April 19, 2005

this from cnn

Pope Benedict XVI's tenure has been met with speculation already...

Opposed to relativism

There had been a great deal of speculation about who would be chosen to succeed John Paul II, who died April 2 at age 84.

John Paul was widely credited with extending the reach of the papacy. He spoke more than a dozen languages and set an unprecedented pattern of pastoral travel, drawing huge crowds all over the world.

He was also strictly traditional on issues of sexuality and the role of women in the church, which won him support among some Catholics but alienated others. Similar disagreement exists over the next pontiff's stances on issues such as birth control, stem cell research and the ordination of female priests.

Benedict XVI, however, has been critical of progressive Catholicism. In a homily delivered at Monday's Eligendo Summo Pontifice Mass before the cardinals began the conclave, he warned against "relativism, which is letting oneself be 'swept along by every wind of teaching.' (It) looks like the only attitude acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism, which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."

All I can do is be patient and discover what he really means by this. I think that there is more than one kind of relativism.

Posted by tripp at April 19, 2005 02:04 PM
Comments

I've linked to the text of his homily over at my blog-post "Habemus Papam."

As to your overall comments: the Holy Father has three decades worth of work, more than two as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and more than 40 books. He means the relativism you think he means.

As the Ratzinger Fan Club puts it: "Putting the smack down on heresy since 1981."

That being said, if you think the Holy Father looks like a gentle, grey-haired gran'pa, you aren't far from the genuine pastoral spirit that animates his ministry--no matter what his opponents and the MSM say about his orthodoxy.

Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at April 19, 2005 02:37 PM