June 18, 2005

Books chronicle new pope's ascendancy

LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star

By BOB REEVES / Lincoln Journal Star

In his hot-off-the-press book, "The Rise of Benedict XVI," Vatican journalist John L. Allen Jr.examines the new pope's personality, career and values and gives an inside look at the conclave based on interviews with eight cardinals.

What comes across is a picture of the new pontiff as a much more complex, caring and less rigid church leader than his previous media image reflected.

For 24 years, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger came to be seen as "a doctrinal czar," Allen said in a telephone interview. "Other aspects of what Joseph Ratzinger is about didn't crack the media filter." ...


In the wake of the sexual abuse crisis in the American church, the new pope is likely to support a tightening of discipline and admission policies of seminaries in an effort to assure that priests will serve "in the person of Christ."

Pope Benedict XVI will "expect people who are on the church payroll to toe the line" on church doctrine, but "that's not all he's about," Allen said. "He's not taking on the papacy to crack heads. Rather, he wants to remind people of the very concept of objective truth. Certain truths do not change, and we abandon that at our peril."

Posted by kshaw at June 18, 2005 08:34 AM