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| Sunday, 3 July 2005 |
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Editorial
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Pope Benedict XVI: Servant Minister or Ecclesial
Authority?
Eymard de Silva Wijeyeratne Continued from last week "Not all the waters in the rough rude sea (Shakespeare: Richard II, Act III, Scene I) Cardinal Ratzinger as Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) supported that view in an equally devious way by saying "in actions that demand the character of ordination and in which Christ himself...is represented, exercising his ministry of salvation - which is in the highest degree the case of the Eucharist - his role ...must be taken by a man" (from the document, 'On the question of Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood' as quoted in the Tablet of 23/30 December 1995). At a news conference Cardinal Ratzinger also stated, "In the strict sense this (supporting a female priesthood) would not be a heresy but erroneous doctrine". The facetious aspect of this teaching is that it does not invoke the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope but asserts it as a definitive and infallible part of the Church's teaching. That Jesus Christ and his disciples were all men is not a reasonable argument for deciding this issue because there are many things that the Church has done, that Jesus Christ did not do. An example of this is the statement made by St. Bernard of Clairvaux to Pope Eugene III on his election as Pope: "You have been more a successor of Constantine than the successor of Peter". (from St. Bernard, 'De Consideratione', as quoted in the Commonweal of 20, July 1996). While Catholics are by no means bound to hold definitively (whatever that conceit means) what Pope John Paul II has declared on this subject, I believe that the splendid cornucopia that is woman should not be wasted on the emasculating rigour of a ritual priesthood, because she is in many ways superior to man. While men toil in the Lord's vineyard and turn the wheels of the winepress, women should be given the freedom to add bouquet and flavour to the wine. If we ignore the intuitively resplendent feature of the redemptive role of Jesus Christ and accept instead the laboured logic of the Papacy on this subject we need to ask how Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger, being both of women born, could meaningfully labour in promoting the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ. By redemption, I refer not only to the precise metaphysical feature of the salvation of humankind by the life and work of Jesus Christ but also to the broad liberating role played by women in the ordinary circumstances of life. The Virgin Mary played a critical role in shaping the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, while a group of women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James and Salome) were the first to witness the empty tomb. A modern example of the splendour of a woman is Mother Teresa of Kolkata. The prospect of a spiritual autocracy My assessment of Pope Benedict XVI is based on the infamous document called the Profession of Faith (POF), which was designed and crafted by him when he was head of the CDF, as a condition for reinstating Fr. Balasuriya in the Church. Faith is a matter of free acceptance of basic truths that are based on scripture and extensively amplified thereafter. The Church enjoys the right, in the context of what is called its Ordinary Magisterium, to explain and elucidate the basic articles of faith for the benefit of its faithful. Yet, it has no divine right to enforce what may be called the compulsion to believe. Its right to teach is encapsulated in what is called the Nicene Creed, which forms an integral part of the liturgy of the Mass on Sundays. It is a profession that is spontaneously made with fervour because it incorporates all that Catholics freely profess. A part of the POF that Fr. Balasuriya had to sign reads as follows. "What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive". By concentrating its attention on demanding blind obedience to its authority on matters of doctrine and opinion, the Pope and his coadjutors have failed to discipline priests and bishops in the matter of their conduct in society. Scandals in America and other parts of the world have seriously tarnished the image of the Church. Though he has spoken with enthusiasm about the importance of inter-religious dialogue, Pope Benedict XVI will find it difficult to put his Cardinal past behind him considering his obsessive aversion to what he deems to be the intellectually intrusive elements in other religions and philosophies. This is the text of what he once said as reported in the L'Express and quoted in the Tablet of 12th April 1997, "Quelqu'n avait justement predit, dans les annees 50, que le defi de l'Eglise au XXe siecle serait non pas le Marxisme, mais le Bouddhisme" (Someone has predicted, with good reason, that 50 years on from the 20th Century the threat to the Church will not be Marxism but Buddhism). A cardinal principle of Christianity is that one should neither threaten others nor feel threatened by others. Calm confidence in one's faith eliminates the urge to dominate others. Many people have expressed fears about what the future holds for the Church with Pope Benedict XVI at the helm. To say unkind things about him with insidious allusions to a Lutwaffe past, is both counterproductive and irrelevant because every human enjoys the right to say to his past "get thee behind me Satan". Just as much Pope Benedict XVI has come to stay as the uncontested leader of the Catholic Church, Catholics enjoy the inalienable Christ-given right to ignore his declarations of dogma and definitive statements, whilst proclaiming to the world with free and unfettered minds that "Benedictus qui venit in nomine deus" (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord) refers specifically to that man from Galilee, yes the Son of Man and to no one else. Concluded |
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