It is not for me, a non-Catholic, to say whether the late Pope, Benedict XVI, served his Church well. But as a British (Anglican) Christian, I feel entitled to comment on any high-profile theologian, even him. For he had considerable influence beyond his Church, including emboldening neoconservative Anglicans in a stronger critique of liberal tradition.
In his reflections on how religion relates to politics he often claimed to draw on the best of modern thought, to offer a synthesis of faith and reason. A year into the job he gave a famous speech in Regensburg, in which he dared to compare the political visions of Islam and Christianity.
He quoted a medieval Byzantine emperor addressing a Muslim: ‘Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.’ Though Benedict subsequently distanced himself from this statement, he endorsed the emperor’s argument that Christianity is committed to winning converts by peaceful means, using a form of rationality.
Because Benedict’s conservatism was seldom challenged by other Christians, he managed to make Catholicism seem the natural ally of toleration
He was of course criticised for offending Muslims.
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