One Test Passed, Pope Must Turn To Church Reform

LONDON – By attracting a million people to his open-air Mass outside Cologne yesterday – and effortlessly holding their attention – Pope Benedict XVI passed the first big test of his pontificate. But this public relations triumph probably matters far less to him than the task of internal reform that lies ahead.He knows how stage-managed these events are – and he has no intention of attending as many of them as John Paul II. Underlying this pope’s quiet charisma is a determination to rejuvenate an institution that, throughout the West, has been gravely damaged by sexual scandal, episcopal incompetence, ugly services, and falling Mass attendance.Hence his admission at a prayer vigil on Saturday night that there was “much that could be criticized” in the church. “We know this, and the Lord himself told us so: It is a net with good and bad fish,” he said.The worst of those bad fish are, of course, sexual abusers. Will Benedict deal with claims of abuse more swiftly than John Paul? We shall soon find out: Sitting on the pope’s desk is a file of allegations against the Reverend Marcial Maciel, 85, Mexican founder of one of the most powerful new orders in the church, the conservative Legionaries of Christ.If Rev. Maciel is found guilty and the pope immediately punishes him, the shock to the church will be immense.But the scandal could be far greater if, as some observers fear, the Legionaries’ allies in the Vatican Secretariat of State persuade Benedict to take no further action.Benedict follows much of the agenda set out by John Paul II – not least in his determination to improve relations with other faiths. But his meeting with Jewish leaders in a synagogue on Friday had a special significance, because it helped him overcome the considerable handicap of having been dragooned into the Hitler Youth as a child.And the orthodox churches would rather deal with a German than a Pole – and they are impressed by the new pope’s reverence for icons and his generally more traditionalist style.For example, Benedict dislikes the trendy, Frisbee-size communion wafers used by John Paul. And, significantly, he made sure that this World Youth Day included a group of young people who advocate the Latin Tridentine Rite, effectively abolished in the 1960s. Benedict himself loves saying the Old Mass, and is rumored to be planning to remove all restrictions on its celebration. If he does, traditionalists will be delighted, but others, who regard its Latin text as elitist and inaccessible, will be furious.Yesterday’s display of unity was in some ways illusory: Very few bishops in the West share Benedict’s belief in the crucial importance of disciplined, beautiful worship.Mr. Thompson is editor in chief of the Catholic Herald.

One Test Passed, Pope Must Turn To Church Reform

One Test Passed, Pope Must Turn To Church Reform

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