Roman Catholics pretend to admire their popes even when there’s nothing to admire in them! Such is the case with Pope Benedict. His election to the papacy was met with disbelief and disappointment. Fellow Christians, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Lutheran Church in Germany, had not forgiven Cardinal Ratzinger for stating in a Vatican document in the year 2000 that those who were not Catholic had “defects” in their Church or beliefs. Perhaps it was for Ratzinger’s hard line statements that a cartoon in a local newspaper depicted the newly elected Pope Benedict as “God’s Rottweiler”!

Shorn of his papal post and his “princely” title, Joseph Ratzinger is a weak-voiced recluse with the charm or charisma of an ice block!

His papacy was short-lived and unremarkable. Pope Benedict will always be associated with the furore that erupted over the scandal of the sexual abuse of boys by Catholic priests in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Holland and Germany. It was during Pope Benedict’s pontificate that the Catholic Church lost its credibility as the guardian of morality.

John Guillaumier

ST JULIAN’S