Cardinal No

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave the homily today at the funeral of Pope John Paul II and has emerged as the powerbroker in the election of his successor.  For nearly 30 years Ratzinger was the close confidant of and ideological watchdog for the papacy of John Paul II.  Today’s New York Times has an interesting profile of Ratzinger.  It is clear that Ratzinger’s rise to power within the Vatican is due in part to his inquistorial attack on Liberation Theology:

Theology professors have often been called before him to answer
questions and have been ordered to submit detailed explanations and
told to sign repudiations of their thinking.

In 1997, a Sri
Lankan theologian, the Rev. Tissa Balasuriya, was even excommunicated
after being accused of challenging fundamental Catholic tenets like
original sin and the Immaculate Conception. The Rev. Charles E. Curran,
who taught at Catholic University in Washington, was also disciplined,
along with some Latin Americans who subscribed to liberation theology,
which blended Marxist thought with religious efforts to help the poor.
A joke heard over the years has two theologians who had been called on
the carpet, plus Cardinal Ratzinger, arriving at the gates of St.
Peter. St. Peter summons one of the theologians for a long grilling. He
emerges exhausted but repentant and says, "How can I have been so
wrong?" The same goes for the other theologian. Then Cardinal Ratzinger
enters and after an even longer time, St. Peter comes out and says,
"How can I have been so wrong?"

Cardinal Ratzinger’s first
campaign, in the 1980’s, was against liberation theology. More
recently, he has waged a fight against religious relativism, which
holds that no faith can claim to be the sole vessel of truth or to
represent the world’s only savior.

On Sept. 5, 2000, the Vatican
released a document by Cardinal Ratzinger that provoked dismay among
other religious leaders – a ringing restatement of the primacy of the
Roman Catholic Church and a condemnation of other denominations as
"deficient."

His theological ridigity and intellectual intolerance, his refusal to consider equality for women in the church or marriage for priests have earned him the nickname Cardinal No. 

Er legte sich mit den Befreiungstheologen an, blockierte Frauen den
Zugang zum Priesteramt und führte einen regelrechten Krieg gegen die
katholische Schwangerenkonflikt-Beratung. Seine Unnachgiebigkeit
brachte dem Bayern viele Feindschaften in Deutschland ein, und auch die
Italiener nannten ihn „Cardinale No“.

Ratzinger’s reactionary worldview makes him the ideal candidate to succeed John Paul II.  But whether he ascends to the throne himself or simply influences the choice, the continuity of the Vatican as a force of conservatism is assured.