Religion & Law

... whether your name is Rick Garnett or John O'Callaghan or whatever--and even if you believe that the Holy Spirit picked Joseph Ratzinger to be pope (cf. here; BTW, Joseph Ratzinger himself [!] suggested, in effect, that for one who is familiar with the history of the papacy, such a claim is not plausible)--surely you can applaud this ... at least, this.  (Or was the speech no more than a predictable political stratagem?)

Here; here too.

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Who among those now living is more familiar with the history of the papacy than Rick's colleague, Notre Dame's Fr. Richard McBrien?  See here.

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Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on the Holy Spirit and the papacy:

Speculating on the identity of the new pope prior to the conclave, the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus wrote in his ?Rome Diary? that, once elected, ?faithful Catholics will have no doubt that he is the choice of the Holy Spirit.? The new pope?s own view is more modest. Asked in 1997 whether the Holy Spirit picks the pope, Ratzinger responded: ?I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator...leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us.... Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined. There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit would obviously not have picked.?

Allen is justified, therefore, in claiming that when Ratzinger was made prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981, he was ?the first truly first-rate theologian to become the Pope?s top doctrinal authority since St. Robert Bellarmine in the sixteenth century.?

Read the rest, here.