Vatican City, Apr 16, 2017 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a lengthy interview with EWTN’s German television branch, Benedict XVI’s closest aide describes how the retired pontiff is doing as he turns the milestone age of 90, giving a rare look into what life is like for the Pope Emeritus.
Archbishop Gänswein has been Benedict’s personal secretary since 2003, while the latter was still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He has remained close at Benedict’s side throughout his papacy, resignation and his life of retirement.
In anticipation of Benedict XVI’s 90th birthday, which this year falls on Easter Sunday, April 16, Gänswein gave a lengthy interview to EWTN.TV in German, sharing insights into how the Pope Emeritus plans to celebrate his birthday and highlights and personal memories of his pontificate.
Among other things, the archbishop recalls how Benedict handled his election, the frequently negative media-firestorm that enveloped much of his pontificate, his hope for what people take from his papacy as well as how he spends his days in retirement.
Please read below for the full interview with Archbishop Gänswein, conducted by the head of EWTN.TV Martin Rothweiler, and translated from the original German by EWTN’s Silvia Kritzenberger:
EWTN.TV: The question everyone’s interested in is, of course: How is Pope Benedict? The Psalm says: “Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years.” That happens to be psalm 90. And now on the 16th of April, Pope Benedict will celebrate his 90th birthday! How is he?
Gänswein: Yes, indeed, on Easter Sunday he will turn 90! Considering his age, he is remarkably well. He is also in good spirits, very clear in his head and still has a good sense of humor. What bothers him are his legs, so he uses a walker for help, and he gets along very well. And this walker guarantees him freedom of movement and autonomy. So, for a 90-year old, he is doing pretty well – even though, from time to time, he complains of this or that minor ailment.
EWTN.TV: How will he celebrate his birthday?
Gänswein: On Easter Sunday, priority will of course be given to liturgy. On Easter Monday, in the afternoon, we will hold a small celebration. He wanted something not too exhausting, appropriate to his strengths. He didn’t want to have a big celebration. That was never an option for him. A small delegation from Bavaria will come, the Mountain troops will come… The Bavarian Prime Minister will come to the monastery, and there we will hold a small birthday party in true Bavarian style!
EWTN.TV: Have you any idea if Pope Francis will come to see him?
Gänswein: That is quite likely. He will surely do so.
EWTN.TV: No one knows Pope Benedict better than you – apart from his brother Georg Ratzinger. How did you get to know Pope Benedict?
Gänswein: Actually, through literature. Back in the day, when I was just about to finish gymnasium, my parish priest gave me Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity, urging me: “You absolutely have to read this! That’s the future!” I said: “Okay, but have you read it?” “No,” he replied, “but you have to read it!” And I did. Later, when I started to study theology in Freiburg, and then in Rome, and then again back in Freiburg, I had practically read everything the then-professor and cardinal had written. But it was only 21, or maybe 22 years ago, that I finally met him in person here in Rome, when I was asked to become a collaborator of the Roman Curia … More concretely, I met him in the Teutonic College, that is, in the chapel, where Cardinal Ratzinger used to celebrate Mass for the German pilgrims every Thursday, joining us for breakfast. That was how the first personal contact with Cardinal Ratzinger came about, and since then we never lost that contact.
EWTN.TV: At some point, he decided to call you to his side. Why did his choice fall on you?
Gänswein: Well, you must know that I didn’t come directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; my first employment was at the Congregation for Divine Worship. But when, in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a German priest left after a certain period of time in order to go back to Germany, Ratzinger asked me to come. “I think you are suitable for the post, and I would like you to come,” he said to me. “If you agree, I would like to speak with the respective authorities.” And he did. That was how it came about that, in 1996, I entered the staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a post I held until 2003. Afterwards, he made me his Personal Secretary – which I still am, to this very day.
EWTN.TV: What was your first impression of him? What did you think when he called you to work closely with him?
Gänswein: My first thought was: Have I done something wrong? Don’t I have a clean record? So I examined my conscience, but my conscience was clear. And then he said: “No, it is something that concerns your future. Something I think might be a good task for you. Consider it carefully!” Of course, I was very pleased that he thought I was capable of working in his entourage. It is indeed a very demanding task, one that requires all your strength.
EWTN.TV: Which personality traits and characteristics did you discover in him?
Gänswein: The same I had already discovered in his writings: a sharp intellect, a clear diction. And then, in his personal relations, a great clemency, quite the contrary of what he has always been associated with and still is, of what has always been said about him, when he was described as a “Panzerkardinal” (army tank Cardinal), someone rough – which he is not. On the contrary, he is very confident when dealing with others, but also when he has to deal with problems, when he has to solve problems, and, above all, in the presentation of the faith, the defense of the faith. But what moved me most, was to see how this man managed to proclaim our faith with simple, but profound words, against all odds and despite all hostilities.
EWTN.TV: What were the main issues on his agenda when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?
