Benedict XVI

That Pope Benedict XVI was in town was driven home for me more by the inconveniences of his visit than by my own rapture. My apartment building lies along one of the parade routes; last week there were people waiting with birthday signs for his motorcade hours before he was scheduled to appear. It was perhaps not the best weekend to ride up to New York (Benedict's next destination) on the Chinatown bus. My bus up (and train back down) were packed to the gills with people traveling to see him.

I understand that the Pope is an important world figure. As the leader of the Catholic Church he is in a position to exert enormous political and cultural influence. That influence has begun to scare me, though-- a lot. Images from the last week at two baseball stadiums where the Pope was to perform the mass seemed surreal to me. There were enormous tents at both, with myriad priests on hand to hear confessions before the mass began. It's hard for me to see so many people in a religious frenzy here in the United States and not compare that to images of huge gatherings in the Middle East, pictures of which are often used to convey fear of conservative Islam.

The thing is, the Roman Catholic church is taking what I see as a dangerous turn toward conservatism. Eduardo Porter has a fascinating editorial observer column in the New York Times last week, that articulates one reason this is the case. In the article, he points out that some of the most successful religions have exceptionally fervent congregations and the strictest requirements. "Religions relax their rules at their own peril."

Many traditionalists attribute the church’s decline to the weakening of its strictures. They believe it was damaged by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which tried to bring the church closer to the people, proclaimed religious freedom, embraced people of other Christian faiths and acknowledged truth in other religions.
So it is perhaps unsurprising that the church has been pushing the other way. Pope Benedict XVI has brought back rites abandoned after Vatican II and reasserted the church’s hold on truth.

I absolutely understand and respect strict adherence to religious orthodoxy. But sometimes that orthodoxy needs to be reevaluated by the community to be sure that it comports with the present age. That is Porter's point in the Times, and I agree.

As my father pointed out to me this weekend, it's worth remembering that the Pope is the same person he was before he was elected by the College of Cardinals. As Joseph Ratzinger, he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith-- the current form of what was the driving force of the Inquisition. His job-- and he performed it relentlessly-- was to root out and punish all deviations from strict orthodoxy. It's frightening to think that he has become one of the most powerful people in the world.