Security for the Pope: In a Violent and Rebellious World

1. Are you afraid of an Assassination attempt?

1 1 Are you afraid of an Assassination attempt? During his conversation with Peter Seewald recorded in the book Light of the World: the Pope, the Church, and the Signs of the Time; Pope Benedict XVI is asked a total of 222 questions which are divided into three parts: each part made up of six chapters. The first part is entitled “Signs of the Time.” The second part has as its title, “the Pontificate,” and the third, bears the title of “Where do we go from here?” Of all the 222 questions an arresting one concerns the Pope’s personal security. The question is formulated in this way; “Are you afraid of an assassination attempt?” from which the Pope offers a straight answer, “No.” We shall look in detail about this response at the last section of this chapter. Relevant Question at a right Time In a world dominated by fear and terror threats the question “are you afraid of an assassination attempt?” comes just at the right time. Peter Seewald an award winning journalist had previously had two interviews with Joseph Ratzinger, when he was Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of Faith. In all the previous interviews the question about the security of the then cardinal never appeared. The Journalist does not raise the question about the security of the cardinal but asking it when the same person is now Bishop of Rome merits an analytical assessment. The Pope is not a Superman The analysis of the question is crucial especially in today’s Western culture. Many people are afraid of anything about death and the dead. The Pope answering “No” to the question if he is afraid of 2 the assassination attempt may seem superficial for some; and as a correct answer deserving a “superman” to the others. An accomplished person such as the Pope is; is regarded by some people as ŤEHrmensch a superman. The answer of the Pope may just consolidate the false idea some people have about him. To most of them, a superman should not have to fear death. In Western culture many people are based on the illusion of invulnerability. A good number of people fail to grasp the human vulnerability; indeed all members of human family are vulnerable. A true story is narrated about Mohammad Ali, former world heavyweight champion. During one of his trips he boarded a plane to a designated destination where he was scheduled for a fight to defend his title. On this trip the captain of the plane abruptly announced, “Approaching severe turbulence. Would passengers and crew fasten seatbelts immediately?” The crew hurried up down the aisles to check that everyone had fixed the belt accordingly. One flight stewardess noticed Mohammad Ali toward the front of the aircraft relaxed and his seatbelt undone. “Excuse me, sir. Would you please fasten your seatbelt?” She asked. “The captain has advised this could be quite rough.” The champion boxer looked at the lady and confidently retorted “Supermen don’t need seatbelt.” The plane attendant shot back directly to him “supermen don’t need plane!” Such a false and seemingly show off pretention of the boxer of harbouring “fear proof” to impending life threat is not true in so far as our human experience is concerned. The Pope is not a superman, like every Jesus’ disciples he is called to holiness, and ‘saints are...not superhuman or angelic but fully human, as alive as God intended them to be’ (Barron 2011:196). The question “are you afraid of an assassination attempt?” is squarely addressed to the person who holds the post as the Vicar of Christ in the world. It is crafted correctly. The choice of the word “assassination” is more appropriate to converse the idea the journalist wants to underline to all his readers. This is truly so due to the fact that: ‘When a killing is labelled an assassination, the act, actors and associated effects are imbued with a level of importance 3 and status that is often absent in other forms of political violence or killing’ (Gayson 2012:26). The question is not put like “Are you Afraid of Death?” It would take an angel who is not mortal not to be afraid of death because angels being immortal do not have the experience of death. As a devoted Christian, Peter Seewald knows that death is a must and natural for every created being. Assassination, however, is...