The New Pope

My prediction about the new Pope being an older caretaker was correct, as was the statement the Italians no longer have a lock on the job. But I still thought hey might choose an Italian. I suppose the main significance of choosing another non-Italian is to show the lock really is gone. A much more significant development will come when they choose a non-white non-European.

Pope Benedict will make no changes, except to allow the Cardinals to secretly discuss whether the Church should be taken in any new direction by the next Pope. If revitalizing the Church is to be a priority, selecting a Latin American Hispanic Pope who truly advocates for social and political justice for the poor of the Third World would be a great way to do it.

So what of Benedict’s Nazi background? As a youth, he was compelled to serve, which he says he did reluctantly. He did not do anything to speak out against the Nazis or show any particular interest in who was being hurt by their atrocities. The Church was his main interest and the overwhelming focus of his attention, even back then. After the War, he does not seem to have made any particular record of criticizing the Nazis, nor does he seem to have made any effort to distance himself from what the Nazis did, except that he has continuously embraced the Church as the upholder of the truth and therefore as the opponent of falsehoods like Nazism. In all this, Benedict is not much different from most Germans of his generation, except he obviously has a much deeper attachment to his Church. Here is an article on his Nazi background from Belief.net.

As an American, my problem with the new Pope is his belief that the Church should directly involve itself with how American Catholic officeholders perform the duties of their office. In the last American Presidential election, he told American Bishops that communion should be withheld from Catholic politicians, like John Kerry, who do not oppose abortion as part of the exercise of their public office. To be personally opposed to abortion is not good enough. The office holder must also use the public office to oppose abortion. Under our American Constitution, we draw a line between our government and churches, and we expect our public officeholders to answer to the citizens who put them in office, not to the leaders of a church to which the officeholder belongs.

Some would argue that abortion in America today is like the Holocaust under the Nazis and the Church is as right to oppose American abortion policy as it was to oppose the Holocaust. Others would argue that Church opposition to abortion today seems stronger than it was to the Holocaust at that time. The Church has a right to lobby for its position and to tell its members what is right and wrong under Church doctrine, but it should have no right in America to tell a Church member who happens to be a public officeholder, how to exercise that office. If the Church wants to have an American Inquisition on abortion, then it should inquire of all communicants, not just public officeholders, and it should make the decision to deny communion based on personal belief, not on the exercise of public office.