Kind of forgot (I have mucho family in – David left this morning – 🙁 – and Christopher, Dad and Hilary are here til Sunday. Much excitement) – but John Allen’s Word from Rome is up:

The emerging heart of Benedict’s papacy is about truth — his belief that modern men and women must find their way back to objective truths about human life, imprinted in nature by the Creator. Even if the fallen human mind needs the "purification" of faith to perceive this truth, Benedict believes that it nonetheless responds to something deep in the human heart.

As such, Benedict feels little need for razzle-dazzle. His aim seems to be to subtract himself from the equation as much as possible, so the message may shine through more clearly.

In a personality-driven age, this determination carries obvious risks. The global media has so far taken scant notice of the pope’s activity, so average people often have little idea of what he’s saying and doing. Reaction to the Vatican document on gay priests was illustrative. I was repeatedly asked, by both reporters and average Catholics, "What does it mean that this is Benedict’s first big move?" Among other things, it means there’s a gap between what the pope is pitching and what many have caught, because this was hardly his first notable act.

A similar dynamic was visible over the holidays. The usual gorgeous images were broadcast from midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica and from St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Day, but there was relatively little discussion of the pope’s message, in part because his thoughtful reflections didn’t lend themselves to sound-bites.

Under John Paul, reaction to the pope sometimes broke down along conventional liberal/conservative lines, and sometimes it scrambled those categories, but few were indifferent. Under Benedict XVI, it’s possible that the most important division will be between those who are paying attention and those who aren’t, since the force of the pope’s personality may no longer be sufficient to command the world’s interest.

[snip]

Benedict’s gamble seems to be that, for all its superficiality, the post-modern world will still respond to the force of unadorned argument — at least enough of the world to make a difference. For all those who take the pope for an Augustinian pessimist, it’s actually a rather hopeful stance. Whether he’s right — and whether his particular arguments are winning ones — will shape the drama of his papacy.

A bit more on the encyclical…he suggests reading The Four Loves by Lewis to warm up. A conference on the Marian theology of JPII. The response of the Neocatechumenal Way. He’ll be in the States this week, btw, in Phoenix and DC.