To be clear, what the Vatican formally disowned yesterday is a legal and political concept, not a theological tenet.

"The legal concept of ‘discovery' was debated by colonial powers from the sixteenth century onward and found particular expression in the nineteenth century jurisprudence of courts in several countries, according to which the discovery of lands by settlers granted an exclusive right to extinguish, either by purchase or conquest, the title to or possession of those lands by indigenous peoples," Thursday's statement said.

"The ‘doctrine of discovery' is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church," said the statement, jointly issued by the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

"The Catholic Church … repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery,'" it said.

Such a formal repudiation had been a key demand of Indigenous groups when Pope Francis visited Canada last July.

The joint statement acknowledged that a handful of 15th century papal bulls, including Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493), were invoked to justify the doctrine, but insists they "have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith."

Part of the design for the joint statement was to craft it as an historical and politico-social declaration, without any theological import - it's telling, in that regard, that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was not among its signatories.

Yet no matter how hard the Vatican may try, it seems unlikely that the theological underpinnings of what came to be known as the "Doctrine of Discovery" can be avoided indefinitely. Indeed, the issuance of Thursday's statement seems likely to embolden forces seeking a theological reevaluation too.

Philip P. Arnold, a professor of religious studies at Syracuse University and the director of an Iroquois cultural centre, told the New York Times that yesterday's repudiation was only a "first step."

The Vatican needs to address the "worldview" underlying the Doctrine of Discovery, Arnold said, including the idea that Christianity is superior to other religions.

And therein lies the rub.

When Pope Alexander VI granted King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I sovereignty over a broad swath of the "New World" in Inter Caetera, he may well have been issuing a political decree that was not, in itself, de fide.

Yet there's no denying that the underlying justification was theological, rooted in the inherently missionary nature of Christianity. Continue reading

Karl Marx, for instance, gave us "the bourgeoisie" as an all-encompassing bogeyman of modern capitalism; Ronald Reagan gave us the "evil empire" as a slogan of opposition to the Soviet state Marx's thought helped to create.

By that standard, Pope Francis has had quite a run over the past seven years, tweaking and adding to Catholic vocabulary at several key points.

Perhaps nowhere is that clearer than in the pope's ability to shift the debate over how authority is exercised in Catholicism from a contest over "collegiality," the preferred term in the 50 years following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), to one about "synodality," which is his preferred argot.

The problem with "synodality" as a focus for discussion, however, is that it seems to mean widely differing things to different people.

At one end of the spectrum, critics denounce it as a kind of code for putting fixed points of doctrine and practice up for a vote, thus catering to the zeitgeist rather than the truth.

At the other end, some enthusiasts appear to see it as a contest to see who can shout "amen" the loudest whenever the pope speaks.

Most normal folk, naturally, don't recognize themselves in either of those extremes, and are often just a bit confused about what exactly Francis is talking about when he extols the virtues of synodality.

As it happens, we got some clarity on that recently, even if mostly in the form of a papal via negativa, meaning what synodality isn't more than what it is.

The contribution came during a three-hour meeting last month with bishops from religion 11 in the United States, which includes California, Hawaii and Utah.

It came up during a conversation I recorded with Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron for his Word on Fire Institute, where I also serve as a fellow.

Among the various points the bishops raised with the pope, according to Barron, was the question of how exactly he understands the meaning of "synodality."

The concern was inspired, he said, by his experience of trying to get a clear sense of it during a 2018 Synod of Bishops on Young People, plus watching contemporary developments in Germany and a "synodal process" there which critics worry will end up in a sort of doctrinal free-for-all.

As Barron tells the story, Francis pointedly told the US bishops that "synodality" does not mean a parliament or a democratic vote. The real protagonist in a Synod of Bishops, the pope said, isn't any of the bishops or other participants taking part, but the Holy Spirit.

As Barron would later point out that's fully in alignment with traditional Catholic understandings of power in the Church.

In a secular democracy, power flows up, from the consent of the governed; in the Church, power instead flows down, from the sovereign will of God as discerned and mediated by teaching authorities.

In other words, "synodality" isn't about what bishops or other stakeholders want.

It's about the entire Church, beginning with the bishops, trying to figure out what it is God wants facing a particular set of challenges.

Here's how Barron summed it up: "Whatever Pope Francis means by ‘synodality,' he quite clearly doesn't mean a process of democratization, or putting doctrine up for a vote.

