In New [2020] Book, Benedict XVI Confirms His Resignation
May 9, 2020 13:19:34 GMT
Post by Admin on May 9, 2020 13:19:34 GMT
In his new biography, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI apparently continues to channel the modernism of Vatican II and sadly, continues as he has these last seven years, to subtly promote his [modern] idea of a somehow divisible office of the papacy. Intentional or otherwise, it is an attack against the edifice of the papacy as it was instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, a long-time goal of the Freemasons.
“To fight against the Papacy is a social necessity and constitutes the constant duty of Freemasonry.” (Masonic International Congress held in Brussels 1904, page 132 of the report.)
It remains to be seen if Pope Francis will follow this new trend [he has expressed this is a definite possibility] and thereby 'cement' this new conception of a divided papacy, with potentially multiple Pope Emeriti co-existing at the same time?
Don't forget it was the Conciliar Pope Paul VI who encouraged bishops to resign at the age of 75. Benedict's resignation was a continuance of that modernist mentality. In his new biography, Benedict clings to this re-imagined papacy of his and claims for himself a spiritual "mandate" that, like all the other novelties of his resignation, never existed before Vatican II.
The following is an opinion piece but it does highlight Benedict's modernism and the confusion he persists in creating. It is important to note that Benedict once again, as he has for the last seven years, insists that he really and truly resigned, of his own free will.
In New Book, Benedict XVI Confirms His Resignation, But Clings to Confusing Theology
OnePeterFive | May 7, 2020
In the writings of the Second Vatican Council, and those of the post-conciliar popes, it’s hard not to detect a certain drift towards an increasing obscurity of language. When one goes back and reads older enyclicals, or papal bulls from prior councils, what is striking by contrast is the clarity and precision of the texts. Even when the language in use has a certain archaic aspect, the concepts are expressed in ways that are immediately understandable. It would seem that modern (and Modernist) theology has a circumlocutory effect on the mind.
Pope Benedict XVI, though certainly clearer than a number of his contemporaries, nevertheless is not immune from a kind of vagueness that can be frustrating at times. Never have I felt this more strongly than when he answers questions on the hotly contested issue of his resignation from the papacy, and the strangely provocative symbolism of his life ever since.
Now, in a new book-length interview with the German journalist Peter Seewald, we see him address this topic again. And once again, he both reiterates his affirmation that he truly resigned, but then introduces a question mark by talking about his retention of the “spiritual dimension” of the papacy.
Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
The full text of the book, just released in German, won’t be available in English until November. So for now, we have to content ourselves to deal with translated excerpts.
An article on the book at the German Catholic website Katholiche.de makes clear that Benedict denies that either Vatican corruption or the “Vatileaks” scandal were the reasons for his abdication. “My resignation had absolutely nothing to do with all of that,” he tells Seewald.
The article continues, explaining that Benedict did create a contingency that would cause his automatic resignation were he to become incapacitated:
Rather, it became clear to him near the end of his papacy that, in addition to a possible onset of dementia,“there were other possible signs of a capacity insufficient for the proper carrying out of the office.”
In this context the pope emeritus divulged that he, just like his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II, had signed a conditional resignation notice “for the case of sickness, that would make an adequate enaction of the office impossible.”
Joseph Razinger had already done this “relatively early” in his pontificate beginning in 2005.
In this context the pope emeritus divulged that he, just like his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II, had signed a conditional resignation notice “for the case of sickness, that would make an adequate enaction of the office impossible.”
Joseph Razinger had already done this “relatively early” in his pontificate beginning in 2005.
In a more extensive summary of the book at LifeSiteNews (I strongly recommend you read the whole thing, it’s very good), Maike Hickson zeroes in on this portion of the interview, where the former pope shows his irritation, once again, at these questions:
Peter Seewald points out to Benedict that there are church historians who criticize the fact that he calls himself “Pope emeritus,” since such a title “does not exist, also since there are not two popes.” After first saying that he himself does not see why a church historian should know more about such matters than anybody else – after all they “are studying the history of the Church” – , Benedict quotes the fact that “up to the end of the Second Vatican Council, there also did not exist any resignation on the part of bishops.”
