What the Pope Hopes to Accomplish, from his national column, Amazing Grace

By David Yount

   The first visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States this month will not be a purely social occasion. As the octogenarian leader of a 2,000-year-old church that commands the allegiance of 1.1 billion people world-wide, he can be expected to take a  hopeful view of history, and the longest view of all -- eternity.

   Unlike purely political leaders the pope does not expect immediate change. Then again, unlike politicians, he has no need to court the electorate and sample public opinion before acting.

   At the United Nations he will do more than appeal for world peace. He will press the leaders of all nations to grant religious freedom to their citizens.

   In meetings with American Jewish leaders, he will celebrate the Passover with them, affirming the Old Testament heritage of the Christian faith.

   Honoring his own national heritage, Benedict will meet in New York with Americans of German ancestry, and join in a prayer service with leaders of other Christian denominations.

   When he confers with American Catholic educators, he can be expected to insist that every Catholic school and college,

welcome students without prejudice to their religious faith, but also clearly incorporate Catholic values in their education.

   In his meetings with our nation's Catholic bishops, the pope can be expected to seek assurances that the scandals of abusive priests are at an end, and that seminary education in the U.S. will ensure American Catholics of a moral and celibate clergy.

   As a cardinal in the Vatican before his election as pope, Benedict XVI was the man charged with defending Catholic faith,

teachings, and practices. He is, in short, a traditionalist who brooks no compromise with secularism. Do not expect him to allow priests to marry or permit women to be ordained. Nor will he soften his church's condemnation of abortion and opposition to artificial contraception.

   Unlike his Polish predecessor, John Paul II, this German pope does not preach in memorable sound bytes but in structured paragraphs. Catholic commentators caution that his words may require not only attention but interpretation. Benedict speaks the language of faith, which can strike our ears as either quaint or steeped in scholarship. This pope is, after all, a Catholic theologian.

   We can expect a great surge of emotion during the pope's public events in Washington and New York. It will stem less from his eloquence than from the hearts of his followers.

   Today in America, one in every four citizens is Catholic, and most Americans think kindly of this pope. In turn, he is

impressed by the overwhelming religious faith of the American people -- Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims alike.

    It's true that American Catholics are inclined to think for themselves. By and large, they have made peace with contraception, tolerate abortion, and accept divorce and remarriage. But they are not secularists. This pope will applaud them for their faith, hope and constancy.

Permission to reprint from Scripps Howard News Service.                     

David Yount is the author of several Rowman & Littlefield titles, including How The Quakers Invented America and is also the author of Growing in Faith: A Guide for the Reluctant Christian (Seabury), now in its second edition. He answers readers at P.O. Box 2758, Woodbridge, VA 22195 and dyount@erols.com.