Why cardinals wear red

They’re supposed to be willing to witness to the faith even in the face of martyrdom, if need be.

But Pope Benedict has a dearth of support these days from the successors of the apostles, and like this British blog observes…..it’s like the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Easter editorial in Faith magazine, one of England’s most respected Catholic publications, directs a powerful reproach at the Bishops of England and Wales for failing to support Pope Benedict XVI during his recent troubles.

Scholar and papal biographer George Weigel has this critical analysis out with some incisive scrutiny of “the Rottweiler Brigade”. It is rather breathtaking in scope and depth, but it lays out in one place more than a snapshot of the mess Pope Benedict is mired in these days. Which, as Weigel shows, was preventable…

if the pope had insisted throughout his pontificate on competence and had taken forceful measures to rectify incompetence; if those whose sole purpose is to give effect to the pope’s will had done their jobs better; or if Benedict had reached outside the apostolic palace to take private soundings as to the likely effects of his gesture of reconciliation.

The world, not simply the Church, needs a Benedict XVI working at the top of his form and being enabled to do so by his closest associates. Whether the question is challenging Europe to pull out of the demographic death-spiral caused by its debonair nihilism, or inviting Muslim leaders to seek an Islamically – faithful rapprochement with political modernity, or defending the dignity of human life against the dangers of a brave new world of bio-technically manufactured humanity, there is no substitute for the combination of insight and institutional authority that Pope Benedict brings to the world table. Yet he now faces a crisis in his papacy, for the wisdom of his voice is being muted by the decline in his authority attendant on the managerial incompetence of the Curia.

The short and snappy pop media swipes at the pope fail (and fail miserably) to understand the Church and the papacy and in particular, Pope Benedict and the Roman Curia. Yes, the world needs the voice of Benedict XVI. He is ‘intelligent, decent and humble,’ and speaks for the religious freedom and human rights of the entire world, no exceptions.

But no pope can govern successfully with an ineffectual Curia whose gaffes undercut the papal message and  erode its authority. Both pope and senior churchmen must find new ways to work together if the promise of this papacy is to be fulfilled.