Winters on B16 in Slate

I was one of those who, to use Michael Sean Winters's expression in his slate.com article, 'greeted [BXVI's] election with trepidation,' and though I haven't been completely won over, I am genuinely and pleasantly surprised by the overall tenor to date of BXVI's papacy. Mr. Winters provided a nice overview of the Pope's efforts to reach beyond Church politics and divisions. I'd add the Pope's two encyclicals, Deus Caritas Est and Spe Salvi, to those efforts. Not only are both documents profound and the work of a brilliant theologian and scholar, but they are (thankfully) apolitical. I remember being especially concerned when hearing the news that the Pope would be releasing his first encyclical. Like many Catholics, however, I was impressed by its timeless message of Christian love. If I were able to be in Washington, D.C., or NYC during the Pope's visit, I would be only too happy to greet him in person.

Although John Allen of NCR disagreed rather vehemently with me when I proposed, at a conference held in the Archdiocese of Detroit a couple of years ago, that Pope Benedict was elected to be a "transitional pope," I still hold this opinion. I agree with John that he was not elected to 'keep the seat warm' but I do think that his fellow cardinals choose Joseph Ratzinger to 'bridge the gap' between the beloved and a bit cult-worshipped Servant of God John Paul II and a future pope -- perhaps from the Global South -- who would bring a different focus to the papacy. Since Papa Ratzi (nod to Rocco) would be (at least initially) a welcome encore to JPII among more conservative Catholics, the transition would be smoother than if, say, an Oscar Rodriguez of Honduras, were the successor to the See of Peter.