Biographer sees continuity between John Paul II, Benedict XVI

Five years into the papacy of Benedict XVI, papalbiographer George Weigel is struck by the continuity of mission betweenBenedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, both of whom have pursuedactivist papacies engaging an often-skeptical general culture.

Both popes are products of early 20th century European Catholicculture, John Paul in Poland and Benedict in Germany. Both were deeplyinfluenced by World War II and its aftermath, and both were partlyshaped by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Both popes preach "the centrality of discipleship," both seek tospread the gospel -- Benedict, especially, in Western Europe -- and bothbelieve in outreach to the young, Weigel said during a stop here tolecture on his newest book, "The End and the Beginning."

Weigel, John Paul's biographer in 1999's "Witness to Hope," alsowrote the forward to "Light of the World," a new book-length interviewon a range of topics Benedict conducted with German journalist PeterSeewald.

"The End and the Beginning" is the sequel to "Witness to Hope" andincludes full-blown analysis of John Paul's papacy, as well as the fruitof communist intelligence archives detailing Soviet and Polish effortsto undermine him, Weigel said.

On his ascension to the papacy, Benedict was widely known as abrilliant, professorial theologian who served John Paul for 22 years ashead of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that role hewas widely seen as the stern Germanic face that disciplined waywardtheologians around the world, although Weigel believes that is a mostlyfalse stereotype.

Since becoming pope, however, Benedict has demonstrated a gift as apersonable listener.

"He's really a fine pastor," Weigel said. "When he meets thesevictims of sexual abuse, their testimony is he's a remarkablycompassionate pastor. They feel he understands the wounds they carry."

Still, Weigel said Benedict has been ill-served at times by theVatican bureaucracy -- particularly its archaic communications culture.

Part of the problem is that the institutional culture of the Romancuria has not caught up to the communications revolution of recentdecades, Weigel said.

"They do not live in the 24/7 information environment," he said."They don't feel any institutional need to have a rapid-responsemechanism that every other major institution has. So the impression iscreated they don't care. That's a false impression, but it's anunderstandable one, given the fact that we're all used to living in thesame news cycle."

Moreover, Weigel said the current Vatican press office under theRev. Federico Lombardi does not insist on "message discipline," leavinghighly placed cardinals to sow controversy in personal remarks atofficial functions that do not reflect Benedict's views.

Weigel cited Cardinal Angelo Sodano's observation during a Holy Weekhomily last year deploring as "petty gossip" criticisms of the church'shandling of the clerical sex abuse crisis.

In addition, Weigel said a more professional communicationsapparatus might have dampened some of the recent confusion and sensationaround a brief Benedict observation in the Seewald book about condom useand AIDS.

Weigel said he's certain of Benedict's central point about AIDS andcondoms: that using a condom to prevent disease, though objectivelywrong in the church's view, may in some cases represent a morallylaudable intention.

Some theologians belatedly trying to explain the concept compared itto a bank robber having sufficient conscience to at least use anunloaded pistol to avoid hurting anyone. But by then, much of the publicdamage was done.

"Why Lombardi could not come up with an illustration of that is justbeyond my imagination," Weigel said. 

"And the church is not well-servedby that. It's not been a happy week."

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