In Germany Where Everyone is Pope

The Great Protestant Cooling

Edit: This comment from Matussek is interesting given the Holy Father's statement that "the agnostic who still longs for the truth, and suffer in sin but long for a pure heart are closer to the Kingdom of God than those whose church life is routine and who regard the Church merely as an institution without letting their hearts be touched by Faith."



The Pope wants a new Catholic departure. Even in his German homeland where everyone is known as Pope.

(kreuz.net) "I have been drawn to various Academies and Schools and bookstores in the past week for my book >>The Catholic Adventure<< and was surprised by the strong polarization." Matthias Matussek, German journalist wrote this for the most recent edition of the bitterly anti-Catholic German boulevard magazine 'Spiegel'. [It's like Time] The magazine was founded after the Second World War by a former Nazi Journalist and Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht. Matusseks article appeared under the title: "Rock in the Storm -- Why Catholicism can't be Protestant." Formless Play-Along Catholicism
http://kreuz.net/article.13936.html
He did not else in his book than describe as "painful recollections of a Catholic childhood and life as a reporter, which these were rooted in" -- explained the journalist.

That is for many -- even within the Church -- a scandal.

For Matussek it's the consequence of a "great protestant cooling off" in the last decade:

"In Germany, the formless play-along Catholicism is carried on by pastoral theologians and community representatives, who push the priest into the second rank."

The Lackluster of Religion

Matussek isn't surprised that the German Bundestag President Norbert Lammert recently proposed "that married seniors should be made priests."

In place of a theology degree, an administrator's career is enough.

"The smallest child still understands that one genuflects before the Blessed Sacrament and crosses himself when he enters the Church" -- Matussek said, quoting a resigned Pastor.


Sacral Refreshment

In this dulling within the Pope is attempting careful restoration.

As an example Matussek described the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum".

With that, the Pope wanted to bring the music, the reverence, the gestures and the holiness of the Old Mass back into the mirror:

"We suddenly see how much sense it makes that the priest faces the Blessed Sacrament with the whole community, instead of facing us like a TV moderator."

Mattusek mentioned the "otherwise not religious" reporter Amo Widmann of the 'Berliner Zeitung", who visited an Old Mass in Berlin and wrote after:

"This isn't a place that revolves around the faithful, and the Mass isn't a meeting place, it is a divine service."

For that makes it clear to Matussek: The Mass lends a "sacral refreshment".

Battle of the Trivialization of the Sacraments

Matussek described intiatives to provide Liturgical Supper for everyone: "But that didn't mean real ecumenism, but a trivialization of the Sacraments."

Pope Benedict is protecting Communion against the new indifference: "He is also proceeding with offering Communion on the tongue."

It doesn't surprise Matussek that controversy rages around the Pope.

In the reportage about him there are "condemnations, disingenuousness and even flat out disinformation in every discussion" -- he said quoting Bernard-Henri Lévy.

Because the Pope desires a new departure.

In his coverage he chucked about this mission: "Even in his German homeland, where everyone is known as a Pope."

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