Southwestern Leaders React to Election of New Pope Ratzinger
Upon hearing the news about the newly elected pope, Joseph Ratzinger, the leaders at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBT) predicted the conservative legacy of the late Pope John Paul II will continue in Roman Catholicism.
Southwestern Seminary officers, including President Paige Patterson, contended that Ratzinger’s election will likely continue the long conservative Roman Catholic traditions, holding off liberal reforms, at least for the time being.
“Joseph Ratzinger represents a decisive vote for the long traditions of Catholicism. As director of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he has been the theological watchdog of the Vatican for years,” Patterson said in the seminary press release. “Although he will be affable and approachable, he will in all probability continue the conservative trend in the Roman Catholic church.”
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Rudy González, vice president of student services at Southwestern and former director of interfaith evangelism at the North American Mission Board, also gave his share of views on the election of Ratzinger, 78.
According to Gonzalez, the election of the German cardinal was a “move” by the College of Cardinals “to stave off any serious consideration of liturgical and/or doctrinal reform, at least for the immediate future.”
González also made an implication that the age of Ratzinger, who has served as the chief doctrinal officer of the church since 1981, may have played a role in the College of Cardinals’ decision of selecting an “interim pope.”
“It certainly keeps them from placing the direction of the church under the leadership of someone who might have had more liberal views, at least for now,” said Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, James Leo Garrett, distinguished professor of theology emeritus at Southwestern Seminary, shared his concern that Ratzinger’s election may continue the “strict orthodoxy” within the Roman Catholic Church.
“His election makes almost certain that the disciplining of deviant theologians will continue and very likely that this papacy will be more confrontational and less interactive with contemporary culture than John Paul II’s,” Garrett said.
He raised another point of concern that Ratzinger’s supporters among the “Two-Thirds World cardinals,” supportive of his orthodox viewpoints, may find him “less attentive to issues of poverty and injustice.”
He also said “Catholic women have little basis for hoping for a greater role in their church.”
“Those who anticipated a charismatic preacher and warm-hearted pastor as the next pope may have to wait for another conclave,” Garrett said. “Evangelicals may be prone to celebrate Ratzinger’s orthodoxy on the Trinity, Christology, and no salvation outside Christ but will need to remember Ratzinger’s role in ‘Dominus Iesus” in 2000, which said that Protestant and evangelical churches ‘are not Churches in the proper sense,’ a statement reckoned by some as a reversal of Vatican II which implies ‘sects.’”
Nevertheless, noting that “papal history has had its surprises,” Garret encourages everyone to wait with prayers to see how the new pope turns out to be.
