P


Benedict XVI is a


crusader who is


challenging Europe and the West’s seemingly ineluctable slide toward secularism.


54 NEWSMAX / APRIL 2008


OPE BENEDICT XVI’S HISTORIC visit to the United States has come at a critical time for the Roman Catholic Church.


Though the Church is almost 2,000 years old with more than 1.1 billion adherents across the globe, it is mired in crisis.


When the white smoke puffed from the ancient chimney of the Sistine Chapel and it was announced “Urbi et Orbi” that an unassuming, 78-year-old German cardinal was to take the seat of St. Peter, pundits suggested Benedict XVI was simply a caretaker, the last “European Pope.” But the Pope’s visit to the U.S. — and the three years of his papacy so far — suggest that this Pope is anything but a place holder. Indeed, Benedict XVI is a crusad- er who is challenging Europe and the West’s seemingly ineluctable slide toward secularism.


In his “Mission America,” the Pope must buck up a Church that appears to be on the same trajectory as the Catholic Church in Europe: Massive declines in Mass attendance, sex-abuse scandals, the diminishing importance of Catholic education, and an increasing number of the faithful who reject Church doctrine on many important issues have clouded the Church on both fronts.


The internal crisis of the Catholic Church is more worrisome consid- ering the Church’s global struggle with Islam. Once the center of Christendom, Old Europe fi nds itself hollow as Islam grows in power. In Catholic France, for example, the Muslim population has been esti- mated to be between 5 million and 6 million, and given current birth rates, it is possible that in 25 years France will have a Muslim majority. Adding to that intrinsic challenge


is the widening infl uence of Islam throughout Africa and Asia. This Pope, like John Paul II, sees the importance of the American Catholic Church on several levels. First, as the cultural leader of the West, the U.S. infl uence is far dispro- portionate to its population. Second, as the world’s last glob- al superpower, American political hegemony can help the Church’s global efforts.


The aftermath of the Pope’s visit may be the most telling. Benedict XVI, like his predecessor John Paul II, has ignored the zeitgeist of the times to adapt, accommodate, and to modernize.


Some Vatican watchers see no coincidence that the papal visit coin- cides with the U.S. presidential elec- tions. Telling this year will be if the Church moves to enforce — as Cardinal Ratzinger has called for in the past — a ban on granting Holy Communion to Catholic political candidates who espouse a pro-choice position on abortion.


As a rule, popes have tried to avoid involving themselves in local poli- tics, and some Vatican watchers were surprised that Benedict did agree to break long-standing protocol and come to the U.S. during a presiden- tial election year, although the actual impetus for the trip was an invitation from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki- moon. Benedict scheduled an address to the U.N. on April 18. Observers speculated that Pope Benedict’s six-day American


BAN KI-MOON U.N. Secretary General’s offer was pivotal in bringing Benedict XVI to the U.S.


P.52: STEFANO SPAZIANI/ACTION PRESS/ZUMA PRESS / P.54: AP IMAGES


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