POPE  BENEDICT  XVI:  Was  he  a  good  or  a  bad  pope?

The question raised in this heading is not an easy one to answer so I will present some background about this pope and let my readers decide for themselves.

Arguments that he was a good pope

The Archbishop of Liverpool, Patrick Kelly, says Benedict XVI will go down in history as one of the very great Popes. The Archbishop described Benedict XVI as a great listener and somebody who is able to give you a wider perspective and make you aware of things that just hadn't crossed your mind.

It has been said that with the pope’s resignation, the Christian world will miss a great theologian with great spiritual depth.

Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom also paid tribute to the pope when he said, “He has worked tirelessly to strengthen Britain's relations with the Holy See (Vatican).” 

He urged compassion towards the poor and also immigrant refugees and he cultivated better relations with the Anglican Church and other Christian denominations.

As Cardinal Ratzinger, (as Pope Benedict was then called) had headed up what was probably the most efficient bureaucracy in the Vatican.

In 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger convinced Pope John Paul II to put the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—the Vatican office that Ratzinger oversaw—in charge of all investigations and policies surrounding sexual abuse in order to combat such abuse more efficiently.  By all accounts, Ratzinger was meticulous about studying the files, making him one of the few churchmen anywhere in the world to have read the documentation on virtually every Catholic priest who was ever credibly accused of sexual abuse. As a result, he acquired a familiarity with the delineations of the problem.

It has been said that of the 500-plus cases that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dealt with prior to Benedict's election to the papacy, the substantial majority were returned to the local bishop authorizing immediate action against the accused priests. There was to be no canonical trial, no lengthy process, just swift removal from the ministry and often, expulsion from the priesthood. In a more limited number of cases, the congregation asked for a canonical trial, and in a few cases, the Congregation ordered the priest reinstated.

As a pope, he had inherited the long-running priestly molestation scandal that has damaged the church’s reputation deeply in many parts of the world, particularly the U.S. and Ireland but part of that was brought about by himself earlier in his career as a church leader. More on that later in this piece.

Pope Benedict became the pope at the height of the molestation scandal involving Catholic priests and brothers in Catholic residential schools, with complaints of sexual abuse and lawsuits over the issue tearing at the church and threatening its moral standing around the world.

It has been said that in 2008, Pope Benedict acknowledged the shame which had been all felt everywhere in the realm of the Church over abuse reports and said those responsible for the evils should face justice. Two years later in 2010—the same year that he issued new rules aimed at stopping the abuse, he said that abusive priests disfigured their ministry and brought profound shame and regret on the church.

The new rules included allowing church prosecution of suspected child molesters for 20 years after the incidents occurred, up from 10 years previously. The rules also made it a church crime to download child pornography and the rules also allowed the pope to remove a priest without going through a formal Vatican trial.

Pope Benedict worked to reduce friction among adherents of various faiths, something that was a key part of John Paul's mission as well. The pope made it clear that religious freedom was not only a God-given right—it was the path to peace.

His decision to resign because he believes that his physical and mental stamina is not up to par for someone to be the pope is a decision of great courage and characteristic clarity of mind and action. I personally wish him well in his final years.

Arguments that he was a bad pope

During his time as a cardinal, Ratzinger's liberal Catholic critics dubbed him “God's Rottweiler” because of conservatives positions and actions such as his denunciation of homosexuality and same-sex marriage, his disciplining of Latin American liberation theologians, and his censure of Asian priests who viewed non-Christian religions as part of God's plan for humanity.

One of his positions was his opposing the distribution of condoms to curb the AIDS epidemic in Africa which shows just how outdated the church under Benedict was. Millions of African children became orphans because the AIDS virus killed their parents.

This is a pope who was so conservative that many of his values simply, in today's world, made no sense to his parishioners.  

Pope Benedict made a speech in 2006 speech in which he quoted from 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus who said that the Muslim Prophet Mohammed brought into the world "things only evil and inhuman." These remarks spurred protests by Muslims worldwide and an apology from the pope. He was right when he literally quoted Manuel II Paleologus however the timing of that quotation was certainly ill-advised considering the current feelings of Muslims against Christians.

In 2010, The New York Times reported that church officials, (including the pope when he was previously Cardinal Ratzinger) had failed to act in the case of a Wisconsin priest accused of molesting up to 200 boys. The Times reported that church officials stopped proceedings against the priest after the priest wrote Ratzinger, who was at the time the Cardinal in charge of the group that oversees Catholic Church doctrine. Why the proceedings against the priest were stopped is unknown to me. Cardinal Ratzinger never answered the letter in any case, according to the Times, and church officials have said that he had no knowledge of the situation. But a lawyer who obtained internal church paperwork said at the time that it shows a direct line from the victims through the bishops and directly to the man who later became Pope Benedict.

