Welcome, Pope Benedict!
I have been very remiss in not posting anything yet about the Pope’s visit to the U.S. And he arrives in New York tomorrow! But I have been tremendously busy, what with the documentary and other work; too busy to even think about getting tickets (even if there had been any left) for the Pope’s Yankee Stadium Mass. But I do hope to participate by going to Fifth Avenue to watch his motorcade on Saturday. And I have been following everything closely on TV.
This is the third U.S. papal visit I will have participated in personally, and I can’t say that I’m blase about it yet. The first was in 1979, during John Paul II’s first U.S. visit, when he actually came to within 50 miles of our Iowa home (now that’s service for you!). My whole family and I drove to Living History Farms to celebrate Mass with him. Right after we arrived, and were making our way across the field, I tripped in a depression in the ground and sprained my ankle. But I soon forgot about the pain, as well as hunger and thirst. It was terribly windy and threatening rain, but as soon as the Pope’s helicopter arrived, the sun came out, and the hours flew by. The Pope spoke about the land and its people, as we celebrated the Mass for the Feast of St. Francis, and he stood outlined against a clear blue sky. We were hoarse with singing and cheering. I took my cassette recorder with me and taped the whole thing — there were no digital cameras, DVD’s or VCR’s back then. The tape’s almost inaudible, but I still treasure it.
Then in 1995, at the beginning of my second year as a grad student at Fordham, I was was one of the volunteer ushers at John Paul’s Mass in Central Park, recruited from the area Catholic colleges and universities. We spent the night (or part of it) bunking on the floor at Fordham’s Manhattan campus near Columbus circle, got up somewhere around 3 a.m., walked all the way up Eighth Avenue to the entrance to the Mass site (must have been 20 blocks), and our time from 4:30 on shivering until people began to stream in around 5:30 — and the Mass was still hours away! We directed people to their places and handed out programs. Of course we got some of the best seats when our Pope arrived. The weather remained chilly, but we barely noticed it as we prayed, sang and cheered. I fell asleep in the subway going home.
Not to mention the times that I have seen the Pope in Rome; the first unforgettable one when I was with the family of the late John Paul I as his successor led the Mass for the anniversary of his death at St. Peter’s Basilica on September 28, 1985, the year that I began research on my book about him (which I still hope someday to publish). And then later, I attended the Mass the Pope celebrated opening the 1985 Synod of Bishops. Later that same trip, I caught a photo of John Paul II traveling through the Spanish Square on his way (I think) to a parish visit. After I while, even though I had never spoken to him, I began to feel he might recognize me if he saw me!
Then there was our unforgettable trip to Rome last February, when I spoke at the conference on St. Elizabeth. My mother, two sisters, my brother, and his wife and daughter all came with me. We went to Pope Benedict’s Wednesday general audience. For everyone but me, it was their first trip to the Vatican. We waited for almost two hours in the Basilica, before the Pope appeared with the bishops walking around the high altar with Bernini’s beautiful baldacchino. We found the audience unforgettable, but all too short; the crowd had to be divided into two because of the huge number of pilgrims expected. The Pope spent only about 15 minutes with us in St. Peter’s and the other 45 or so giving his main address in the Paul VI audience hall. This time, I managed to catch some of it on videotape.
The number of pilgrims is a wonderful sign of how the renewal of the Church is continuing under Pope Benedict. Everyone was wondering what he would be like during his first New York visit. I can’t really say what I expected, but so far he has exceeded all of my hopes in so many ways. His theme for the visit is “Christ our Hope” and he has really brought hope. Not the “happy clappy” kind as they say. Nothing cheap or platitudinous. He has spoken of some of the most sorrowful and even shameful things in our recent history: 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the sex abuse scandal. He has tried to help us see how these troubles can be healed, and how Christian hope can help us. His theological teachings are wonderfully clear. And his manner really surprised me.
I must admit that when Cardinal Ratzinger was first elected Pope I knew relatively little about him. I knew that he was a prolific writer in theology, but I hadn’t read any of his books. I knew was disliked by most of the “liberal” contingent in the Church, as naturally anyone truly orthodox usually was. But some quotes from him (taken out of context, I’m sure), suggested someone with a stern attitude, and a dim view of the modern world. When he was elected Pope, three years ago, this week, I was at work. As we all paused to listen to the radio, and heard the announcement of his election and his first blessing from the balcony at St. Peter’s, I remember commenting to my boss, “he’s said to be very stern,” and he replied; “Good, he’ll get everyone in line; that’s what the Church needs.”
Reading Benedict’s book Jesus of Nazareth last year, really opened my eyes to the Pope’s scholarship, his persuasive style of argumentation, and his great love for Christ. But listening to him during all his speeches showed me something else: a gentle, thoughtful, compassionate man of God. True, he doesn’t have John Paul II’s dramatic style and gestures, or his easy, joking rapport with the crowd. He’s thinking along many of the same lines as John Paul — who he quotes frequently — but there is a difference. John Paul was forceful; when he scolded the flock, as he did at times, you knew you had been scolded. When Benedict speaks, he voice is very gentle, but still clear; he is content to to let his ideas and words speak for themselves.
And one gesture today has been worth more than anything else: he met quietly, unannounced, with some victims of priest sexual abuse from the Boston archdiocese. He let them speak and he listened. Just listened for the most part, apologized for the harm that had been done. The gratitude shown by the victims and the sense of healing are overwhelming. He is the Pope of Hope, indeed.
Welcome to New York, Pope Benedict. Ad multos annos!
P. S. I’ll take the video camera with me, and if all goes well, I’ll have something to post on YouTube. I’ll link to it here.
