Rev. Gus Puleo: Remembering a pope who forged a path between reason and faith
It is been about a year since the death of Pope Benedict XVI, so it is natural to reflect upon his life and influence in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope Emeritus died on December 31, 2022 at the age of 95 in the Vatican Mater Ecclesiae Monastery. Will Benedict be solely remembered as the first pope to retire in six centuries? Is he merely an historical figure or is he someone who continues to challenge us today?
Pope Benedict XVI was a prominent figure in Catholicism as shown by his works such as his Introduction to Christianity and his trilogy about Jesus of Nazareth. Without a doubt he was a witness to life in the faith as shown by his homilies and his spiritual works. Therefore, Pope Benedict XVI is still a force for those who walk the path of faith with many dramatic questions that are found in the world today. He easily connected reason and the rationality of faith. He showed us a dialogue between faith and reason, more generally between modern culture and faith based on trust in human reason. The expansion of reason includes both truth and love. These two ideas of truth and love are fully manifested in the Incarnation of Jesus, in the Word of God. The commitment of the Church and Catholics and their responsibility for the destiny of human history in the world require both reason and love, united in the light of faith. Therefore, as a result we must do concrete gestures of charity.
Pope Benedict XVI first appeared on the church’s international stage as Joseph Ratzinger, a young German priest and theologian advocating for progressive reforms at the 1962-1965 Second Vatican II. He wrote that the Second Vatican Council was “not only meaningful but necessary and for the first time the question of theology of religions had shown itself in its radicality. The same is true for the relationship of faith and the world of reason. Both topics had not been foreseen in this way before.” In Vatican II the question of the Catholic Church in the world finally became the true reason for the convening of the Council.
Later, he led the church as the 264th successor of St. Peter for seven years and ten months. During those years he wrote documents noted for their spirituality and attempted to reform the Vatican bureaucracy. The ex-pontiff was known to be in frail health for many years. His only visit outside Italy during this retirement was to visit his now-deceased brother Georg in Bavaria in June of 2020.
Benedict XVI, who led the church from 2005 after the dynamic Pope John Paul II and before Pope Francis, may not be most remembered for his public persona or for any decision he made as pope. However, he will be recalled as a Cardinal and Pope for his long and hard struggle to implement a narrow interpretation of the wide reforms introduced at Vatican II. He tried to connect the changes of Vatican II with the church’s past traditions. He was essentially a conservative pope with the idea of continuity. He left a great heritage to the church as pope and theologian. He deepened the doctrine of the council in his writings, in his homilies which deepened our faith and spirituality.
At the beginning of his papacy, Ratzinger explained his choice of name which was to honor Pope Benedict XV, who pleaded with European leaders for peace during the first World War, and the fifth-century St. Benedict off Nursia, whose life evokes the roots of Catholic Europe. So, he tried very hard to place Christ in the centrality of our Christian life.
As Pope he wrote three encyclicals—“God is Love” in 2005, “In Hope We Are Saved” in 2007 and “Charity in Truth” in 2009. They focus mainly on the basic Christian virtues and the long history of social teaching. In his writings he sounded an alarm for exploitation of the environment and rejected a part of capitalism as calling it “thoroughly destructive.” Benedict was definitely a learned scholar.
He also drew praise from many confronting sexual abuse by the clergy. In 2001 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he convinced Pope John Paul II to make his office the global center to investigate accused clergy and to draft policies against abuse. Under his care as prefect and pope, hundreds of abusive priests were removed from the priesthood.
Benedict was a noted conservative theologian who spend decades as the Vatican’s doctrine chief. He always encouraged theological discussion. I pray that he will be a saint since he was a great man of history and a giant of reason. He showed us that there is a positive synthesis between faith and reason. Pope Benedict XVI in his writings was able to speak to people’s minds and hearts in this world moving towards Jesus Christ. He was a noted scholar and a man of deep faith.
The Rev. Gus Puleo serves as director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the Spanish Department at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he also teaches English and Spanish. He is a graduate of Norristown High School and attended Georgetown University, where he received B.A. and B.S. in Spanish and linguistics. He has master’s degrees in Spanish, linguistics and divinity from Middlebury College, Georgetown University and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the former pastor of St. Patrick Church in Norristown.
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