Benedict on Newman

"His initial attraction to Newman may have been to Newsman's theological writing, but his strongest attachment to him is surely to the man of faith, a man who could say of himself:

'I understood... that the exterior world, physical and historical, was but the manifestation to our senses of realities greater than itself. Nature was a parable, Scripture was an allegory, pagan literature, philosophy and mythology, properly understood, were but a preparation for the Gospel. The Greek poets and sages were, in a sense, prophets.'

" Benedict wants to be in England not because theologians are of crucial importance, but because saints are absolutely essential to the growth, purification and existence of the Church."