"He means, it seems to me, a structured conversation among all of the relevant ecclesial players-bishops, priests, and laity-for the sake of hearing the voice of the Spirit." Continue reading

Here it is: Opening the archives will not - indeed, by definition, cannot - settle the historical controversy about Pius XII and his alleged silence during the Holocaust.

That's because the debate is counter-factual, pivoting not on what Pius did or didn't do, but rather what he should have done.

• Should Pius XII have publicly denounced Hitler?
• Should he have threatened to excommunicate anyone involved in the mechanism of the Holocaust?
• Should he have pressured the Allies to liberate Nazi extermination camps earlier?
• Should he have offered himself in ransom for German prisoners in Rome after the 1943 occupation of the city, or come up with some other dramatic gesture to register disapproval?

Answers to those questions involve subjective judgments about what would have produced the best results in a complicated set of circumstances - whether fortune would have favored the bold, or discretion was the better part of valor - and, alas, there's no "smoking gun" in anyone's archives that will provide conclusive resolution one way or the other.

Moreover, the debate over Pius XII is also a moral one, and as anyone who's ever taken moral philosophy or basic logic knows, one cannot deduce an "ought" from an "is."

You can pile up all the historical facts you like, but in themselves they won't tell you what Pius or anyone else ought to have done.

By now, the basic data points about Pius XII and the Holocaust are wearily familiar to anyone who's followed the back-and-forth since 1963, when Rolf Hochhuth published his play "The Deputy" and thereby launched the accusation that the pontiff was complicit, at least through his silence, in the mass extermination of Jews.

Prior to that point, it's well-established that Pius XII enjoyed broad admiration for his leadership during the war years, including within the Jewish community. Continue reading

• Image: Soundcloud

Yet that's basically today's situation, as Francis continues to garner acclaim and admiration from almost every quarter, most recently for a moving Oct. 4 visit to Assisi and for confirming his desire to reach out to divorced and remarried Catholics by announcing a Synod of Bishops in October 2014 dedicated to the family and marriage.

The "almost" in that sentence, however, is important because while Francis remains a smash hit overall, he's also got a budding "older son" problem.

The reference is to the parable of the prodigal son, a template many observers are now applying to Catholic reaction to the new pope. Over his first eight months, Francis basically has killed the fatted calf for the prodigal sons and daughters of the post-modern world, reaching out to gays, women, nonbelievers, and virtually every other constituency inside and outside the church that has felt alienated.

There are an awful lot of such prodigals, of course, which helps explain the pope's massive appeal.

Yet there are also a few Catholics today who feel a bit like the story's older son, wondering if what they've always understood as their loyalty to the church, and to the papacy, is being under-valued.

One can spot at least three such groups:

• Some Vatican personnel who have tried to do their best over the years in service to the successor of Peter and who may feel a bit demoralized hearing the pope describe their work environment as infested with careerism, "Vatican-centrism," and the "leprosy" of a royal court.
• Some pro-life Catholics who feel like they've carried water for the church on controversial and sometimes unpopular issues such as abortion and gay marriage and who now get the sense the pope regards some of their efforts as misplaced or over the top.
• Some evangelical Catholics, both clergy and laity, who've tried to reassert a strong sense of Catholic identity against forces they believe want to play it down, who now feel the pope may be pulling the rug out from under them. Some leaders in the reborn genre of Catholic apologetics, for instance, weren't thrilled recently to hear Francis call proselytism "solemn nonsense." Continue reading

Sources

• John L. Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Telegraph

John L. Allen Jr. is NCR senior correspondent.

The woman is Maria Elena Bergoglio, and her older brother Jorge today is known to the world as Pope Francis. They're the last surviving siblings of five children, and since the moment Francis stepped out onto the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square, Maria Elena become the go-to point of reference for insight on the new pope.

Listening to her, she seems cut from the same cloth as her now-famous sibling: Humble and unpretentious, and also completely unafraid to speak her mind.

For instance, when stories began to make the rounds about Francis having become a priest only because a young love rejected his marriage proposal, Maria Elena was there to bat it down. She insisted that her brother was only a kid at the time, and the idea of getting married was never serious. More ominously, when critics suggested that her brother had been complicit in Argentina's military junta, Maria Elena testily pointed out that her family emigrated from Italy because their father was opposed to fascism … the clear suggestion being that Jorge Mario Bergoglio would never betray his father's memory by cozying up to dictators.

