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In the 1960s, at the time of the Second Vatican Council, Ratzinger was regarded as relatively liberal. In 1968, together with the theologian Hans Küng from Tübingen, he opposed “coercive measures adopted against erroneous theological standpoints.”
According to his biographers and his own memoirs, the eruption of left-wing student protest and mass workers’ struggles in the late 1960s had a profound impact on Ratzinger, propelling him to the right and bringing to the fore his deepest political instinct: hatred and fear of socialist revolution.
Subsequently, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he imposed coercive measures against a range of critical theologians—including Küng, who was removed from office following pressure from the Vatican.
As “grand inquisitor,” he rigidly enforced reactionary positions that provoked opposition even among many Catholics. Papal decrees denouncing contraception and abortion, confirming the subordination of women, denouncing stem-cell research, opposing an increased role for laymen in the life of the Church, barring marriage for priests and abhorring same-sex relationships—all bear the signature of Ratzinger. He went so far as to officially condemn masturbation.
Just last year, the Congregation published a 37-page “Letter on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World.” Drawing upon the Bible, the letter defined the role of women in terms of virginity followed by marriage, motherhood and support for the male head of family. The letter approvingly cited Genesis 3:16: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
In Germany, Ratzinger incurred opposition not only from churchgoers, but also from the majority of bishops, when he opposed a more liberal attitude toward divorced couples and demanded that the Church withdraw from advising pregnant women. Such consultation has been part of legal abortion procedures since 1995.
In South America, he organized a systematic campaign against “liberation theologians” who called for the Church to play a greater role in protecting the interests of the poor and oppressed. At Ratzinger’s behest, the well known liberation theologian Leonardo Boff was driven out of the priesthood in 1992.
While Ratzinger and John Paul II were largely in agreement over these issues, it appears that the guardian of the faith did not share the views of the pope on developing closer collaboration between the Catholic Church and other confessions. This is evident in the paper “Dominus Jesus” that Ratzinger prepared in 2000 for the Congregation, which was then signed by the pope. It asserted the supreme role of the Catholic Church, and was regarded as an affront by officials of other churches, Christian and non-Christian alike.
The paper stated: “Just as there is one Christ, so there exists a single body of Christ, a single Bride of Christ: a single Catholic and apostolic Church.”
The core of Ratzinger’s world view is the rejection of modernity and the Enlightenment.
The German newspaper Die Zeit summarized his views a year ago as follows: “If one is to believe Ratzinger’s older writings, liberal philosophy going back to the Enlightenment is a dangerous superstition. It has severed the godly link between belief and science and does not tolerate any truth greater then itself. Liberal philosophers confuse subjective desires with the cosmic meaning of the world. They are blind to a truth which precedes their reason—the pre-political truth of religion.”
full: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/pope-a21.shtml
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