Today Benedict XVI concludes his pontificate. On this occasion, "We Are
Church" wrote their own document.
It emphasizes the ecclesial and theological meaning of the renunciation and it
is noted that all the problems of the Church, inherited from John Paul II,
remained unresolved. The current difficulties of the Church are the lack of
real reform, which is a consequence of the secretive and ambiguous acceptance
of Vatican II by those who guide the Church in Rome. The Eurocentric Benedict
XVI and his lack of geopolitic sensitivity have worsened the situation. The
document lists other personal decisions of Pope Ratzinger, who are considered
as liabilities in the pontificate, not effectively redeemed by his passionate
reflection on God and the Gospel of Jesus
Collegiality in the management of the Church has remained a dead letter. At
this time a new Synod structure is needed in Rome, with deliberative tasks and
that is a true expression of the whole people of God
Rome, February 28, 2013
The problematic papacy of Benedict XVI. The
reflections of "Noi Siamo Chiesa"
Rome, 28th february 2013
On the 28th
of February Benedict XVI ended his
ministry as Bishop of Rome. The movement "Noi Siamo Chiesa" fully
participate in this event, almost unprecedented in the history of Christianity,
and underlines that it appreciates the ecclesial, theological and historical
meaning of this decision and the personal boldness of the pope. It a step for
the good of the Church, certainly frowned upon by a part of the establishment
clergy, amazed by the evident “desacralization” of the papacy that it implies.
Our movement expresses
concerns about the decision of the pope emeritus to establish his residence in
the Vatican City - and not in a distant monastery; something that could
influence his successor, beyond his declared intention to the contrary, making
it more difficult for the new Pope to make choices that may contradict previous
decisions.
Above all, "Noi
Siamo Chiesa" cannot fail to point out that all the serious and urgent
problems that Ratzinger had inherited from John Paul II remain unsolved, and,
indeed, are exacerbated by the rapid changes taking place in the Church and in
the world .
Of course, we know
that only a certain historical detachment will allow a balanced judgment.
Meanwhile, expressing a provisional assessment, we see more shadows than lights. The
main issues facing the Church, and
especially its leadership, depend on the fact that Pope Ratzinger missed to
reform its structures and its pastoral approach: this was consequence of accepting
only ambiguously and partially the Second Vatican Council. Benedict XVI has
specific responsibilities for these delays, as we pointed out many times, trying
to be active members of our Church, in all our limits.
The Eurocentric point
of view, the insistence on "relativism" and on the relationship
between faith and reason, have all proved inadequate or misleading. In our opinion the Pope teaching should aim to
be a general guidance for the people of God and for the different cultures it
express around the world. Even his three encyclicals suffer from this orientation
of his teaching, although they contain important meditations and exhortations
on the ultimate questions of life and faith. His striking rapprochement with
the USA, in the days of George Bush, and the lack of commitment against those
wars that John Paul II condemned with strong and not ambiguous words, are the expression of a lack of
geopolitical sensitivity, that is dangerous for the Church, as it is centered on
Western and European values and interests.
Under the pontificate
of Benedict XVI ecumenism has stalled, as shown by his choice to call
"ecclesial communities" the Churches of the Reformation and by the
missed opportunities of dialogue with
Orthodoxy. The same can be said of interreligious dialogue, although it must be
acknowledge that he went to Assisi to repeat the great encounter of religions
in 1986.
In his visit to
Auschwitz it was a serious mistake to define Nazism in Germany as due to a
simple "band of criminals." He made errors in the choice of the
people (in particular Cardinal Bertone), and this summed up to his inability, or lack of real desire, for reforming
the Curia. This resulted in the well-known scandals and a further boost to its
elephantiasis was the establishment of the useless Council for New
Evangelization.
Other decisions were
direct expression of his personal conservative approach, such as the opening to
the Lefebvrists and the resumption of the Latin liturgy of the Mass of St. Pius
V. These decisions led to negative outcomes, despite all his efforts. The
incident in Regensburg and its consequence on the relationships with Islam, and
that of the Good Friday prayer on the "enlightenment" needed by the
Jews, were recovered laboriously.
All matters relating
to ecclesial ministries and to sexuality, which are increasingly of the agenda
in the Church at all levels, were banned from discussion. Punitive interventions
on theologians considered to be unorthodox, and
not only on those supporting the
theology of liberation, limited theologians’ contributions to the necessary
reform of the Church.
The scandal of
pedophilia in the clergy exploded because of outside accusations rather than
from the recognition of the errors committed by the church hierarchy, which
protected culprits as long as it could. Benedict XVI sent a few messages and
signals in the right direction, but too many things are still "covered". The Church still lacks
an authentic, clear and general penitential rite about these sins. It is
surprising that Benedict XVI did not react against the Guidelines to combat
pedophilia in the clergy issued the Italian Bishops Conference, which do not
include the duty of the bishops to refer the matter to the civil authorities.
Of course, the evaluation
of Benedict XVI pontificate is a complex thing. It seems to us that Joseph
Ratzinger, in spite of his limitations in the management of the Church, spoke
in a convincing way of God, of his primacy, of the relativity of everything in
front of the ineffable Mystery, in many of his speeches. In Caritas in Veritate (par. 78), to take
one example among many, he wrote that "God's
love calls us to move beyond our limitations, and gives us the courage to act
and to continue to search the good for all. " But, it seems to us that
those who affirm the primacy of God are expected to have the courage of not embracing worldly values, but rather poverty,
justice, and questioning of power.
With regard to the
opening to some form of collegiality, or even co-responsibility, Pope
Ratzinger, was, if ever possible, worse than his predecessors. Under the
pressure of a Curia oppressed and divided under the iron fist of Bertone, the
Pope appointed bishops in a way that was essentially autocratic, denying space
to the plurality of positions that exist in the Catholic world. In a similar
way, the Synod of the Bishops, during his pontificate, were only moments of
mutual understanding and discussion among the bishops, but continued to have no
function, and no power in the management of the Church: the role of the Roman papacy and of the Roman
Curia has been further consolidated.
In this scenario, the
choice of Benedict XVI to resign was, we believe, the most innovative act of
his pontificate. An act of desacralization
of the ministry of Peter, and not of the man Joseph Ratzinger, as was suggested
by the Curia and by the traditionalists, and how it seems to emerge even from
the very words of the Pope. Being an act of freedom, there may be a
heterogenesis of purpose, and his resignation could unleash – we hope - a
demanding journey of renewal for our Church.
Therefore, we think -
and we emphasize – that the Conclave should consider paramount to think of a new
Church organization, giving to the Synod of bishops deliberative powers, and abandoning
the current sterile Synod established by Pope Paul VI. It should open the
debate on all the major open issues, decentralize functions and powers to local
churches, clean up the central apparatus o and reduce its size. A structure of
this type should be primarily an expression of the people of God, including men
and women from outside the clerical system, and will really be able to give
credibility to the Gospel message. The way forward is to build on what was
expressed in his last interview by Cardinal Martini.