Over the last three weeks, Maria Elena's modest one-story home on an obscure street has become a sort of impromptu journalistic pilgrimage destination. She says that from the morning of March 14 all the way through Holy Week, her phone started ringing at 5 am and people started knocking on her door at 6, every day, until well after dark every night.

One might think that by this stage Maria Elena is already talked out, but in an hour-long interview with NCR this morning, she managed to add several new points to the record:

• She confessed that heading into the conclave, she was actually cheering for another candidate to be the first Latin American pope: Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil, whom she said she always admired because he seemed to be on the side of the poor. Why him and not her brother? "Because I wanted him back!"
• She acknowledged that before I asked, it had never occurred to her to call Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, the only other living sibling of a pope, but she said she'd like to do it - not so much to compare notes, but to express admiration for Benedict's courage as well as relief that it was Georg's brother, not hers, who had to follow John Paul II.
• She said that since he's become pope, her usually shy and reserved brother has seemed "better able to express his feelings" in public, which she attributes to the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
• For all those wondering if her brother is strong enough to really get control of the Vatican, she says he's plenty tough enough: "Personally he's got a strong character, and he's also got a deep belief in his convictions that's unbreakable," she said.

On other matters, Maria Elena discussed the two phone conversations she's had with her brother since he became pope, her hopes for him to visit to Argentina (and to give her two minutes for a hug), and outlined the kind of people she believes he'll bring into key positions.

Finally, Maria Elena also revealed that her brother had a strong attachment both to a dog and a parakeet while he was in the seminary, but never felt he could take care of a pet because of the demands of his jobs.

When told that there's a children's book supposedly written by a cat that once belonged to Benedict, and asked if perhaps the dog who went to seminary with Francis would publish his own book, she offered an answer summing up the amazement she still feels about the ‘tsunami' that's capsized her life: "Listen, at this stage, nothing seems impossible."

(For the record, she said she's turned down numerous offers to do her own book, with vintage Bergoglio humility: "I'm a housewife, for God's sake!")

The interview was conducted in Spanish, through an interpreter. The following are extracts from the conversation, which took place at Maria Elena's home in Ituzaingó.

* * *

How many interviews have you done as of this morning?

I have no idea! It's impossible to count them all. Every day since he was elected, the phone started ringing at 5:30 in the morning and people started knocking at the door at 6:00, and it never stopped until 8:00 or 9:00 at night. It's been constant. My doctor actually suggested that I cut back, because I'm just a normal housewife with a normal, common life, and I'm not used to this kind of tsunami that's crashed over us. It's not that I have any specific health problem, but my doctor told me I was getting overly tired and stressed. I believe I shouldn't cut back, however, because I feel as if I have a duty to share my brother with everyone. I feel like it's something I have to do, even if it wears me out.

What I'm a little terrorized about is when he makes his first visit back to Argentina, because I imagine that every journalist will think he's going to come to our house and there will be a whole army camped out here waiting for him. He's not going to come to our house! When he comes, it'll be a pastoral visit, not a family reunion or a vacation. I'm sure I'll have to go to him, but wherever he is, he'll have to give me the two minutes I deserve! All I want is two minutes to give him a hug. I'm not expecting anything more than that.

Do you feel like you've lost a brother?

To tell the truth, it's more like I've gained millions of new brothers and sisters, and I'm trying to figure out how to share my brother with all these new members of the family.

How many times have you talked to your brother since he became pope?

He phoned as soon as he was able to make a call after he was elected, and it was a very emotional conversation. It's impossible for me to explain what I felt at that moment. After that, he's been able to call one other time, and we talked like brother to sister. It was a normal chat, like we always have. For instance, he wanted to know what I was cooking!

Do you still call him "Jorge," or do you say "Francis" or "Holy Father"?

Jorge, Jorge! As long as I know it's still my brother calling, then I'll call him Jorge. Maybe someday it'll be Francis, but for now it's just Jorge.

When you talked to him, did he seem overwhelmed?

I'm grateful that so far, Francis is still Jorge. He didn't seem any different, and although he's very conscious of the responsibility that he's carrying now, he didn't seem nervous or anxious about it.

Many people in Argentina have told me that when he was here, Cardinal Bergoglio could seem a little shy and reserved in public, and they've been surprised by how enthusiastic and expressive he seems as pope. Have you noticed that too?

