Papal Enclosure
Benedict XVI comes to the United States.
For anyone my age, when we were little, popes rarely left the Vatican, in fact, the first reigning pontiff to visit the U.S. was Paul VI, the “first” so-called pilgrim pope and most well travelled pope ever. Then JPII came along and no one could manage to keep him home. Indeed, if the pope would have visited the U.S. when I was little - meaning either Pius XII or John XXIII, the nuns would have needed some sort of anti-anxiety medication to handle their excitement - although such drugs weren’t available back then.
Now days, a pope leaving the enclosure of the Vatican, Rome, Italy and/or surrounding regions is no longer unusual. Like I said, JPII was never home. I think the hoopla over Benedict’s visit hearkens back to what it might have been like if Pius or John would have made the trip. Benedict is already a pope of a different color - he is decidedly a brilliant, contemporary theologian and religious leader, in touch with the modern world, yet he is just as rooted in tradition as the pre-councilar popes. (In my half-educated opinion, that is.) In other words, he seems to me to be a sort of “renaissance pope” for the renewal of the Catholic religion throughout the world.
“Sent by Jesus Christ.”
Naturally everyone is speculating with extraordinary excitement on their blogs and in the rest of media about the pope’s visit taking place this week. I think it is wonderful, since it allows the general population to better understand our religion, and is a sure sign of our hospitality for the Holy Father. Although I haven’t written about the pope’s visit because so many other people have - and they are doing a much better job of it than I could.
Indeed, I’m looking forward to his visit. I love this pope like a dad. I love John Paul II as well - my gosh! - he played a special role in my 2nd conversion! Yet I think Benedict seems much more personable than JPII. That said, such comparisons to his predesesor will be repeated more often than they ought to be. As a Catholic, I know the current pope’s predecessors are dead, but the papacy is not - and Benedict XVI is the reigning pope.
The man in the pope.
It really isn’t about the man, but the Vicar of Christ - he is “sent by Jesus Christ”. Hopefully, non-Catholics will get that amidst all of the hoopla.
April 13th, 2008 at 11:02 am
He’s my spiritual father, too–reminds me of his Easter Vigil homily– why we feel close to him, which non believers might not understand:
“Believers – the baptized – are never truly cut off from one another. Continents, cultures, social structures or even historical distances may separate us. But when we meet, we know one another on the basis of the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope, the same love, which form us. Then we experience that the foundation of our lives is the same. We experience that in our inmost depths we are anchored in the same identity, on the basis of which all our outward differences, however great they may be, become secondary. Believers are never totally cut off from one another. We are in communion because of our deepest identity: Christ within us. Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close (cf. Eph 2:13).”
Peter is coming! (must set the TiVo)
April 13th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I expect to see a rise in criticism from insane little groups like Catholics for a Free Choice and rogue dissenters.
April 13th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I love the Pope, too, and I’m well immersed currently in “Jesus of Nazareth” for class. How awesome to be still reading this book while he is present in our country.
He is such a gift to the world, and such a wonderful representative of Christ.
The Church Fathers, St. Irenaeus (maybe St. Ignatius, not sure which) said that there is “ONE altar, ONE sacrifice, ONE bishop…”
At every Mass, we are unified, all from the single altar of the Crucifixion, the single altar in Rome.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
You can never predict what is going to come next with him - and that’s a good thing! He’s confounded the MSM - take that you morally bankrupt media!!!
I grew to love JP2 (he was elected when I was a rebellious teen who grew into a dissident Catholic) but B16 is truly “my” pope as he came onto the scene when I had become an orthodox Catholic and I could really appreciate what he has to offer.
I think one of the greatest things we will remember of his papacy is the release of the TLM. I will most likely never attend one but at least it’s more available.
AND Papa Benny is a CAT PERSON! YAY!!!