Regarding: "Under his [Ratzinger] leadership, the congregation took a decidedly proactive stance in defining church teaching and in criticizing or warning theologians."
-  In retrospect Ratzinger / Benedict xvi appears to have been easily manipulated. So one has to ask, who was behind some / all of he decisions of the CDF in those days. Granted, Ratzinger / Benedict is a brilliant theologian, and he worked closely with JPII, but often it appears that there was a tug boat bumping his QEII to orient his viewpoint and thoughts.
- The ground for this possibility is that many of the decisions of the CDF and of Benedict's papacy are now found to have been unhelpful, or misguided, or even flat out wrong.
- In the end the perduring mark on history from this period is that Ratzinger / Benedict for some reason thought / acted as if the church would be purer, easier to manage, and the people more secure in their faith if only they could control the theologians, and other catholic writers.