The German Shepherd at home

On the first year anniversary of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, he asked everyone to pray that he would be a “gentle but firm” shepherd. He is clearly emerged as both. Every audience or public encounter reveals his character and thought as gentle, firm and brilliant.

He just did an interview for German television and radio in advance of his trip to his home country next month, and it was a fascinating conversation. In an earlier post I said I’d get back to the issue of clarity. This was the thinking I had in mind.

Benedict on youth:

Young people are very generous but when they face the risk of a life-long commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, they are afraid. The world is moving dramatically: nowadays I can continually do whatever I want with my life with all its unpredictable future events. By making a definitive decision am I myself not tying up my personal freedom and depriving myself of freedom of movement? Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life. They are the only decisions that do not destroy our freedom but offer to point us in the right direction. Risk making this leap, so to speak, towards the definitive and so embrace life fully: this is something I’d be happy to communicate to them.
Benedict on geopolitics and the Middle East peace process:

Of course we have no political influence and we don’t want any political power. But we do want to appeal to all Christians and to all those who feel touched by the words of the Holy See, to help mobilize all the forces that recognize how war is the worst solution for all sides. It brings no good to anyone, not even to the apparent victors…Everyone needs peace….There are moral forces at work that are ready to help people understand how the only solution is for all of us to live together. These are the forces we want to mobilize…

You had to watch the video of this interview to appreciate fully the wry wit of Benedict’s answer when the journalists asked why, at the recent Valencia World Meeting of Families, he “never spoke about abortion, or about contraception.” They said that “careful observers thought that was very interesting.” And they added: “Clearly your idea is to go around the world preaching the faith rather than as an ‘apostle of morality.'”

He was clearly enjoying this analysis.

“Obviously, yes. Actually I should say I had only two opportunities to speak for twenty minutes. And when you have so little time you can’t say everything you want to say about “no”. Firstly you have to know what we really want, right? Christianity, Catholicism, isn’t a collection of prohibitions: it’s a positive option. It’s very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today. We’ve heard so much about what is not allowed that now it’s time to say: we have a positive idea to offer…”

He’s re-framing the picture, which John Paul II tried to do in his Theology of the Body teachings.

I believe we need to see and reflect on the fact that it’s not a Catholic invention that man and woman are made for each other, so that humanity can go on living: all cultures know this. As far as abortion is concerned, it’s part of the fifth, not the sixth, commandment: “You shall not kill!”. We have to presume this is obvious and always stress that the human person begins in the mother’s womb and remains a human person until his or her last breath. The human person must always be respected as a human person. But all this is clearer if you say it first in a positive way.
 

And in the midst of this extensive interview, the subject of canonizations of saints came up, specifically the record number of them elevated in recent times. Then he dropped this:

In the beginning I also thought that the large number of beatifications was almost overwhelming and that perhaps we needed to be more selective; choosing figures that entered our consciousness more clearly. Meanwhile, I decentralized the beatifications in order to make these figures more visible in the specific places they came from. Perhaps a saint from Guatemala doesn’t interest us in Germany and vice versa, someone from Altotting is of no interest in Los Angeles, and so on, right?

…I’ve also seen how these beatifications in different places touch vast numbers of people and that people say: “At last, this one is one of us!”. They pray to him and are inspired. The blessed soul belongs to them and we’re happy there are lots of them.

Who knew that the Pope had decentralized the beatification process?! Have you heard that? This is a whole new approach to making saints!

This is really some interview. Benedict clearly felt at ease and at home, and you should see what he had to say. You can do that here.

As the interview wound down, the journalists wondered if humor plays a part in the life of a Pope.

I’m not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it’s very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I’d also say it’s necessary for my ministry. A writer once said that angels can fly because they don’t take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn’t think we were so important.

Good message.