
Important issues that may have affected the selection of Pope Benedict XVI

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Overview:
Essentially all of the 120 cardinals who made up the 2005 conclave were personally selected by Pope John Paul II. Some observers assumed that they
would elect a pope who matches the previous pope in terms of style,
philosophy and beliefs. But others cited what has been called the "pendulum
law." This states that each successive pope tends to differ greatly from the
one before -- often appearing as opposites in many ways.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, had been prefect of the
Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that post, he
worked closely with Pope Paul II on various encyclicals. In fact, he wrote many
of them. 8 These included documents on the role of women, participation of
Catholics in political life, marriages and civil unions of same-sex couples,
etc. It would appear that the new pope matches the philosophy and beliefs of
Pope Paul II.
John L. Allen, Jr., author of "Conclave," has suggested five major
issues that the cardinals may have considered in their deliberations. 1 Each cardinal probably had well
considered views on each of these issues and may have tried to select a pope who
matches his own beliefs.

Issue 1: Collegiality in the Church:
The term "collegiality" refers to an
cooperative environment in
which the "bishops, and through them the people of the local churches,
should be involved in setting policy -- first in their own churches and even for
the universal Catholic Church." 2
This is seen in various degrees in most Protestant faith groups, where clergy
and laity select the denomination's president or moderator; delegates
representing the laity and clergy also vote on resolutions to determine the
denomination's position on theological and social issues. However, the Roman Catholic church has traditionally
been organized along non-democratic lines.
In 1870, the First Vatican Council
declared the primacy and infallibility of the pope. Since that time, the
pope has been able to establish certain beliefs as being free of error and in
which the entire church membership must believe. Collegiality was a prominent topic during
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (a.k.a. Vatican II; 1962 to 1965).
The church appears to have become less collegial in recent years. Power has been
increasingly concentrated in the pope and the Curia -- the Vatican's civil
service. Some examples:
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In some areas, there was a
long-standing tradition by which bishops were elected by the local priests. This has been
replaced by papal selection from Rome. |
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A church-wide gag order has prevented priests, bishops, cardinals,
etc. from arguing in public against any existing church teaching, or even stating that
change is needed. |
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In his 1998 document Apostolos Suos, Pope John Paul II stated that
bishops' conferences lack any theological or collegial status. |
There are forces promoting both increased and decreased collegiality within the
church. Some suggest that a strong centralized control from Rome is needed if a
worldwide church is to retain its effectiveness as it is impacted by various languages,
cultures and ideologies.

Issue 2: Ecumenism and interreligious dialogue:
The Second Vatican Council's
Declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions (1976),
made a major step forward towards religious unity when, referring to
non-Catholic religions, it stated that: "The Catholic Church rejects nothing
of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the
manner of life and conduct, the precepts and teachings, which, although
differing in many ways from her own teaching, nonetheless often reflect a ray of
that truth which enlightens all men." 3
John Paul II has referred to the first millennium CE as
a period of unity and the second as division. He hopes that the third will be a
time of reunion, when the thousands of Christian denominations coalesce into
one. During his pontificate, he has reached out to Eastern Orthodox Christians,
even apologizing in 2001-MAY to Archbishop Christodoulos for more than a
millennia of perceived Western offenses against the Orthodox church. He has
visited the Holocaust memorial and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel. He has met
with Muslims over fifty times.
However, there have been negative developments in the field of ecumenism. In
the year 2000, the papal document Dominus
Iesus suggested that there are four groups of religions in the world:
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The Roman Catholic Church which was established by Jesus Christ:
"he himself is in the Church and the Church is in him...."
|
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Eastern Orthodox Churches which are united with the Catholic
Church. |
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The remaining Christian denominations which are not "churches in the proper sense." However, their members are "incorporated
in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church." |
 |
Other religions practice rituals which may "depend on superstitions or
other errors... [and] constitute an obstacle to salvation." Members of other
religions are "gravely deficient" relative to members of the Church of
Christ who already have "the fullness of the means of salvation."
More details on "Dominus Iesus."
|
This document generated a flood of negative comments from non-Catholic
groups. Even some Catholic experts on interreligious dialogue were shocked.
There have been many instances of religious schism. This happened in the 11th
century when the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches formally
split. It happened in the 16th century when the Roman Catholic Church and the
Protestant movement separated. Once a split has occurred, the resulting
denominations tend to progressively distance themselves from one another in
beliefs and practice. Unifying them becomes progressively more difficult and may
now be an impossible task.
Many Christians are concerned with the increased numbers of Muslims in the
world. As long as it is fractured into thousands of denominations, it is
difficult for Christianity to compete with Islam. There is a strong concern for
ecumenicalism within the Catholic Church.

Issue 3: Globalization, poverty and justice:
Pope John Paul II has repeatedly called for:
 |
The developed world to cancel the debts of poor nations. |
 |
Amnesty for some prisoners. |
 |
An end to the death penalty. |
There are many other global problems that adversely affect billions of
people. Some are: grinding poverty, preventable diseases, political oppression
and genocide. There is a lack of adequate housing, drinking water, democracy,
civil rights, religious freedom, free speech, educational opportunities, etc.
John Allen comments: "The next pope will...face the deep intellectual
challenge of not merely offering verbal support for social justice but finding
ways of translating it into concrete proposals for social structures and
systems. He will have to move beyond denouncing a gap between rich and poor to
promoting credible alternatives." 4

Issue 4: Bioethics, sexuality, gender and the family:
This issue contains a broad range of problems, including:
There is a movement in some western democracies to allow
same-sex couples to
marry. The percentage of Roman Catholic couples who use artificial birth in
North America does not differ significantly from the rest of the population.
Approximately six million Catholics in the U.S. alone have divorced and
remarried without receiving an annulment. 5
A majority within the conclave apparently selected Pope Benedict XVI in order to reinforce and defend
traditional Church teaching. Only a minority of cardinals appear to have wanted
the new pope to change church teaching and resolve these difficult internal
church conflicts. 
Issue 5: The role of women and the laity:The supply of priests and nuns within the Catholic Church has reached crisis
proportions in some countries. The average age of priests in some countries have
reached the mid-60s or higher. In the 12 years between 1998 and 2010, the total
number of working priests is expected to drop from about 23 thousand to 15
thousand. There are already more than 2,000 priestless parishes. 6 There is pressure within the church to allow more priests to marry. There are
a small minority of priests within the church who were Anglican priests or other
clergy and who converted to Roman Catholicism. There is pressure to consider
female ordination. Over the past few decades, this has become routine among
liberal, mainline, and some Pentecostal and Charismatic Protestant
denominations. Near the turn of the century, there were about 2,000 more full or
part-time professional lay ministers in the U.S. than priests. 7 Pressure is building to allow
the lay ministers to take on increasing functions formerly reserved for priests. Some within the magesterium resist change. Others, along with the majority of
North American laity, promote significant change in many areas. Many agree that
Pope Benedict XVI will have to deal decisively with this issue.

Reference used:
-
John L. Allen, Jr., "Conclave: The politics, personalities and process of
the next papal election," Doubleday, (2002), Chapter 2 "Voting Issues,"
Pages 38 to 68.
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- Ibid, Page 41 & 42.
- Ibid, Page 53.
- Ibid, Page 59.
- Ibid, Page 61.
- Ibid, Page 63.
- Ibid, Page 67.
-
"Selected Documents," The Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club, at:
http://ratzingerfanclub.com/

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Copyright © 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance Originally posted: 2005-APR-01 Latest update: 2005-APR-20 Author: B.A. Robinson 

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