Popes do not spend much time defending themselves against criticism, and Benedict XVI will likely follow this rule. But those interested in his answer to his critics, past and present, need look no further than the homily Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger delivered Monday at the Mass beginning the papal election.
His bracing words called Christians to become adults in the faith, to come of age. They spoke of spiritual maturity in an age “that recognizes nothing as definitive and has as its measure only the self and its desires.” In place of adolescent rebellion against unchanging truth, the future pope proposed a mature faith that is “profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ.”
This clear-cut faith, he acknowledged, is labelled as fundamentalism. In other words, he knows what’s been said about him. But he is unmoved: “an ‘adult’ faith does not follow the waves of fashion and the latest novelties.” The time has come to resist being tossed about by “every wind of doctrine.”
The news that students at a large Canadian university cheered loudly when the name of the new pope was announced on television did not surprise me. Many young people, Christian or not, appear to have tired of what the homily called “the dictatorship of relativism.” Already energized by the teaching and example of John Paul II, they are ready for Benedict XVI.
What will they—and all of us—hear from the new pope? Having listened to him preach twice in as many weeks, I think Pope Benedict XVI may launch the Church “into the deep,” where his predecessor urged us in a letter written in 2001.
Christianity in general, and Catholic Christianity in particular, is lived at many levels, ranging from a moral code to mystical union. Still, all attempts to produce Christianity “lite” are doomed to failure, for powerful reasons that Cardinal Ratzinger stated Monday. “The mercy of Christ,” he said, “is not cut-rate grace” and evil “is not something banal.” In other words, faith is serious business.
Given this intensity of purpose and such direct statements, will the coming pontificate derail ecumenical initiatives begun under John Paul II? I think it more likely that the new pope’s theological sureness will sustain them, particularly with the Orthodox churches, which are well accustomed to a dialogue based on strong and uncompromising positions.
Those who knew Cardinal Ratzinger only through media caricatures will face a greater challenge: to have confidence in his leadership, they will need to come to know him as an individual. This is likely to happen as direct images of the modest and soft-spoken new Pope replace the simplistic verdicts passed on him over the years. The unassuming figure I sometimes saw along the street when I was a seminarian seemed unchanged on the balcony of St. Peter’s last night, appealing in his simplicity.
There are also those who shrink from the thought of taking the plunge into the deep waters of discipleship. They may have been able to admire John Paul II for his contribution to the fall of communism or his social teaching without accepting his other messages. Will they accept the new pope’s offer of a demanding but liberating friendship with Christ, even at the cost of their membership in the post-modern culture?
During these past
weeks in
St. Benedict, named a patron of Europe in modern times, had one central purpose in writing his monastic rule: to help others to follow Christ. The future Pope Benedict XVI concluded his homily Monday by inviting the congregation to pray—insistently—for a pastor who, following the great John Paul, would lead us “to the knowledge of Christ, to His love, to true joy.”
Love and joy. May these words, and not categories like liberal and conservative, be our “adult” response to this new pope. It’s time we came of age.
-30-