Benedict XVI: A Pillar of the Catholic Church.

Fire of Liberty

While the various talking heads, columnists and newspapers bandy on about how Pope Benedict XVI is a "hardline conservative" or an enforcer of "Conservative Catholicism" because he's opposed to the pull of society on issues like female priests, gay marriage, married priests and the acceptance of moral relativism. Heaven forbid that the head of the Catholic Church would actually practice the teachings/doctrines of the Church. Its funny watching the press fret on and about a Pope who is unwilling to accept the fact that other religions are the pathway to salvation. If you're the head of a Church that says Jesus Christ is your personal savior and his way is the only path, you're more likely than not going to continue espousing such views. Don't expect Benedict XVI to say anytime soon that Vishnu or Budda is the ticket to Heaven.

This argument on Benedict XVI opposition to the whole concept of relativism can probably be best described by this wonderful article by Michael Novak over at National Review Online. While you should read the whole piece, I thought I'd share with you the paragraphs that caught my eye:

No great, inspiring culture of the future can be built upon the moral principle of relativism. For at its bottom such a culture holds that nothing is better than anything else, and that all things are in themselves equally meaningless. Except for the fragments of faith (in progress, in compassion, in conscience, in hope) to which it still clings, illegitimately, such a culture teaches every one of its children that life is a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.

The culture of relativism invites its own destruction, both by its own internal incoherence and by its defenselessness against cultures of faith.

This is the bleak fate that Cardinal Ratzinger already sees looming before Europe. His fear is that this sickness of the soul will spread.

For Cardinal Ratzinger, moreover, it is not reason that offers a foundation for faith, but the opposite. Historically, it is Jewish and Christian faith in an intelligent and benevolent Creator that gave birth in the West to trust in reason, humanism, science, and progress, and carried the West far beyond the fatalistic limits of ancient Greece and Rome.

To the meaninglessness of relativism, Ratzinger counter poses respect for the distinctive, incommensurable image of God in every single human being, from the most helpless to the seemingly most powerful, together with a sense of our solidarity with one another in the bosom of our Creator. This fundamental vision of the immortal value both of the individual person and the whole human community in solidarity has been the motor-power, the spiritual dynamic overdrive, of an increasingly global (catholic) civilization.

It would be nice if the people in the MSM would stop mouthing their criticism about the new Pope and read Benedict XVI's (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) work or pieces like Mr. Novak's. Unfortunately, we live in a World whose media consists of people who's thought processes are generally permeated with relativistic thinking. Expect more condemnation to come by the press. While the media will harp, I'll sit back and reflect on how momentous the conclave's decision actually is. I wish Benedict XVI a good and long reign. (It'd be funny if he ruled into his 90's)