A WORD OF GREETING
by pope emeritus Benedict XVI
Eminence! Dear brother!
Your 70th birthday is drawing near, and even if I am no longer capable of writing a genuine scholarly contribution to the book that is dedicated in your honor on this occasion, I would like to participate in it with a word of greeting and of gratitude.
22 years have gone by since you gave to me, in March of 1995, your “Katholische Dogmatik für Studium und Praxis der Theologie.” It was for me an encouraging signal that even in the generation of the postconciliar theologians there should be thinkers who have the courage to strive for integrality, which means representing the faith of the Church as unity and totality. Even if detailed research is important, it is no less important that the faith of the Church appear in its inner unity and in its completeness and that therefore there should also become visible the whole simplicity of the faith, all the complex theological reflections notwithstanding. Because the sense that the Church is imposing upon us a package of incomprehensible things, which in the end are of interest only to specialists, is an obstacle of the highest order to the yes to God who speaks to us in Jesus Christ. One becomes a great theologian, in my opinion, not by dealing with refined and intricate details, but because one is able to represent the final unity and simplicity of the faith.
Your “Dogmatik” in a single volume also touched me for an autobiographical reason. Karl Rahner had presented in the first volume of his writings a plan for a renovated structure of dogmatics that he had elaborated with Hans Urs von Balthasar. Naturally this had aroused in all of us a great thirst to see this plan filled out and elaborated. The desire that arose everywhere for a Rahner-Balthasar dogmatics was also connected with an editorial operation. Erich Wewel had convinced Fr. Bernard Häring in the 1950’s to write a moral theology text in a single volume, which after its publication became a great success. After which that capable editor got the idea that something of that nature should also exist in dogmatics, and that a complete work written by the same hand would correspond to a real need. Obviously he approached Karl Rahner and asked him to write this book. But Rahner in the meantime was involved in so many efforts that he did not see how he could get away for such a large undertaking. Strangely, the editor then approached me, when I was at the beginning of my journey and was teaching dogmatic and fundamental theology in Freising. But unfortunately I too, even though I was at the beginning of my path, was engaged in many activities and did not feel capable of writing such a large work in an acceptable timeframe. So I asked if I could bring in a co-author, my friend Fr. Alois Grillmeier. To the extent possible I collaborated on the project and also met with Fr. Grillmeier a number of times for extensive consultations. But Vatican Council II was taking up all my energy at that point and imposed a thorough rethinking of the whole presentation of the traditional doctrine of the Church. When I was appointed archbishop of Munich and Freising, in 1977, it was clear that I could no longer think of such a work. So in 1995 when your book was put into my hands, I suddenly saw, in a work by a theologian of the subsequent generation, what I had wanted but had not been realized.
I was able to meet you in person when the German episcopal conference proposed you as a member of the international theological commission. There you stood out in a particular way for the richness of your expertise and for your wholly interior faithfulness to the faith of the Church. When in 2012 Cardinal Levada resigned for reasons of age from his position as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, you appeared, after all the evaluations, as the bishop most suited to take on this task.
When I accepted this position in 1981, Archbishop Hamer - the secretary of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith at the time - explained to me that the prefect did not necessarily have to be a theologian, but a wise man, who in standing above theological questions would not need to formulate specialized judgments, but rather to understand what had to be done for the Church in a given moment. Theological expertise was to be concentrated in the secretary, the one who directs the “council,” the assembly of expert theologians who together give a correct scholarly judgment. But as in politics, the final decision cannot be made by the experts, but by the wise who have familiarity with the technical but moreover have well in view the whole life of a great community. During the years of my office I sought to meet this standard. To what extent I succeeded will be for others to judge.
In the confused times in which we live, the coexistence between technical knowledge and wisdom on what is decisive in the end seems to me particularly important. I think for example that in the liturgical reform some things would have been different if the last word had not been left to the experts, but there had also been wisdom in judging, which would have recognized the limits of the mere man of studies.
During your years in Rome, you repeatedly dedicated yourself to working not only as a scholar, but as a wise man, as a father in the Church. You defended the clear traditions of the faith, but in the spirit of Pope Francis you also sought to understand how they can be lived today.
Pope Paul VI wanted the highest positions in the curia - those of the prefect and secretary - always to be assigned for only five years, in order to protect the freedom of the pope and the mobility of curial work. In the meantime, your five-year mandate for the congregation for the faith ran out. Therefore you no longer have a specific office, but a priest, and certainly a bishop and a cardinal, is never simply in retirement. This is why you will be able to continue also in the future to serve the faith publicly, on the basis of your interior inspiration, of your priestly mission and your theological charism. We are all content that, with your great inner responsibility and the gift of the Word that has been given to you, you will continue to be present in the struggle of our time for the correct comprehension of the human being and of the Christian being. May the Lord help you in this.
Finally, I have to express again a very personal thanksgiving. As bishop of Regensburg you founded the “Institut Papst Benedikt XVI,” which - led by one of your pupils - carries out a truly exceptional work in keeping my theological work available to the public in its entirety. May the Lord repay you for your effort.
Vatican City, Monastery “Mater Ecclesiae,”
on the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 2017
Yours, Benedict XVI
Eminence! Dear brother!
