To Understand Pope Benedict

You have to understand Communion and Liberation (the organization behind the Rimini meeting), as Rocco Palmo lays out in this snippet below:

Veteran readers are well aware of Benedict XVI's longtime affinity for the Communion and Liberation movement.

Cardinal Ratzinger once said that the project of the late Msgr Luigi Giussani "changed [his] life." As the former's gem of a homily before tens of thousands at Don Gius' 2005 funeral in Milan propelled the then-Grand Inquisitor into a new light, kicking off a cascade of events which led to his election as Pope two months later -- not to mention the gentle hand of the founder's writings and approaches in the formulation of this pontificate's playbook -- Giussani was named these pages' 2005 International Churchman of the Year.

While B16 is said to have praised the CL for being the only one of the "new movements" to remain faithful to the ideals of building up the wider ecclesial community as opposed to becoming an entity unto itself (an element of great importance to Giussani), he's not the type who would seek to promote or elevate it to a wider context by force of personality or the prerogatives of office.

At the same time, however, to properly understand Ratzinger, his spirituality and concept of the church, Don Gius' exposition of Christianity as "event," the centrality of the "living encounter with Christ" and its resulting engagement with the culture is central. If there's one thread running through every text, action and utterance of this Pope, both before and since his election, that's it.

Since his ascent to Peter's chair, the honorary cieline has expressed his affection for the movement in his typically quiet, but still palpable, style...