Reactions to Election of Pope Benedict XVI...

Here are the thoughts and reactions of several authors and scholars to the election of Pope Benedict XVI, as well as ideas about the major challenges the new pontiff will face.

James V. Schall, S. J., professor in the Department of Government, Georgetown University:

The Catholic Church has been particularly blessed in that most of the modern popes have also been, at the same time, men of mind, men who have known the intellectual background and intracacies of classical, medieval, and modern thought.  Of these, Josef Ratzinger is no doubt the best prepared of them all.  We saw in John Paul II a public figure who was also a major thinker in his own right.  We will see this even more so in Benedict XVI.

A pope is more than a thinker, to be sure.  But much of the confusion in the modern world, including thinking about morality, lies, at bottom, in the ideas that shape it.  John Paul II was clearly a man of soul and heart, as well as mind.  Much to our surprise, we will find that Benedict XVI will prove the same, but in his own personal and warm way.

By instruction and example, he will immediately address himself to liturgy, perhaps the area most in need of attention.  This is probably why he took the name "Benedict."  His book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, is a good guide here.  Indeed, if we read him, we will see that he has long thought about most of the crucial issues of the modern mind and the relation of Catholicism to it.  He certainly has thought about Europe and the faith, or its loss there.

John Paul II probably had only one weakness.  He was no doubt the greatest man of out time or perhaps of any time.  But he did not like to rule or administer the Church in detail.  In a way, who would, in the sense of careful selection of bishops and members of high offices?  I think Benedict XVI will be much more demanding and careful that those who are appointed to high and priestly office both know and live up to what the Church specifically teaches about revelation and its relation to the human mind.  The papacy under Benedict XVI, will remain at the center of world attention, we can be sure of that.

Michael O'Brien, novelist and artist:

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the VERY great gift to the Church and the world of our new Holy Father!

"BENEDICT XVI, WE LOVE YOU!"

"You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." Matthew 16: 13-19

"He shepherded them in singleness of heart, and with skillful hands he guided them." Psalm 78: v.72

Alleluia, Alleluiah, Alleluiah!

Austin Ruse, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Culture of Life Foundation.:

“There could not have been a stronger more clarion call from the College of Cardinals. They intend a strong continuity from the papacy of John Paul II and also from the perennial teachings of the Catholic Church. This Pope will be a great Pope.”

Fr. Jack Lombardi, chaplain at the National Shrine at the Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, Md.:

I think he will be a great man of our Church since he is holy, and has promoted a sense of mystery and wonder of God, and that he knows that relativism is one of  greatest challenges to the Church and mankind today. His challenges will be to preach the Truth fearlessly while also not imposing it, them, on anyone—helping souls to seek, embrace and love the Truth in Christ and His Church. He will also strive to build unity in the Church and world, and find challenges to re-evangelize the youth. The Liturgy and Mass will be challenging to both “re-new+ and keep with resourcement and Sacred tradition. He will be a great man for the Church and world since he has his feet solidly in the Lord and Church and also knowledgeable about the negative philosophical challenges of today’s world.

Dr. Thomas Howard, author:

Of one thing we may be absolutely certain.  The liberal press (this will exclude FOX will embark on an orgy of hand-wringing and spleen. "This is a calamity!"  "The Church has taken a giant step backwards!" "The man hates women!"  "The man hates homosexuals!"  "The man squashed the good-guy liberationists in Latin America!"  And so forth and so forth and so forth.  Of course, each one of the above remarks comes to us from sources who labor under the odd notion that the Apostolic Church should, really now, take its cues from the New York Times and CBS.  Since this is not the case, we may allow them their confusion, and even ire.  But let us say, as Catholics who wish to be faithful to the Ancient Faith, that the Holy Ghost has given us a most generous gift in this wise, brilliant, literate, holy, and orthodox priest, to be our Shepherd, and Christ's Vicar for, God willing, more than a few years. 

Pope Benedict XVI will face a number of key challenges: 1)  to continue, and increase, John Paul ll's "universal call to holiness." In "your average Catholic parish," it is difficult, so far, to see much in the way of holiness that has sprung up in response to John Paul's unremitting calls.  2)  To continue the task, at which he himself has worked so tirelessly as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of calling Roman Catholics back to a vigorous orthodoxy--to the ardent, burning faith for which the martyrs died. Kennedy/Kerry bumper stickers have been far too numerous on Catholic bumpers over the last few years.  3)  To continue to teach, and clarify, and spell out, "the doctrine of the Faith," so that not only Catholics, but the press, and a fortiori, the world, will know exactly what the Church teaches and why.  The love affair between the press and ostentatiously heretical Catholic theologians, clerics, and other self-appointed pundits, is a scandal to the faith of (probably) tens of millions of lay Catholics, and this pontiff has an immense task here. 4)  To inspire the bishops, and hence the priests, and hence the laity, to an unabashed love for Jesus Christ which, all by itself, will "solve" the "problem" of declining vocations.  There are no strategies for increasing vocations.  There is only personal dedication to, and love for, Jesus Christ.

