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April 16, 2008USA sees a very different pope:::UPDATE: All my Benedict coverage so far linked here:::END UPDATE::: In my piece currently featured at Pajamas Media I note that the reality of Pope Benedict XVI has been very different from the projections of pundits and media gasbags who fretted over his election. As the pope makes his first address to America-at-large on the White House South Lawn, US Catholics, and really, the world get their first up-close look at man routinely reviled as the “hard-line enforcer” and “God’s Rottweiller.” They are probably surprised by many things, not the least that Benedict is not John Paul. That’s obvious, of course, but I think until now perhaps folks have not realized what that means. John Paul was an actor who enjoyed an audience. He was an extrovert who fed off the energy of the crowds (can anyone forget how, at the Toronto World Youth Day JPII arrived looking enfeebled and departed looking ten years younger) - he understood the dramatic moment, and he loved nothing better to engage the crowd and work them. Benedict is a professor and a teacher who loves nothing better than the solitude of his books. He is an introvert who is spent of energy around crowds. He is not a dramatist and does not instinctively “prolong a moment” for the cameras or anything else. His arrival at the White House was described as “almost serenely quiet”. In speaking English, John Paul was halting and heavily accented; he spoke slowly and dared you to hang in and listen. Benedict is fluent and fast - he expects you to keep up. John Paul II, while in public, showed you what he was feeling and wanted to know what you were feeling. Public Benedict does not show you his feelings; he is too busy thinking, and you can see it. On the WH lawn, he clearly appreciated the music and seemed mildly amused by the remarkable pipe-and-drum band, but he was not playing to the audience; he was watching and observing. Where Benedict resembles his predecessor, however, is in content. This morning’s speech was a remarkable “opening” to the six days of dialogue and instruction that will characterize his visit. He said:
So, externals and personalities aside, the beat goes on. As a friend wrote to me when Benedict ended his speech:
Yes. He is the cerebral pope. John Paul made you feel; Benedict makes you think. If you’re looking for catharsis and “feelings” you won’t get them. Just the truth delivered at 160 wpm. Some of that, also, is cultural. John Paul, a Pole, brought into his papacy all of the warmth and gregariousness that makes up the brilliance and resilience of Poland. Bavarian Benedict carries with him the reserves and proprieties of that land. My dear, late brother-in-law’s parents came from Germany. They were people as generous and giving as you could want, but I don’t believe I ever saw either of them break into a huge smile. That was just their way; thoughtful, quiet and hard-working. Thus, some in America may find themselves disappointed that Benedict seems so “unresponsive” to the crowds hooting and calling to him. A friend emailing from her job wrote:
I suspect Benedict, shy and probably wishing he was home with a purring cat in his lap and a good book, simply is not comfortable with it. One cannot change one’s essential nature, especially when one is 81. And really, there is something to be said for “serenely quiet” in our age full of empty noise. I was struck by the images attending the Pope’s visit to the White House, particularly the shot of the pope and the president standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Striking and more powerful than a thousand pundits. Looking at all those Catholics on the South Lawn, both clergy and laity, I couldn’t help think: forty years ago this would have been unthinkable. Greg Kandra had the same thought and expands upon that here:
Btw, the press is trying to make a big deal out of the fact that Benedict is not attending a White House dinner in his honor and they’re hinting it is a “snub” of President Bush. Hello…as John Allen - who would know - writes, the pope does not eat in public. Ever. The pope does not “go to dinners.” The American Press really does not understand that the pope is not an American politico. Fun trivia: Rocco mentions that the first verse of today’s final song at the White House, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, was inspired by the first reading in today’s Office of Readings. Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews Mary Ann Glendon, US Ambassador to the Holy See. Also writing: Check back as I’ll be linking to more as I find them. Deacon Greg highlights the running NY Times blog which features better writers than me. WELCOME: Instapundit Readers! While you’re here, please look around. Today we’re also talking about how Benedict’s serious message in to an unserious society and how this Peter is a lot like St. Paul, the Bodylanguage of Benedict, the shame of the scandals and - if you need a break from Benedict, how Madison Avenue is waking up to men and, finally glorious Miss Ella Fitzgerald giving chills and swinging out! http://theanchoressonline.com/2008/04/16/usa-sees-a-very-different-pope/trackback/ 16 Responses to “USA sees a very different pope” |
April 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I will admit it. Every time I hear the Battle Hymm of the Republic Sung well I get teary eyed. Hearing it today with Benedict being there and also it appears Benedict enjoyed by those wonderful voices brought me to tears.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I really like Pope Benedict and admire his forthrightness. He shouldn’t have to be called a “Rottweiler” because he actually believes in the faith he professes. (Why don’t they just call him a “Stormtrooper” and be done with it?) He’s honest, he’s a real scholar, and he speaks Truth to power.
