The Keenly Aware Cardinal

From ” A Final Warning That the Pope Ignores at His Peril ,” a “cliches r us” leading article (or editorial) in the English newspaper  The Independent attacking the “authoritarian,” “hardline,” thought-suppressing Pope Benedict and praising the late Cardinal Martini:

 As Archbishop of Milan, the city from which the Emperor Constantine in 317 issued the historic edict proclaiming toleration for the Christian religion, Martini was keenly aware of the importance of maintaining the Church’s association with the broad currents of social and intellectual life in Europe – a partnership that lasted the best part of two millennia but which is dwindling to nothing.

So which of the two cardinals, Ratzinger or Martini, has had a serious public discussion with Europe’s leading philosopher Juergen Habermas? Which seems most up on the broad currents of social and intellectual life in Europe?

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Moral Certitude and the Iran War

Steven A. Long

The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…

The Slow Death of England: New and Notable Books

Mark Bauerlein

The fate of England is much in the news as popular resistance to mass immigration grows, limits…

Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War

R. R. Reno

What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…