Cardinal Ratzinger: "The Enforcer"
Friday August 8, 2003
How much do you know about Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, nicknamed "The Enforcer" or the "Panzerkardinal"? He's been head of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Inquisition) for more than 20 years and he has been described as being even more zealous in the defense of orthodoxy than the pope himself.
The Australian has a profile of his life and beliefs:
He shares the view of the Polish Pope ... that only a united Catholic Church with absolute values can stand against totalitarianism and the temptations of Western materialism. The cardinal was shocked by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, when the old certainties gave way to intellectual and theological debate. ... The cardinal has also condemned Buddhism, Hinduism and other Eastern religions as offering false hope through "auto-erotic spirituality", accused the media of exaggerating the extent of the pedophilia scandals in the North American Church and encouraged a return to the Latin Mass.
Ratzinger won't be the next pope, but he will play a key role in who will become the next pope because he will chair the conclave that votes. It simply isn't credible to think that he won't do everything in his power to ensure that the next pope fits his personal idea of what Roman Catholicism should be.
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Comments
Well you were wrong. He is now Pope.
You were very accurate regarding his views of Vatican II, and with his recent statement disparaging validity of Protestant churches, you should update your page as to yet another group the Roman Catholic Church has
chosen to criticize rather than relieve their own ills. A step backwards, indeed.