Dr. Edward Peters, Canon Lawyer and author:

The choice of names is fascinating. Benedict is not a common papal name in modern times, only two others in the last 250 years. But both were major legal reformers. Benedict XV issuing the first Code of Canon Law, Benedict XIV launching major reforms in the mid-18th century. Now you know that Cardinal Ratzinger must have given some thought to his new name, so what must he have in mind? I can hardly wait to find out!

I think we’re going to see the substantive strengths of the John Paul II papacy, but now spiced with some good administrative moves, addressing matters that might have slipped somewhat in the last decade of John Paul’s papacy.

His opening words are remarkable for humility and mercy. I am very excited. The whole family is. We’re having bratwurst and a nice German white wine tonight!

Dr. James Hitchcock, professor of history at Saint Louis University, on challenges facing Pope Benedict XVI (these remarks written prior to the election of the new pope):

The challenges facing the new pope are essentially those that faced John Paul II throughout his pontificate, challenges that have simply gotten worse over time. Allowance must of course be made for inevitable unforeseen developments.

1) The West, with a few partial exceptions, such as the United States, continues on the path of seemingly inexorable secularization, which includes increasingly open anti-religious bias. At least temporarily, Christianity in Western Europe appears to be spiritually exhausted, and most of the
hierarchy of Western Europe, perhaps only half-consciously, appear to think
that there is no alternative for the Church except to accommodate itself to this secularization.  It is essential, however, that the phenomenon of secularization  be challenged directly, which requires emphasizing the contrast between Christianity and conventional secular wisdom. Aggressive new evangelization is needed.

2) This same pattern of secularization is probably fated to spread to the rest of the world as well. Ironically, the greatest obstacle to its spread is a militant Islam, which constitutes another grave challenge to the Church. By common consensus the Church is now most vibrant in Africa, precisely one of the places where Islam is most militant and most effective.

3) Especially in Asia, but with strong support in the West, Christians seem to be flirting with religious syncretism, whereby, for example, pagan deities and myths are interpreted as essentially Christian, the key issue being the claim that God gave different revelations to different cultures, so that there could have been "multiple incarnations" of the Son of God in different times and places.

None of the problems of the Church can be resolved without a strong episcopacy, which requires the new pope to pay close attention to the governance of the Church. Nothing has weakened the Church, in all the challenges it faces, morethan bishops who signal publicly their lack of support for official teaching, and in some cases actively undermine it. Restoring episcopal discipline will be a necessary, and inevitably unpleasant, task for the new pope.

Helen Hull Hitchcock, president of Women For Faith and Family, on challenges facing the new pope, also written prior to April 19th:

The challenges that will face the 265th pope are essentially the same as those that faced the first: to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified to a deeply troubled world; to overcome darkness and evil with the Light and Truth of Christ; to liberate those who are captive to their own desires by showing them the way to true freedom and love. The principal difference in our time is not overcoming real ignorance of Christ or genuine misunderstanding of His Truth, but overcoming outright rejection of nearly every fundamental teaching of Christ and His Church — especially from those within the apparent body of believers and (disastrously) from within the Church herself.

I think it is not very fruitful to speculate about what the new pope will do about canonizing his predecessor. There was an outpouring of sentiment for canonization immediately after the death of John XXIII.

It is well known that Pope John Paul II’s view of formal canonization was dramatically different from his predecessors. He seemed to believe that having many even local models of holiness would aid people in their own aspiration to become saints (that is, people who are redeemed by Christ) themselves, and he “lowered the bar” for the Church’s proclaiming that individuals have, indeed, achieved their goal — which is the goal of every believing Christian. (That is not to say, of course, that everyone who actually becomes a saint is, or can be, officially proclaimed so through the canonization process of the Church; nor does canonization mean that those who have been canonized were flawless in every way in this life.)

Comments

[Jack]

It is a little premature to comment on what he may or may not do. Isn't it.

[Carl Olson]

Jack: I don't see how commenting on potential (or real) challenges and how Benedict XVI may respond is a problem...

[Jack]

My apologies, I didn't mean that it is a problem. I was reacting to the overall response I have seen from people who are trying to predict what may happen.