also Karol Wojtyla's-the future Pope John Paul II's- Love and Responsibility
Love and Responsibility
Love and Responsibility is a book written by Karol Wojtyła before he became Pope John Paul II and was originally published in Polish in 1960 and in English in 1981....
). Critics argue that Ratzinger's approach would lead to increases in the frequency of HIV/AIDS infections, while many Catholics dispute this and emphasize the value of faithful relationships or chastity
Chastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
, as it is scientifically impossible to contract the disorder without having sex with an infected person, unless via some other means such as a blood transfusion or sharing a needle.
Abortion and politics
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, during the 2004 presidential campaign, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that voters would be "cooperating in evil" if they voted for a political candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on legalized abortion
Abortion law
Abortion law is legislation and common law which pertains to the provision of abortion. Abortion has been a controversial subject in many societies through history because of the moral, ethical, practical, and political power issues that surround it. It has been banned frequently and otherwise...
or euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
. He further stated, however, that voting for these candidates for other reasons of commensurate gravity in spite of their stand concerning abortion/euthanasia was justifiable in principle. Ratzinger generated further controversy by supporting the denial of Holy Communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
to these politicians. He did add, however, that bishops should only withhold communion after meeting with, teaching and warning politicians first.
Treatment of animals
Although not a vegetarian, the new Pope has spoken about the exploitation of all beings, particularly of farmed animals. When he was asked about cruelty to animals in a 2002 interview, he said, "That is a very serious question. At any rate, we can see that they are given into our care, that we cannot just do whatever we want with them. Animals, too, are God's creatures… Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible." Cardinal Ratzinger was echoing official church teachings laid out in the Catholic Catechism, which states clearly that “"Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with His providential care. By their mere existence they bless Him and give Him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals... It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly." {Pope Benedict XVI. God and the world: a conversation with Peter Seewald. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002; 78} http://www.ignatius.com/Products/GODW-P/god-and-the-world.aspx?src=iinsightPolitics and other issues
"There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq," he said on a press conference in 2003. "To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a 'just warJust War
Just war theory is a doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin, studied by moral theologians, ethicists and international policy makers, which holds that a conflict ought to meet philosophical, religious or political criteria.-Origins:The concept of justification for...
'.
According to CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Ratzinger has condemned Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
by calling the Soviet Union "a shame of our time", and unbridled capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
by saying, "We must coordinate the free market with the sense of responsibility of one towards the other." He has repeatedly criticized the materialization of life and the "greed society".
In the spring of 2005 Pope Benedict opposed a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, which aimed at liberalising
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
a restrictive law about artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
and embryonic stem cell research. This was the first direct intervention in Italian politics since the collapse of the Democrazia Cristiana party. The most active person inside the Church was Cardinal Camillo Ruini, but Benedict XVI gave him clear support.
Particular controversy was stirred up by the Italian clergy's strategy of restraining Italians from voting. Since the referendum had been called on a summer weekend, turn out was expected to be low. Not voting would have helped invalidate the referendum, which needed to reach a quorum
Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group...
of 50% of voters, whereas voting "No" (i. e. to maintain the current legislation) might have helped reaching it, making the referendum valid and therefore actually helping the "Yes" advocates. Critics of this tactic argue that this misplaced non-voters into the "No" front, though the same could be said the other way around. It was also alleged that it hampered the secrecy of the vote.
Harry Potter books
A short (three-sentence) letter from Cardinal Ratzinger to GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
writer Gabriele Kuby dated March 7, 2003 (quoted here in unofficial English translation) thanked her for sending him a copy of her "informative" book. "It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because these are subtle seductions which act imperceptibly and thereby deeply, and dissolve Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly. " Kuby's book, Harry Potter; Gut oder böse? ("Harry Potter; Good or evil?", ISBN 3-928929-43-7), was about the literary phenomenon of Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
, and sought to prove that the Harry Potter books would "corrupt" the religious spirit of young generations and to refute the rumours that Pope John Paul II liked the series. Kuby later asked permission to refer to this comment, which was given.
Much was made of this in some media circles after the letter was posted on the web in 2005. Catholic commentators noted that it was not binding on Catholics, and expressed various opinions on Harry Potter.
Galileo affair
In 1990 Ratzinger commented on the Galileo affairGalileo affair
The Galileo affair was a sequence of events, beginning around 1610, during which Galileo Galilei came into conflict with the Aristotelian scientific view of the universe , over his support of Copernican astronomy....
, and quoted philosopher Paul Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend
Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades . He lived a peripatetic life, living at various times in England, the United States, New Zealand,...
as saying that the Church's verdict against Galileo had been "rational and just". Two years later, in 1992, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and conceded that theologians of the time erred with their understanding that literal interpretation of scripture imposes physical understanding of the natural world. In January 2008 Ratzinger cancelled a visit to La Sapienza University in Rome, following a protest letter signed by sixty-seven academics which said he condoned the 1633 trial and conviction of Galileo for heresy.