Gänswein: When I joined the Congregation, he was dealing with the encyclical letter Fides et Ratio, and then with Dominus Jesus, documents which date back to years when I was already part of the Congregation. Later, of course, it was also about religious dialogue – a subject he revisited and deepened also after he’d become Pope. And then the big issue of faith and reason. A whole chain of subjects, so to say, I could witness in person. And it was all highly interesting, and a great challenge, too.
EWTN.TV: It was Pope John Paul II who nominated Cardinal Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What kind of relationship did they have? What kind of relationship did Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, have with the Pope who was, as we now know, a holy man?
Gänswein: Cardinal Ratzinger, that is to say, Pope Benedict, had contributed with a relatively long essay to a small, but beautiful little book that was published on the occasion of the canonization of John Paul II. An essay, in which he describes his relationship with the holy Pope John Paul II – after all, they had worked closely together for 23 years – and the great admiration he has for him. He spoke of him very often. It is of course a great gift, an immense grace, to work for so long, and so intensely, side by side with a man like John Paul II, facing also many a storm together! And the then Cardinal Ratzinger had to take many blows for John Paul II, since the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clearly cannot be everybody’s darling: He has to offer his back, so that he can take the blows that are actually meant for the Pope.
EWTN.TV: How strong was his influence on the pontificate of John Paul II?
Gänswein: I am convinced of the fact that the pontificate of John Paul II was strongly influenced and supported not only by the person of the then Prefect of the Congregation of Faith, but also by his thoughts and his actions.
EWTN.TV: Pope Benedict once said that he had learned and understood much of John Paul II when he watched him celebrate Mass; when he saw how he prayed, how very united he was with God, far beyond his philosophical and mental capacities. What do you think when you watch Pope Benedict celebrate Mass, when you might be present while he is praying?
Gänswein: In fact, that is something I see every day, but especially since the moment I became secretary to Pope Benedict. Before, I was already his secretary, but we didn’t live together. It did happen that we celebrated Mass together, of course. But from the very moment of his election, it was no longer a work communion, but also a communion of life. And the daily Mass has become part of this life, then and today. It is moving to watch Pope Benedict during Mass simply abandon himself to what is happening, even now, in his old days, with all the physical handicaps that come with it; to see how intensely he enters the depths of prayer, but also afterwards, during the thanksgiving in front of the tabernacle, in front of the Most Blessed Sacrament. As far as I am concerned, it makes me enter the depths of prayer. That is highly motivating, and I am very thankful that I was given the chance to have an experience like this.
EWTN.TV: 2005 is the year that marked the end of the long and public suffering and death of John Paul II. How does Pope Benedict XVI remember this moment today? After all, with his resignation, he has chosen to let his own pontificate end in a different way…How does he remember the suffering and the death of John Paul II?
Gänswein: I remember very clearly what he said to me when he made me his secretary. He said: “We two are interim arrangements. I will soon retire, and you will accompany me until that moment comes.” That was in 2003. Time passed by…and then came 2005. The interim arrangement lasts and lasts. And he was really looking forward to having some time off in order to be able to finish writing his book about Jesus. But then things turned out differently. And, well, I think that after the death of Pope John Paul II he had other plans, hoping that the new Pope would let him take his leave, entering his well-deserved retirement. But once again, things turned out differently: he became Pope himself, and the Lord took him up on his promise once again. He had plans, but there was another who had different plans for him.
EWTN.TV: Did he expect – or fear – that in any way?
Gänswein: He certainly did not expect it – but, at a certain point, he might have feared it. In this context, I always remember his first press conference (as Pope), where he described the 19th of April, the day of his election when, in the late afternoon, the ballot was so clear that it became obvious that he would be elected. Well, the image he used, the one of the guillotine, was a very strong one, and full of tension. And later, in Munich, referring to the image of the bear of St. Corbinian, he said that the bear was actually supposed to accompany the then-bishop Corbinian to Rome, and then return to where he had come from, whereas he, unlike the bear in the legend, couldn’t go back, but has remained in Rome to this very day.
EWTN.TV: How was your first encounter, after he had become Pope? What did he say to you?
Gänswein: We had our first encounter in the Sistine Chapel, right under the Last Judgement. The cardinals had approached him and sworn obedience to him. And since I had been allowed to be present at the Conclave – Ratzinger, being the Deacon of the Cardinals, had the right to take a priest with him, and his choice had fallen on me – I was the last in the queue. There were others before me, I was the last. And in this very moment…I remember it so well…I can still see him, for the first time all dressed in white: white pileolus, white cassock, white hair – and all white in the face! Practically a whole small cloud of white…He sat there, and in this moment I granted the Holy Father my unconditional availability, promising him that I would always gladly do whatever he might ask of me; that he would always be able to count on me, that I would back him, and that I would gladly do so.
EWTN.TV: What were the joys of this pontificate? Usually, the burden of the Petrine ministry is what first comes to mind. But are there also moments, events, when you could feel the joy Pope Benedict experienced in carrying out his ministry?
