Theology of Pope Benedict XVI

The theology of Pope Benedict XVI, as promulgated during his pontificate, consists mainly of three encyclical letters on love (2005), hope (2007), and "charity in truth" (2009), as well as apostolic documents and various speeches and interviews.

Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.

Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should … have eternal life" (3:16).

Love between man and woman is a gift of God, which should not be exploited: Nowadays Christianity of the past is often criticized as having been opposed to the body; and it is quite true that tendencies of this sort have always existed.

[5]In the encyclical Benedict avoids condemnations which characterized his writing as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and also corrects a view of sex as purely for procreation.

In his commentary on slavery, Benedict takes the attitude of Christians in the Roman Empire: We have raised the question: can our encounter with the God who in Christ has shown us his face and opened his heart be for us too not just "informative" but "performative"—that is to say, can it change our lives, so that we know we are redeemed through the hope that it expresses?

The Eucharist is the sacrament of communion between brothers and sisters who allow themselves to be reconciled in Christ, who made of Jews and pagans one people, tearing down the wall of hostility which divided them (cf.

Mt 5:23–24).In an address to the faculty at the University of Regensburg, Germany,[16] Benedict discussed the preconditions for an effective dialogue with Islam and other cultures.

[17] The Pope considers the modern concept of science too narrow in the long run, because it allows the determination of "certainty" only from the interplay of mathematical and empirical elements.

The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm therebyBenedict acknowledges "unreservedly" the many positive aspects of modern science, and considers the quest for truth as essential to the Christian spirit, but he favours a broadening our narrow concept of reason and its application to include philosophical and theological experiences, not only as an aim in itself but so we may enter as a culture the dialogue with the other religions and cultures from a broader perspective: Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today.

A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.This objective of Pope Benedict XVI has so far not been widely reviewed.

This difference is important but of course also very difficult to carry out in practice.It all began with the "drama of my dissertation", as he called it,[23] a seemingly unimportant postdoctoral degree on Bonaventure, which he was almost denied because of serious reservations of some professors with his interpretation of divine revelation.

[25] In his theology of covenant, Ratzinger provides a unified interpretation of Scripture centered on the person and work of Jesus, with implications ranging from the Eucharist to the proper understanding of ecumenism.

The covenantal promises given to Abraham guarantee the continuity of salvation history, from the patriarchs to Jesus and the Church, which is open to Jews and Gentiles alike.

[30] Benedict also spoke out against some post-conciliar innovations, especially liturgical novelties, which forget their purpose, and he continues to remind the faithful that the Council did not entirely do away with the former rite and many of its noble features.

In the pre-conclave Mass with the assembled cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica, he warned, "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires."

The document condemned "relativistic theories" of religious pluralism and described other faiths as "gravely deficient" in the means of salvation.

The document was primarily aimed at opposing Catholic theologians like the acclaimed Jacques Dupuis,[34] who argued that other religions could contain God-given means of salvation not found in the Church of Christ, but it offended many religious leaders.

Critics remembered that in March 1997 Cardinal Ratzinger predicted that Buddhism would, over the coming century, replace Marxism as the main "enemy" of the Catholic Church.

Some also criticized him for calling Buddhism an "autoerotic spirituality" that offered "transcendence without imposing concrete religious obligations", though that might be a mistranslation from the French auto-erotisme, which more properly translates to self-absorption, or narcissism.

According to Hans Küng, "Ratzinger's predecessor, John Paul II, launched a program of ecclesiastical and political restoration, which went against the intentions of the Second Vatican Council.

[43] Benedict XVI's views were similar to those of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in maintaining the traditional positions on birth control, abortion, and homosexuality and promoting Catholic social teaching.

[46] The Pontiff also defended traditional Catholic views on same-sex marriage; in 2004 he said to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica: "Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living (also including those who wish to try to be gay and celibate).

In 1988 a debate arose within the Catholic Church on whether or not condoms could be used, not as contraceptives, but as a means of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

In 1987, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a document suggesting that education on the use of condoms could be an acceptable part of an anti-AIDS program.

He further stated, however, that voting for these candidates for other reasons of commensurate gravity in spite of their stand concerning abortion/euthanasia was justifiable in principle, a teaching picked up on by the USCCB.

"To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a 'just war'.

"[52] According to CNN, Ratzinger called the Soviet Union "a shame of our time", and condemned unbridled capitalism by saying, "We must coordinate the free market with the sense of responsibility of one towards the other.

In the spring of 2005 Benedict opposed a referendum in Italy which aimed at liberalising a restrictive law about artificial insemination and embryonic stem cell research.

[54] In January 2008 Ratzinger cancelled a visit to La Sapienza University in Rome, following a protest letter signed by sixty-seven academics which said he condoned the 1633 trial and conviction of Galileo for heresy.