THE TABLET


THE INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY Founded in 1840


BENEDICT’S LISTENING CHALLENGE T


he highlight of Pope Benedict’s state visit to Germany was, like his state visit to Britain, his address to the nation given right at the heart of its political life – in Britain in Westminster Hall, and in Germany at the


Reichstag. On both occasions, his intellectual argument drew widespread praise even from those deeply sceptical about the Catholic faith. The address to members of the Bundestag posed a particularly pertinent question: how do Catholics, indeed all Christians, find their way into the wider world, offering it a challenge, but also proffering answers to the need for mean- ing and the search for the good life? Benedict’s specific example of how to communicate this –


through the Church’s reflections on humanity’s relationship to nature and the importance of ecology – drew on a particu - lar area of his thinking, developed in the past seven years. In reflecting on the current plight of the planet, he has taken sev- eral strands of Catholic teaching: from concern and respect for Creation; to a focus on the plight of the poorest in society, who particularly suffer from the impact of environmental degradation; to an aesthetic critique and development of von Balthasarian ideas about beauty, and to a reiteration of nat- ural law. It reveals that the Pope has found a way to both develop Catholic thought and bring it to a wider audience on one of the issues that dominates the contemporary world. In other words, he is playing to his strengths – to his intellectual capacity. Those who feared that Benedict would live in the shadow of John Paul II, a giant on the world stage, have been proved


mistaken. He has managed that without attempting any of the showmanship of his predecessor, and his quieter, shy per- sona fits an age that is more subdued and more questioning than that of the closing years of the last century. But if the upheavals of recent times have brought in an era of uncer- tainty, and more thoughtfulness, they have also added to the mess of human lives and the complications of relationships. On occasion that requires a recognition that imaginative reso - lutions to intractable problems are desirable, while also adhering to the eternal truths of the Church. Pope Benedict accomplished that with his comments last year on the use of condoms by prostitutes to limit the spread of HIV. It did not mean, he told the journalist Peter Seewald, that the Church was completely rethinking its position on sex and conception, but it was a way of reducing the risk of infection.


HIV is not the only issue needing that kind of pastoral touch – it might even be called pragmatism. The one, above all, that needs it is the plight of divorced and remarried Catholics who yearn to be able to receive Communion openly in the Church and whose cause has been recently publicised in Austria and advocated in Germany by Federal President Christian Wulff and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert. The stories of divorce reported on pages 6 and 7 reveal great suffering. Pope Benedict spoke in the Bundestag of the need for those who govern to have a listening heart; the Catholics pleading to be heard on how much they are hurt by being in the spiritual wilderness need not only an intellectual solution, but to be listened to as well.


LESSONS OF THE MARKET H ope grew this week that the political leaders of the


eurozone and the International Monetary Fund could come up with a rescue package to solve the debt crisis in Europe. Although European officials


have pointed out that no grand plan was found despite talks last weekend, there was evidence that some means of stabil- ising the rockiest countries, such as Greece, have been found and discussed. After its Prime Minister came up with new ways to cut Greece’s budget, assessments were begun to determine whether it should be offered bailout funds. Yet, as David Cameron has said, we are still “staring down the barrel”. The slowdown in the global recovery is apparent, unemployment is rising, and households, fearful of their futures, are cutting spending, just at a time when the economy needs them to spend. Governments, meanwhile, which need to reduce their debts, have to be attentive to the way they make cuts; too much could tip the world further into recession. But just as many people were looking into the abyss, one


trader’s candour revealed the way in which those involved in the City apparently live in a parallel universe. Alessio Rastani told a shocked BBC presenter that he and others like him dream of recessions as they are opportunities for them to make money. Mr Rastani was so frank that some suggested the interview was a spoof, though it has been pointed out that, spoof or not, it did reflect the sentiments of many City traders. It also starkly highlighted the fact that the difficulties being faced are far greater than a readjustment of economies, or a rethink about taxation, or a search for even more austerity measures. It revealed


2 | THE TABLET | 1 October 2011


a moral vacuum at the heart of business and finance. Capitalism has brought for many millions across the world an openness and mobility that is unthinkable under planned economies. In other words, capitalism equates to freedom. But unfettered capitalism has brought about the exact opposite: a loss of freedom, as many people’s lives are now restricted by debt and unemployment. This hardly makes for a thriv- ing society and, in the coming months, politicians will need to turn their focus to not only rebuilding confidence in the market but finding some means of regenerating communi- ties. Wealth creation is vital, but if the rich get richer by causing others to fall along the wayside, then there will only be more discontent. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, suggested this week that Britain has lost its values and needs to rediscover them. There certainly needs to be a fairer way of dividing the pie. As Catholic Social Teaching emphasises, an economic sys- tem founded on people’s needs, rather than unbridled market capitalism, is the ethical alternative. The fluctuations of the global economy are certainly bring- ing change in their wake as financial power shifts from West to East. There has been no recession in China and India, and companies in Latin America have been thriving too. That these countries are now playing catch-up not only gives pause for thought, but will inevitably have consequences for people, in terms of jobs and opportunities, in both the developed and emerging worlds. It is a moment for the West to ponder what has gone wrong, and for emerging nations to consider those mistakes – and try to avoid them.


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