Ever since it appeared earlier this month, I’ve been wondering how to reply to Derb’s article about John Paul II, “The Rearguard Pope.” Riffling through God and the World, a book-length interview with the man who today became Benedict XVI, I found that Cardinal Ratzinger had already replied to the arguments Derb so compellingly—and distressingly—laid out. The Church, then Cardinal Ratzinger said, will

become small, and will to a great extent have to start over again. But after a time of testing, an internalized and simplified Church will radiate great power and influence; for the population of an entirely planned and controlled world are going to be inexpressibly lonely…and they will then discover the little community of believers as something quite new. As a hope that is there for them, as they answer they have secretly always been asking for.