Cardinals turn on Pope Invisible

[spindrifter]

From The Sunday Times
February 22, 2009

IN the hushed Apostolic Palace off St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI starts the day with a 7am mass in his private chapel, followed by a lone breakfast. No press summary is brought to him. He meets a few visitors in the morning and then, after a lunch served on gold-rimmed plates bearing his seal, retires to his study to write speeches and read theological works throughout the afternoon and evening.

The Pope’s daily routine, as described by Vatican insiders, is being blamed for a series of blunders that have prompted a rare show of dissent from exasperated cardinals. Critics claim he is leading the church and its 1.2 billion faithful like a monarch cut off from the world outside his palace windows, helped only by loyal but inept advisers.

“People feel disoriented,” a senior Vatican official confided last week. “It’s a feeling common to both traditionalists and reformers. Our impression is that there isn’t anyone at the wheel.”

<snip>

Benedict is ruling the church “from the top of the mainmast, he doesn’t have experience of holding the rudder”, said Giancarlo Zizola, a writer on Vatican affairs. “He performs the duties of a pope in the mornings, but in the afternoon and evenings he’s a theologian.”

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5780270.ece

[excess_3]

1. was Benedict-15 like this? n/t

[InvisibleTouch]

2. Sounds like a cushy job, if you can get it. n/t

[CatholicEdHead]

3. He sounds like an extreme introvert

This style does allow lower levels to run wild as long as they just 'talk the talk'. Ratinzger, like JPII wants loyalty over all else. It is a very poor style to run a diocese and higher.

[fascisthunter]

4. he sounds like most ultra-conservatives

[DFLforever]

5. He should start reading the Bible.

The church is badly in need of inspiration.