|
I never have been a fan or Ratslinger. I've always admired his -very- formidable intellect, but especially compared to JPII's humanity and humour, or JP-1's workaday humility, or even Pius VII's extraordinary tactical and strategic mind...well, Ratslinger just falls short. He lacks the humanity and humility of either of the John Pauls, Pius's depth and sharpness of intellect, or Card. Arinze's remarkable "common touch" and skill at explaining and apoligizing complex theological concepts. His legalistic inability or unwillingness to deal with a paedophilia scandal literally in his own backyard stands in rather sharp relief to JPII's buzzsaw treatment and unflinching characterization of such affairs as "grave crimes*" which required public repentance and penitence by the molestor. The fact that JPIIs wishes in this regard were so publicly ignored, both within and without the Church, is a severe indictment not only of the Church itself (and the bureaucratic back-washing and tendency to filter the Pope's information which have come to characterise its' daily functioning) but also of the popular media which rightly demanded such a response and ignored it when it was forthcoming.
...one can only hope that Ratzinger is one of those Popes who comes along every now and again to remind the Faithful of just how rotten a jerk one can be while still being doctrinally Infallible. Kinda like the Borgias. At best, he's a legal-minded "place holder" for Arinze or somebody with his keen mind and perhaps a slightly less flustered personality. I like Arinze personally, but he loses his cool a bit too easily when pressed.
*I know this doesn't sound like much to a non-Catholic. However, in the extremely measured language of the Holy See, this is as close as anyone's likely to get to "Somebody take these child-raping motherfuckers out in Saint Peter's Square and go Inquisition on their asses! And any other bits you can reach!"
|