Also in 2010, The Times reported that the future pope while serving as the archbishop in Munich had been copied on a memo informing him that a priest accused of molesting children was being returned to pastoral work. At the time, a spokesman for the Munich archdiocese said that Cardinal Ratzinger received hundreds of memos a year, and it was highly unlikely that he had read them.

Barbara Blaine, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests publicly said in part; "For the church to truly embody the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ, it must be led by a pontiff who demands transparency, exposes child-molesting clerics, punishes wrongdoers and enablers, cooperates with law enforcement and makes true amends to those who were hurt so greatly by Catholic priests, employees and volunteers."

Msgr. William J. Lynn, was the first Roman Catholic Church official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision He was sentenced on July 24, 2012 to three to six years in prison.

Pope Benedict never took steps to prevent Cardinal Roger Mahony who was ordered by his successor to resign from his post and from being a priest who could conduct Mass. This particular Cardinal was instrumental in covering up hundreds of cases of sexual abuse against children by his priests.

Forty years ago, the Vatican instructed Catholic bishops around the world to cover up cases of sexual abuse or risk being thrown out of the Church. The Observer has obtained a 40-year-old confidential document from the secret Vatican archive which lawyers had referred to as a blueprint for deception and concealment.  The 69-page Latin document bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII was sent to every bishop in the world. The instructions outlined a policy of strictest secrecy in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse and threatened those who spoke out about the child molestation allegations with excommunication.

It appears that nothing had really changed after Benedict became the pope. If they had, Cardinal Mahony would not have told his bishops that they were not to inform the police if they learned of any of their priests sexually abusing their children.  Instead he continued to transfer some of his rogue priests to other parishes without the new parishioners being any the wiser as to who was now going to be in their midst.

British lawyer Richard Scorer, who acts for children abused by Catholic priests in the UK, echoed this view and has described the document as being explosive. He said,

“We always suspected that the Catholic Church systematically covered up abuse and tried to silence victims. This document appears to prove it. Threatening excommunication to anybody who speaks out shows the lengths the most senior figures in the Vatican were prepared to go to prevent the information getting out to the public domain.”

This fiasco in governing the Church haphazardly with respect to these abuses against the children has cost the Church hundreds of millions of dollars—money that could have been used for other reasons such as feeding the poor etc. 

For both victims of the Church and those who were not victimized by the rogue priests, the next pope must be someone who not only can satisfactorily address this scandal and other issues, but he also must be able to speak to all Catholics and non-Catholics alike, especially younger people  in a manner that resonates with them.

Instead Pope Benedict cultivated the Church’s most fervent elements of bygone days—contraception, abortions, married clergy, women priests, same-sex marriage and divorce despite the fact that those elements are increasing throughout the world as the years pass.  In fact divorce is as rampant in Italy as it is in the United States.  Despite that the message he is getting from God is drowned out by the message of his world-wide parishioners, it would appear that he has ignored the voices of his parishioners. 

Most of the sisters have spent their lives serving the sick, the poor, children and immigrants and not have engaged in battles over theology. But when some sisters after Vatican II began to question church prohibitions on women serving as priests, artificial birth control or the acceptance of same-sex relationships, their religious orders did not stop such discussions amongst themselves or treat their beliefs as apostasy. In fact, they have continued to insist on their right to debate and challenge church teaching, which has resulted in the Vatican’s reproof which hasn’t enhanced a devoted relationship with the Vatican.

It would seem that he wasn’t that much concerned with the fleeing of Catholics from the Church. This is evident when you consider what he said in the Easter message of 2012. He said in part;

“God is not concerned so much with great numbers and with outward successes, but (instead he) achieves his victories under the humble sign of the mustard seed which grows into a great plant.” unquote The Bible referenced the mustard seed because it is so small.

The pope appealed to traditionalists in the Church by favouring Latin being used in the Mass instead of the language of the countries the churches were in. This meant that practically everyone attending Mass would not really understand what the priests were saying. The pope felt that the use of Latin would make the services more biblical, mysterious and absolute. 

He shocked a great many people when he proposed that a holocaust-denying bishop be brought back into the Church.

As I see it, his legacy is no different than a bar tender who waters down his drinks he serves his customers in hopes that they won’t realize that they have been tricked. Well, just as the customers in a bar will leave it and never return, the same thing is happening to the Catholic Church. In fact, there is no longer a glut of young men entering seminaries to train as priests.  There used to be a time when almost every pew was filled on Sundays.  Now there are more empty pews in churches than there are pews that are filled.

Pope Benedict could have slowed down the outflow of Catholic refugees escaping a Church they found oppressive but instead he remained steadfast in attempting to maintain old traditions that no longer are amenable to people in this modern era.  The Catholic Church now faces a dwindling supply of priests and nuns and seemingly endless rounds of school closings.

The above is my opinion but obviously not everyone will be in agreement.