On the Square Today

In today’s first On the Square feature, David G. Bonagura, Jr. notes the recent reactions to Pope Benedict XVI and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad :

Within only a few hours on September 22, Pope Benedict XVI and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave major addresses in front of two governing bodies, the German Bundestag and the United Nations General Assembly, respectively. These two very different men gave two very different speeches, yet their presence and words generated an identical response: boycotts and walk-outs by assembly members.

Also today, Joshua D. Genig on Lutheran reactions to the Pope’s visit to Germany :

When the door was closed on the meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the leaders of the German Lutheran Church on September 23rd, 2011, for some in the USA it signaled the possibility of an open door to reunification while, for others, it signaled the need to nail another Ninety-Five Theses (or more) to the doors of our churches while shouting, papam esse ipsum verum antichristum .

And finally, Leroy Huizenga on Benedict in Germany, confronting modernity :

One the eve of Benedict’s recent trip to his German homeland, Der Spiegel ran a predictable story with the title Der Unbelehrbare —The Unteachable One—complete with an unflattering cover shot of the Pope. The piece presented the routine critique made by many Germans: this Pope refuses to accommodate the faith to the obvious truths of modernity; in his obstinacy or ignorance, he either won’t or can’t learn.