Evangelicals can't welcome all of the new Pope's "conservative' agenda says Margaret Rodgers.
Often used in British history is the well-known aphorism "The King is dead; Long live the King." Last month, we saw something of the same from Rome.
Engrossed by the drama playing out before our eyes, many watched the TV reporting that showed the death of Pope John Paul II, his funeral and the subsequent Papal election.
During his papacy John Paul II was no backroom Vatican figure, for he was an energetic traveller and a player on the world stage. He was, as Archbishop Jensen said "a man of great courage, indeed one of the great leaders of this and the last century."
The world was changed through his support of Solidarity in Poland that finally brought the end of the Iron Curtain and the disintegration of the USSR.
Yet commentators from Developing World nations will point out that John Paul II didn't seem to have a similar dislike of repressive regimes that ground people into poverty and ignored human rights in their parts of the globe.
Bible-based Christians in other Churches had deep concerns about John Paul II's unqualified devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, though they welcomed his strong affirmation of the need for a global "culture of life' that saw him disdain abortion and euthanasia as valid human life choices.
Now he is replaced by the German born Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, who has been hailed by Catholic "moderates' and "progressives' [those are the softer words liberals use these days to describe themselves] as "God's Rottweiler', "the PanzerKardinal' and "Cardinal No.'
In this choice, the Conclave of Cardinals has obviously opted for a shorter Papacy, since Pope Benedict at 78 is the oldest Pope elected since 1730. But they have also opted for continuity. Veteran Vatican watchers say he will maintain the same teaching and policies as John Paul II " how could that be otherwise since he authored a great many of his predecessor's theological statements? It is expected that he will maintain the same level of centralism in the Catholic Church and, like JP2, will not welcome autonomous decisions suited to local situations.
Those who know Pope Benedict XVI say he is a quiet, gentle man, who plays the piano, loves Mozart and holidays in the German mountains with his brother, a retired priest. He speaks Italian with a slight German accent, and can converse in 10 languages.
Among Anglicans, the Archbishop of Canterbury has greeted him as "a theologian of great stature, who has written some profound reflections on the nature of God and the church." Compare that with the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA, Bishop Frank Griswold (sometimes called "Pluriform Frank' by his enemies) who said he prayed that the new Pope "may become a focus of unity and a minister of reconciliation in a church and world in which faithfulness and truth wear many faces."
Many Sydney Anglicans will welcome the news that Pope Benedict warned the Cardinals of the need to stand firm against "the dictatorship of relativism' in this age.
They will not be welcoming, though, of some sentiments of the Declaration Dominus Iesus that he authored in 2000 for the Congregation of the Faith.
In it he wrote:
"there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him." .. the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery are not Churches in the proper sense;" the Christian faithful are therefore not permitted to imagine that the Church of Christ is nothing more than a collection " divided, yet in some way one " of Churches and ecclesial communities.."
Dominus Iesus contains clear affirmation of Jesus Christ and Scriptural quotes about His person and work. Quite true, but Biblical Christians can't agree that salvation through Christ can be found in the Catholic Church only.
Let's trust that Pope Benedict XVI can find some time for a re-think on this fundamental Christian doctrine.
