CARDINAL RATZINGER ON A ROLL By Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI Religious Affairs Editor

PARIS, July 7 (UPI) — Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's specific instructions to U.S. Catholic bishops to refuse Communion to pro-abortion rights politicians is yet another sign that the Vatican's 77-year old "Enforcer" is a man on the roll, according to senior European prelates.

In the last few years Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, seemed exhausted and of ill health. He frequently spoke of his wish to retire and dedicate himself to writing books. Ratzinger, a German, is seen as one of the leading Christian theologians of this era; he enjoys the highest respect even among his Protestant colleagues who view him as an outstanding expert on Martin Luther, the 16th-century reformer.

Lately, however, this dean of the College of Cardinals and closest collaborator of Pope John Paul II has shown extraordinary strength, a German monsignor told United Press International Wednesday. His admonition to U.S. bishops on the abortion issue was just one example of Ratzinger's renewed drive.

Ratzinger wrote it in English specifically for Americans after the U.S. bishops had asked for guidance on this topic during their recent "ad limina" visits to the Holy See; every bishop undertakes such a visit every three to four years.

In Europe, the question of whether Catholic politicians favoring abortion rights should receive Communion is "simply not an issue," according to French, German and other prelates. "There is no inclination here to refuse the sacrament to anybody based on his or her vote in parliament," an influential German theologian said.

There are three principal reasons for this, observers say. One is the independent spirit of the Continent's national churches, especially in the German-speaking countries and in France. The other reason is that, although the struggle between pro-lifers and abortion rights activists is fierce, it has by no means reached the American level of intensity.

In Germany, for example, the rate of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age is only about one-third of the American figure. In Austria it is only about one quarter, in France more than half.

The third reason seems to be that in Europe Ratzinger himself and the rest of the Catholic Church have a different priority — re-Christianization. Here it is intensely engaged in undoing past secular excesses by national socialism, communism and deconstructionist philosophies of the likes of Jacques Derrida who denies reason's ability to find truth.

Ratzinger judges this notion harshly: If reason can no longer trust its own categories, it is defenseless against irrational violence. Against this Ratzinger posits a proper balance between faith and reason under the divine logos (Word), which he defines as "creative reason" and the ground of all reality.

This, then, is reflected in a concept of the state that rationally performs its temporal duties while drawing the line between reason and ideology.

These thoughts Ratzinger expressed last month during the D-Day commemorations in Caen's cathedral in Normandy have prompted commentators to call him "Europe's theoretician."

In a larger sense, though, this highest-ranking cardinal resists the age of extremes of both sides on the Atlantic. In North America, these extremes are manifest in the number of abortions — 44 million aborted fetuses since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Western Europe's extremism shows in the mass exodus of its people from the Church. And in this field, Catholic and Protestant clerics say, efforts to turn things around are meeting with some measure of success.

Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the Jewish-born archbishop of Paris, recently advised an audience to look at the large cities, not the countryside, for signs of spiritual renewal. This corresponds to the finding of the eminent Viennese sociologist of religion, Paul M. Zulehner, that throughout Western Europe urbanites are showing an increasing interest in religion.

It was Lustiger who first suggested to John Paul II to re-evangelize the Continent by focusing on the youth and especially intellectuals. In France in particular, but also in Germany — especially its formerly communist East — highbrow Christian congregations are emerging.

But this follows similar developments in earlier days of church history. For much of Christianity's almost 2,000 years, the intellectual elite served as the locomotive of growth; "regular folks" followed.

Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that Ratzinger, though approaching an age when he will no longer be allowed to vote in the conclave electing the next pope, is experiencing an intellectual surge.

This does not mean that he is without critics in his own church. Even Ratzinger's European admirers, while welcoming his harmony with the pope in defending Catholic orthodoxy, concede that they expect some kind of a backlash against the Roman centralism he promotes.

As one theologian told UPI, "The result of the currently high concentration of power in the Vatican might well be the election of a more laissez-faire pope as John Paul's successor."