Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Pope at Bay

This New York Review of Books tabloid-style cover blurb on the May 27, 2010 issue was a phrase in the article, but not its theme. In The Pope and the Hedgehog ($) Anthony Grafton begins
it’s worth stepping back for a moment and remembering that Benedict is probably the greatest scholar to rule the Church since Innocent III, the brilliant jurist who served from 1198 to 1216.
He goes on to treat sympathetically the Pope's explanation of the revived Tridentine Mass and his earlier handling, as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, of dissident theologians. Beyond the firewall, he concludes
History matters to the Pope, and that gives some reason to hope that he is not looking for another Dominic, since he himself has played that role so effectively, and that he too will recognize the Francis or the Angela Merici of our time when he or she appears before him.
Update: Joseph A. Komonchak with more from behind the firewall at dotCommonweal

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