The John Paul the II and Benedict Relationship

Yesterday Catholics and Non Catholics remembered the Death and the Pontificate of John Paul the II. THe Italian and Roman Catholic Press of course have vast insight. I thought this was very interesting courtesy of the Ratzinger Forum on this page that has translated this to English for us today.

THE WOJTYLA-RATZINGER PARTNERSHIP
Two veteran Vatican correspondents today each had interesting and unusual reflections on the Wojtyla-Ratzinger relationship and succession. Too bad they confined it to their blogs, and not to the pages of the newspapers they work for - Luigi Accattoli for Corriere della Sera, and Marco Tosatti for La Stampa. From Wojtyla to Ratzinger - a reversal of roles
Translated from the blog of Luigi Accattoli 2 April 2008

The uniqueness of this particular papal succession: Called to take the place of 'the missionary to the world' was the cardinal theologian who for 23 years had helped him find the words for that mission. Perhaps in that joint effort, the latter may have even kept Papa Wojtyla from an excess of zeal - and now, their dialog on almost every question continues, but with the roles reversed. Where once the cardinal theologian favored more prudence, today the theologian Pope perceives the impulse of the apostle Pope. May that dialog continue for many more years so that the great soul of Papa Wojtyla may reciprocate in overflowing measure what he had received from the one he called his 'trusted friend'. Wojtyla, three years later

Translated from the blog of Marco Tosatti 2 April 2008
On April 2, 2205. John Paul II died. In the days that followed, millions came from everywhere to pay him the last farewell. Three years ago, his death touched so many hearts. Th ways of our interior consciousness are not rational. "I cried, and I believed", , wrote Francois Rene de Chateuabriand, recalling his conversion in Memories beyond the grave. Tears and emotion usually open windows on non-mateiral ralities.

So it was then, if we are to go by the testimonies of the many persons who have written to the site for the cause of the late Pope's beatification. John Paul II, in his trajectory from an athletic and vigorous Pontiff to a daily image of effort and suffering, succeeded to gradually gain universal sympathy. His evident fragility dampened any aversion and hostility. And the battle he fought against going to war in Iraq, even as he was nearing his end, even gained him the sympathy of those on the left who otherwise do not look kindly on the Church.

We all lived the years from 2000 to 2005 in an excess of emotion, watching every effortful step he attempted, trembling, almost tottering. Our attention was focused more on him than his message. Which remained the same - without making any allowances nor compromises - from 1978 onwards, up to the end. Thus was repeated a phenomenon that had been seen before, especially for Paul VI. Many of those who mourned with John Paul II then, and who participated in stunned silence in the 'excess' of humanization that suffering had brought him, now seem to feel ashamed of that, and show the Church an extraordinary harshness - almost in amends, it seems, for their moments of sentimental weakness in that April of 2005.

And the one who is paying for it is the friend and theological 'shoulder' on which John Paul II relied, Joseph Ratzinger, who, when Karol Wojtyla was alive, bore the bitterness aroused by some of the decisions they shared and took on the role of 'the mean one'. Now he finds himself defending the message of old, the message of the Church as it has always been, but without the shield of the human sympathy aroused by Karol.

He, too, is aged now, and perhaps, suffering himself, although in a different way. Karol Wojtyla thought that llness, exposed, was a form of evangelization. Joseph, more timid, has a different vision of the public and private roles of a Pope. Of course, we miss John Paul II. Perhaps that should make us reflect on how fragile our rationality is if superficial emotions like antipathy or sympathy can hide from us the profound sense of the Christian message.