A Papal visit risks causing more division in our society

Saturday April 23rd 2005

THERE was a moment, among the plethora of interviews with which we have been bombarded during the past week of Papal celebration, when Cardinal Desmond Connell gave his views on the election of the new Pope. He hunted desperately through his mind for good things to say.

The hunt seems not to have concerned itself with the essential needs in this country about which the Pope might play a role.

These, as we all know, are ecumenism, leading to a closer union between the different Churches and their congregations, the inclusion of minority communities, confrontation of problems concerning child sex abuse, celibacy, the future role of women in the Church, and the tackling of latent sectarianism, which is still a pernicious problem on this island.

Cardinal Connell drew a blank. He did not evidently want to deal with these issues. They had not really been the concern of Pope John Paul II and they are unlikely to be the concern of Benedict XVI.

Instead, the Cardinal stressed the fact that the new Pope has an "outstanding intellect" which is expressed in substantial published works, and that he is "a spiritual man" - which, we hope, goes for all cardinals. He told us he would be "a lift for Germany" and would give confidence to the German people. There was one exception. Cardinal Connell did touch on ecumenism. But he did it in the worst possible taste, turning around the critical controversy over "Dominus Iesus" - the document that belittled other Churches - by suggesting that it had all been a matter of poor translation. "Rome has to be very careful about how documents are translated", he said. He did say that he hoped the Pope would visit Ireland, and in this he was widely supported. The Government would be keen on it and would no doubt hope to time it to its own electoral advantage.

This and much, much more emphasises just how badly distorted peoples' perceptions can become when, in the shadow of death, a new election takes place. It is an inescapable phenomenon. It happens in all countries whether the leader is religious or secular. But on this occasion it meant that as many as possible of Pope John Paul's qualities were transferred to his successor. Pope Benedict was "spiritual, approachable, kindly, good for his own people" - for Poles read Germans - and his intellect was offered in lieu of almost everything else.

Consider now what one German says of him: Hans Kung called his ideology a "medieval, anti-Reformation, anti-modern paradigm of the Church and the papacy. To have him as Pope will be considered by many Catholics to mean that the Church is absolutely unable to reform itself, and that you are not to have any hope for the great process of the Second Vatican Council."

Now translate that to Ireland. We do not have a theologian who comes anywhere near Hans Kung in thinking, still worse no member of the Church with the courage to come out and say what is the truth.

A visit to Ireland by Pope Benedict XVI would be a grave mistake for the social, moral and political dilemma facing this country. It would divide generations, reinforcing the old in their spiritual isolationism, and alienating the young.

It would reinforce the message of "Dominus Iesus" among the Churches. It would inject the wrong spiritual message between the two communities in the North. Ian Paisley's traditional attitude to the Papacy - moderated in recent years - would be reinforced, and his beliefs, along with those of many other Reformation faiths, would be antagonised.

Other issues would also become more controversial under the emotionally charged impact of such a visit. We are gradually becoming more liberal about sexual mores and homosexuality. This Pope is deeply reactionary about homosexuality. He is opposed, illogically, at least in my opinion, to stem cell research and conservative about sexuality.

His theological conservatism does not warrant detailed examination here, but the principles behind it raise huge questions about the degree to which he is likely to isolate further the faithful within the Church of Rome from the societies in which they are a declining portion. Similarly, among the many factors that have caused the decline in vocations for the priesthood, theological rigidity will add its not inconsiderable weight.

Put another way, this means that good Catholics, as they did under his predecessor, will get from Pope Benedict a clear and uncompromising message - he was, after all, responsible for the drafting and dissemination of doctrinal teaching under the last papacy - and will find it increasingly hard to bear.

One young German student in St Peter's Square on the other hand welcomed fervently the conservatism. He suggested, however, that it would be more popular to be more liberal, "But it's not the best way for the Church. The Church must tell the truth, even if it is not what the people want to hear. And he will tell the truth."

That truth is an arguable matter, not a certainty. The Pope is not a pastoral prelate. He is an academic and an intellectual. His theology does not, self-evidently, work on the ground. Behind all the enthusiasm and proper welcome extended to him on becoming Pope, the controversies have been equally enthusiastic and lively.

They centre on the intellectual mind theorising about generalities. This is particularly evident in the rather bland distinction offered by the Pope in his pre-conclave characterisation of faith as being either "clear", by which he meant "fundamentalist", or the kind of faith that is "swept along by every wind of teaching". He called this "relativism".

It is by no means as simple as that. Practising Catholics notoriously by-pass great areas of fundamentalist doctrine, particularly on birth control and abortion. While those who differ from strict orthodoxy have great difficulty being labelled as "swept along by every wind of teaching".

As one of the liberal cardinals, Godfried Danneels of Belgium, put it: "When you are Pope, you have to be the pastor of every one and everything which happens in the church." That pastoral care may be swallowed up in arid battles of books and theology while the anguish of the many people who feel excluded unfairly goes on.

? Irish Independent