One more post on the new pope
I've received lots of visitors from Catholic blogs today due to my previous post on Pope Benedict XVI's election. I appreciate every reader who stops by, but I fear that many people are visiting because of a misunderstanding about what I said. A few points:
1) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was not a Nazi. He didn't sympathize with them. He did everything he possibly could to avoid being associated with them.
2) Despite those facts, some bloggers nonetheless tried to portray Ratzinger as a Nazi or a Nazi sympathizer. Those suggestions are unfair and unfounded, and I condemn them.
3) From a public-relations standpoint, Ratzinger's election was a bad move because it allows the church's opponents to distract from the pope's doctrinal teachings and to try to hurt the church's image by raising unfair, misleading questions about his teenage years in Nazi Germany. Still, if the cardinals believed Ratzinger was the right man for the job regardless of those concerns, then they made the right choice.
4) It's not unreasonable to suggest that Benedict XVI's reign will be a short one, especially since he told cardinals the same thing.
5) Benedict XVI said all the right things today about reaching out to other religions, which I hope is a sign of things to come. He deserves a chance to chart his own course as pope, and I think he has the ability to be a good one.
1) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was not a Nazi. He didn't sympathize with them. He did everything he possibly could to avoid being associated with them.
2) Despite those facts, some bloggers nonetheless tried to portray Ratzinger as a Nazi or a Nazi sympathizer. Those suggestions are unfair and unfounded, and I condemn them.
3) From a public-relations standpoint, Ratzinger's election was a bad move because it allows the church's opponents to distract from the pope's doctrinal teachings and to try to hurt the church's image by raising unfair, misleading questions about his teenage years in Nazi Germany. Still, if the cardinals believed Ratzinger was the right man for the job regardless of those concerns, then they made the right choice.
4) It's not unreasonable to suggest that Benedict XVI's reign will be a short one, especially since he told cardinals the same thing.
5) Benedict XVI said all the right things today about reaching out to other religions, which I hope is a sign of things to come. He deserves a chance to chart his own course as pope, and I think he has the ability to be a good one.
posted by Alabamian at 5:40 PM
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