Pope John Paul II made numerous visits to the United States, holding audiences with five presidents throughout the latter half of the 20th century. His successor, Benedict XVI, came to America for the first time this week, and he has a lot on his agenda. The Pope is scheduled to meet with the president, celebrate his 81st birthday, meet with the United Nations in New York, meet with the bishops of the United States, celebrate the third anniversary of his pontificate, celebrate two Masses at baseball stadiums, and address the presidents of 200 Catholic universities at Catholic University of America.
With this clearly full plate, the pope has a lot to think about, but there is no question that a major focus of his visit will be his address to the presidents of the Catholic universities.
This visit comes at a time when Catholic universities are under some scrutiny from the Vatican, and some worry that this may be apparent in the Pope's address. In the 1990s, the papal encyclical Ex corde Ecclesiae was written by Pope John Paul II with then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This encyclical was written to gently remind American Catholic universities about their Catholic foundation and to make sure that they were basing their curricula and overall operations on that fact. While Benedict was the main force behind this encyclical, he will not overemphasize the issue, said Rev. James Keenan, S.J., a professor in the theology department. "When he wrote it [Ex Corde Ecclesiae], he was in a different role," Keenan said. "This pope very much distinguishes his role depending on the position he holds."
Therefore, Keenan said he expects the pope not to dwell on the issues that he may have had to deal with as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in his new role as pope. The role of the prefect was to make sure that institutions and members of the Catholic Church were adhering strictly to the church's teaching, whereas the role of pope is to guide and unite the church in general, he said.
Those anticipating the pope's address believe it will be far more positive. "It truly is a pastoral visit, whatever he does, this is about building up a strong relationship so that in the future … there will be a deep bond [between Benedict XVI and the presidents of Catholic colleges in America," said Rev. Bruce Morrill, S.J., a professor in the theology department. "Benedict is a brilliant man, and he highly values education, being a professor himself," he said. "He knows very well the strength of higher education in the bigger picture of Catholicism."
Benedict will most likely be affirming Catholic University as an extremely important institution within the ongoing discourse between the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and American society, Morrill said. This affirmation of the Catholic university in America will be made with the caveat that these universities continue to work toward bringing their Catholic identity to the forefront. Benedict will not be laying out a detailed plan for the American Catholic colleges, scolding them for specific actions and praising them for others, but rather guiding in general and forging a lasting, positive bond between Rome and America, he said.
While the tone of the speech will be positive, Benedict may address more contentious issues as well, Morrill said. He will probably address hot topic issues that are of extra importance to the American Catholic college; what Morrill calls "life scene issues." The most prominent of these issues include sexual ethics, contraception, and gender identity.
All of these issues are hotly debated on college campuses, Catholic or not, and cannot be avoided, Morrill said. While these issues are open to debate, he said, the position of the church on them is clearly established, and those at Catholic colleges sometimes need to be reminded of that. This could lead to what Morrill said was a "cultural clash between the Vatican and the teaching office of the Roman Catholic Church."
Rev. Robert Imbelli, a professor in the theology department, shared many similar viewpoints. When asked what he anticipates the general tone of Benedict's speech to be, he said he believes that it will refer back to Ex corde Ecclesiae either explicitly or implicitly, and in doing so will call the presidents of Catholic universities back to their inherent duty to instruct with a fundamentally Catholic foundation. "He will try to annunciate the distinctive characteristics of a Catholic university," Imbelli said. "If you say you're a Catholic university, there are certain parameters that must be respected." While most educators in America cannot predict exactly what the pope will say, most acknowledge that his speech will have an overall positive tone of encouragement and support for American Catholic universities as a whole.
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