Only a few hours after Joseph Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict XVI, the theology department at Boston College was prepared to discuss his election, past career, and expectations. Rev. James Weiss, associate professor of theology, was already selected to speak on "The Conclave and the New Pope" in Higgins 300 on Tuesday afternoon, but his lecture took a new twist when Ratzinger was elected earlier in the day.
Weiss approached the lecture from a primarily historical perspective, reminding the small crowd that at a time of high emotion, it helps to have a historian set the event in a wider perspective.
Weiss spoke on the history of the conclave from the Renaissance until today and the unique features of the conclave of 2005 and the issues they faced. He said the conclave rarely elects the pre-conclave favorite, someone so closely identified with the previous regime, or a representative of a powerful and wealthy country.
"Germany is already running Europe, it's already bankrolling Eastern Europe," he said. "It is a bit of a surprise that a German has been elected at a time when Germany's role in Europe causes some resentment."
The papacy also rarely goes to a figure with as open of an agenda as Ratzinger, who has published a wide breadth of work clearly defining his views. Weiss pointed to the last time that popes were elected with such a clear public agenda in 1823, 1829, and 1831.
"They were elected at the height of the conservative reaction against the French Revolution and Napolean in an attempt to restore the old regime, and that may not be insignificant in this election," he said.
Two traditions were that of a long papacy followed by a short one, which Benedict's is expected to be, and that the election of an elderly pope usually indicates the cardinals' indecisiveness.
"The cardinals simply could not make their way through the immense questions confronting the church, and they felt that their safest bet was to stay with what they knew until things might sort themselves out a little further," said Weiss.
The rest of Weiss' lecture focused on who Ratzinger has been and is expected to be. He elaborated on the ways that the election sacrifices much of John Paul II's legacy of a pastoral presence, dynamic personality, openness on interreligious dialogue, and concern with social justice.
"Cardinal Ratzinger is a failed archbishop," said Weiss. In 1979, after two years as archbishop, the cathedral chapter petitioned Rome for Ratzinger's removal, claiming that he lacked the diplomatic skills to deal with clergy and treated his dioceses like a seminar. Ratzinger also has no record of pastoral experience in 26 years in the Vatican.
"There is no question that the cardinals chose someone whom they knew would be controversial and divisive," said Weiss. "His penchant for drawing clear definitions and insisting on adherence to them will accelerate the decline in numbers of Catholics in Europe and certainly aggravate the disillusionment of Catholics in North America."
Weiss pointed out another little-known trait about Ratzinger - his ability to restrain excesses of conservatives even stronger than himself. Ratzinger sidelined very strong conservative initiatives during John Paul II's papacy, he said.
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