(4 of 4)
Ratzinger's views resonate through the Pope's recent encyclical The Splendor of Truth, which sharply defined right and wrong. It also sought to instill a militant obedience in Catholics. Treating religion as a matter of mere emotion, says Ratzinger, has created a crisis in moral values for all societies. "It is essential to have common ground that can be attested to in moral and religious matters." The church's teachings, therefore, have to be unbending, Ratzinger believes. "Everyone, thank God, is free to decide whether or not he is able and willing to subscribe to the Catholic faith with responsibility before God and his conscience. If I come to the conclusion that I can no longer support this set of beliefs, then it is a matter of honesty to declare this and draw the consequences." If a theologian needs prodding to come to that realization, Ratzinger is happy to prod. And if this means many church members must drop out, so be it. Does this not betray his past? "I see no break in my views as a theologian," he says. "It is absolute nonsense to say Vatican II left it up to the individual to decide which religious ideas he would adopt and which he would not." As a participant in the council, "I would be making a liar of myself" to say such a thing.
Today the Cardinal, who is into his third five-year term at the Congregation, is the longest-serving major official in John Paul's Vatican. Might he be elected Pope one day? Vatican watchers say no: he is too controversial, and his brief record in pastoral work -- as Archbishop of Munich -- is at best spotty. Meanwhile, his health, while good today, has been precarious in the past. In September 1991 he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that affected his left field of vision. Then in August 1992 he fell against a radiator and was knocked unconscious, bleeding profusely. "Thank God, there are hardly any traces of it now," he says.
The Cardinal likes to explain his faith through the story of one of his theology professors, a man who questioned the thinking behind the church's 1950 declaration that the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven was an infallible tenet. "He said, 'No, this is not possible -- we don't have a foundation in Scripture. It is impossible to give this as a dogma.' " This led the professor's Protestant friends to hope they had a potential convert. But the professor immediately reaffirmed his abiding Catholicism. "No, at this moment I will be convinced that the church is wiser than I." Ratzinger asserts: "It was always my idea to be a Catholic, to follow the Catholic faith and not my own opinions." Theologians may wrangle all they want, he says, but faith in the end is something ineffable, springing from the heart. And once it is felt there, he says, "then the mind will accept it too."