Two profoundly complementary popes

After the publication of Pope Benedict XVI's erudite study on love in his long-awaited first encyclical, many of his former critics, who exclusively focused on him as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, the enforcer at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, are now focusing on him as Benedict the Pope "exits the enforcer, enters the pope".

Surely and deservedly, Pope Benedict is now being seen, studied and appreciated in a new light. And he is to be fully understood as a personality who has already created a charisma all his own.

Before becoming pope, Benedict XVI was very often considered as a divisive figure, praised by more conservative Catholics for his integral devotion to orthodoxy and strongly criticised by liberals for not sharing their vision for a changing, more modern church.

Indeed for many years Cardinal Ratzinger's image was that of an "exalted Catholic Church bureaucrat, working the day shift at Church headquarters for 23 years studying and safeguarding the Gospels, not preaching it," (Time, December 26, 2005-January 2, 2006).

But Pope Benedict's elaboration on love and charity in his encyclical has been largely praised by people on both sides as a document that sought to express what is common to all Catholics.

As the reporter of the New York Times, Laurie Goodstern wrote: "He's completely positive but if you accept the teaching, consequences follow" (January 26).

Anyone willing to assess the real value and the mission of Pope Benedict XVI has to reflect at length that it was sometimes said that "there was not John Paul II without Cardinal Josef Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, and no Cardinal Prefect without John Paul II".

As Laurence Paul Hemming, Dean of Research at Heythrop College, University of London, so aptly says in his book: Benedict XVI - fellow Workers for the Truth: "As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Benedict was certainly one of the men closest to the previous pope, and not without justice was he thought under John Paul II to be second only to him in daily working of the Catholic Church.

"There is no doubt that, following John Paul II, Benedict gave shape and lent his formidable scholarly weight to the debates and issues that unfolded in the life of the previous papacy.

"The clarity and firmness of his voice did not please everyone... Now there is only Benedict as Pope. We are likely to gain, therefore, a broader understanding of Joseph Ratzinger, and publicly to see sides of him not yet fully understood."

There's consensus that John Paul II was the man for the long period of his great pontificate. He had that charisma for his mission.

"No other pope could have presided over the bringing down of the Berlin Wall and the ending of the Communist tyrannies of Europe," Laurence Paul Hemming writes.

His tireless travel and fantastic courage were a remarkable witness, especially in the events of his dying. No wonder, in Hemming's opinion: "Benedict is likely to build on and complete - in a way that is profoundly complementary to John Paul II's pontificate - the work he did, while setting a different, even quieter, tone, which will open up a new era for the Church."