Pope John Paul II opened new communication with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians outside the Church. Though many found his doctrines constrictive, his charisma was strong, even in his suffering, and people found him positive. But Cardinal Ratzinger played bad cop to John Paul's good cop. Vatican insiders are said to have joked that he was "more Catholic than the Pope." For 24 years, he labored to cleanse the church of error as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, founded in 1542 as the Inquisition.
In Dominus Jesus, he said, "If it is true that the followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation." In his book God and the World, Ratzinger said, "We are in fact waiting for the moment when Israel, too, will say Yes to Christ." He opposed the inclusion of Turkey in the European Union on the basis that Europe is "Christian" and Turkey "has an Islamic foundation." For the March 25 Via Crucis service at Rome's Colosseum, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a liturgy asking Catholics to consider "how much filth there is in the Church." Like Hercules facing his assignment of mucking out the vast Augean stables, the Pope may see in front of him an endless task of removing filth.
Hercules, rather than hopelessly picking and shoveling at foulness, opened up the walls and let the Alpheus and Peneus rivers flow together through the stables, washing the manure down to fertilize the valley below. Like all myths that endure, Hercules' Labor is suggestive. It suggests that a good cry can be better than a year of psychoanalysis. It suggests that we are saved through grace rather than by works. For Benedict XVI, it might suggest that, instead of digging up error, he let the flow of hopeful communication channeled by John Paul II continue to break open walls of ignorance, wash away turgid doctrine, and nurture the growth of the holy spirit.
The solidarity of spirit John Paul shared with people of disparate doctrinal confessions was shown by the storybook-like, historically unprecedented gathering at John Paul's funeral of representatives from 141 nations. It was like something from Marco Polo's imagination. Imams, rabbis, patriarchs and prelates of Christian sects, tribal leaders, and heads of state from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Communist countries greeted each other in peace and bowed their heads in prayer that went beyond language. May their prayers can be answered with the grace that encompasses and transcends doctrinal correctness.Tit.3
[5] Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost
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