To spell out the difference between Protestant and Catholic Christians people make jokes, write books, create aphorisms. Most of them are pretty unhelpful. But one of the more thought-provoking is the insight that Protestantism is a religion of the ear, whereas Catholicism is a religion of the eye.
It catches the emphasis that Luther put on hearing the Word as against the emphasis of Catholics on the sacraments and tabernacle, the austerity of Protestant churches as against the rich decoration in Catholic ones, and even the strikingly different media images of the two Sydney Archbishops: Cardinal Pell in full robes and Archbishop Jensen in suit and tie. Food for thought, but further thought soon reveals that the contrast soon breaks down.
Against that background it is intriguing that, when young people talk of World Youth Day, they commonly say that they are going to hear Pope Benedict. At previous World Youth Days they spoke of going to see John Paul II.
Does this mean that in being heard rather than seen Benedict is shaping up as a Protestant Pope? That would really stretch credulity. The change is of everyday significance. It reflects the differing personal style of the two Popes that the young people have caught.
The previous Pope had an instinctive feel for an audience and an occasion. He was a media performer, a Pope for television. Even though what he said was often deep, his speaking was theatre and what he said was declaratory. So people went to see him speak.
Benedict is a scholar and a naturally reserved man. Public performance comes less easily to him. He has a care for words and argument, and many Western readers find him easier to understand than his predecessor. For all his taste for colourful and ancient clothing, he is perhaps a Pope for radio.
In his intellectual style, too, Pope Benedict belongs to the university, to a world where different positions can be heard, argued and evaluated. Even his sermons are conversational in the sense that his imagery allows each reader to appropriate what is said in a personal way. He is a man whom we might go to hear speak.
Underlying the personal differences, however, is a different Papal style. Pope John Paul inherited a Polish history whose decisive encounters with the West were with the medieval church. The Pope was at the centre both of political and