“Eminence!” he began. “You said that with ‘pope emeritus,’ I had created a figure that had not existed in the whole history of the church. You know very well, of course, that popes have abdicated, albeit very rarely. What were they afterward? Pope emeritus? Or what else?” …
“With ‘pope emeritus,’ I tried to create a situation in which I am absolutely not accessible to the media and in which it is completely clear that there is only one pope,” he wrote. “If you know of a better way, and believe that you can judge the one I chose, please tell me.”
“With ‘pope emeritus,’ I tried to create a situation in which I am absolutely not accessible to the media and in which it is completely clear that there is only one pope,” he wrote. “If you know of a better way, and believe that you can judge the one I chose, please tell me.”
It is here that Pope Benedict then draws a comparison with the papacy. For, such a retired [Vatican II] bishop, he adds, “does not anymore actively have an episcopal seat, but, still finds himself in a special relationship of a former bishop to his seat.” This retired bishop, however, thereby “does not become a second bishop of his diocese,” explains Benedict. Such a bishop had “fully given up his office, yet the spiritual connection with his former seat was now being acknowledged, also as a legal quality.” This “new relationship with a seat” is “given as a reality, but lies outside of the concrete legal substance of the episcopal office.” At the same time, adds the retired Pope, the “spiritual connection” is being regarded as a “reality.”
“Thus,” he continues, “there are not two bishops, but one with a spiritual mandate, whose essence it is to serve his former diocese from within, from the Lord, by being present and available in prayer.”
“It is not conceivable why such a legal concept should not also be applied to the bishop of Rome,” Pope Benedict explicitly states, thus making it clear that according to his own ideas, he fully resigned his papal office while maintaining a “spiritual dimension” of his office.
“Thus,” he continues, “there are not two bishops, but one with a spiritual mandate, whose essence it is to serve his former diocese from within, from the Lord, by being present and available in prayer.”
“It is not conceivable why such a legal concept should not also be applied to the bishop of Rome,” Pope Benedict explicitly states, thus making it clear that according to his own ideas, he fully resigned his papal office while maintaining a “spiritual dimension” of his office.
“That is to say,” Hickson writes of Benedict’s analogy, “the ‘functional’ aspect of fatherhood can change, not his ‘ontological’ part.”
There are, of course, theological problems with this concept, as Hickson notes that Vatican theologian and former Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith consultor Don Nicola Bux pointed out in comments to LifeSite:
“In my opinion, one of the most problematic aspects would be the idea, implicit in Pope Ratzinger’s act, that the papacy is not a single and indivisible office, but, on the contrary, a divisible office that can be ‘unpacked’, in the sense that a Pope may choose to give up some functions, keeping for himself others, which would not then be passed on to his successor. A clearly erroneous idea.”
[…]
“The comparison of the papal office with the episcopal office in what regards the abdication of the papal office is not correct. The episcopal office is conferred by episcopal ordination or consecration, imprinting an indelible character on the soul of the bishop. Thus, while he may be relieved of a particular pastoral responsibility, he remains always a bishop. The papal office is conferred by the acceptance of the election to the See of Peter, that is, by an act of the will of the person elected, accepting the call to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. From the moment that the person elected consents he has the full jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff.”
If the person elected is not a Bishop,” Monsignor Bux continued, “he must be immediately consecrated a Bishop because the papacy entails the exercise of the episcopal office, but he is Pope from the moment he consents to the election. If the same person, at a certain point, declares that he can no longer fulfill the call to be the Vicar of Christ on earth, he loses the papal office and returns to the condition in which he was before giving the consent to be the Vicar of Christ on earth.”