Your 70th birthday is drawing near, and even if I am no longer capable of writing a genuine scholarly contribution to the book that is dedicated in your honor on this occasion, I would like to participate in it with a word of greeting and of gratitude.
22 years have gone by since you gave to me, in March of 1995, your “Katholische Dogmatik für Studium und Praxis der Theologie.” It was for me an encouraging signal that even in the generation of the postconciliar theologians there should be thinkers who have the courage to strive for integrality, which means representing the faith of the Church as unity and totality. Even if detailed research is important, it is no less important that the faith of the Church appear in its inner unity and in its completeness and that therefore there should also become visible the whole simplicity of the faith, all the complex theological reflections notwithstanding. Because the sense that the Church is imposing upon us a package of incomprehensible things, which in the end are of interest only to specialists, is an obstacle of the highest order to the yes to God who speaks to us in Jesus Christ. One becomes a great theologian, in my opinion, not by dealing with refined and intricate details, but because one is able to represent the final unity and simplicity of the faith.
Your “Dogmatik” in a single volume also touched me for an autobiographical reason. Karl Rahner had presented in the first volume of his writings a plan for a renovated structure of dogmatics that he had elaborated with Hans Urs von Balthasar. Naturally this had aroused in all of us a great thirst to see this plan filled out and elaborated. The desire that arose everywhere for a Rahner-Balthasar dogmatics was also connected with an editorial operation. Erich Wewel had convinced Fr. Bernard Häring in the 1950’s to write a moral theology text in a single volume, which after its publication became a great success. After which that capable editor got the idea that something of that nature should also exist in dogmatics, and that a complete work written by the same hand would correspond to a real need. Obviously he approached Karl Rahner and asked him to write this book. But Rahner in the meantime was involved in so many efforts that he did not see how he could get away for such a large undertaking. Strangely, the editor then approached me, when I was at the beginning of my journey and was teaching dogmatic and fundamental theology in Freising. But unfortunately I too, even though I was at the beginning of my path, was engaged in many activities and did not feel capable of writing such a large work in an acceptable timeframe. So I asked if I could bring in a co-author, my friend Fr. Alois Grillmeier. To the extent possible I collaborated on the project and also met with Fr. Grillmeier a number of times for extensive consultations. But Vatican Council II was taking up all my energy at that point and imposed a thorough rethinking of the whole presentation of the traditional doctrine of the Church. When I was appointed archbishop of Munich and Freising, in 1977, it was clear that I could no longer think of such a work. So in 1995 when your book was put into my hands, I suddenly saw, in a work by a theologian of the subsequent generation, what I had wanted but had not been realized.
I was able to meet you in person when the German episcopal conference proposed you as a member of the international theological commission. There you stood out in a particular way for the richness of your expertise and for your wholly interior faithfulness to the faith of the Church. When in 2012 Cardinal Levada resigned for reasons of age from his position as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, you appeared, after all the evaluations, as the bishop most suited to take on this task.
When I accepted this position in 1981, Archbishop Hamer - the secretary of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith at the time - explained to me that the prefect did not necessarily have to be a theologian, but a wise man, who in standing above theological questions would not need to formulate specialized judgments, but rather to understand what had to be done for the Church in a given moment. Theological expertise was to be concentrated in the secretary, the one who directs the “council,” the assembly of expert theologians who together give a correct scholarly judgment. But as in politics, the final decision cannot be made by the experts, but by the wise who have familiarity with the technical but moreover have well in view the whole life of a great community. During the years of my office I sought to meet this standard. To what extent I succeeded will be for others to judge.
In the confused times in which we live, the coexistence between technical knowledge and wisdom on what is decisive in the end seems to me particularly important. I think for example that in the liturgical reform some things would have been different if the last word had not been left to the experts, but there had also been wisdom in judging, which would have recognized the limits of the mere man of studies.
During your years in Rome, you repeatedly dedicated yourself to working not only as a scholar, but as a wise man, as a father in the Church. You defended the clear traditions of the faith, but in the spirit of Pope Francis you also sought to understand how they can be lived today.
Pope Paul VI wanted the highest positions in the curia - those of the prefect and secretary - always to be assigned for only five years, in order to protect the freedom of the pope and the mobility of curial work. In the meantime, your five-year mandate for the congregation for the faith ran out. Therefore you no longer have a specific office, but a priest, and certainly a bishop and a cardinal, is never simply in retirement. This is why you will be able to continue also in the future to serve the faith publicly, on the basis of your interior inspiration, of your priestly mission and your theological charism. We are all content that, with your great inner responsibility and the gift of the Word that has been given to you, you will continue to be present in the struggle of our time for the correct comprehension of the human being and of the Christian being. May the Lord help you in this.
Finally, I have to express again a very personal thanksgiving. As bishop of Regensburg you founded the “Institut Papst Benedikt XVI,” which - led by one of your pupils - carries out a truly exceptional work in keeping my theological work available to the public in its entirety. May the Lord repay you for your effort.
Vatican City, Monastery “Mater Ecclesiae,”
on the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 2017
Yours, Benedict XVI