As a German Pope should, Pope Benedict XVI seems to understand the nuances of schadenfreude, which he delivered to progressive American Catholics in knockwurst-sized chunks of good, clean ecclesiastical fun this week.
How else to explain the sheer level of personal delight that Benedict provided at the expense of the right-wing, commie-baiting Latin Mass crowd epitomized by the likes of Pat Buchanan, and defensive anti-socialist middle class culture warriors like William Donohue. Oh, it had to hurt (so good).
First came the proposed "new world order" contained in the Pope's encyclical Caritas in Veritate - or "charity in truth." The reviews were unanimous:
The Times: "Benedict sounds like an old-school European socialist, lamenting the decline of the social welfare state and praising the “importance” of labor unions to protect workers."
USA Today: "What politician would casually refer to 'redistribution of wealth' or talk of international governing bodies to regulate the economy?"
Time: "Benedict believes that capitalism as such is now effectively "obsolete" and must be replaced by a new form of market economy whose driving force is not the maximization of profits."
How the right wing hated it! The Wall Street Journal stooped to argue that because Benedict didn't go so far as to call for an end to capitalism, it actually meant - in special Catholic smoke signals that can only be divined by conservative RC kimosabe - that the Church had "come to terms with its existence." Catholic conservative George Weigel was far less elliptical in his National Review rip job; the encyclical, he sniffed, "resembles a duck-billed platypus." The American right wing is up in arms over the Pope's call for a “world political authority” to rein in the worst aspects of global trade and protect the poor and weak. Over at the conservative Catholic-infused Corner, for instance, the normally pious K-Lo damns the Pope with faint defense: "The encyclical is not the gift to the Left the media would have you believe."
Then came President Obama's visit with Pope Benedict today in Rome, after which both parties emphasized "common ground." And while the Vatican made it clear that the President received the traditional lecture on abortion, the Holy See also let slip a discussion on immigration in the U.S. - which to American conservatives would appear to consist of left (Obama) talking to far, radical left (Benedict) on that particular issue.
Quoth U.S. News: "The encyclical ramped up the level of White House enthusiasm for this meeting because you can't read it without sensing that these two men are seeing economic questions the same way," says a Catholic adviser to the White House who spoke on background.
And lo and behold, the Pope had some reading for the President: Caritas in Veritate. And a nifty souvenir for the American Catholic left.
from Amazon.
