A pope who did not like to rule

It is no coincidence that death and forgiveness are from Pope Benedict XVI last Sunday in Rome, aroused great interest among wide circles of the Italian, European and world public.

Farewell, understandable first of all to believers from the pope, but also to many others of a very wide profile, including (instant) historians who already have reason to document the funeral of one pope from whom another pope said goodbye. An unprecedented event in the long history of the Vatican.

Wider interest in Ratzinger stems from his recognizable individuality, first of all a refined mystic and all the way to the imposing theological-philosophical work he left behind in books, discussions, interviews.

Ratzinger's "Spiritual Testament", a manuscript written earlier that was published by the Vatican on the very day of his death, caused great curiosity.

In all references to Ratzinger, his sentence, which became more widely known over time, is inevitably quoted, with which he defined himself: "Sono un umile lavoratore nella vigna del Signore" (I am only a humble worker in God's vineyard).

Ratzinger, his life, choices in church and public life in general, the interpretation of church doctrine, understanding of the eternal theme of the relationship between faith and reason, and finally the statesmanship at the head of the Holy See, belong to those sensitive and controversial topics that should be approached cautiously.

One should first understand such a complex personality, its many oddities, and also the fact that Ratzinger's nature and overall religious mission manifested itself more strongly in the status of a professor of theology, later a cardinal, than a pope, lifelong pontifex maximus. Which in the end will not remain for life.

Put simply, among other things, Pope Benedict XVI gave the impression of someone who did not want to rule. Although it was obvious that he could not avoid the management of the church, dealing with the complexity of the internal organization, especially with the long-awaited reform of the curia, and finally the state - diplomatic challenges in an increasingly complicated world.

Diplomacy of the gospel is not enough, not even for the head of the church - critics of Ratzinger's method and style of action were considered critical.

On the other hand, "cerebral diplomacy", whose incarnation, without a doubt, was Ratzinger, did show superiority, not only in doctrinal matters of religion or in duels with aggressive laicism, but also in many current topics and re-examinations of the post-secular time.

According to many opinions, Ratzinger is one of the most educated theologians in the history of the Vatican. He is also considered one of the greatest European intellectuals of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, and quite reliably - the greatest European intellectual of the Catholic direction in the same period.

It was thought that the German Pope (the first German Pope after 500 years) would be in the shadow of his predecessor, the Slavic Pope Wojtyla, of his long pontificate, especially the results on the international level that earned him the epithet "geopolitical pope". In other words, the overall results of a highly spiritual pope will not be at the level of the previous, as we have already said, geopolitical head of the church.

Unlike the cardinal from Krakow, Wojtyla, who will arrive in Rome relatively unknown in 1978, Cardinal Ratzinger was well known in Rome before his election as pope in 2005. Not only because of the twenty-four years of Roman life, but also because of his notable public activity in a truly wide spiritual arc, from church doctrine to topics of religious pluralism up to the issue of European Christian and lay identity.

The fact that the Vatican's advocacy to include the "Christian roots of Europe" in the preamble of the European Constitution (later the European Treaty) failed, mostly due to the resistance of lay France, which advocated for the strengthening of the Enlightenment roots of Europe - does not diminish the interest and even the fascination of this discussion, with its pros and cons.

Although Ratzinger tied the centrality of his mission to faith and the liturgical mission, and in this sense he wanted to be a spiritual - monastic heir Saint Benedict, which explains his choice of the papal name Benedict XVI, high challenges already at the beginning of his pontificate related to the pretension of confirming the universal mission of the church, in the conditions of the specific spiritual geography of that time.

Especially in the conditions of difficult spiritual legacies, the burden of schism in the Christian world - the first with the Eastern Orthodox world and the second in conflict with Luther.

In terms of ecumenism, Pope Benedict XVI inherited complex previous experiences, many messages, among which one should highlight the one expressed, according to many, by the beautiful metaphor of the lungs: "On ne peut pas respire en chetien avec en seul poumon, il faut avoir deux poumons, c' est-a-dire oriental et occidental”. (You cannot breathe as a Christian with one lung, you need to breathe with both, that means eastern and western).

The primary message of this metaphor referred to Christian Europe and its two "lungs" Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It is about the goal and ideal of breathing with full lungs, that is, by combining the Western and Eastern Christian heritage.

Here we come to a complex and very specific question for ecumenism, which should overcome schisms, deep schisms, and acquired distrust. The Vatican is not unfamiliar with the mistrust that Orthodox circles and centers have towards it. And not only them, in the plural and complex world of religious communities.

Ratzinger was certainly a supporter of a broad inter-religious dialogue. Ecumenism without proselytism. If doctrinal and other rapprochement is not possible, a modus vivendi should have been provided. Mutual respect. And "dialogue of silence" - again a spiritual category - in common prayers.

Issues of the complexity of relations with the Islamic world also opened up. Also the historically complex issues, albeit in different ways, of the Holy See's relationship with big countries - USA, China and Russia.

Pope Benedict XVI caused a storm in the Islamic world by speaking at the German, more precisely Bavarian University in Regensburg. By quoting a few sentences from the conversation they had in Byzantine emperor Manojlo II Palaeologus and a Persian in 1391 in a place next to today's Ankara - Pope Benedict XVI could not resist his passion for history and the seductive context from the 14th century. Speaking then at the university, where he used to teach theology and philosophy, the lecturer was much more Professor Ratzinger and much less Pope Benedict XVI. In any case, a lot of effort was made to calm the passions in a wider area after the spoken sentences in Ratisbon.

It should also be remembered that Ratzinger was and remains a doctrinal conservative.

And what can be read today, with obvious allusions to his controversies and even contradictions - it is about a conservative who wanted to "revolutionize" religion with church reforms. That is why it has been praised and contested from the beginning.

On the one hand, Ratzinger insisted that the prayer ritual in the church be returned to the Latin language. He was also a fierce opponent of moral relativism. And a critic of the LGBT community.

On the other hand, he sought constant dialogue between the church and modernity. Theology and science. And was an example of that dialogue. Cardinal Ratzinger could be seen in Rome at the promotions of books, magazines, even left-wing ones. Racinger's personal style was also special. He himself said that at home, in addition to prayer and books, his favorite company is the piano, cats and Bavarian beer.

Finally, it is about a person who shocked the world, probably the Vatican the most, when he abdicated on February 11, 2013. Possibly tired physically and mentally, all the time highly spiritual, he wanted to be alone. And so it was. A solution was found - Racinger, Pope Emeritus. Well deserved.

There were, therefore, many reasons for which Benedict XVI was bid a reverent farewell in Rome. A pope who did not like to rule.

On this occasion, the respected Roman geopolitical magazine "Limes" selected about thirty previously published texts about Pope Benedict XVI.

Among the texts, to which he refers link "Limes”, there is also a modest one, which is actually extensive, which I am the author of, entitled “I Balcani di Ratzinger”.

I was encouraged by his first official address, the public message he delivered as pope.

Namely, Benedict XVI converted from Bari, the city where the relics of Saint Nicholas, a saint celebrated by all Christians, have been resting since 1087. It was about ecumenical messages to the world of the Christian East, especially the Orthodox one, in which St. Nicholas is one of the most popular saints, the religious protector of many peoples and families. Just then, Pope Benedict XVI sent messages from Bari to the East, to the cultures and religions of that area.

So, to us too, geographically the first and not only geographically - between the south of Italy and the eastern direction. For us who built a house in the middle of the west-east road, Montenegro.