Benedict XVI has reinforced Church’s role as bulwark of reason, says Argentinean prelate

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov 9, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Hector Aguer of La Plata said this week that thanks to the “generous intelligence” of Pope Benedict XVI, expressed in his magisterium, the Church presents herself today as the “bulwark of reason in the face of ‘weak thought’ and the unhealthy cultivation of uncertainty and relativism.”

During the inauguration of the 8th Catholic Book Fair in La Plata, the archbishop explained that the “style and language of Benedict XVI” cannot be characterized as “a kind of clerical rhetoric” but rather they manifest “a power intellect, capable of expressing itself with clarity, simplicity and depth.”

“If there is anyone who can be called a herald of the truth it is the Pope.  Each Wednesday, a large crowd gathers in St. Peter’s Square or in the Paul VI Hall to listen to him and to learn.  It seems there is sort of popular instinct to see him as a teacher,” he said.

Archbishop Aguer referred to several books about Pope Benedict, including some biographical works, which he said, “point out the intellectual vigor, the extremely vast culture, the spiritual fineness and the fidelity of this great theologian.”

“Today this man is much more. He is called Benedict XVI: he is the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ par excellence.  As such he is the teacher of the truth that guides us, the one to whom we want to listen, the one from whom we want and hope to learn, the one to whom we show our filial obedience and our love,” the archbishop said.