Stop knocking the Pope

I wish people would stop knocking the Pope, now for bringing out the ugly ferula that was used by Paul VI and John Paul II. He has only been in office a few weeks. We should bear in mind that the Catholic church has always had many tasks in the world, many things to say, and many different ways of saying them.

Personally I would like to see the wretched object melted down for scrap. But why don't we all wait a couple of years, or decades, before passing judgement? For those of us who are in favour of a traditionalist approach to liturgy, the initial reaction must be one of disappointment. His style is not my cup of tea. What really counts, however, is what goes on in our own patches where we can do something about it.

Benedict has made his contribution and it is up to us to continue get on with putting those ideas into practice. He unlocked the Tridentine Mass, which we should be thankful for, and now we should be doing our best to encourage the clergy to bring it to the wider Catholic community.

There are other tasks waiting to be done. The social teaching encyclicals are seriously defective and they need to be put in order, in a world increasingly dominated by an economy of rent-seeking, speculation, exploitation and a widening gap between rich and poor. The Catholic church cannot stand by. Benedict made a start with "Caritas in Veritatis", but the ideas there need to be worked out. There is also an need to develop the material set down in the huge volume of material left by John Paul II. Then there is the growing influence of Islam in Europe to be countered.

We should not get too hung up about the weird cross. It can be read as a message of identification with the poor and oppressed. I would not be comfortable with a parish where there was fine liturgy but nothing was done for the beggars at the church door. We have to do both.

Deo gratias.