The Catholic investiture

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, will be formally installed today in a Ceremony of Investiture at St. Peter’s Basilica. The carefully scripted affair draws from centuries of tradition, a high drama in the religious rites of Christendom.

Highlight of the investiture is the placing of the pallium, a narrow stole of white wool with six embroidered black silk crosses, around the pope’s shoulders symbolizing pastoral authority and global responsibility. The senior cardinal deacon will then recite a blessing that begins with: “Blessed be God, who has chosen you as shepherd of the universal church, entrusting you with this apostolic ministry.” The liturgy ends with the pontiff giving his blessings to the city and the world (Urbi et Orbi), a blessing directed to the object of the church’s service rather than the fealty of its faithful.

Fides in the old Roman tradition, even before the Christian era, meant fidelity to the inherited order. It is trust in traditional ways that had proven helpful, efficient and effective in the past, and thereby, to be carried on in the present and to the future.

St. Benedict, whose name and tradition the current pontiff chose, is best known for his Rule of the Order. The monastic tradition he began earned him beatification and sainthood. His was a reforming movement within the church when members of the clergy were shorn of spiritual discipline, and the system was short of reliable structures. His was a pioneering effort in embodying the ordering dynamic within the ecclesiastical structure of the ecumené, the household of God.

No doubt this ordering and conserving process is the tenor of our time. In a period of great uncertainty, despair and cynicism, the organizational reflex is to pull back and define parameters and boundaries. Pope Benedict XVI has pursued this task even when still a cardinal.

The world awaits how Benedict XVI will accent the Catholic nature of his church. Its Roman heritage is without question. But its catholic roots, which was a reform movement vis-a-vis orthodoxy in Constantinople, need to be shown to a world thirsty for the stability and order of a diverse yet dynamic global village. We trust that the Vatican’s policy of opening its windows and doors to fresh air initiated by John XXIII shall not seek comfort in the temptation of exclusive purity but remain steadfast in the tradition of catholic inclusiveness and comprehensive caritas.

Our prayers go to the Pope, and to the people of God‚ this day.