Similar to this week's Time 100 days article is this one from the The Journal News.com (Westchester, New York):
Benedict making his mark
By GARY STERN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: August 3, 2005)
In only his first 100 days as pope, Benedict XVI has started to carve out an identity that is distinct in temperament and emphasis from that of John Paul II, with whom he was closely associated for decades.
For one thing, Benedict has begun dismantling the cult of personality that often characterized John Paul's historic pontificate, said John Allen, a leading Vatican commentator and author of the new "The Rise of Benedict XVI." John Paul's personality often overshadowed everything around him, even a Mass, he said.
"The charisma, the celebrity, around John Paul was so strong that, in a way, the religious significance of the event sort of fades from view," Allen said. "Benedict is obviously determined that is not going to happen. He's trying very hard to make sure the focus is on the ritual, not the person."
Allen was speaking Monday in Garrison at a program about Benedict's first 100 days that was put on by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Four panelists agreed that while Benedict has hardly started to make his mark, he has sent out signals, intentionally or not, of where his pontificate is heading.
He has focused far more, for instance, on liturgy and on offering clear, energetic homilies in Rome than on making grand, public gestures. For example, he is not presiding over beatification ceremonies, something that John Paul relished.
"He is a Bavarian Catholic," said William Burrows, managing editor of Orbis Books, part of the Ossining-based Maryknoll missionary society. "He grew up in a totally Catholic environment where the liturgy shaped the entire community. This pope was shaped by the liturgy."
Such views are shared by those who have seen Benedict up close. In a widely distributed analysis of the first 100 days which ended July 27 the veteran Italian commentator Sandro Magister wrote that Romans appreciate the new pope's strengths.
"The same Masses of the faithful that applauded the gestures or striking phrases of pope Karol Wojtyla, while almost completely missing what it was that he was talking about, are doing the opposite with the new pope," Magister wrote. "They follow Ratzinger's homilies word for word, from beginning to end, with an attentiveness that astonishes the experts."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger railed against the "dictatorship" of moral relativism that he sees marching through Europe and the United States. So it's no surprise that, as pope, he has jumped into the culture war.
Last month, he supported Italian bishops when they successfully lobbied to kill a proposed referendum to loosen regulations on in-vitro fertilization. He also supported Spanish bishops in their failed attempt to stop parliament from legalizing gay marriage.
Speaking in Garrison, Date Irvin, dean of New York Theological Seminary in Manhattan, a Protestant seminary, said many evangelical Christians call Benedict an ally in the culture war.
"There is an expectation that he will carry on what is essentially a Protestant agenda," he said.
Of course, Benedict would not see it that way. Allen said Benedict is preparing his first encyclical, or policy-setting white paper, on the centrality of objective truth.
"Relativism is this idea that you've got your truth, and I've got mine and they're all equally valid, which of course flies in the face of the Catholic Church's commitment to objective truth," he said.
One point on which the panelists agreed is that Benedict appears willing to listen to the opinions of others and to keep an open mind. For example, he changed the rules for a gathering of bishops in October to allow for more discussion.
He has also expressed concern for divorced Catholics who remarry without church annulments, saying they should still feel part of the church. He made these remarks despite a planned Vatican document that is expected to affirm that these Catholics cannot receive Communion.
"Something more pastoral needs to be said about that," said Susan Farrell, associate professor of sociology at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. "There are a lot of lay Catholics who are really having a very difficult time with that and find it very hurtful to be on the margins."
Ratzinger has also become convinced of the seriousness of the sex-abuse crisis in the United States, which many Vatican officials blamed on sensational media coverage, Allen said. Attitudes changed, he said, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ratzinger led for 24 years, reviewed 700 cases.
It was telling that Benedict appointed an American, former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, to replace him as head of the congregation.
"I think it was very important to Cardinal Ratzinger to have an American in that job," he said.
While it's an American tradition to judge officials' first 100 days in office, the world will look more closely at Benedict's first turn at World Youth Day, beginning Aug. 15 in Cologne, Germany. The new pope will visit a synagogue, meet with the Muslim community and celebrate Mass before nearly 1 million people.
World Youth Day was John Paul's creation and one of his greatest legacies. Even when he was ill and feeble, he was at the peak of his evangelistic power before the young.
"Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, will probably stand a much better shot of delivering content in ways that are accessible and understandable," Allen said. "Wojtyla was a poet at the end of the day. He was a dreamer. Ratzinger is much more feet-on-the-ground."
---------------------------------
Also, in the printed newstand Time (not online) article, you see a full page-sized beautiful picture of Papa. It's the same pic as below but blown up much bigger and in greater detail:
GORGEOUS!!
