From Michael Novak on Cardinal Ratzinger on National Review Online:
"In his most formative years, Ratzinger heard Nazi propaganda shouting that there is no truth, no justice, there is only the will of the people (enunciated by its leader). As its necessary precondition, Nazism depended on the debunking of objective truth and objective morality. Truth had to be derided as irrelevant, and naked will had to be exalted.
To anybody who said: "But that's false!" the Nazi shouted, "That's just your opinion, and who are you, compared to Der Fuehrer?"
To anybody who said, "But what you are doing is unjust!" the Nazi shouted louder, "Says you, swine."
Relativism means this: Power trumps.
Ratzinger experienced another set of loud shouters in the 1968 student revolution at Tubingen University, this time in the name of Marxist rather than Nazi will. Marxism as much as Nazism (though in a different way) depended on the relativization of all previous notions of ethics and morality and truth " "bourgeois" ideas, these were called. People who were called upon by the party to kill in the party's name had to develop a relativist's conscience.
In today's liberal democracies, Ratzinger has observed, the move to atheism is not, as it was in the 19th century, a move toward the objective world of the scientific rationalist. That was the "modern" way, and it is now being rejected, in favor of a new "post-modern" way. The new way is not toward objectivity, but toward subjectivism; not toward truth as its criterion, but toward power. This, Ratzinger fears, is a move back toward the justification of murder in the name of "tolerance" and subjective choice.
Along with that move, he has observed (haven't we all?), comes a dictatorial impulse, to treat anyone who has a different view as "
Monday, April 25, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005
The Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club: Homepage
The Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club: Homepage
I guess I should have known there would be a diferent URL...
I guess I should have known there would be a diferent URL...
Pope's Homily
I especially liked this part of the homily...
From the Vatican Information Service:
The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all humanity, the living God, Himself became a lamb, He stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how He reveals Himself to be the true shepherd: 'I am the Good Shepherd . . . I lay down my life for the sheep,' Jesus says of Himself (Jn 10:14ff). It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God's sign: He Himself is love. How often we wish that God would make show Himself stronger, that He would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God's patience. And yet, we need His patience. God, Who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified Him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by the impatience of man.
From the Vatican Information Service:
The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all humanity, the living God, Himself became a lamb, He stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how He reveals Himself to be the true shepherd: 'I am the Good Shepherd . . . I lay down my life for the sheep,' Jesus says of Himself (Jn 10:14ff). It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God's sign: He Himself is love. How often we wish that God would make show Himself stronger, that He would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God's patience. And yet, we need His patience. God, Who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified Him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by the impatience of man.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Message to Chief Rabbi of Rome
From Zenit News Agency - The World Seen From Rome:
"'May the Lord have mercy and bless us; may his light shine upon us. On April 19, 2005, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church elected me Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the universal Catholic Church. In announcing my election and the solemn inauguration of my pontificate, on Sunday, April 24, at 10 o'clock, I trust in the help of the Almighty to continue with the dialogue and to reinforce collaboration with the sons and daughters of the Jewish people. Vatican, April 20, 2005, Benedictus XVI.'"
"'May the Lord have mercy and bless us; may his light shine upon us. On April 19, 2005, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church elected me Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the universal Catholic Church. In announcing my election and the solemn inauguration of my pontificate, on Sunday, April 24, at 10 o'clock, I trust in the help of the Almighty to continue with the dialogue and to reinforce collaboration with the sons and daughters of the Jewish people. Vatican, April 20, 2005, Benedictus XVI.'"
Message to Chief Rabbi of Rome
From Zenit News Agency - The World Seen From Rome:
"'May the Lord have mercy and bless us; may his light shine upon us. On April 19, 2005, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church elected me Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the universal Catholic Church. In announcing my election and the solemn inauguration of my pontificate, on Sunday, April 24, at 10 o'clock, I trust in the help of the Almighty to continue with the dialogue and to reinforce collaboration with the sons and daughters of the Jewish people. Vatican, April 20, 2005, Benedictus XVI.'"
"'May the Lord have mercy and bless us; may his light shine upon us. On April 19, 2005, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church elected me Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the universal Catholic Church. In announcing my election and the solemn inauguration of my pontificate, on Sunday, April 24, at 10 o'clock, I trust in the help of the Almighty to continue with the dialogue and to reinforce collaboration with the sons and daughters of the Jewish people. Vatican, April 20, 2005, Benedictus XVI.'"
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