Pope Benedict's Popularity Grows in Sweden

Book by Ambassador Ulla Gudmundson: Pope Benedict: The Church and the World


This article is by Ulf Jonsson, SJ
L'Osservatore Romano, 10 August 2011

The Catholic Church is a tiny minority of less than two percent of the population in the Nordic countries. After the Lutheran reformation in the 16th century adherence to Catholicism was declared criminal, and civic society and cultural life have for centuries been marked by strong anti-Catholic sentiments. Remnants of those attitudes can sometimes be found also today even among otherwise well educated persons.

In Nordic mass media and public life, influences from the Catholic Church – if not completely ignored – are usually being described in pejorative terms as unhelpful or directly detrimental. True enough, during the last decades Catholicism has often been presented somewhat less negatively in the public square compared to earlier times, especially in the aftermath of the successful visit of the late Pope John Paul II to the Nordic countries in 1989. However, reports about pedophilia among Catholic clergy in different parts of the world have lately tended to corroborate old anti-Catholic attitudes.

Given this somewhat rough context for Catholicism in the Nordic countries it is worth noticing the new booklet ”Pope Benedict, the Church and the World” (Påven Benedictus, Kyrkan och världen) published by Ulla Gudmundson, Sweden’s Ambassador to the Holy See, in the series ”Issues of Contemporary World Politics” (Världspolitikens Dagsfrågor) by The Swedish Institute of International Affairs. It provides something that is not often to be found in the Nordic context: an informative, well-balanced and easily read presentation of the current Pontificate and of the role of the Holy See on the international level. It is no surprise that it was commented on by Sweden’s largest daily newspaper ”Dagens Nyheter” as a unique and valuable source of information for understanding the role of Catholicism in today’s world.

Ambassador Gudmundson writes as the person she is: eloquent, reflecting, respectful and straightforward. I vividly remember meeting her for a first interview for the Swedish Jesuit journal ”Signum” in 2008, shortly after she had been appointed Ambassador to the Holy See. Being not a Catholic herself, she made it clear how eager and serious she was to arrive at a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Church. In her typically straightforward manner she immediately also conveyed that she had her own views about things, and that probably not all of them would be the Catholic ones. That mixture of a respectful wish to understand the other and a straightforward articulation of her own points of view also permeates her account of the present Pope and of the Catholic Church in her new publication.

The picture of the person of the Pope that shines forth from the booklet is that of a devout academic intellectual, a Professor of Theology, who rather spends his time in the library than with board meetings and public ceremonies. This side of the Pope readily evokes the esteem of the author. Her appreciation for the intellectual strain of the Catholic tradition she has, by the way, made clear also in other ways. For instance by providing us the honor of her presence at the opening of the one and only Catholic academic institution in the Nordic countries, the Jesuit university college ”Newman Institute” in Uppsala, that was solemnly inaugurated by the General Superior of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás SJ, on September 5th, 2010.

In her booklet ”Pope Benedict, the Church and the World” Ulla Gudmundson begins by presenting the historical roots of the Papacy, as well as those of the former Papal state and, later on, of the Vatican state. She thereby explains the historical developments that have led to the contemporary role of the Holy See as a key player on the arena of international affairs. For her readers in Sweden, where many have quite dizzy notions about the status of the Holy See in international diplomacy, she disentangles the role and impact of the Vatican in organizations such as the UN and the OSSE.

Just like many contemporaries, Ambassador Gudmundson shares the impression that we are today witnessing a come back of influence from religion also in the fields of diplomacy and politics. Despite her respect and esteem for the spiritual values inherent in religious belief, she nevertheless makes it clear that she has mixed feelings with regard to that present day development. The relation between religious belief and the world of politics is a tricky topic. The world does actually listen when the Pope speaks, she writes, but this does not mean that the world always agrees with him. It sometimes even reacts with fury.

On the following pages of ”Pope Benedict, the Church and the World” the author expands on the first five years of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. ”Hermeneutics of continuity”, ”Inter religious dialogue”, ”Climate change”, ”Catholic sexual ethics”, ”The Vatican and the Middle East” and ”The Pedophilia crisis” are among the topics that she reports about and reflects upon. A lot of interesting information about the Pope’s position on different pressing issues of our time is to be found here. The facts are reported correctly and the tone is always respectful, also when the author explains why she looks at things in a different way than the church does.

Special attention is also given to a set of events that have stirred exceptional reactions in the mass media during the Pontificate of Benedict XVI, such as the Pope’s lecture at the University of Regensburg on September 12th, 2006, and the abhorrent interview with SSPX-bishop Richard Williamson broadcasted by Swedish Television in January 2009 on the topic of the Holocaust. It is suggested that the handling with these and some other exceptional events have necessitated the Pope to develop a more modern and accurate way of confronting problems within the Church.

Under the heading ”A Dialectical Pope” Gudmundson suggests that these exceptional events have caused the Pope to express his position more clearly on a number of issues, while trying to solve problems that followed from these moments of crisis within the church and in its relations to different other groups. Moreover, many of these responses ­ – lengthy interviews published as books, public letters formulated in a more personal language, and also including humble excuses for failures and mistakes on the part of the Church – are here being described as indicating a more up to date way of reacting to problems. Some of the responses and decisions that were first propelled under such circumstances of crisis have later actually opened up new possibilities for future positive developments within the church, Ambassador Ulla Gudmundson concludes her well written contribution about Pope Benedict XVI and the role of the Catholic Church on the contemporary global arena.

Ulf Jonsson SJ, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Newman Institute in Uppsala and Editor-in-chief of the Jesuit journal ”Signum”.