Last week, the Pope wrote to the bishops of the world explaining his decision to lift the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops who are members of the Lefebvrite society known as the Society of St Pius X.That decision was greeted by a storm of protests and bitterness, especially after the news emerged that one of them - Bishop Richard Williamson - had denied the Holocaust.
The Pope's letter was rightly described as unique, exceptional and unprecedented.
The Pope's 2,500-word letter speaks volumes about himself and the workings (or non-workings) of the Vatican.
The letter shows how mistaken people are when they depict the Pope as a cold, isolated and unemotional person.
On the contrary, the letter shows Benedict XVI as a person with feelings who cares deeply about the reactions of the faithful.
The Pope was deeply hurt by the criticism that he was 'turning back the clock' or repudiating Catholic-Jewish dialogue. "I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics, who, after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility," he wrote.
The letter showed that the Pope is not a hawk seeking 'orthodoxy or be damned'. After clearly stating that the Society of St Pius X has to accept all Church teaching, including that of Vatican II, Pope Benedict said the Church cannot stop working for reconciliation among its ranks. "Should we casually let them (i.e. thousands of laity and hundreds of priests and religious) drift farther from the Church?"
The Pope is totally right. Why should people have to be so troubled when the Pope lifted these excommunications as a sign of reconciliation? Why impute all sorts of unsavoury reasons for the Pope's decision?
I do not agree with Peter Hünermann, honorary president of the European Society for Catholic Theology, who accused the Pope of making a "grave mistake" in lifting the excommunications, saying it was canonically "null and void". We need fewer, not more excommunications. This is why it is I who am troubled by the excommunication of the family of an eight-year-old Brizilian girl who had been raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather, and chose to have the girl undergo an abortion.
The Pope's letter shows that he was badly let down by his aides. It is clear that the Pope was not informed that Mgr Williamson had denied the Holocaust, even though, as the Pope wrote, "this information was easily available on the internet". Not even had key people in the Vatican been consulted beforehand, such as Cardinal Walter Kasper, who co-ordinates dialogue with the Jews.
Besides, as the Pope himself states in his letter, the lifting of the excommunications was not adequately explained and gave rise to misinterpretations about the traditionalist society's status in the Church. The Pope's media advisers should have known that even without the Holocaust denial complication, this was a potentially controversial initiative and consequently there was need for a plan to manage the issue.
Such shooting oneself in the foot has many precedents in the Church and, unfortunately, it will have many sequels as well.
On a positive note, the Pope said the Church should "allow herself to be generous" and "be capable of overlooking various faults and making every effort to open up broader vistas" in order to promote unity. May these words always inspire the action of all members of the Church towards all groups within it and outside it.
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(Source: TOM)