{"id":88,"date":"2009-10-09T13:12:20","date_gmt":"2009-10-09T13:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/the-vaticans-odd-couple-diaz-and-benedict.html"},"modified":"2009-10-09T13:12:20","modified_gmt":"2009-10-09T13:12:20","slug":"the-vaticans-odd-couple-diaz-and-benedict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/the-vaticans-odd-couple-diaz-and-benedict.html","title":{"rendered":"The Vatican’s odd couple: Diaz and Benedict"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"diaz_0.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

How will the new U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican get along with the pontiff?
\nNCR’s John Allen sat down for a chat with Miguel Diaz and came away with some interesting insights<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\nIn some ways, one could think of D\u00edaz and Benedict XVI as a mismatched pair. In terms of his theological outlook, D\u00edaz is a disciple of the German Jesuit Karl Rahner, of whom then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger once said that “we lived on different theological planets.” Though D\u00edaz is uncomfortable with ideological labels (“I don’t ever want to be boxed in,” he said), he’s often seen as representing a broadly progressive streak in Catholicism, while Benedict is an avatar of Catholic tradition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beneath those surface contrasts, however, D\u00edaz said that he and the pope actually have several things in common. Both come from humble origins, both have been significantly shaped by Benedictine spirituality, and both are theologians lifted out of the academy and into leadership roles.”We’ve both been uprooted from the university … for the sake of service,” he said. “I have a passion for theology, but I also know very clearly that I have to sacrifice that piece right now. I know the same thing is true [of Benedict] … I’m sure he would love to be doing more theology, teaching, and so on.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asked if a Rahnerian like D\u00edaz could find a comfort zone in Rome, where the intellectual climate under Benedict XVI tends to be more heavily indebted to Hans Urs von Balthasar, another German-speaking 20th century theological titan. Von Balthasar’s focus was less on the intersection with the world, as in Rahner, and more on the distinctive internal culture of Christianity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“One of the last theses I directed was on von Balthasar,” D\u00edaz replied, saying that he particularly appreciated “the tremendous aesthetic dimension” to his thought. Openness to all perspectives, he said, is at the heart of how he sees his role: “I want to be a bridge-builder.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s much more, and it’s all fascinating. Check it out.<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How will the new U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican get along with the pontiff? NCR’s John Allen sat down for a chat with Miguel Diaz and came away with some interesting insights: In some ways, one could think of D\u00edaz and Benedict XVI as a mismatched pair. In terms of his theological outlook, D\u00edaz is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Vatican's odd couple: Diaz and Benedict - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/the-vaticans-odd-couple-diaz-and-benedict.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vatican's odd couple: Diaz and Benedict - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How will the new U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican get along with the pontiff? 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}