How so? Can you give us an example?
How so? Can you give us an example?
I can't find anything online from Benedict about "European civilization reach[ing] its height in the 14th century."
He quoted "14th-century Byzantine emperor who believed Islam is inherently violent," and some commenter on the Huffington Post accused him of wanting "to drag the church, kicking and screaming, back into the 14th century."
There was a schism in the 14th century and the last pope to resign did so then, but I don't see that Pope Benedict actually ever said that the 14th century was the high point of Western civilization.
Benedict may have believed that something was in decline in recent centuries, but pinpointing the highpoint way back then sounds a lot like journalistic sloppiness or malice.