HVK Archives: The man to succeed the Pope?
The man to succeed the Pope? - The Statesman
Richard Owen
()
26 April 1997
Title: The man to succeed the Pope?
Author: Richard Owen
Publication: The Statesman
Date: April 26, 1997
As Pope John Paul II visibly declines, the eminence grise of the Vatican,
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Bavaria, the Pope's "Grand Inquisitor" and
chief doctrinal watchdog for the part 16 years, is building an ever higher
profile.
The deceptively soft-spoken and white-haired cardinal was Archbishop of
Munich before being summoned to be head of the Holy Office in 1981. The
Office-properly called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - is
the modern successor to the Inquisition and Cardinal Ratzinger has been
ruthless in weeding out heresy.
In the past few months, his influence has become overt, with his views
flooding the media. He has made nods in the direction of liberal Catholics,
for example by suggesting that the decision to grant a divorce might be
made by local bishops rather than the Vatican.
Cardinal Ratzinger's 70th birthday this month was treated as a major event,
with two book launches and his photograph on the front cover of Famiglia
Christiana, Italy's best-selling Catholic magazine. But the cardinal
remains the stern guardian of orthodoxy. Last month he attacked Eastern
religions, reflecting the Vatican's fear that many young people are
attracted to Oriental faiths.
Buddhism was a "kind of spiritual auto-eroticism," he said, because it held
out the prospect of "touching the infinite" without imposing any concrete
religious obligations.
Hinduism also offered false hope because it appeared to guarantee "the path
of purification" when in fact if focused on a "morally cruel" concept of
reincarnation resembling "a continuous circle of hell." Earlier this year,
Cardinal Ratzinger summarily excommunicated a Sri Lankan priest for
questioning Roman Catholic beliefs such as "Original Sin and the Immaculate
Conception, but also for trying to find a "middle way" between Christianity
and Asian religions.
"A true dialogue with other faiths should not be 'a journey into emptiness'
but a search for the eternal truth revealed in Jesus," the cardinal said.
Although Cardinal Ratzinger is rumoured to has asked the Pope to let him
step down, some see his growing prominence as a sign that his Vatican
career is far from over, Might the German cardinal be a contender for St
Peter's throne? Asked to predict the next Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger merely
observes cryptically that he should be a "man of vision and conviction" and
a "moral voice for the world," adding that the next conclave could we
produce "a surprise choice."
"No one expected John XXIII after Pius XII," he said. "For that matter, no
one expected the present Pope to be elected either," Cardinal Ratzinger adds.
- The Times, London
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