RE: Why Papal Visits?

Thanks for your inaugural blog post, Arf!

I can think of a few reasons why this particular visit is important and valuable:

1) I don't believe there's been a papal visit to Ground Zero. That's an important statement to make, to Americans, to Catholics and Christians generally, and to the Islamic world.

2) He's a new pope still, and we're important enough of a nation that he should come here for us to be more acquainted with him.

3) He's already made it clear that he's not going to be the traveling pope like JPII was. This might be all we get.

4) More so than his predecessor, Benedict XVI's election to St. Peter's throne marks a consolidation of magisterial authority around a minimalist, or "strict constructionist" view of Vatican II. Sadly, America has been a source of the most wildly liberal and expansionist interpretations of Vatican II, so I'd like to think of this tour as a much needed triumph for conservative, orthodox, and traditionalist Catholics. The liberals in the American Church - particularly those who took Vatican II as a license to construe the apostolic faith in whatever way they wish - need to know and feel that they've been defeated.
posted at 9:53 PM by Jiminy
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