New Pope; Little Hope

The Cardinals' enclave has selected Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope of the Catholic Church. The media wasted no time playing up Ratzinger's strict enforcement of traditional conservative Catholic doctrine, and many outlets also had fun with his compulsory involvement in the Nazi party during his youth. Though his father openly opposed Hitler, and though he deserted the Nazi army (risking a penalty of death), Ratzinger's announcement was greeted with blaring "Nazi" headlines by the British tabloids and other similar papers. Andrew Sullivan compared enduring this choice for the papacy after John Paul II as a gay Catholic to a liberal enduring 4 terms of George W. Bush and then having Karl Rove elected President. Indeed there seems to be a prevailing sense of despair among young and/or liberal America that Dr. Evil has been appointed head of the world's largest religious body. (this was aided tremendously by the coverage of his election, which usually included the use of nicknames ascribed to him by his opponents--"God's Rottweiler," "Cardinal No," "the enforcer," and "Panzer Cardinal.")

I think Ratzinger deserves more of a chance to prove that he can be cooperative, positive, and reach out. His positions on hot-button issues are clear, and will disappoint those hoping to move closer to female priests, married clergy, acceptance of homosexuality, and more open theological debate within the church. His strictness, however, has certainly seemed more paramount due to his longstanding role as theological watchdog and guardian for the church at the behest of John Paul II. Given the job title of theology enforcer it is no wonder that he has most frequently been visible for cracking down on dissidents. He was disciplinarian and that is a position from which one can hardly hope to win a broad base of friends--the best one could hope for is grudging respect. Ratzinger has chosen the name of a moderate for his papal name and has said some very conciliatory things in his first few remarks as Pope. I think the American intellegentsia is rushing to judgment.

I have had more than one Catholic friend tell me they are officially leaving the Catholic church over this selection of Pope. For these individuals, this essentially means giving up on religion. I think this is a sad response. If the Catholic church were a local club it might make sense to quit once it no longer stands for what you want it to. But it is the most large, historical, and global institution in the world. It needs the voices of many. I suspect that some young people I know are almost happy to have a Pope that they can lump together with their most reviled Republican villains. It provides them a noble, retroactive reason for not going to church. They're not just skipping church anymore--they're boycotting because it represents something they don't stand for. All of the huffing and puffing about how mean and intolerant the new Pope is seems a little overblown to me and I only wish that coverage of the Catholic church was a bit more judicious and fair than it is currently. Apparently a fair amount of personnel in the mainstream media had some pretty crummy experiences with the church growing up. And I honestly think any Pope that was European and didn't adhere to the platform of the Democratic party was going to get jobbed by the media. Ratzinger (after years of doctrine enforcing) was especially easy pickings.