Boney has collected a few bits of evidence that our new supreme pontiff is in fact "old school."
1) Today he plans to visit the tomb of St. Paul the Apostle, a older tradition which also was not observed by John Paul II.
2) He said the liturgical parts of his inaugural mass in Latin.
3) In his first significant address as pope (a speech in Latin to the cardinals last Wednesday), he used the 'Royal We' rather than 'I', which John Paul II used.
Boney loves it. Otherwise why did he take 4 years of Latin?
10 comments:
Pope Benedict XVI's pic in your blog is still "Cardinal Ratzi." Can you change it to "Papa Ratzi" now?
Just a suggestion...
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any "royal We, instead of I" in anything the new Pope has said so far, including the address to the Cardinals. Would you please quote an example of this alledged use of the majestatic plural by Benedict XVI? Thank you very much.
Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, Boney.
PBXVI's homily at his innaugural mass was delivered in Italian, not Latin. Furthermore, I have the official text translation into English from the Vatican website. Nowhere does PBXVI use the "royal we".
Dear friends: John Paul II NEVER used the word "I". He would always refer to himself in the third singular person, i. e. "The Pope". He'd say, for example, "The Pope is happy to greet you here today", referring to himself. Nitty-witty, I know :p
As a matter of fact, Benedict XVI used the "I" several times during his homily last Sunday. Actually, he is the first Pope in at least centuries in not using the "we" or first person plural form of address. Funny how perceptions can end up being contrary to reality.
boney, you have a cute name.. ;)
I'M STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT "IS" IS & NOW YOU THROW "I" & "WE" AT ME. GIVE ME A BREAK!
First of all, It is the Papal "we" not the royal we. IT was used for centuries to symbolize the Pope's unity with Jesus. The last pope to use hte papal "we" with regularity was Paul VI. There are far bigger issues the Church and the Pope have to conten with than this simple matter of linguistics.
I like what Richsafetyman had to say, there are so many other important things... PBXVI will make a great and holy pope!
The papal "we" was indeed dropped by Pope John Paul II.
There is no indication so far that Pope Benedict XVI is going to start using it again. He has consistently used "I" since his election, as far as I can discern.
While it is true that there are much more pressing concerns than what pronoun the Pope uses, I think that it was certainly a way in which Pope John Paul II made it clear that he was breaking with the past.
I do not think it's a good idea for the Pope to give indications that the Church today is a different Church than the Church of our Fathers, even in small ways such as what we are discussing here. Vatican II caused a lot of upheavel in the Church; mostly because since the Council there has been a fostering of the concept of the "new" Church and the "old" Church, as though the Church is not continuous and eternal. Let's not forget that the Church is the Body of Christ, and there is no such thing as an "old" Christ and a "new" Christ.
Peace.
Post a Comment