Celebrate the Holy Father’s 5th Anniversary by reading the good news of his pontificate from this Catholic World Report round table, written by those who know him best – including our “local girl”, Tracey Rowland.
| Priest, Prophet, King Three ways Benedict has exemplified these three roles By Father Joseph Fessio, S.J. Reform within Continuity Why Do the Media Rage? Pope Benedict’s Patristic Perspective Planting the Seeds of Reform Benedict Contra Mundum A Pope Who Thinks in Centuries A Fatherly Figure Pope Ratzinger Retrieval and Reintegration |
Update: A couple of other articles reviewing the pontificate worthy of reading:
Sandro Magister: The Passion of Pope Benedict. Six Accusations, One Question
Vincent Twomey: Despite media smears, world and faithful have warmed to Benedict
3 Responses to So here is the Good News on Papa BXVI's 5th Anniversary
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The Schütz Model for a Elective Australian Constitutional Monarchy
I propose that
1) We replace the absentee monarch of Australia (who is also the Monarch of Great Britain) with an elected Australian monarchy.
2) The elected monarch exactly replaces the current monarch in the current constition.
3) The elected monarch has exactly the same powers, duties and responsibilities as those of the current absentee monarch. All the monarch's functions are carried out by his/her personal representatives (as is currently the case): federally by the Governor General, and in the states by the State Governors.
4) The Governor General and the Governors continue to be selected and appointed as they currently are, that is, by the premier with the approval of the monarch.
5) The monarch is elected to sovereignty over Australia for life, but his/her sovereignty is strictly non-hereditary.
6) The elective body is the "college of electors" comprised of the state governors and federal governor general.
7) The election of the monarch must be a unanimous decision on the part of the college of electors.
‘Objectively speaking, Benedict shouldn’t be the church’s problem in terms of responding to the sex abuse crisis — he should be the answer. However much unfinished business the Catholic church may still face, the situation would be infinitely worse if then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had not kick-started the process of reform in 2001 by streamlining the system for removing predator priests from ministry; if, as pope, he had he not brought the hammer down on figures such as Fr. Marical Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ; and had he not broken the Vatican’s wall of silence on the crisis, including becoming the first pope to meet with victims of sexual abuse …
However much media bias may play a role in stacking the deck against the pope, it’s also true that the Vatican’s “crisis management” strategy has, if anything, made the crisis worse …’
From Can a teaching pope get his house in order? by John L. Allen Jr.
Nothing like Mr Allen for balance!
Indeed.
Your links seem to be all about praise for Benedict. Fair enough. But balance?
If you think someone who’s been around for so long as a church leader is beyond reproach then I’d imagine any critical appraisal would seem ‘unbalanced’.
But Allen offers considerable praise as well as expressing areas of concern. That strikes me as more likely to be ‘balanced’.