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April 27, 2005
Witnessing.
He witnessed the spirit of noninvolvement up close, and even if he wasn't conscious of the scope of its criminality at the time, he certainly is now. He is in a unique position to witness against it, to teach people to recognize and avoid it. He doesn't have the power to defeat it utterly, no one does, but he could perhaps weaken it. At the very least, he could certainly try.
It may be that, being more of a justification-by-works kind of a guy, the new pope's "witnessing" has come in the (welcome) form of friendly actions toward Jews and Israel. That's great. But like Beth says, Josef Ratzinger is now in a unique position to give witness about noninvolvement in the face of extreme evil. A better position, I'd say, than anyone now alive.
Posted by Eric at April 27, 2005 4:39 PM
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Comments
perhaps. and yet in his public speeches to date, he has emphasized "duty." very germanic, very kant, and very holocaust-enabling.
Posted by: jenny at April 28, 2005 7:51 AM
That is patently false. To suggest that Benedict's statements about the importance of moral duty are Holocaust-enabling shows facial, abject ignorance about what he stands for. Read what he has written carefully and what it stands for before making a ridiculous comment such as that. If you need some suggestions as to what to read to understand enough about the pope to make assessments of that variety, email me. I doubt you have done so to date.
Posted by: RWS at April 28, 2005 9:34 AM