Pope Benedict and Pope Francis

I love the writings of Pope Benedict/Cardinal Ratzinger. He writes about the basic truths of any era, any culture, yet because of being exposed to the horrors of Marxism and National Socialism (Nazi) in his youth, he seems more alert to the dangers of our worship of the culture and current governments than Pope Francis, a sweet, dear man whose words are easily manipulated and quoted by non-believers. Francis is a favorite of internet memes--usually misquoted. It's hard to believe the media would be chasing after the tough and difficult words of Benedict and grabbing for snippets to post on Facebook or Twitter. Ratzinger believed relativism is the new expression of intolerance.

Ratzinger: "Christ is totally different from all the founders of other religions, and he cannot be reduced to a Buddha, a Socrates or a Confucius. He is really the bridge between heaven and earth, the light of truth who has appeared to us.

The gift of knowing Jesus does not mean that there are no important fragments of truth in other religions. In the light of Christ, we can establish a fruitful dialogue with a point of reference in which we can see how all these fragments of truth contribute to greater depth in our faith and to an authentic spiritual community of humanity." (Murcia, Spain, 2002)

Until planning our trip to Spain, I’d never heard of Murcia.  We’ll be in that city (mostly the airport, I think).