When I saw him come out on the balcony, he seemed like the same person I had always known, the same Jorge. Of course, I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, because as soon as his name was announced our house became a loony bin, with everyone calling us and chaos all around. When I finally had a chance to think about it, to watch him some more, I got the impression that he seems very happy, and it made me think that the Holy Spirit must be right there with him. He seems happy, whole. He was close to the people here in Argentina, but today he seems even closer and more able to express his feelings, which I suppose is the Holy Spirit helping him. I must say I've been very happy to see how well my brother seems to be adjusting to his new role.

Do you think he's happy to be pope?

I'm not sure that's the right word for it. Maybe I can put it this way: I think he's happy, but it's a distinct kind of happiness. It's not what you and I mean, for instance, when we say we're happy to have him as pope. I think he's happy with the responsibility he's been given, but he's also very conscious of what a burden it is.

Are you planning to visit him in Rome?

I'm not planning a trip right now. Honestly, I'm used to not being around Jorge very much, not having him physically close to us. What I'll miss is our weekly phone calls, if he's not able to make them as often. We used to talk every week, really long conversations, and I'll miss that if we can't have them anymore.

Of course, I'm also hoping that he'll visit here!

There's only one other person on earth who can really understand what your brother's going through, and that's Benedict XVI. They've already spoken several times. In the same way, there's probably only one other person who can appreciate what you're going through, and that's Benedict's brother Georg. Have you thought about calling him for advice?

You know, no one's asked me that before. It's true, probably no one knows what my brother is feeling as much as Benedict. I've never thought about calling his brother, but I'm sure it would be a very interesting phone call.

If you did have that phone call, what would you want to ask him?

It's not so much that I have anything I'd want to ask, but I would like to congratulate him for the brother he has. Benedict XVI is an extremely humble man and an extremely honest man, and it takes a lot of guts to renounce power like he did. Also, I'd like to express how grateful I am to Benedict XVI, because he did all the hard work. First of all, he had to follow John Paul II, which was almost impossible, especially because Benedict was more introverted and shy, more intellectual. I also feel sorry for Benedict because in many ways he had to do the dirty work in the church, such as starting to talk about the bad things in the church, the rotten tomatoes, such as the abuse cases.

You mention the abuse cases. How do you think your brother will respond to them?

I have no idea what he'll actually do, but I know that he'll do what needs to be done.

Are you glad that your brother is following Benedict and not John Paul II? Do you feel like that will make things easier for him?

Probably, yes, because John Paul II was so much in the hearts of the people. It was an extremely difficult job for anyone to follow him. I don't think my brother will be exactly like John Paul II or Benedict XVI … in some ways, at least in terms of personality, he's a good mix of both of them.

Were you at home when your brother was elected?

Yes, I was at home, doing housework. When we heard that the smoke had come out white, we turned on the TV to find out who the poor guy was who had been elected pope. I had been hoping for [Cardinal Odilo Pedro] Scherer from Brazil, while my son wanted a Franciscan to be elected pope … he didn't really care which one, he just wanted a Franciscan.

You know, I heard people talking about how the new pope would be taken to the "Room of Tears" after his election, and I always thought that was sort of ridiculous. What's the pope got to cry about? But when I realized it was my brother, it seemed obvious to me why he needs that room. There's a whole square full of people screaming Viva il Papa! before they even know who it is. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to cry a little bit before you step out to face all those crazy people screaming for you.

Why were you hoping for Scherer?

I've always liked him. He's for the poor. It wasn't based on any really deep analysis, but it always seemed to me that in his pastoral work he chose the poor.

Why weren't you cheering for your brother?

Because I wanted him to come back! I didn't want him to stay there.

Were you more scared back in 2005?

Yes, back then he was really afraid he wouldn't come back, because everyone was talking about Cardinal Bergoglio as a possible successor to John Paul II. I guess it's true that whoever goes into the conclave as pope comes out a cardinal.

You weren't scared this time?

No, not at all. The day before he left for Rome, he called me and we had the same conversation we always have when he's leaving for a while: ‘Have nice trip, and I'll see you when you get back. We'll talk as soon as you return.' Neither of us had any feeling that he wasn't going to return. When we hung up, he said, ‘I'll see you later.'

Here's what a lot of people want to know. They say the pope's simplicity and humility and closeness to the people are all good things, but they're wondering if he's tough enough to lead - if he has the strength to make the hard decisions you have to make as pope. Is your brother tough enough?

Oh, yes … yes, yes, yes. Personally he's got a strong character, and he's also got a deep belief in his convictions that's unbreakable. Nobody is going to be able to force him to compromise on what he believes in.

