As host of Catholic Spotlight (not to be confused with C Spotlight), it was my privilege to talk with author Brennan Pursell about his new book Benedict of Bavaria. In researching this book, Brennan actually spent significant time in Bavaria gathering information from sources not available to biographers working only in the US. His biography of Pope Benedict XVI paints a fuller picture of Pope Benedict’s life than you will find in other works.
Chris Cash: Tell us about why you felt the need to write Benedict of Bavaria.
Pursell: If you don’t mind a one-word answer: Love. Love for my family, for the truth, for the Catholic religion, and for one of the most brilliant minds of the last hundred years.
The project was born of prayer. I was so thrilled, so thankful, when the Cardinals chose Ratzinger to lead the Church, but the media depiction was just awful, and so many people seemed really taken in. In prayer I asked, What can I do? And then there was one of these rare moments when an answer broke the silence: Do what you do. And what I do is research, write, think, and teach. So off I went.
A number of the biographies that appeared since his election in 2005 were off the mark or just unfair, and none explained his Bavarian heritage adequately. Here was something that I could do. What’s at stake here is the truth, you know.
Chris Cash: What are the important aspects of Pope Benedict’s youth that shape who he is as Pope?
Pursell: I’ll list them briefly and let the book go into detail: 1) his devout Catholic family – His father and mother had a solid marriage and nurtured a little community of faith and prayer at home with their children. 2) the local, south-eastern Bavarian Catholic culture – Religion is this region is public, festive, colorful, beautiful, and ever-present, even in this day and age. 3) his humble socioeconomic background – Joseph Ratzinger did not grow up a member of the entitled, opulent middle class that dominates the West today. 4) his education – He had a classical education, studying Greek and Latin, during a time in Germany when a base, stupid, racist ideology (i.e. Nazism) infected all parts of the State and much of society.
Chris Cash: Tell us more about the personality of Pope Benedict and why the media has misunderstood him?
Pursell: I found a unanimous chorus of opinion among the people who have known and worked with him for decades: he is a simple, humble man. That’s it. The same we saw and heard in the USA in April 2008. He has a regular, modest existence, and makes almost no personal demands. The cook in his residence, when he was Archbishop of Munich, said, “He ate whatever was put in front of him.”
The mainstream media missed this because it has mainly focused on all the controversies in and around the Church over the past couple of decades. As Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger had to deal with most of them. The media, which are always desperate for heated conflict, readily accepted him as the lightning rod for frustrated Catholics and non-Catholics of various persuasions. But there’s much more to him that his prior job.
Chris Cash: Can you share a little about his humorous side?
Pursell: Do you know he won an award in Bavaria for his humor? That in itself was kind of a joke as well, but still well deserved. He is not a joke-teller, but he readily sees the inherent comedy in everyday situations and throughout history itself. Those who paid attention to his visit to the US this past April saw and heard a bit of it. His humor is wry and self-deprecating. Without it, the burdens of his high office would be even more difficult to bear.
Chris Cash: What is the biggest challenge facing Pope Benedict today, and how is he uniquely qualified to deal with that challenge?
Pursell: His challenge is the same facing all popes, bishops, priests, religious, and devout laity: how does one convey Christ to others, especially given all the rivals and distractions in this world of ours? That’s all he really cares about. That as many hearts as possible turn toward God, toward a life of radical, complete, self-giving love, the love that gives hope, forgives, redeems, and saves.
He is eminently qualified to do this, first through his consecration as the successor to St. Peter, then through his life-long record of superior excellence in writing and teaching theology, ministering to the faithful as a bishop, and maintaining the clarity and purity of Catholic orthodoxy, which stands for right teaching, and not oppression of any kind.
Benedict XVI stands for true continuity with the papacy of John Paul II (aka the Great). Together their legacy will be the solidification of the Church following the Second Vatican Council, the documents of which will serve the faith until modernity turns into something rather different. And I’m not holding my breath for that one.
[You can find more of this interview with Brennan at CatholicSpotlight.com. Brennan’s book is available at The Catholic Company (http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1002592/Benedict-Bavaria/).]
