He tackled the problems of thechurch and did it as well as can be expected and did not avoid the difficultissues. I do not know that any man coulddo better. The church itself can goforward cleansed and under a new pope, reinvigorated in its primary mission.
There are always voices pullingthe church into the secular world in its many manifestations. That has never been its mission but just as you and I, it must interact. Let it be.
Humanity is everywhere absorbingthe Christian idiom and under Benedict’s predecessor, the church regained itsprimacy. Today, most of humanity are cultural Christianseven when it is not understood. For thatalone, the prophecies of end times are been met.
Yes it is time for Popes to step aside as age overcomes them and human energy is demanded for global leadership which is now firmly global..
Seven good reasons to admire Pope Benedict XVI
By William Donohue
http://www.speroforum.com/a/EAPWTUZZXH52/73627-Seven-good-reasons-to-admire-Pope-Benedict-XVI
1) Religion for Pope Benedict XVI is as much a public issue as it is aprivate one. In 2008, he warned American bishops against “the subtle influenceof secularism,” holding that “any tendency to treat religion as a privatematter must be resisted.”
2) The pope made it clear that religious freedom was not only aGod-given right, it was “the path to peace.”
3) He knew religion could be abused, leading even to violence. His muchmisunderstood 2006 Regensburg University lecture was really about theuncoupling of religion from reason (reason not united to faith also leads toviolence).
4) The pope reached out to dissidents on the right and the left,seeking to bring them to communion. Not all his efforts succeeded, but hisattempts were noble.
No one did more to successfully address the problem of priestly sexualabuse than Joseph Ratzinger. Just weeks before he was chosen to be the newpope, he spoke bluntly about this issue: “How much filth there is in the Church,and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to Him!”
5) Addressing those who still blame Jews for the death of Christ, thepope settled the issue with authority by pointing out that no one should beblamed since, as he argued, the crucifixion was necessary for God’s plan ofuniversal redemption.
6) The pope’s many references to what he called “the dictatorship ofrelativism” were a constant reminder that one of the greatest threats tofreedom today is the abandonment of the search for truth.
7) Pope Benedict XVI’s willingness to step aside comes as a surprisethis Monday morning. What is not surprising is his humility. Indeed, it is oneof his most defining characteristics, one that separates him from today’sego-centric public figures.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder