Five Years Ago Today... "Ratzinger!" [UPDATED]
Do you remember where you were or what you were doing when Pope Benedict was elected? I was reading Amy Welborn's former blog, Open Book, when the news came that "Habemus Papam!"
One of the first things Sarah and I did immediately after learning the results of the conclave election was to purchase some Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club t-shirts - the ones that say "Truth is not determined by majority vote."
I was still a wet-behind-the-ears blogger at the time, having started this blog just one month before. Here are a few of my posts regarding the election of a new pontiff following the death of John Paul II:
First Ballot: Ratzinger Not Elected Pope
"Habemus Papam!" - Pope Benedict XVI
Personal Reflections on the Election of Pope Benedict XVI
Mark Shea: Why Democrats Can't Connect With Religious Voters
Pope Benedict XVI: Enemy of Jihad
Peggy Noonan: "Why They Ran"
Andrew Sullivan: Benedict XVI to Unleash "Ferocious Culture War"
Coining a Term: "Ratzenfreude"
"Life on the Rock" - On Location in Rome With "Benedict XVI Priests"
Bill O'Reilly on the Election of Pope Benedict XVI
Pat Buchanan: "Behind the Rage at Benedict XVI"
Most U.S. Catholics Support Choice of Pope
Many of those posts are a reminder that the people who are currently attacking Pope Benedict hated him all along and, indeed, began attacking him even BEFORE he was elected; and their attacks went into overdrive in the immediate aftermath of his election. (Read all of Amy's April 2005 archives for coverage of more of the same kind of stuff.)
Today's anti-Benedict hatred is just more of the same.
May God bless and keep His servant, Joseph Ratzinger - Pope Benedict XVI, and give him many more years. Ad Multos Annos!
UPDATE
Opinionated Catholic has an example of the people who hated Ratzinger all along (i.e. the joke of a mag called U.S. Catholic) getting their digs in at him on the 5th anniversary of his pontificate:
Hans Kung has thrown down the gauntlet with his open letter to the world's Catholic bishops, including a six-point plan for reforming the church. Kung's advice, which culminates in a call for a new council, is wise and even, despite his reputation, much of it undeserved, as a theological renegade.Blah, blah, blah. Pope Benedict isn't a liberal. Waaaaaaah!
More controversial will be his account of the pope's five-year tenure, which he catalogs as a series of missed opportunities on ecumenism, relationships with Jews and Muslims, a revisionist interpretation of Vatican II and its liturgical reform, and now most seriously with the sex abuse crisis.
Kung's critique is a fair one, and I'd go as far as to say that in these five years the Ratzinger papacy has lurched from catastrophe to catastrophe, beginning with the Regensburg speech of 2006, continuing with the unconditional rehabilitation of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and culminating in the international sex abuse crisis, which is only going to get bigger...
posted by Pro Ecclesia 8:40 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I was at my former place of employment, and I distinctly remember the disappointment expressed by a "Catholic" co-worker, who was hoping for someone who was going to okay abortion and permit female priests. I just kept my mouth shut and smiled.
When JPII died I never thought that Ratzinger would get in and so I was quite shocked when I got a call from a friend saying "Your man got in!" Over the course of the next week, at least half-a-dozen friends congratulated me on the election because my fondness for Ratzinger was so well known.
The funny thing is, though I would never have predicted who the next pope would have been, I actually won a bet on the name he would take. I reasoned:
1] No papal name has been used three times in a row, but then again, many names are too long disused for consideration, so it has to be a recent name.
2] Paul was seen by some as a "failure".
3] Taking "John" would alienate conservatives, taking "Pius" would alienate liberals.
4] The last Benedict was a "peace pope" and there was a war going on then, so Benedict was the logical choice.
I was at work, and my wife called me when she saw on live TV that there was white smoke. I jumped in the car and drove home in time to watch live as the news broke that it was Ratzinger.
What a day that was for our Church. I hope we have many more years of him before us.
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