美国国家公共电台 NPR--Rev. Tom Reese reflects on Pope Benedict's legacy as mourners gather in Rome

Rev¹. Tom Reese reflects on Pope Benedict's legacy² as mourners gather in Rome

Transcript³

NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with Rev. Tom Reese, a senior analyst⁴ with the Religion News Service, about the legacy of the late Pope Benedict XIV.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

And Catholic Jesuit priest Thomas Reese is with us this morning to add to this. He's a senior analyst with Religion News Service and the author of "Inside The Vatican: The Politics And Organization Of The Catholic Church." Good morning.

THOMAS REESE: Good morning.

SCHMITZ: Father Reese, we just heard from NPR's Sylvia Poggioli in Rome, who described Pope Benedict's legacy. How would you describe his legacy?

REESE: Well, I agree with much of what Sylvia said. He certainly will go down in history as the first pope to resign in 600 years, and it makes it easier for future popes to resign. In addition, you know, he was the first person in the Vatican to take the sex abuse crisis seriously and to begin to do something about it, and threw hundreds of priests, if not thousands of priests, out of the priesthood, these bad priests that needed to be gotten rid of.

But the third thing I would mention is that, you know, we all look upon Pope Benedict as a conservative pope. And that's true when it dealt with the internal church of the life - internal life of the church, church policies, church doctrine⁵. But when it came to public issues, he was really extremely liberal, probably to the left of most American politicians. He would have had no problem with universal health care. He opposed both Iraqi wars. He was very strong at defending the poor and migrants. And also, he was the first pope to really talk about the environment. He had solar panels installed on the roof of the Vatican. So on, you know, internal life of the church, he was very conservative. But on public policy issues, he was quite liberal.

SCHMITZ: That's really interesting what you're saying about how Pope Benedict was, in fact, more liberal than a lot of people give him credit for. Do you think that this is something that will be maybe ignored when they talk about him in the future?

REESE: Oh, yeah. I think that most people will focus on the controversial aspects of his papacy and especially his views on sexual ethics⁶, on gender⁷. These are the kinds of things that - abortion⁸ - these are the kinds of things that most people focus on when they're talking about Pope Benedict, not the fact that - everybody's forgotten that he was a strong opponent of the Iraq war.

SCHMITZ: Now, you mentioned the sex abuse scandal within the church which unfolded while Benedict was pope. Now, here in Germany, where I live, just a year ago, it was revealed that he was caught up in this scandal as well during his years as an archbishop when he mishandled four cases in Germany. This was one of the worst scandals in the church's history with thousands of victims. How did he handle it while he was pope?

REESE: Well, nobody in the church handled the sex abuse crisis well. Certainly when he was archbishop of Munich, he was - he did not do it very well. My guess is that he delegated the issue to his subordinates and didn't really pay much attention to it. But the good thing about Benedict was he grew in his understanding of the sex abuse crisis. And when he was in the Vatican, he was the first official to really take it seriously, much more seriously than Pope John Paul II did. And as head of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, he was the guy who had to read the files. And he just - you know, he read the files, and he said, this guy's got to go, and threw hundreds of priests out of the priesthood and realized that there was just no place in the Catholic Church for priests who had abused children.

SCHMITZ: Very quickly, Father Reese, what sticks with you about the time when you met the cardinal⁹ who would become Pope Benedict?

REESE: Well, when I met the cardinal, he was very kind to me. I was writing my book on "Inside The Vatican: The Politics And Organization Of The Catholic Church." And he took time out of his busy schedule to, you know, meet with a young scholar. I was young at the time. And he gave me a wonderful interview.

SCHMITZ: That's Father Thomas Reese. He's a senior analyst with Religion News Service. Thanks very much.

REESE: Good to be with you.

1 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

2 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

6 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

8 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

9 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。