Why demand that he be a party animal? What you’ve got here is the Catholic version of what we Jews call a “talmid chacham” (Translated as a combination of “wise student” and “student of the wise”.)
April 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[content edited by admin: I am a pretty tolerant girl, but after considering it a while I've decided that there is a whole wide internet where people who want to leave comments full of hate and anecdotes may do so. Benedict's arrival will naturally encourage many feelings both positive and negative, but the pederasty scandals which have wounded all of us have been publicly and shame-facedly addressed by the church and a great many measures have been put into place to prevent any further abuse. Our sin is "ever before us" and we must live with it, but there does come a point, I think, where for some the constant pounding on the issue is less about "righteous justification" than about swinging an easy hammer of hate. To disregard all of the good that has been done by the Catholic church and her tens of thousands of dedicated and selfless clergy because of the acts of a devious minority is to, essentially, dismiss all the good works of the US Armed Forces, worldwide, because of Abu Ghraib.]
Differing views and honest comments and questions are welcome here. Hate and accusations…not so much.]
Benedict is just like John Paul tho.
another Bad Shepherd that cares more about the other shepherds than the sheep.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
The Pope’s speech was superb! Had Viktor Frankl still been alive, he would have wept with joy and agreement at this wonderful speech. It has been his dream to see a statue of “responsibility” erected to bring even greater hope and awareness of the “freedom” we have in this great country of ours.
Your article over at Pajamas Media is wonderful!
April 16th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
“Pope Benedict XVI has been very different from the projections of pundits and media gasbags who fretted over his election.”
I have one question - what business is it of anyone but the Catholics what the Catholic Pontiff teaches? If they are going to fret over any faith’s corruption, have a chat with the proponents of Islamic jihad.
The chattering classes become, minute-by-minute, more irrelevant and useless!
April 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Can you explain that “first reading” and last verse? I dont see the comparison
April 16th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Specifically how does
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
come from
O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Don - check the reading, not the psalm. It’s from Revelation:
Apocalypse 14:14 - 15:4 ©
Now in my vision I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the sanctuary, and shouted aloud to the one sitting on the cloud, ‘Put your sickle in and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth, and the earth’s harvest was reaped.
Another angel, who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the temple in heaven, and the angel in charge of the fire left the altar and shouted aloud to the one with the sharp sickle, ‘Put your sickle in and cut all the bunches off the vine of the earth; all its grapes are ripe.’ So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God’s anger, outside the city, where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to the horses’ bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs.
What I saw next, in heaven, was a great and wonderful sign: seven angels were bringing the seven plagues that are the last of all, because they exhaust the anger of God. It seemed to see a glass lake suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which is his name. They all had harps from God, and they were singing the hymn of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb:
‘How great and wonderful are all your works,
Lord God Almighty;
just and true are all your ways,
King of nations.
Who would not revere and praise your name, O Lord?
You alone are holy,
and all the pagans will come and adore you
for the many acts of justice you have shown.’
April 16th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
my point was, that the pedophile scandals were never exposed in europe.
because europe doesnt have the litigation model that america does.
my eurofriends say it still happens there.
it wasn’t hate speech.
[I understood your point - you back it up with nothing but "my friends say," and that is sort of an unfair and dangerous thing to do, don't you think? I personally know that in Ireland and other parts of Europe exactly the opposite of what you say is true, that bad priest HAVE been removed and the same sort of protections we have put in place here have been put in place there.
The scandals are terrible, but it is easy to say "nothing is being done," or "my friends tell me this or that." I think since these scandals affect not only real victims, but also real "victim priests" (those good priests who try to live out their vows and vocations in all faith and in the face of tremendous suspicion and hate- thanks to the bad ones) it is only fair to refrain from throwing around vile rumor and unfounded accusation. Is that unreasonable? I don't think so. - admin]
April 16th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
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April 16th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Benedict comes to America…
!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } — When Sithkitten heard Pope Benedict XVI was visiting the US, her immediate response was “Where will he be? Can we see him?” Alas, he will…
April 16th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Anchoress, thanks for the good coverage of the papal visit. I don’t have much to add to your thoughtful reflections except one small personal anecdote.
Listening to Benedict on the radio today, I was momentarily taken aback by his obvious German accent. JPII was the only Pope I really remember, and he left such a large imprint. I guess I subconsciously thought “Pope” and expected to hear John Paul. Then I thought, “A Polish Pope, and now a German one. Who could have predicted it?” It gave me a chuckle and a feeling of joy.
Two very different men, but, God willing, two equally capable spiritual leaders.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
[...] USA sees a very different pope [...]
April 17th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Reader Tips…
For all your pope blogging, visit the Anchoress. This has all the makings to become another case of the “double sided fax”. Question and Answer Time, with Don Surber. Yours in the comments…….
April 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am
[...] USA sees a very different pope [...]
April 17th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
[...] USA sees a very different pope [...]