LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cardinal Ratzinger's profile examined
LARRY EGAR FROM Cork wonders what a Vaticanologist is (Catholic Herald Letters, 8 April). He, or more rarely she, is someone who professionally studies the Vatican in its history and its operations.
The evidence that I am a Vaticanologist in good standing is contained in a number of books, notably the two biographies ,john XXIII, Pope of the Council and Paul VI, the First Modern Pope. Both will be appearing next month in new paperback editions.
A Vaticanologist is expected to know about Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
1 have followed his work since I first met him in 1965 during the final session of the Council.
The headline about "the most hated man in the Vatican" was supplied by the Catholic Herald, not by me. It was unfortunate, and did not correspond to the contents of the article. I think in terms of understanding not of "hate".
George Weigel claims to write out of "charity".
If his letter really was so motivated, one wonders what would happen if he really let himself go. His "charity" is elastic enough to accuse me falsely 1) of not having read the book under review; 2)of supporting a "compromise between Marxism and Christianity"; and 3) of reducing Pope John Paul II to "a Polish authoritarian."
I would like to think that in this country there can be a serene and sensible discussion of the Vatican and that not everything has to be always and immediately interpreted in terms of black and white, conservative vs liberal, orthodoxy vs dissent, loyalty vs disloyalty.
This is something Weigel has yet to learn. Polemics obscures. True charity is the path to understanding.
Peter Hebblethwaite Oxford
I WAS DISAPPOINTED to see that Peter Hebblethwaite's article about Cardinal Ratzinger did not bring to light the Cardinal's commitment to ease the way for Anglican converts to Catholicism. The Cardinal's farsighted support of the influx is surely his greatest legacy? Davina Mont
London