Yet another article on how the Pope has changed since his days as prefect of the CDF. They never ever consider that there stereotype was wrong in the first place and it is not Joseph Ratzinger who has changed, but it their perception of him that has.
4 comments
But he did change … and it’s been like from night to day: he no longer wears black.
Why does EVERYONE take John Allen as the last word on Benedict? This article cites Allen to the exclusion of other reactions. Allen was one of those who contructed the “rottweiler” image of Benedict and then pretended to be surprised when it wasn’t true. His columns over the last year have also shown his ignorance, hence Button’s and O’Grady’s, of the important issues and events of Benedict’s first year.
Obviously he’s changed! Why when I was a boy, Ratzinger used to march errant altar boys down the street, flogging them with a rosary. But as pope, he didn’t come to the United States and clobber the bishops… In fact, he SMILES.
Pope John XXIII was nowhere near as liberal as he was caricatured in the media. But because of that liberals were able to co-opt him and pretend their cafeteria Catholicism is somehow papally approved.
So now–again (as with JPII)–the unorthodox left didn’t get the type pope they wanted–so they will use the media to contruct the type pope they want. It will take all Benedict XVI’s skill to keep this from happening while also being the type pastoral leader he clearly wishes to be.