Friday, April 18, 2008

Joseph Ratzinger : The Pope



What the Nazi experience seems to have bred in Joseph Ratzinger, or the preexisting trait it reinforced in him, was a kind of distancing, a pattern of removing himself from unpleasantness, isolating the pure ideal — of the faith, the church, the family, the nation — from the inevitable corruptions of the world. This approach fosters a sense of remoteness in his remembrances, a detachment that may strike many as cold. In fact, it is problematic when a churchman who places such a high priority on personal rectitude and individual holiness appears unreflective about his own history. And if it is even more problematic when that churchman becomes the Supreme Pastor of the Roman Catholic Church, the leader of the ongoing dialogue with Judaism.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/a-key-moment-in-benedicts-relationship-with-the-jews/index.html?hp

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