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BXVI 1

This post appears on the Eponymous Flower blog today. It is getting much publicity in Europe, especially in Germany. I reproduce it below, but link to original is here.

“From Saul to Paul?” Asks the Regensburg weekly.The Süddeutsche Zeitung has its pejorative judgment already at hand: ” The Anti-Pope “. The reason for the excitement? Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. has given word again from his internal exile. He revised an essay on the sacrament of marriage and the indissolubility of marriage in 1972 and published it again. The revisions are the ones which provide for politico-ecclesiastical  dynamite.

Joseph Ratzinger had published the essay in his time as a professor of theology in Regensburg. Now, it has appeared   in the Collected Works, issued by the Pope-Benedict Institute under the direction of Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg.

1972: The Proximity to the Position of Cardinal Kasper

In 1972 Joseph Ratzinger had written something similar, as Cardinal Walter Kasper has represented at  the Cardinal Consistory and at the Synod of Bishops on the Family. It was about  civil remarriage, which should find some recognition in the Church. There was talk that “the opening of Communion in the community after a period of probation of not less than the time fairly and fully in line with the Church’s tradition.”   Of course, if  “successful, a second marriage for a long time  proves its moral significance” and had been “lived in the spirit of faith” and if “there are moral obligations towards children and wife” in the new civil marriage.   This was the original Ratzinger essay, as it was cited by  the Süddeutsche Zeitung, whose difference is now noted.

2014: The Distancing of Cardinal Kasper

Now Pope Benedict XVI. no longer shares the view he held in 1972. For this reason he underwent a major rewriting of the essay prior to its publication in the collected writings. The conclusion that Benedict XVI. draws in 2014, is completely different than the theologian Joseph Ratzinger in 1972 drew. Not to recognize  the second marriage and grant admission to Communion, but to check the condition of  nullity on the marriage and streamline the process.  This is a position he had already proposed as Pope during his reign.

The revised version is binding and thus Benedict XVI. has distanced himself to Cardinal Kasper and the attempts undertaken in this year  within the Church to enforce the recognition of  a second marriage and the Communion for remarried divorcees. Instead  Benedict XVI. strengthens the position of those cardinals who are  attempting to confront this,   Cardinal Prefect Gerhard Müller, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, Cardinal George Pell and others.

Benedict XVI. take sides as “Counter-Pope” of Pope Francis

The date of revision can hardly be considered random. Thus, the retired head of the Church took an active part in the ongoing discussion and clearly sided with one party. According to Church tradition that would negate the demand. However, the facts speak for themselves. Also, that the “against” of Benedict XVI., which  the Süddeutsche Zeitung attributed him as “The Contrast-Pope”  with their word game, is actually directed against  Pope Francis and Benedict XVI. in the latest and most heated inner-Church debate, is positioned  as “anti-pope”.

So it would never be said  in the Vatican. The battle takes place at a distance and without naming the counterparts. However, the picture is clear, Benedict XVI. defends the teaching of the Catholic Church. His position is not directed against anyone, but takes the side of the deposit of faith, which he sees clearly at risk. In other words: He takes position against all who oppose the Church’s teaching  whether it be Cardinal Walter Kasper and be it even Pope Francis.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: InfoVaticana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches…

AMDG