Is Pope Benedict the Ronald Reagan of the Vatican?

Maybe so.

Reagan had on various fronts , such as the State Department, people yelling at him " YOU CAN'T DO THAT" and various other establishment figures attempting to derail what Reagan wanted to do.

Despite what people think the Pope is not an dictator. Forces in the Vatican and elsewhere can and do slow Papal plans to a screeching halt. In many ways this is a necessary balance of power. The Bishops are indeed not just the "agents" of the Pope. The Vatican is usually built to slow things down. Sadly when this did not occur was in the immediate years after Vatican II.

Reagan had the State Department and other opposing group -Pope Benedict has elements in the the Vatican Curia and certain Bishops that take that role .

The Pope , like Reagan, knows such broad life changing plans and use of authority has to be measured. In Pope Benedict's case for both political and pastoral reasons.

By the Reagan was like this too. It is forgotten now how many conservative forces had turned against President Reagan because in their view he did not move fast enough or worse sold out. For a trip down memory lane on that go see via The Pink Flamingo How Conservative Leaders Betrayed Ronald Reagan.

Therefore he is , again to a use a USA political analogy, no Obama of the Vatican. A President that has now unleashed so many controversial and game changing plans it makes one dizzy. For Benedict it is one thing at a time.

This slowness for many of the Orthodox Catholic faithful , who know observe Benedict's age, is maddening. But it is necessary.

I bring this up because of two very posts today. Father Longdecker comments on a article that Damion Thompson ran in the UK Telegraph today.

Father has his thoughts here at his blog- See Personal Ordinariate - the Background .

The article he comments on at the UK Telegraph is located here at The Vatican opens its arms to Anglicans – and tightens its grip .

Father pretty much because of his life story confirms the background of what the Telegraph is reporting as well as the religious/political intrigue.

Father makes the Reagan comparison:
.........There are several other things that remain mysterious about the timing of the move. First of all it is strange that an Apostolic Constitution should be announced at such short notice, and without the thing being ready for publication. We can only guess that the move was made when it was because Walter Kasper was out of town and it saved face for everyone. Why was the Archbishop of Canterbury not consulted? Why was it surprise move for the Anglicans too?

Well, why bother to consult when you already know the answer? Pope Benedict has been working with these people for decades. He knew they would only stall, ask for 'further clarification', dig in their heels and throw up endless obstacles. The Pope understands that there has been enough talk, enough diplomacy, enough listening and dialogue, and sometimes you have to act.

Benedict will be seen as a kind of Ronald Reagan of the Vatican. When Reagan got to the White House he discovered that the established way of dealing with the Soviets was detente, talk, talk, talk and more talk. He decided that victory was in his grasp and proposed a firm confrontation. "Mr Gorbachev, pull down that wall!" His professional statesmen and diplomats were shocked at his 'foolishness.' But it worked. Communism was already fragile all it needed was a puff of air to knock it down completely.

The UK newspaper piece is enlightening and I think it hits it right on. The big non story for decadesis how many Bishops of the world basically ignored John Paul the II Pastoral Provision on this matter. Anglo Catholic wary of being put under the thumb of the progressive Catholic Bishops took note of that. This is one reason why this has played out as it has.

THe UK Telegraph article shows why Pope Benedoct had to bypass his own "State Department" and the objections of some in the grand ole Catholic Party

.........The faces of many Church of England bishops have turned as purple as their cassocks," said one commentator. They knew nothing about this Apostolic Constitution in advance: the first official notification was a letter from Dr Williams published yesterday, in which he apologised for the short notice but explained that "I was informed of the planned announcement at a very late stage".

This anger is widely shared by Catholic bishops of England and Wales – and not just because they feel that the Anglicans have been insulted by the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI decided not to consult the English Catholic bishops about his dramatic offer. Indeed, the Vatican's own professional ecumenists in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity were also kept out of the picture until "a very late stage".

But it is precisely the exclusion of liberal Catholic bishops that has delighted traditionalist Anglicans. It helps explain why, yesterday, Forward in Faith, the umbrella group for conservative Anglo-Catholics, welcomed the Pope's decision effusively.

They do not know how this arrangement will work in practice – "A lot depends on the fine print but so far there is no fine print," says Stephen Parkinson, director of Forward in Faith – but they know what it will not contain: any provision for a local Catholic bishop to make their services trendy and "relevant".

Anglican congregations who pride themselves on being more Catholic than the Pope will be able to carry on celebrating Mass in antique vestments, in sanctuaries behind traditional altar rails, to the accompaniment of motets sung by a professionally trained choir.

These details may seem trivial, compared to the mighty theological disputes that have divided Rome from Canterbury. They are not. For well over a century, hardline Anglo-Catholics – many of them occupying grimy Victorian Gothic buildings in inner-city parishes rather than medieval rural churches with lovely rectories – have accepted nearly all the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Increasingly, as the authority of successive Archbishops of Canterbury has crumbled, they have been won over to papal supremacy.............

Both are good reads.

One wonders what is next on our Pope "Reagan's" agenda.

Political capital for a President is not unlimited and the same applies in the Vatican. Pope Benedict will have to expend much in implementing his major reforms already.Tthat is a reform of the reform of the Liturgy and now this venture.

Plus he is quite aware that if the are signs he is ailing forces in the Vatican will slow things to a halt. For a example of that see John Paul the II where it appeared for years the Pope was on the local Rome death watch rumor mill