The listening pope
When Pope John Paul II died on April 2, many observers of the Catholic Church identified key areas the new pope would face.
These included such issues as Church governance, the ordained ministry, ecumenism, secularisation, bioethics, and the philosophical polarisation of Catholics’all issues that attract keen debate in a Church where perspectives often wildly diverge.
On April 19, the faithful and the world were presented with the cardinals’ choice as Supreme Pontiff: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
As Pope John Paul’s closest aide within the Roman curia for a quarter of a century, Cardinal Ratzinger had a potent influence on the tone and substance of John Paul’s pontificate. As prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith the cardinal played a very precise role as the pope’s doctrinal watchdog a function that did not earn him undivided affection.
A free exchange of opinions did not feature highly on John Paul’s agenda. For this many blamed Cardinal Ratzinger, not always fairly so.
Catholics who were hoping for a pontificate that would value dialogue feared the German cardinal’s election as pope would be a setback. They were mistaken.
It is becoming clear that Pope Benedict is keen to hear a range of viewpoints, even if these are contrary to those he holds himself.
Pope Benedict set the tone when in July he invited a forum of Italian priests to confront him with the pastoral problems they encounter in his ministry. He extended the principle of advancing dialogue when he changed the mechanics of the Synod of Bishops last month to allow for a daily period of open discussion and for the press to receive summaries of synodal speeches, some of them contentious.
As a result the pope, the Church and the public have become party to a divergence of opinion among the world’s bishops on a range of questions, including such hot issues as priestly celibacy, the ban on divorced and civilly remarried people receiving Holy Communion, and whether reception of the Eucharist is a right or a privilege.
This has represented a departure from the synods in the era of John Paul II, when these assemblies often were characterised as secretive rubber-stamping conventions.
It is immaterial that the bishops final propositions reaffirmed the status quo on all contestable issues it was never likely that the synod would recommend innovative measures to a pope who seeks to consolidate his predecessor’s legacy, not change it.
However, Pope Benedict has purposely allowed certain issues of Church discipline to be placed on the Church’s agenda. He has sent a message that thorny questions (such as mandatory celibacy in the Latin Rite Church) may be discussed, even challenged and, under a future pontiff, could even be reformed.
The man whom many Catholics once considered an enforcer of inflexible orthodoxy has turned out to be a listening pope, one who wants to know about pastoral problems created by Church teachings which, in his view, cannot or should not be changed.
Pope Benedict has also declared his willingness to engage with people on the fringes of Catholic thought. It is richly symbolic that within a few weeks he met with the head of the schismatic ultra-traditionalist Society of St Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and then with Fr Hans Kung, a vehement critic of the Vatican and many Church teachings.
Instead of being the pope who would suppress debate within the Church, Pope Benedict has shown that fair dialogue can contribute to a vibrant, living Church.
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