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	More to Pontiff's Message Than Apology, Locals Say By Mark Guydish Times Leader April 17, 2008 http://www.timesleader.com/news/20080417_17pope_local_mg_ART.html Pope Benedict XVI's apology for the priest sex scandal may have grabbed headlines during the first day in the United States, but two local residents who have met the man and studied his writings urged people not to fixate on that message. The pope has arrived with a much broader mission in mind. The apology "was the only thing that was said in English on his landing," University of Scranton theology professor Brian Benestad said. "He spent much more time talking about the United Nations." The pope's opening remarks were mostly in Italian. He answered a question about the scandal in English because the person who posed it asked him to, Benestad said. Pope Benedict today will meet with heads of Catholic colleges and universities, including the four locals. Presidents of King's College, the University of Scranton and Misericordia and Marywood universities will take part in the event in Washington, D.C. He then travels to New York where his plans include a Mass at Yankee Stadium that will be attended by some local residents, a visit to a seminary and a speech at the U.N. It's that last one, Benestad said, that is probably the most important stop. "This is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," a document adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948, Benestad said. Benedict believes "these are values that cut across religion and culture. They would be non-negotiable values that would exceed all institutions and be the basis of all institutions. "You could say he's trying to show there's some kind of natural law. It's a very ambitious goal." Benedict talked about "the U.S. as a secular society" and quoted Alexis De Tocqueville, author of the 19th-century work "Democracy in America." "The pope appreciates De Tocqueville's view of America," Benestad said. "He believes the Europeans have something to learn from the American idea of separation of church and state, but not separation of state and moral values." Which is where the Declaration of Human Rights fits in. "It seems worth bringing up at this time," Benestad said. "If we observed these rights, there would be a lot less killing." Benestad worries that such a lofty message may get lost on the American audience and the media covering Benedict. He predicted the pope's U.N. speech will show Benedict "is really committed to a dialogue with the religions of the world, and especially Islam. He's trying to persuade Muslims to respect religious freedom." If Benedict's message gets lost or diluted, it is no reflection on the man's communication skills. "To me he is one of the most educated Catholics in the world," Benestad said. "If you make an effort I think people can follow him. He's a very gentle person. He will state things subtly. If he says something hard, it will be stated in very gentle terms." It was sentiment echoed by Monsignor Thomas Banick, pastor of St. Mary of Immaculate Conception Church in Wilkes-Barre. Banick said he knew Benedict before he was pope -- when he was Cardinal Ratzinger -- during several years in Rome. "He's quite a scholar," Banick said. "He's able to summarize teachings of the fathers of the church or theologians so easily and yet so understandably." He was also humble, Banick said. "He used to walk through the square at St. Peter's Basilica in a black cassock; you wouldn't know he was a cardinal." Once, when Ratzinger was visiting the United States as cardinal, Banick happened to ride with him on his way back to where he was staying. "We asked what he thought was the most important part of a seminarian's formation for priesthood, and he said 'the word of God, to be able to preach and teach the word of God.'"
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