Addressing journalists on a new book entitled Light of the World: The Pope, The Church And The Signs Of The Times – A Conversation With Peter Seewald, Luigi Accattoli suggested his colleagues should read the book as a guided visit to the papal workshop of Benedict XVI and to the world of Joseph Ratzinger.
“Above all,” said Mr Accattoli, “we will see this man who was called to become Pope in the same perspective as when he published the two volumes on Jesus Of Nazareth, which he presents not as documents of the Magisterium but as testimony of his own search for the face of the Lord.”
From the beginning of the book, the Holy Father points out that “the Pope can have erroneous personal opinions”. He certainly does have “the power of final decision” in matters of faith but this “does not mean he can continuously produce infallibility”.
“It is perhaps in this statement that we must seek the original roots of this book of interviews,” said Mr Accattoli about the Pope’s responses to Mr Seewald’s questions on the great issues facing modern theology, the various political events that have always marked relations between states and the themes that often occupy a large part of public debate.
In various places of his responses, the Holy Father reviews his 83 years of life. At one point, he even reflects on the suitability of resigning should he find himself in a position where he cannot carry out his mission. Nonetheless, the Pope denies he ever thought of resigning over the paedophile scandal: “We cannot run away in the moment of greatest danger,” he says. We all know that modern Popes – from Pius XII – have considered the problem of resigning but, prior to this interview, none of them had done so in public.
From the Holy See’s side, the book, released by the Vatican Publishing House, is being seen as an interview which, in many ways, provokes the reader to undertake a serious examination of conscience, both inside and outside the Church, in order to achieve true conversion of heart and mind.
“The conditions of life in society, sexuality, economy and finance, the Church herself; all these questions require special dedication in order to verify the cultural drift of today’s world and the possibilities for the future. Benedict XVI does not allow himself to be alarmed by the figures emerging from opinion polls because the truth has completely different criteria: ‘statistics are not the measure of morality’,” said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, when the book was presented to the media.
The book was not written by Benedict XVI, yet it brings together his ideas, concerns and sufferings over the years, his pastoral projects and his hopes for the future. “The impression that emerges is that of a Pope optimistic about the life of the Church, despite the difficulties which have always existed,” said Archbishop Fisichella. In the book, the Holy Father dedicates ample space to the conflict between the Christian faith and modernity. However, in at least two passages the Pope recognises “the morality of modernity” and the evidence of “a good and just modernity”. Accompanying these positive affirmations are passages in which the Pope recognises the religious crimes of the past: from the “atrocities” committed “in the name of truth” to “the wars of religion” and that “rigorism” towards corporeity, which was used to “frighten man”.
“In the conflict with the modern world, then,” comments Mr Accattoli, “it is necessary to ask ‘in what is secularism right’ and where ‘should it be resisted’”.
The Pope uses such expressions as “the sinfulness of the Church”. He also uses the term “dirt” to indicate the sin that exists in the Church. This term is used at least three times to refer to paedophilia among the clergy and to the “enormous shock” it aroused.
Benedict XVI also repeatedly recognises the positive role played by the communications media: “As long as they seek to bring the truth to light, we must be grateful.”
On this subject he also gives what Mr Accattoli sees as one of the book’s most effective aphorisms: “Only because evil was within the Church were others able to use it against her.”
The Pope expresses himself to be optimistic concerning the fact that Christianity is facing new dynamics which will perhaps bring it “to assume a different cultural appearance” even if “the general tendency of our time is one of hostility to the Church”. His hope is that people will rediscover the “simplicity” and “radicalism” of the gospel and Christianity.
In the book, Benedict XVI responds to two questions about the battle against AIDS and the use of condoms, questions that reconnect with the discussions that arose in the wake of certain statements the Pope made on this subject during the course of his 2009 trip to Africa.
Much has been said and written about this section of the interview. However, according to Holy See spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, in the interview the Pope again made it clear his intention was not to take up a position on the problem of condoms in general.
“His aim, rather, was to reaffirm with force that the problem of AIDS cannot be solved simply by distributing condoms because much more needs to be done: prevention, education, help, advice, accompaniment, both to prevent people from falling ill and to help them if they do… The Pope does not reform or change Church teaching but reaffirms it, placing it in the perspective of the value and dignity of human sexuality as an expression of love and responsibility,” said Fr Lombardi.
According to Archbishop Fisichella, simplicity and truth are “the characteristics of this interview, which was chosen by Benedict XVI as a way of making the public at large more familiar with his ideas, his way of being and his way of understanding the mission with which he has been entrusted. This is no easy task at a time when communication often tends to underline specific fragments and overlooks the global picture.”