Pope, out of context

Now there’s familiar ground for Benedict. People either selectively pluck something he says out of the middle of much deeper text and criticize him for that line…..or use it to validate something they want to believe. Never mind the rest of what he said.

Like Fr. Jenkins did in his remarks before introducing president Obama at Notre Dame’s commencement:

“Pope Benedict said last year from the South Lawn of the White House: “I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.”

I was on the South Lawn that day, covering the papal visit as a journalist, and recall much more that Jenkins could have quoted. I would come back to that…

He continued:

Genuine faith does not inhibit the use of reason; it purifies it of pride and distorting self-interest. As it does so, Pope Benedict has said, “human reason is emboldened to pursue its noble purpose of serving mankind, giving expression to our deepest common aspirations and extending … public debate.”

While listening to this, I’m making a note to go back to Benedict’s writing and transcripts – especially what he said to Catholic educators in Washington last April (was Jenkins there?) - and put this all in proper context.

Meanwhile, Kathryn Jean Lopez has done that, and more.

Benedict began his speech by saying that “first and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.” He continued: “Teachers and administrators . . . have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual, or spiritual.”

Notre Dame conferring a doctorate of laws on a president who uses to law to advance abortion access, and require taxpayers be complicit in it, has led to confusion at the very least.

In that address to Catholic educators last year, Pope Benedict had something to say about “academic freedom”:

I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church’s munus docendi [duty to teach] and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.