Can you give me an example of a point during his life where that toughness was especially clear?

Not really, because it's a permanent feature of who he is. There's not one determining moment. If you want an example, I suppose the best one would be his option for the poor. Many times that made his life difficult here in Argentina, both in terms of his relationship with the government and also with some business people who wanted him to shut up about it. He always chose the poor people, no matter what, and frankly in this country it can cost you to speak out in favor of the poor.

You know your brother better than anyone else. Is there anything you've seen or heard from his as pope that's surprised you.

No, I haven't been surprised by anything … except, of course, that he was elected in the first place. Basically, I'm happy that he still seems like Jorge, and is still offering the same small gestures he used to offer when he was here as the cardinal, like choosing to go to the young people for the Mass on Holy Thursday. He's teaching and delivering his pastoral messages the way he was taught to do it, which is by example. It's not about talking the talk, but about walking the walk.

Two hundred years from now, how do you think people will remember your brother as pope?

As a humble pope, a pope of love, especially love for the poor and for the truth. I also think he'll be remembered as a very firm pope who did what had to be done.

Is there anything you're expecting him to do that he hasn't done yet?

No, because I haven't really thought about it. It's not up to me to decide what he should do.

Is there someone in Argentina you think he'll ask to come to Rome to help him?

He might do that, but if he does he won't discuss it with anyone first. He'll just pick up the phone and say, ‘Get over here right now!' He'll form his team according to what he needs and what he believes the church needs, but he won't talk about it with everyone first, he'll just do it.

You mentioned the team your brother has to put together. What kind of people do you think he'll want on his team?

People who think like him, who feel like him, and who act like he acts.

Are people like that easy to find?

Yes, there are a lot of people like him. We're too used to focusing on the bad things, but if we actually start looking around for good people, you'd find lots of them.

(At this stage in the interview, the family cat strolled over.) By the way, does your brother like cats, as Benedict does?

Honestly, I don't have any idea. He always knew he couldn't have a pet, because he never knew where he was going to be living and that he wouldn't have time to take care of it. He never seemed to want a pet. I know that when he was in the seminary they had a dog, and he loved that dog, but I never heard him saying he wished he could have one.

When he was younger, wasn't he also fond of a parakeet?

Yes, when he was in the novitiate, they had a parakeet and Jorge loved it. He taught it to say some things … knowing him, it probably wasn't a prayer but some sort of insult! He loved animals, but he always knew he'd never be in a position to take care of one.

There's a children's book supposedly written by Pope Benedict's cat. Maybe one day there'll be a book from the dog that went to seminary with Pope Francis.

Listen, at this stage, nothing seems impossible!

Sources

• John J Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter / UCA News
• Image: The Telegraph

(It turns out that the movie got the French slightly wrong. It's actually just the "Royal Cheese," but the point's the same.)

Although director Quentin Tarantino is nobody's idea of a Christian evangelist, there's nevertheless a missionary insight here: Whether we're talking about cheeseburgers or eternal salvation, the same product often has to be packaged in different ways for different audiences based on the languages they speak and the cultural worlds they inhabit.

That, believe it or not, is a way of introducing a report from the Oct. 7-28 Synod of Bishops in Rome on the new evangelization.

Whatever its defects, a synod is always a kind of graduate seminar about the realities of life in a global church, bringing together bishops and other church leaders from every nook and cranny of the planet. The opening week of this one has been devoted largely to surveying what works and what doesn't in terms of Catholic evangelization in various parts of the world, and some distinctive regional accents have already emerged.

To be sure, a bewildering variety of points are always made in the opening stages, and not all the voices from a given region are singing from the same hymnal. In broad strokes, however, here's what some leading Catholic voices seem to believe is required to make the church relevant in their neighborhoods:

• Asia: humility, simplicity and silence
• Africa: ministering to people scarred by poverty and violence
• Latin America: taking cues from what's already working, such as popular piety and small Christian communities (often called "base communities")
• Europe and the States: sound doctrine and sacramental practice as an antidote to the influence of a largely secular culture Read more

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Catholic Sun

In all honesty, at least from a media point of view, it's not even the biggest Vatican event happening right now. That distinction belongs to the trial of Paolo Gabriele, the former papal butler charged with being the mole at the heart of the Vatican leaks scandal. An initial verdict could come as early as Saturday.

