When interviewed by Peter Seewald on August 15, 1996, Joseph Ratzinger said: “The words of the Bible and of the Church Fathers rang in my ears, those sharp condemnations of shepherds who are like mute dogs; in order to avoid conflicts, they let the poison spread.
The Church needs an informed, articulate and well-formed laity
“Peace is not the first civic duty, and a bishop whose only concern is not to have problems and to gloss over as many conflicts as possible, is an image I find repulsive. I didn’t dodge conflicts because letting things drift is... the worst kind of administration I can imagine.”
On becoming Pope in 2005, as Pope Benedict XVI, always living up to his dictum, Ratzinger did his best to address the scourge of sex-abuse within the ranks of the Catholic clergy and to force the Vatican Bank to subject itself to good banking practice.
His profound sense of self-awareness and soul-searching, coupled with courage and humility, led him to make the dramatic and unexpected decision to resign. Thanks to this unbelievable move, the papacy has captivated worldwide public opinion as never before with the subsequent highly remarkable course of events.
The unforeseen choice of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has thrilled many of us and confirms for believers their faith in the Holy Spirit.
Before his ascendancy to the papacy, Ratzinger incurred the vilification of the secular media who labelled him ‘God’s Rottweiler’ and the ‘Panzer Cardinal’ due to his role as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, historically known as the Roman Inquisition.
John Paul II had assigned him this unenviable task in 1982. This post obliged Ratzinger to defend the orthodoxy of the faith and, as can be expected, he did not shirk his responsibilities.
I first came across his writings when I read Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, published in March 1986, that had followed his controversial Instruction on Certain Aspects of the Theology of Liberation two years earlier.
Liberation Theology originated in Latin America where crass social injustice traps so many of its people in abject poverty. The Catholic Church there is in the forefront in championing the cause of the downtrodden.
This is reflected in the numerous Catholic martyrs, most notably represented by Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador.
However, there was a grave risk that Liberation Theology would be corrupted by Marxist ideology that pretends that human redemption can only be achieved by an inevitable violent class struggle.
Ratzinger’s ‘instructions’ have been falsely depicted as inimical to Liberation Theology and interpreted as a restraint on those who wanted to respond generously to the ‘preferential option for the poor’. On the contrary, these instructions disapproved of an attitude of neutrality and indifference in the face of human misery and injustice. They also insisted that those who take their faith seriously have a duty to become involved in the struggle for justice, freedom, and human dignity out of love for the disinherited, oppressed, and persecuted.
Such documents deserve being revisited and re-read, especially by those who are active in the political and social arenas, as they are a lucid and passionate exposition of our authentic advancement in the face of avoidable inequalities that scar humanity.
On Ratzinger’s ascendancy to the papacy, the world had to reassess the false and derogatory image it had unfairly and dishonestly portrayed. His majestic encyclical Caritas in Veritate took even his cynical critics by surprise. Pope Benedict, like his predecessors, in the true tradition of our Catholic faith, insisted that all efforts to build up a civilisation in the absence of a spiritual dimension are doomed to fail.
He repeatedly stressed that the Church needs an informed, articulate and well-formed laity that must engage with modern culture and avoid a defeatist and escapist attitude.
This is the legacy of Benedict XVI as expressed in one of his final addresses: “The Catholic Church is convinced that the light for an adequate solution can only come from an encounter with the living Christ, which gives rise to attitudes and ways of acting based on love and truth.”
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