Orlando, Fla., Aug 1, 2007 / 08:12 am
Is the pope Catholic? Well, yeah. But considering the reaction that the recent reaffirmation of the Catholic Church's self-understanding (issued under the pope's signature by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) received, you might think that many were surprised to learn that the pope is, well, still Catholic.
Of course, many non-Catholics, expressed hurt, incomprehension, even anger. However, the statement, "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church," in reality said nothing new. Dominus Jesus, issued in 2000 by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said the same thing. And this was nothing more than another reaffirmation of Catholic teachings found in Vatican II and in the constant tradition of the Roman Catholic Church: Namely, that the Church, willed by Christ as a visible and spiritual community, actually continues to exist in the Catholic Church as a continual concrete, historical reality.
Much of the overwrought reaction, I believe, was caused not so much by what was said but by how it was reported in the secular media. Did the media deliberately give it a negative spin?
Not necessarily. We can and should presume their good faith. However, they often get it wrong because in reality we often do not speak the same language: The pope speaks in the languages of philosophy and theology; most modern reporters, untrained in these disciplines, speak more comfortably in the idioms of sociology and psychology.