Yet the synod is nonetheless worth tracking, especially given the theme. (For those not fluent in Catholic-speak, "evangelization" refers to missionary outreach. We'll get to the "new" part below.) Here are three good reasons why:

• Particularly in places where Catholicism traditionally has been strong, evangelization is a real challenge. In Latin America, the church has sustained massive losses to Pentecostal and evangelical Christianity, estimated at 8,000 defections per day during the 1990s; in the United States, Catholicism has a higher retention rate than other Christian denominations, but a lower recruitment rate, and would be losing ground without Hispanic immigration.
• Synods are always a valuable sounding board for the realities of the church in various parts of the world — sort of a graduate seminar in being part of a global family of faith.
• Synods are also a bit like the Iowa caucuses of Catholicism, a chance for up-and-coming leaders to break out of the crowd, often with one eye on the next papal election.

This synod will run Oct. 7-28. I'll be in Rome for most of that time covering it, so watch the NCR website for regular reports. In the meantime, here's a basic primer. Read more

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Malankara Catholic News

The latest such row, featuring a public call from academy members for its papally appointed leadership to resign, pivots in part on the question of just how "pro-life" is pro-life enough to faithfully represent Catholic teaching.

Also at stake is whether affording a Vatican platform to people who don't completely share Catholic positions risks blurring the church's message — or whether refusal to engage in such dialogue betrays, as one Vatican cardinal has asserted, an insecure, "fundamentalist" position.

Founded by Pope John Paul II in 1994, the Pontifical Academy for Life is essentially a Vatican think tank composed of roughly 70 academics, medical experts and activists. It's led by a bishop appointed by the pope, along with a small staff of Vatican personnel, and coordinated by a six-member governing council.

The recent controversy went public in early May, when Austrian Catholic philosopher and academy member Josef Seifert wrote a six-page open letter to Spanish Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, an Opus Dei member and president of the academy, to report "enormous concern" that the academy is losing "its full and pure commitment to truth." The letter was released to the media.

Seifert cited two recent conferences held under the academy's aegis as problematic: one last February on infertility, and another that had been scheduled for April on stem cell research. In both cases, Seifert charged, organizers had invited speakers who hold public positions contrary to Catholic teaching.

Seifert suggested that the academy's leadership should step down.

Other academy members voicing complaints have included Belgian Msgr. Michel Schooyans, a retired professor at the Catholic University of Louvain; Mercedes Arzú Wilson, a Guatemalan natural family planning advocate; Christine de Vollmer, a Venezuelan who serves as president of the Latin American Alliance for the Family; and American Thomas Hilgers, founder of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb.

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Word on Fire

According to John L Allen Jr, though, "with an 85-year-old pope beginning to show his age, speculation about who might come next is always in the background, even if it's on a low boil".

Read John Allen's blog about who might be the next pope in National Catholic Reporter.

Image: Big Think

John L Allen Jr is NCR Senior Correspondent.

But, says John L Allen Jr in his National Catholic Reporter column, "At least part of the original momentum for the overhaul actually came from America, not Rome".

• Read John L Allen Jr's column.
• Image: The Catholic World Report

It's been a week for remembrance of things past in another sense, too.

Two Vatican headlines recalled the feverish images of Benedict from seven years ago, when the new pope was depicted as a ruthless enforcer poised to lead the ecclesial equivalent of Sherman's march to the sea. The first involves a potential deal to end the Lefebvrite schism, bringing the church's most notorious traditionalist rebels back into the fold; the second concerns a crackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the main umbrella group of women's orders in the United States, for alleged deviations on women's ordination, homosexuality and radical feminism.

Yet if we take the last seven years into view, not just the last week, the picture changes considerably. Quite often, the most intriguing feature of this papacy isn't how Benedict has confirmed expectations, but rather how he's confounded them. Indeed, if John Paul II was a "pope of firsts" and a "pope of surprises," Benedict XVI may well go down as a "pope of ironies."

The following are eight such defining ironies, meaning sharp contrasts between the stereotypes and mythology that surrounded Benedict at the beginning versus the lived reality of his reign.

'Doctor No' becomes the pope of yes

If Benedict XVI truly is a cultural warrior, he's a curiously stealth version. Quite often in the last seven years, when people expected him to come out swinging, he's pulled his punches instead. On his recent foray into Mexico, for instance, Benedict avoided any direct mention of either abortion or gay marriage, despite the fact that Mexico City is among the first jurisdictions in Latin America to legalize both. Continue reading

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Pope Benedict Forum