Pope's Ivory Tower Past Adds to His Detachment

[Stuart G]

Source: MSNBC, AP

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer

updated 58 minutes ago
VATICAN CITY - Long before entering Vatican life, Pope Benedict XVI won renown as a theologian and a German university professor, penning more than 40 books and winning a devoted following of students who respected his prodigious memory and brilliant mind.

One thing absent from his resume? Significant time as a parish priest.

Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, only worked 15 months tending to a flock in the 59 years since taking his vows, instead closing himself in the ivory tower of academia — a background that may help account for his troubled handling of the sex abuse crisis engulfing the church.

For one, it adds to the impression of an out-of-touch pontiff who simply doesn't grasp the enormity of the fury around the world over mounting evidence of sex abuse by priests, and inaction on the part of the Vatican and Benedict himself.

Benedict's very legacy will be shaped by whether this aging pontiff, who turns 83 on Friday, can embrace a new openness and express remorse in straightforward language free of the stilted defensiveness of many Vatican pronouncements to date.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36392125/ns/world_news-europe/

[onehandle]

1. My wife and I were pretty upset about his selection. It has turned out worse than we imagined.

Someday when the next Pope is selected, I hope they think about the future.

[Peregrine Took]

3. I wish he would retire. If they ever hold a Vatican III conference they should

include a mandatory retirement age for the Pope. I think it must be someone who is in touch with the world and not apart from it.
Did you ever hear that Ratzinger was only voted in on a second ballet? I've heard this.

[stray cat]

2. The liberal elite? or just the out of touch academics?

[Ian David]

4. That was my ex-girlfriend's nickname for MY penis, too. n/t

[Pharlo]

5. Well, thankfully

she didn't call it The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

[Ian David]

6. That would be the dude I went to summer camp with. n/t

[Pharlo]

7. My heavens, interesting life you lead -

Knowing your ex-girlfriend's name for the penis of a dude you went to camp with.

[Ian David]

8. LOL! Not what I meant. :P n/t

[Nikki Stone1]

9. I don't think they can blame this entirely on academics

But he needs to do something fast. I want to see charges filed against some of these offending priests.