Bye Bye, Benny

It may seem a little weird to usher in the New Year by saying goodbye, but that is the circumstance we find ourselves in with the news that Pope Benedict XVI (or I guess I should call him “Pope Emeritus” to be precise) passed away as the sands of time, as it were, slowly departed for 2022.

There is what I guess you could call the typical amount of praiseworthy news coverage and commentary currently being generated for the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, particularly from conservative media since Benedict is, truth be told, the pope they prefer as opposed to Pope Francis, who espouses his own brand of what you could call “liberation theology” on behalf of the poor, particularly in the third world. Benedict, on the other hand, was more palatable to conservative Catholics, particularly in the U.S.

However, I don’t believe any summary of Benedict’s papacy is complete without also noting the following (and by the way, a lot of the sourced content links have expired – just warning you now):

• He once said that condoms weren’t the answer, or something, in dealing with the AIDS epidemic in Africa (maybe not the 100-percent solution, but using them inhibits the transmission of the disease as we know by now – here).
• He also lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, though to be fair, Benny realized his mistake and admonished the bishop to publicly recant his views (here).
• He also once said that Orthodox churches were “defective” because they didn’t recognize the primacy of the pope, called for a return to the Tridentine Latin rite mass which advocates the conversion of Jews to Catholicism, dismissed the Vatican’s chief astronomer for correctly pointing out that “intelligent design” isn’t science, issued a “Ten Commandments For Drivers” – “thou shalt not swear while signaling for a left turn”?? – and once called Bob Dylan a “false prophet” (he may have “found the nut” on that one, I’ll admit), and went out of his way to criticize Islam…all are noted here.
• He spoke on protecting the environment here (which is good), but he also denied climate change science here (which is bad).
• Benedict also condemned former President Obama’s repeal of the ban on U.S. funding for foreign family planning aid groups who offer abortion services here (and yes, I know that’s pretty much right out of the Roman Catholic playbook, as it were, though such bans overwhelmingly harm women and families in poverty around the world).
• In addition, he once traveled to the U.S. and visited Washington and New York, but ignored Boston, which, at the time, was the epicenter of the abuse scandal (here).
• He also excommunicated a 9-year-old child for having a life-saving abortion after her stepfather raped and impregnated her with twins; Benedict also excommunicated her mother. Guess who he didn’t excommunicate? The rapist stepfather (here).
• Benedict also mishandled four cases involving the sexual abuse of minors while he was an archbishop in Germany (noted in a “grab bag” kind of article with good and bad stuff about Benedict’s papacy here).

For a time, Pope Benedict XVI was the vicar of Christ, which carries a lot of weight for yours truly and millions of others I know. However, like everyone else, I believe he deserves to have a full accounting, which to me is particularly true for people in positions of power and authority. This is owed to everyone I believe, even the most humble among us who (if the Bible is to be believed) will be the first to be welcomed into eternal life.

May that be true for each of us when the time comes (but hopefully not for a good while yet :-).