Benedict XVI: Peacemaker

Drew Christiansen, S.J. Saturday, 1 December 2007

A year after Pope Benedict XVI quoted a Byzantine Emperor on the evils of Islam, one hears much less talk of the Vatican's alleged hard new line on Islam. The shift of attention is a tribute to the pope's unexpected success in the unfamiliar roles of diplomat and peacemaker.

After the late Pope John Paul II presided over the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and set in motion the change of governments from Haiti to East Timor, few anticipated that Benedict, a scholar and church administrator, would similarly influence world affairs. There were indications, moreover, that Benedict would carry into the papacy the suspicions of officials at the Palazzo del Sant' Uffizio, the home of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, toward the Terza Loggia, the offices of the Secretariat of State, the bastion of the diplomatic corps. But two years into his pontificate it appears that, despite a brief period of turmoil, Pope Benedict has quickly mastered his role as a diplomat and religious peacemaker.

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