Benedict’s Global Agenda
By Samuel Gregg, D.Phil.
Christian Post Contributor
Thu, Apr. 19 2007

This week marks the second anniversary of Benedict XVI’s papacy. Two years is but a blink of an eye in the history of this 2000 year-old institution. But it is enough to identify the particular lines being pursued by Catholicism’s theologian-pope.

In one sense, the papacy’s role is eternal, whoever occupies Peter’s chair. It is to assist the Catholic Church in spreading the Christian message, to be the focus of unity for Catholics (particularly bishops) worldwide, and to explain and defend Catholicism’s essential teachings.
For most people, that would seem more than enough to do. But each pope also brings specific issues to the position.

John Paul II, for example, became pope in 1978 with very clear ideas about the Church’s relationship with the Communist world. To the entire Eastern Bloc, he began applying the same combination of prudence and moral toughness he had previously employed against Poland’s Communists.

Given his age, Benedict knows he has limited time to pursue his particular concerns. The irony is that each amounts to a grand project in itself.

Unquestionably Europe – especially Western Europe – ranks high in Benedict’s concerns. Even before becoming pope, Joseph Ratzinger had been writing about European cultural trends for decades. the rest