[…]
“The comparison of the papal office with the episcopal office in what regards the abdication of the papal office is not correct. The episcopal office is conferred by episcopal ordination or consecration, imprinting an indelible character on the soul of the bishop. Thus, while he may be relieved of a particular pastoral responsibility, he remains always a bishop. The papal office is conferred by the acceptance of the election to the See of Peter, that is, by an act of the will of the person elected, accepting the call to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. From the moment that the person elected consents he has the full jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff.”
If the person elected is not a Bishop,” Monsignor Bux continued, “he must be immediately consecrated a Bishop because the papacy entails the exercise of the episcopal office, but he is Pope from the moment he consents to the election. If the same person, at a certain point, declares that he can no longer fulfill the call to be the Vicar of Christ on earth, he loses the papal office and returns to the condition in which he was before giving the consent to be the Vicar of Christ on earth.”
I suspect, although I doubt we will ever truly know, that he is thinking in terms of symbolism, not sacraments. A sort of amorphous mysticism that he believes allows him some retention of a non-juridical part of what he has lost — or, it should be said, willingly relinquished.
My own analysis of Benedict’s various remarks about his abdication over the years have painted, to my mind at least, a fairly clear picture: a man who was first and foremost an academic – a theologian, a thinker, not the “panzerkardinal” or “Rottweiler” than his enemies, mostly, would have had us believe. I do not think he ever wanted the office of the papacy, but he accepted it graciously, knowing from the outset, after a long career in the Vatican, that he was vulnerable to the machinations of the more sinister courtesans and power players in the Vatican court. Recall his plea at the outset of his papacy that the faithful would pray for him, that he “not flee for fear of the wolves.”
[Benedict] knew what he was up against going in, and how well his temperament suited that challenge, or didn’t. I recall, too, the time he allegedly told Bishop Fellay of the SSPX, who had, as the story goes, pressed him in a rare moment alone to act to end the crisis in the Church, “My authority ends at that door.”
[...]
“In my case it would certainly not have been sensible to simply claim a return to being cardinal. I would then have been constantly as exposed to the media as a cardinal is — even more so because people would have seen in me the former pope.” He added, “Whether on purpose or not, this could have had difficult consequences, especially in the context of the current situation.”
Hickson writes that Benedict tells Seewald he wouldn’t weigh in on the effort of the four dubia cardinals because it “would lead too much into the concrete area of the church governance and thereby would leave the spiritual dimension which alone is still my mandate.” Similarly, he said he regrets when people say he intervenes in debates, or use quotes from him in an attempt to show that he is meddling somehow in the Church’s governance.
And it’s true: one can easily imagine the reporters descending on whatever place he might have taken up residence — Bavaria, maybe — after having returned to the cardinalate. They would have done it every time Francis made some controversial statement or decision, wanting to know what the former pope thinks, hoping to pit them against one another in order to gin up the kind of controversy that sells news.
In this sense, his seclusion inside the Vatican with its own security force makes more sense than ever — but not his conclusion that the retention of his titles and trappings of office were necessary. These things are unmistakably confusing, and his obstinacy in defending them without seeming to fully consider the consequences is troubling. These decisions were, not to put too fine a point on it, a mistake – one I fear he may be unwilling to admit to himself, let alone to others. Much like his justification of much that went on at the council, claiming that the damage was due to opportunists or rallying to the cry of a hermeneutic of continuity, rather than admitting the triumph of the Modernist agenda he himself was a party to.
Making matters muddier, it remains a mystery just what he thinks the so-called “spiritual dimension” of the papacy might be that he could retain it, let alone for it to be a “mandate.” If I was forced to guess, I’d say I think he means prayer for the entire Church, but this, as well, is something he could have done after having returned to his previous state, even if it was behind the safety of the Vatican walls. It is a very odd thing indeed for him to hold on to something that he relinquished.
I was hopeful that this, at last, was the interview with Benedict that has cleared things up once and for all. Sadly, this is not the case.
[Emphasis mine.]
