There are many things that can be said about the new Pope. I'll try to be balanced.
As conservative as they come, former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became head of the Roman Catholic Church a little before 18:00h CET on April 19, 2005. Before his election by the College of Cardinals he led the Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Inquisition) where he disciplined some of the most brilliant theologists for falling outside the doctrinal boundaries of Catholic Dogma. With this he assured the Church's lingering in medieval attitudes 'per secula seculorum' as well as many faithful to exercise their God-given free will in favor of using their common sense when approaching issues like contraception.
Of course, one must also give the new pope the benefit or the doubt and there are signs that the new Pontiff is tempering his postures. Read this piece published electronically in Yahoo! News. Here are some quotations:
I think we can expect, at least for the short term, a continuation of John Paul II's Papal legacy. On the other hand he might be just what the Church needs: a person who, after consolidating doctrinal dogma in this solemn institution, is prepared - from that perspective - to open Catholicism to social modernity. After all, only Nixon could go to China.
As conservative as they come, former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became head of the Roman Catholic Church a little before 18:00h CET on April 19, 2005. Before his election by the College of Cardinals he led the Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Inquisition) where he disciplined some of the most brilliant theologists for falling outside the doctrinal boundaries of Catholic Dogma. With this he assured the Church's lingering in medieval attitudes 'per secula seculorum' as well as many faithful to exercise their God-given free will in favor of using their common sense when approaching issues like contraception.
Of course, one must also give the new pope the benefit or the doubt and there are signs that the new Pontiff is tempering his postures. Read this piece published electronically in Yahoo! News. Here are some quotations:
The new pope said he wanted to continue "an open and sincere dialogue" with other religions and would do everything in his power to improve the ecumenical cause.
The message was clearly designed to show that Benedict was intent on following many of the groundbreaking paths charted by John Paul, who had made reaching out to other religions and trying to heal the 1,000-year-old schism in Christianity a hallmark of his pontificate.
I think we can expect, at least for the short term, a continuation of John Paul II's Papal legacy. On the other hand he might be just what the Church needs: a person who, after consolidating doctrinal dogma in this solemn institution, is prepared - from that perspective - to open Catholicism to social modernity. After all, only Nixon could go to China.
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