“We’re still at the beginning of a pontificate, and in my opinion
it’s always difficult to make judgments or offer a far-ranging analysis
at the beginning.”
Those simple words of Archbishop Rino Fisichella last Tuesday night took some
people by surprise.
He was commenting on a new and somewhat critical
book about Pope Benedict’s pontificate, which will reach the six-year
mark in April.
The idea that Pope Benedict might enjoy a long reign is not new.
Reporters have noticed that the German pope seems to deliberately pace
himself, much as a long-distance runner would do.
At 83, he seems in
good health and of quick mind.
But Archbishop Fisichella is the first Roman Curia official to
suggest that the controversies, scandals and missteps during Pope
Benedict’s first six years may not loom so large in the future.
At the
very least, he said, “a sense of history should make us prudent and
cautious from this point of view.”
He recalled that Pope John Paul II’s first years were also troubled
by disagreement and internal dissent, making them “the most terrible and
the longest years” of his pontificate.
Pope Paul VI in his first six
years was ignored, a true “voice crying in the wilderness,” and he
gained stature in Italy only later, with actions like his direct appeal
to Red Brigades terrorists, Archbishop Fisichella said.
As head of the newly formed Pontifical Council for Promoting New
Evangelization, Archbishop Fischella said he appreciates that Pope
Benedict has unfinished business as supreme pontiff.
He said the pope’s
main project is one of formation, in response to an “educational
emergency” that afflicts people inside and outside the church.
He made the remarks at a press conference in Rome to present the book, C’era una Volta un Vaticano
(“Once Upon a Time There Was a Vatican”) by Massimo Franco, a respected
journalist who has written about Italian politics and the Catholic
Church.
The book describes a series of challenges that have greatly
reduced the church’s influence in social and political life, including
the sex abuse crisis and what the author calls the Vatican’s “gaffe
factory.”