He has been called a panzer, Rottweiler, and in kinder terms, an archconservative during his nearly eight years as pope and 25 years as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Here are some of his own reflections, taken from the book “Let God’s Light Shine Forth; the Spiritual Vision of Benedict XVI,” edited by Robert Moynihan.
In a interview when he was prefect, the future pope was asked “Are they right . . . those who say that you are an ‘ultra-conservative’?”
“I would say the work is conservative,” Ratzinger replied, “in the sense that we must preserve the deposit of the faith, as Holy Scripture says. We must conserve it. But conserving the deposit of faith is always to nourish an explosive force against the powers of this world that threatens justice, and threatens the poor.”
“That sounds as if you are conservative and radical at once. But few would say that about you. Do you think you have been misunderstood?”
“By a certain part of the media, certainly, yes.”
“Does this cause you to suffer?”
“Up to a certain point, yes,” Ratzinger said. “But, on the other hand, I am a bit of a fatalist. The world is what it is. And it lives on the basis of simplified images . . .”
The book continued: “A deep contradiction has marked Benedict’s life. He wished to be a scholar, a man of books and study, yet he was compelled to give up scholarship and become a Church official, an administrator. All of the Church advancements he has obtained -- even this final one, to the throne of Peter -- have been against his own will for his life.
“The man who most influenced Benedict’s thought, St. Augustine, had a similar problem. ‘Augustine had chosen the life of a scholar,’ Benedict writes in his Memoirs, looking to Augustine’s life to understand his own. ‘But God had destined him to become a “beast of burden,” the sturdy ox who draws the cart of God in this world.’ Benedict saw that as his own fate as well: to be a type of ‘donkey’ or ‘pack animal,’ carrying the burdens God had set upon his back.”
I think the pope summarized his mission well when he selected this scriptural passage for his motto as a bishop and for his coat of arms, from the Third Letter of the Apostle John: “Co-workers of the truth.”
According to the book: “It is a motto that sums up his life work: to speak the truth in love, in season and out of season, against opposition and incomprehension, with humility and courage.”
Thank you, Holy Father, for your work in service of Truth.
Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays.
