Exciting Catholicism

Not normally two words that you would speak in the same breath!

"Many Catholics were aghast when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen to succeed Pope John Paul II in April. This programme biography unravels the chequered history of a man once hailed as a radical reformer, but now reviled in some circles as a major obstacle to the modernisation of the church."Channel 4 excerpt.

But with all the media attention on the new Pope and World Youth Day just gone in Cologne, it is an exciting time to be a Catholic. Right now, I am watching a prime time documentary on the new Pope, Benedict XVI. In one of the most secular societies of the world, a religious-type documentary at 8pm is strange. Titled 'God's Rottweiler', the first thought was that this was going to be exceptionally biased against religion. It hasn't worked out like that so far but I could be wrong! The words used by the narrator tends on the dramatic side but at least the interviews seem to balance it out.

It covers the most pressing issues in the church at the moment, homosexuality, women priests, paedophile priests and ecumenism. It then moves on to the personality of the man itself, with various persons being interviewed describing him.

The documentary questions if a catholic fundamentalist is suitable to heal the divisions of the church? It also asks how a new pope can stand for the Truth in a culture that no longer believes? It balanced out the narrators fundamentalist point of view which implies that Benedict XVI will be a dangerous fundamentalist by others who explain that a new pope has a new name and becomes a new person, with the example of how Benedict XV brought the faithful in Europe through World War I.

Now, I am a liberal Catholic but I am not too disturbed by the very fundamentalist Pope. I think that a man who believes absolutely in everything he stands for and is willing to fight for it and not be swayed by populist opinion should be applauded. But I am waiting with bated breath for more of his teachings on issues which divide the church, to see if he wil repair them or increase the divide.