[wideawake]

I am getting the odd feeling that he may be so conservative in doctrine and praxis that we in the East will be happier with him than most of the traditionalists in the Latin church

That's good news.

of course, he himself has emphasized many times that the theologians closest to his heart are the Greek and Latin Fathers.

[Romish_Papist]

All I can hope for now is that these reforms he seems to be enacting by example get pushed down to all the dicoeses and churches around the globe. The reform of the reform MUST be pushed out to all the churches for it to be effective. If that means writing it all down and sending it out to all the Bishops with the words "compliance is mandatory" or in a similar vein, then we can rest a bit easier.

Viva il Papa!

[Kolokotronis]

"For Benedict XVI, in the great sweep of Christian history the mass, or Eucharist, is the sacrament that creates the Church. It is the model for the Church, and at the same time it presents the image of the Church to the world."

Given His Holiness' well know dedication to the patristic writings of the Fathers, I suspect that when he speaks of the Eucharist he in fact means the sacrament itself primarily and the Mass secondarily as that event during which the Eucharist is celebrated. His focus on the Eucharist as being definitional of the Church is very patristic. Among the earliest f the Fathers, +Ignatius of Antioch placed the Eucharist at the very center of The Church as is demonstrated by continuing themes in his letters like this snip from his Letter to the Philadelphians which also displays his image of the fullness of The Church subsisting in a single diocese:


"Take care, then, to partake of one Eucharist; for, one is the Flesh of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one the cup to unite us with His Blood, and one altar, just as there is one bishop assisted by the presbytery and the deacons, my fellow servants. Thus you will conform in all your actions to the will of God."