Posted on 04/20/2005 3:05:44 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican
TUEBINGEN, Germany - In the cafeteria at Tuebingen University's theology department, students swapping lecture notes on a rainy Wednesday weren't preoccupied by their looming exams.
Instead, they were concerned about where their school's most famous former professor would take the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Benedict XVI. And they didn't exude optimism.
"It's going to be interesting to see what he does," said Thomas Burchard, a 20-year-old Protestant studying for the ministry. "He's very conservative and, like the Catholic Church, he goes against what the Bible says."
Fellow student Simon Reinitz, clad in black, his hair long and a stud piercing his left eyebrow, declared that Ratzinger was a caretaker pope, nothing more.
"Why not an African pope? Why not a Latin American pope? The church will make changes," Reinitz said. "This is just someone to hold over the conservatives."
Students and faculty at Tuebingen remain skeptical of Ratzinger, who left in 1969 partly out of disenchantment with the Marxist enthusiasm then sweeping the campus. The university remains the outstanding center of liberal theological study in Germany, and trains both Roman Catholics and Protestants.
They are proud that a former professor has gone to such great heights, but criticize his actions as the Vatican's chief enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy. Those include decrees that many blame for barring priests from counseling pregnant teens about options including abortion and blocking German Catholics from sharing Communion with Lutherans.
Even the pontiff's former assistant, Bernd Jochen Hilberath, responded cautiously to his former teacher's elevation. Hilberath, who holds the same chair that Ratzinger once held, said the world's Catholics and other Christians are on edge, waiting to see if the papacy will change him.
"Joseph Ratzinger is a multidimensional person. He's not one-sided, but he has potential, it depends on his circle of advisers," Hilberath said.
While critics contend that the choice of the 78-year-old Ratzinger may signal a caretaker papacy, Hilberath said it is possible the German pontiff may surprise them as he tackles the tough issues of abortion, the church's ban on contraception, the sex abuse scandals and the ordination of women.
"He's informed about the issues, the facts, the history," he said, careful to note that only the pontiff himself knows what he is thinking. "We hope that the pope is a pope who regards the perspectives of the Gospels, but is also helpful to people in contemporary life."
Ratzinger had a few things to say about Tuebingen as well in his memoirs. He departed after left-wing student upheavals rocked the campus, and his classes were at one point interrupted by sit-ins.
"The Marxist revolution ignited the entire university, it shook its foundations," he wrote in his memoirs. "Hope remained, but into the place of God stepped the party and with it a totalitarianism of atheist worship, which is ready to sacrifice all of humanity to its false god."
Hoping to escape the endless disruption and confrontation, and wanting to be closer to his brother, Georg, Ratzinger left Tuebingen for the University of Regensburg in his native Bavaria.
In a statement Tuesday, Tuebingen's most famous scholar, the controversial Swiss theologian Hans Kueng, called Ratzinger's election "an enormous disappointment for all those who hoped for a reformist and pastoral pope."
Kueng, who has lost his official license to teach Catholic theology but continues to teach anyway, was the one who urged the theology department to hire Ratzinger, who later criticized his writings.
He has said that at the time he perceived Ratzinger as more moderate than he was during his years in the Vatican. Several of Ratzinger's students at Regensburg have described him as open to other people's ideas and eager for wide-ranging discussion.
That has inspired hope that Pope Benedict may be different from Cardinal Ratzinger.
"But we must wait and see, for experience shows that the papacy in the Catholic Church today is such a challenge that it can change anyone," Kueng wrote. "Let us therefore give him a chance: as with a president of the USA we should allow a pope 100 days to learn."
Maybe he should read and defend the teachings of Christ as set forth in Gods Word, ie. the BIBLE...
I can here the liberals now, "Voter Fraud! Voter Fraud!"
Remember the good old days when liberals just ignored the institutions they despised, like marriage and religion? They've obviously abandoned any pretext or chance of peaceful coexistence.
Yep. That's pretty much the main problem with popes that Protestants have had for about 488 years..
Doesn't quite match up, does it?
That struck me too. The only contemporaries commenting here are Kung, who had him hired, and some other fellow who was a colleague, but who seems to be a liberal sort - at least liberal enough to agree with the place.
The headline is pure spin.
Cool. A discredited "theologian" and a bunch of skulls full mush unite to wring their hands and be deeply saddened.
How generous of him.
well you will note that they were interviewing people studying for the Protestant ministry, duh, of course they are not going to like the Pope, they don't like the Catholic Church as a rule, Germany, home of Martin Luther, Martin has a whole long letter on what was wrong with the Catholic Church that got him labelled a heretic and ignited the Protestant Reformation, that and King Henry the VIII needed a divorce, LOL
Burchard is a moron. I'll bet his purse is stuffed full of Jack Chick comic books.
Yeah! Let's get rid of those misguided teachings, like this one:
God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
Well. Maybe that one's okay. But, what about this?
The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."
Hmmmm. Maybe after a couple thousand years, they do have an idea or two worth keeping.
"../clad in black, his hair long and a stud piercing his left eyebrow, declared that Ratzinger was a caretaker pope, nothing more."
I stopped reading the article after this sentence.
Consider the source.
Is the pope Catholic? Yep, he is :)
A Protestant fundamentalist, is there such a thing, I suspect so, would argue the Catholic Church does a lot of things in contravention of the scriptures or the spirit of the scriptures - just a matter of faith, interpretation and perspective I guess.....
Otherwise the point is correct, if you cannot accept the teachings of the Catholic Church as they stand today, try one more to your liking, the United and Anglican churches are pretty hip, LOL. There is always the option of inventing your own cult.
But it seems most people just pick and choose as they say, regardless of which religion, wherever in the world - there was a survey of American Catholics done just after the new Pope was announced and three quarters of those surveyed said he's a good guy but we will ignore what he says on certain subjects - the new Pope has his work cut out for him, especially since he has declared he wants to bring Europe back to the Church. Not too ambitious huh.
They're not even trying to hide their bias.
Sounds like their main problem with the pope is that he actually believes in and defends the teachings of the Catholic Church.
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PING
I am not Catholic but can understand why they elect someone that follows their own teachings.
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