Benedict XVI says there is ‘interior continuity’ between himself and Pope Francis

Vatican City, Mar 12, 2018 / 04:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a personal letter reportedly sent to the head of the Secretariat for Communications, Benedict XVI said that he sees continuity between himself and his successor, Pope Francis.

The letter, according to a press release from the Secretariat March 12, was sent to Msgr. Dario Vigano on the occasion of the release of a series of books called “La Teologia di Papa Francesco” (“The Theology of Pope Francis”) published by the Vatican’s publishing house.

The books “show rightly that Pope Francis is a man of profound philosophical and theological formation and, therefore, help to show the inner continuity between the two pontificates, even with all of the differences of style and temperament,” Benedict wrote.

“I applaud this initiative that wishes to oppose and react to the foolish prejudice that Pope Francis is only a practical man lacking in particular theological or philosophical formation,” he continued, “while I am only a theorist of theology that has understood little of the concrete life of a Christian today.”

Excerpts from the letter were included in the Secretariat’s press release, though it was not available in its entirety.

The eleven-book series was written by international theologians and edited by Fr. Roberto Repole, president of the Italian Theological Association.

There are currently agreements for the books to be published in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Polish and Romanian.


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4 Comments

  1. This a prank right? There’s a youtube version also …that will hit tomorrow? Here is my worst encounter with the theological formation mentioned:

    Paragraph 297, AL: “No one is condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!”

    Aboard the papal plane, Oct 2, 2016 / 06:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During his flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis:

    “Mercy has the last word. I like to tell, I do not know if I told you, because I repeat it so much … in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena – I told you or no? – There is a beautiful capital, but it is more or less from the thirteenth century. Medieval cathedrals were catechesis with sculptures. And in a part of the capital there is Judas hanged with his tongue out and eyes (bulging) out, and on the other side of the capital there is Jesus the Good Shepherd who takes (Judas) and carries him with him. And if you look closely, the face of Jesus, the lips of Jesus are sad on the one hand, but with a small smile of understanding in the other. They understood what mercy is … with Judas, huh! “

  2. Not so fast. Msgr Dario Edoardo Viganò Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication omitted [deviously?] Benedict’s last paragraph, cited by journalist Socci in a Sandro Magister essay, “However, I do not feel like writing a short and dense theological page on them because in all my life it has always been clear that I would write and express myself only on books that I had also really read. Unfortunately, even for physical reasons, I am not able to read the eleven volumes in the near future, all the more so because I am already waiting for other commitments. I am sure he will have understanding and I greet him cordially” (Benedict XVI). If true it exposes the Vatican attempt to discredit Benedict as a supporter of the papal plan for doctrinal revolution and secularization of the Church.

  3. Traditional Church Teaching can never contradict Itself.
    Nor can Pope Benedict XVI who, in his masterpiece Jesus of Nazareth, writes ‘this apodictic law is pronounced in the name of God himself.’ It is divine law that applies at all times.
    Not much sign of ‘interior continuity’ between himself and Pope Francis it seems.

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