 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
April 25, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 8Oakland,
CA
What does the name Benedict portend?
When Germany’s Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
stood on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square on April 19,
he became Benedict XVI, a name that evokes a legacy of defending the faith
in Europe. It was last chosen by a pope who labored in vain to end World
War I.
“It is significant that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger chose the name
Benedict. It is a name not used since the reign of Benedict XV (1914-22),”
said Maureen Tilley, associate professor of religious studies at the University
of Dayton in Ohio. “Benedict XV desired to be remembered as the
pope of peace who tried to restore European civilization to a peaceful,
almost idealized past.”
Born an Italian noble, Pope Benedict XV was remembered most for his unsuccessful
efforts to end World War I, which he deemed “the suicide of Europe”
as it split the country’s Catholics down political lines.
In Europe, each warring side believed Benedict secretly favored the other.
The Vatican was subsequently excluded from the Paris peace conference
in 1919 despite Benedict’s repeated attempts to negotiate. Still,
Benedict was successful in establishing a Vatican bureau to help all prisoners
of war contact their families.
Tilly added that Ratzinger, the first German pope elected since Adrian
VI in 1522, seemingly chose the name “to portend a crusade to recapture
Europe for the Church.”
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, archbishop of Vienna, said on Vatican Radio
that when Ratzinger revealed to the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel his
choice of name, “he recalled jokingly that Benedict XV had a brief
pontificate.”
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger meets with Mother Teresa in
the southwestern German city of Freiburg in Sept. 1978.
RNS PHOTO/REUTERS/KNA Bild
The Ratzinger family portrait in 1938. From left, Josef,
brother Georg, mother Maria, sister Maria and father Josef.
RNS PHOTO/REUTERS/KNA Bild