Benedict making his mark
By GARY STERN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: August 3, 2005)
In only his first 100 days as pope, Benedict XVI has started to carve out an identity that is distinct in temperament and emphasis from that of John Paul II, with whom he was closely associated for decades.
For one thing, Benedict has begun dismantling the cult of personality that often characterized John Paul's historic pontificate, said John Allen, a leading Vatican commentator and author of the new "The Rise of Benedict XVI." John Paul's personality often overshadowed everything around him, even a Mass, he said.
"The charisma, the celebrity, around John Paul was so strong that, in a way, the religious significance of the event sort of fades from view," Allen said. "Benedict is obviously determined that is not going to happen. He's trying very hard to make sure the focus is on the ritual, not the person."
Allen was speaking Monday in Garrison at a program about Benedict's first 100 days that was put on by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Four panelists agreed that while Benedict has hardly started to make his mark, he has sent out signals, intentionally or not, of where his pontificate is heading.
He has focused far more, for instance, on liturgy and on offering clear, energetic homilies in Rome than on making grand, public gestures. For example, he is not presiding over beatification ceremonies, something that John Paul relished.
"He is a Bavarian Catholic," said William Burrows, managing editor of Orbis Books, part of the Ossining-based Maryknoll missionary society. "He grew up in a totally Catholic environment where the liturgy shaped the entire community. This pope was shaped by the liturgy."
Such views are shared by those who have seen Benedict up close. In a widely distributed analysis of the first 100 days which ended July 27 the veteran Italian commentator Sandro Magister wrote that Romans appreciate the new pope's strengths.
"The same Masses of the faithful that applauded the gestures or striking phrases of pope Karol Wojtyla, while almost completely missing what it was that he was talking about, are doing the opposite with the new pope," Magister wrote. "They follow Ratzinger's homilies word for word, from beginning to end, with an attentiveness that astonishes the experts."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger railed against the "dictatorship" of moral relativism that he sees marching through Europe and the United States. So it's no surprise that, as pope, he has jumped into the culture war.
Last month, he supported Italian bishops when they successfully lobbied to kill a proposed referendum to loosen regulations on in-vitro fertilization. He also supported Spanish bishops in their failed attempt to stop parliament from legalizing gay marriage.
Speaking in Garrison, Date Irvin, dean of New York Theological Seminary in Manhattan, a Protestant seminary, said many evangelical Christians call Benedict an ally in the culture war.
"There is an expectation that he will carry on what is essentially a Protestant agenda," he said.
Of course, Benedict would not see it that way. Allen said Benedict is preparing his first encyclical, or policy-setting white paper, on the centrality of objective truth.
"Relativism is this idea that you've got your truth, and I've got mine and they're all equally valid, which of course flies in the face of the Catholic Church's commitment to objective truth," he said.
One point on which the panelists agreed is that Benedict appears willing to listen to the opinions of others and to keep an open mind. For example, he changed the rules for a gathering of bishops in October to allow for more discussion.
He has also expressed concern for divorced Catholics who remarry without church annulments, saying they should still feel part of the church. He made these remarks despite a planned Vatican document that is expected to affirm that these Catholics cannot receive Communion.
"Something more pastoral needs to be said about that," said Susan Farrell, associate professor of sociology at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. "There are a lot of lay Catholics who are really having a very difficult time with that and find it very hurtful to be on the margins."
Ratzinger has also become convinced of the seriousness of the sex-abuse crisis in the United States, which many Vatican officials blamed on sensational media coverage, Allen said. Attitudes changed, he said, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ratzinger led for 24 years, reviewed 700 cases.
It was telling that Benedict appointed an American, former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, to replace him as head of the congregation.
"I think it was very important to Cardinal Ratzinger to have an American in that job," he said.
While it's an American tradition to judge officials' first 100 days in office, the world will look more closely at Benedict's first turn at World Youth Day, beginning Aug. 15 in Cologne, Germany. The new pope will visit a synagogue, meet with the Muslim community and celebrate Mass before nearly 1 million people.
World Youth Day was John Paul's creation and one of his greatest legacies. Even when he was ill and feeble, he was at the peak of his evangelistic power before the young.
"Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, will probably stand a much better shot of delivering content in ways that are accessible and understandable," Allen said. "Wojtyla was a poet at the end of the day. He was a dreamer. Ratzinger is much more feet-on-the-ground."
---------------------------------
Also, in the printed newstand Time (not online) article, you see a full page-sized beautiful picture of Papa. It's the same pic as below but blown up much bigger and in greater detail:
GORGEOUS!!
~Imladris~
Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI, was 
