A Timid Man
Russell Shorto is one of The Revealer's favorite religion journalists, and his latest New York Times Magazine story on Pope Benedict XVI two years into his papacy doesn't disappoint. The inside headline is bland: "Keeping the Faith." But the magazine's cover line is more to the point: "The Anti-Secularist." Benedict is that, by his own frequent declaration, but there's more to the story when you start to wonder, as Shorto does, what "secularism" means. On Shorto's personal website, he hints at the story that got away: the possibility that Benedict, "'a timid man,'" might support an end to priestly celibacy if doing so didn't require him to go out on a limb.
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Russell Shorto is one of The Revealer‘s favorite religion journalists, and his latest New York Times Magazine story on Pope Benedict XVI two years into his papacy doesn’t disappoint. The inside headline is bland: “Keeping the Faith.” But the magazine’s cover line is more to the point: “The Anti-Secularist.” Benedict is that, by his own frequent declaration, but there’s more to the story when you start to wonder, as Shorto does, what “secularism” means. On Shorto’s personal website, he hints at the story that got away: the possibility that Benedict, “‘a timid man,'” might support an end to priestly celibacy if doing so didn’t require him to go out on a limb.