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Pope Benedict and the Pursuit of Truth
Pope Benedict's willingness to admit to mistakes is a welcome precedent for all leaders, civil or religious.
It was Pope John Paul II who was responsible for the novelty of apologizing in a very public manner for the past misdeeds of Catholics; for example, the injustice done to Galileo, or acts of violence against Jews, or the rampages of Christian crusaders in Constantinople. That Benedict should follow his predecessor's example is not surprising since the great passion of his life has always been the pursuit of truth at any cost.
Still, we have to be accurate in reporting what he is apologizing for. Bishop Williamson, the Holocaust denier, was not "promoted." The pope lifted the excommunication that had put several schismatic prelates outside the sacraments of the Church, and that is an altogether different thing.
No matter what the precise context of a papal apology happens to be, I am sure Pope Benedict is pleased to clarify the often overlooked distinction between a pope's infallibility when pronouncing a solemn definition of faith and the ordinary fallibility of whatever else he may have to say. In the preface to his masterpiece, Jesus of Nazareth, he says that while his conclusions are the fruit of a lifetime of study, the fact that they have been published after he was elected pope does not mean that others may not beg to differ with any of them.
This does not mean that every public admission of wrongdoing is an act of virtue. Humorist Joe Queenan objects to false courage or "the act of being gutsy enough to accept responsibility for doing what one has unarguably done. ... The whole point of false courage is to move the conversation away from one's failings to one's strengths: I am an idiot ... a scoundrel, but at least I am man enough to admit it. Now, let's turn the page." But this would seem to be a failing more typical of "celebrities" than of popes.
By
Thomas G. Bohlin
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April 13, 2009; 2:32 PM ET
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Posted by: dwickert51 | April 14, 2009 7:31 PM
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The pope needs to be honest with the World about his sexuality and sexual orientation. So do you, Tommy Bohlin. All with religious vocations must come forward. Considering the sexual crimes done by the religious community while they remained silent, it must be done.