Martin Mosebach writes a wonderful piece on Pope Benedict in the NYT's "The Pope Without a Country." But I especially appreciated two of the last paragraphs:
The name Benedict is clearly indicative of the new pontiff's program. Even as a cardinal, the pope struggled against a tendency that saw the Second Vatican Council as some kind of "supercouncil," as if the history of the church began in 1962. "Benedict" plumbs the depths of that history down to the first Christian century, when the Latin and Greek churches were still united. The great Latin liturgy and Gregorian choral chanting have special ties with the Benedictine order. At his installation, the new pope reverted to a wool pallium in the style worn by the pontiffs of the first millennium. He had the Gospel chanted in Latin and Greek, as once was done at every papal Mass. Clearly he sees in the ancient liturgy a sign of unity between East and West.Posted by Clifton at May 4, 2005 09:09 AM | TrackBackHis strictness in matters of doctrine is in part an answer to a perceived loss of clarity in both dogma and liturgy following the Second Vatican Council. But his main goal in restoring the liturgy is reconciliation with the Byzantine church. Exactly how charged this project is may be seen in the words he spoke as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that in reconciling with Rome, the Orthodox Church should not be expected to accord any greater primacy to the pope than it did before the schism.