Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI: Church Is ‘on the Verge of Capsizing’
The Catholic Church is a boat “on the verge of capsizing,” said Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in a personal message for the funeral Mass of his close friend, Cardinal Joachim Meisner on Saturday.
Given his inability to travel, the usually silent retired Pope delivered the message in writing, and had it read aloud in the Cologne Cathedral by his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who also serves as Prefect of the Papal Household for Pope Francis.
In the text, Benedict said that Cardinal Meisner “found it difficult to leave his post, especially at a time in which the Church stands in particularly pressing need of convincing shepherds who can resist the dictatorship of the spirit of the age and who live and think the faith with determination.”
What moved me all the more, Benedict said, was that, “in this last period of his life, he learned to let go and to live out of a deep conviction that the Lord does not abandon His Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.”
Notably, Cardinal Meisner was one of the four cardinals who presented a series of questions, or “dubia,” to Pope Francis last September, asking him to clarify five serious doctrinal doubts proceeding from his 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) concerning Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried, the indissolubility of marriage, and the proper role of conscience.
The other three prelates who submitted the questions to the Pope were Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta; Carlo Caffarra, archbishop emeritus of Bologna; and Walter Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.
When Pope Francis failed to respond to the dubia, the four cardinals published their questions publicly last November.
“The Holy Father has decided not to respond,” they wrote. “We have interpreted his sovereign decision as an invitation to continue the reflection and the discussion, calmly and with respect.”
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI turned 90 years old on Easter Sunday, after which he gave a rare birthday speech inside the Vatican expressing his thanksgiving to God for the gift of life.
“My heart is filled with gratitude for the 90 years that the good God has given me,” said Benedict, who retired as pope on Feb. 28, 2013, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.
“There have also been trials and difficult times, but through it all He has always led me and pulled me through, so that I could continue on my path,” he said.
(It has long been a sin and a scandal that the true Pope was forced out by the forces of liberalism within the Church. They will not be satisfied until they have destroyed us. Until we become the Episcopalians as per the article I posted last week. Or we will have a schism as has happened before in the Holy Mother Church.
I personally think it is the work of Satan on earth. I never thought it would come to this. It is something out of the Middle Ages.
Or perhaps there is another explanation.
It is the end of times.)
7 comments:
If there is ONE Cardinal with integrity the Church can rebuild from there. Turns out to be FOUR Cardinals with integrity. All I can say is there's going to be a knock-down drag-out fight over who will be elected next Pope after the present thug kicks the bucket.....unless the integrity Cardinals are like Republicans. In which case all is lost.
Wasn't there some kind of prophecy that Frank would be the last Pope?
The Church will survive, but we haven't had a good schism in about 1000 years, so maybe we're due.
Let the Vatican II and Revolution Theology types go their way and we'll see who survives.
I'm not Catholic, so I won't say much. Regardless of denomination, the problem of molding our faith to fit our society is especially acute in these times. As Western civilization continues to crumble, Christianity should be a foundation that people can cling to. Instead, it's one of the institutions being battered the most...and unfortunately, many are kowtowing to the forces of fickle human whimsy. And those who are leading the rush away from the orthodox teachings of the past 2,000 years think they are the cutting edge of morality and godliness. Fools. Cheer Up, Church, you're worse off than you think.
The Church will survive. The Church will endure.
We have sincere and holy men like Father Martin Fox and innumerable parish priests who work everyday to help the faithful find the way to live with God.
The problem is as it has always been. Leadership. Or the lack of same.
President Trump framed it perfectly in his speech in Poland. Does the West have the will to survive. To realize that Christianity and Western Society is the only hope. All societies and all belief systems are not equal. Anyone who preaches that is doing the devils work.
I am with Bill the Butcher on this issue.
Pope Benedict had a lifetime, unto death, position. He gave up that.
Too bad for his regrets. His giving up of that position as well as whatever regrets thereafter are entirely on him. Too late for going back, and it's reprehensible that he's speaking out later. Both his giving up of that position and his regrets about having done so ought to be between him and his Maker. What, he's looking for redemption and second chances from humans (whether among the faithful or others)? Sorta shameful, can't you imagine how so?
Disappointing--twice over, now, Pope Benedict.
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