Reading

I've finished reading John Allen's The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church, a gift from an acquaintance. It reads to me like a mea culpa for his earlier, polemical work Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith
. It's an interesting read, but the "he really needs to read out to the Catholic Theological Society and Sister Chittister" advocacy at the end sounds of wishful thinking.

On the other hand, he did meet privately with Hans ("The election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope comes as an enormous disappointment for all those who hoped for a reformist and pastoral Pope. ") Kung and appointed Archbishop Levada of San Francisco his replacement at the Doctrine of the Faith. But, still, Sister Chittister is on her way out and so, perhaps, is the CTSA. (Note in the latter link how the Magisterium is called "officaldom". Huh!)

At any rate, it's a worthwhile read. John Allen has grown considerably in the last few years and is an excellent source for news and events in the Vatican.

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