Pope's key trait: a return to basics

The pontiff draws on some of the deepest Catholic traditions in his messages.
WASHINGTON POST
ROME -- In early January, Pope Benedict XVI presided over a baptism for 10 infants, an annual affair carried out by his predecessor, John Paul II. But instead of prepared remarks, Benedict delivered a short impromptu sermon.
He suddenly asked the parents, "Just what happens in baptism? What do we hope for from baptism?" Then he went on to tell them: "We hope for eternal life for our children. This is the purpose of baptism."
In the simple, yet startling diversion from form, the pope displayed what close Vatican observers say is a key trait of his less than year-old papacy: a return to basics. In words, style and pace, the white-haired Benedict, 78, is much more like popes of the medium and distant past than his predecessor, the avid voyager and flamboyant John Paul, who assumed the post at age 58.
In his messages, Benedict draws on some of the deepest and oldest Catholic traditions, a mark, observers say, of his roots as a theologian. He travels less than John Paul and prefers to lead traditional Catholic rites rather than media events. He has taken steps to rein in Catholic groups he thinks have gone beyond their ministering mandate.
Getting to essentials
"This pope wants to get to the essentials. He wants to be listened to," said Alberto Melloni, a church historian. "It's clarity he's after, not stardom."
On Wednesday, Benedict published his first encyclical, a papal letter to the faithful. Traditionally, first encyclicals lay out the direction of a new pontificate. This one, titled "God is Love," deals with a theme that is arguably Christianity's most venerable message. "I wish ... to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others," Benedict writes.
It explores the relation between spiritual love, referred to by the ancient Greek term agape, and carnal love, or eros. "An intoxicated and undisciplined eros, then, is not an ascent in 'ecstasy' toward the Divine, but a fall, a degradation of man," the document states. "Evidently, eros needs to be disciplined and purified if it is to provide not just fleeting pleasure, but a certain foretaste of the pinnacle of our existence, of that beatitude for which our whole being yearns."
Elsewhere, the encyclical calls on Catholics to renew their commitment to charitable giving, as an expression of the church's love. "Despite the great advances made in science and technology, each day we see how much suffering there is in the world on account of different kinds of poverty, both spiritual and material," it says. "Our times call for a new readiness to assist our neighbors in need."
No new ground
The encyclical did not break new ground, but that is very much Benedict's style. For 24 years before becoming pope, he was the Vatican's chief enforcer of Catholic orthodoxy as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"He is emphasizing the essence of Christianity, which is love," said Enzo Bianchi, founder of the Ecumenical Monastery of Bose, an inter-religious center in Italy. "I think some people who hoped that this would be a pope with a great program will be disappointed. He has already shown that he is returning to the essential message because most of his speeches have been homilies, reflections on the Bible."
Observers noted one fresh pronouncement, made when the pope met with Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni. In decrying anti-Semitism, Benedict referred to Jews as the "people of Israel." According to Melloni, the turn of phrase was an affirmation of God's covenant with Jews as a chosen people, a counter to long-held beliefs in the church that Christians, and in particular Catholics, had replaced Jews as the people of God.
The pope has been drawing large crowds. It is difficult to get a seat at papal masses; reservations must be made two weeks in advance. "My impression is that when people came for John Paul, they came to see him. When they come to Benedict, they come to listen," said Sandro Magister, a Vatican writer for L'espresso magazine.
Gentler papacy
"John Paul set a cracking pace -- it was dizzying. He did so many new things so often, it was difficult trying to keep up with him. You name it, he innovated, right up to the very end," said the Rev. Gerald O'Collins, former dean of theology of Rome's Pontifical Gregorian university. "This papacy so far seems to be a bit gentler, quieter."
If there is a motif that has run through the pope's messages so far, it is one he struck on the eve of his election last April -- an unrelenting critique of what he calls "moral relativism," the notion that there are no absolute truths but only a food court of competing and equally valid ethical stands. On Jan. 9, at an annual audience with diplomats accredited to the Vatican city-state, he pressed home this idea.
"Commitment to truth is the soul of justice," he said. "Those who are committed to truth cannot fail to reject the law of might, which is based on a lie and has so frequently marked human history, nationally and internationally, with tragedy."