Gänswein: There were, without any doubt, moments in which he felt utter joy, and also manifested it. I think, for example, of various encounters, not only during his travels. Encounters with the Successor of Peter are always special encounters; even here, during the General Audiences or the Private Audiences – and, in another, very special way, when he acts as officiant, that is, during the celebration of the Holy Mass or other liturgical celebrations. There were indeed moments full of joy, fulfilled with joy. And afterwards, he never failed to remark on it. It made him really happy.
EWTN.TV: Are there any events you remember particularly well, especially in connection with Pope Benedict’s visits to Germany, which we all remember vividly, for example the first World Youth Day?
Gänswein: Yes, well, the first encounter hadn’t been brought about by Pope Benedict himself, but by John Paul II. And so, in 2005, as we all know, it was Benedict’s turn to travel to Cologne. It was surely something great, something really moving. It was the first time in his life he met such an immense crowd of young people, who were all waiting for him! How will it go? Will the ice break, will the ice melt? Or will it take some time? And how will we get along with one another? But there was no ice at all! It simply worked, right from the start! And I think, he himself was more surprised by it than the young people he met.
EWTN.TV: What are the key messages of his Pontificate? His first encyclical letter was Deus Caritas est, “God Is Love.” The second one was dedicated to hope; his third encyclical, the one on faith, was passed on to his successor who completed it. Don’t you think that especially Deus Caritas est, so full of tenderness and poetic language, was something many didn’t expect?
Gänswein: Yes, one has to say, he published three encyclical letters. And we must not omit Caritas in veritate, which is very important. In fact, the one about the third theological virtue, faith, fides, was then published under his successor: Lumen fidei. But these four encyclicals clearly contain a fundamental message that has moved him his whole life long; a message he wanted to bequeath to men, to the Church.
Another constant of Pope Benedict is a very important word, a very important element: joy, “la gioia,” in Italian. He always spoke of the joy of faith, not of the burden, the hardship, the weight of faith, but of the joy that comes with it. And he said that this joy is an important fruit of faith – and also the one thing that gives men wings; that this is how faith gives human life wings: wings which, otherwise without faith, man would never have.
Another important thing for him is – obviously – liturgy, that is to say the direct encounter with God. Liturgy does not represent something theatrical – it means to be called into a relationship with the living God. And then, in theology, we have the person of Jesus Christ: not a historical “something,” a historical person long lost in the past. No, through the scriptures and liturgy, Jesus Christ comes into this world, here and now, and above all: he also comes into my own life. These are the pearls Pope Benedict has bestowed upon us. And we should treat these pearls very carefully, just as we do with precious jewelry.
EWTN.TV: This joy of faith is something Benedict never lost, despite often even heavy media criticism. He never really was the media’s darling, at least not as far as the German media are concerned. How did he account for that?
Gänswein: Well, I have to say, to me that is still a mystery. Whoever defends the truth of faith – to say it with Saint Paul – be it convenient or not, cannot always trigger joy. That is clear. Some essential things just aren’t for sale, and then there’s always a hail of criticism. But he has never answered to provocation, nor let himself be intimidated by criticism. Wherever the substance of the faith is at stake, he had no doubts, and always reacted explicitly, without any inner conflict whatsoever.
On other points, I have to say, there was a mixture of incomprehension, and also aggression, aggressiveness, that became like a clustered ball that consistently hit at the person of the Pope. The incomprehension of many, and especially the media, is still a mystery to me, something I have to take note of, but cannot sort out. I simply have no answer to it.
EWTN.TV: Pope Benedict was never shy about talking to journalists. In the introduction you wrote to the book Über den Wolken mit Papst Benedikt XVI. (Above the Clouds with Pope Benedict XVI), published to mark his 90th birthday – above the clouds, because it contains interviews often given during Papal flights – you state that these conversations reveal his particular cordiality, his often not understood or underestimated humanity…
Gänswein: Pope Benedict has never shunned away from personal contact with the media, with the journalists. And one great gift was that everything he says is well-worded, ready for printing. He was never shy about answering questions, even questions that were embarrassing – well, not embarrassing, but difficult. And that made it even more incomprehensible that it was exactly this corner from where the arrows came, where the fire was set – and for no clear reason at all. He, too, took notice of it. Of course, there were also things which offended, hurt him. Especially when it was clear to see that there was no reason at all, when you couldn’t help asking yourself: why this snappish remark, this acrimonious presentation? Things like that would hurt anyone, that’s only normal. But, on the other side, we also know that our measure is not the applause we get; our measure is inner righteousness, the example of the Gospel. That thought has always comforted him; it was the line of reasoning he has always pursued, until the end.
EWTN.TV: But was he also aware of the value of the media in the process of evangelization? After all, he has awarded the Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice to Mother Angelica, founder of our television network, which means he must really appreciate her! How did he judge the role of the media in the concrete work of evangelization?
Gänswein: The media are an important means; a means that will become ever more important, especially in our time. He has never failed to recognize the value of the media, of the work done by the media and those who are behind it. Because media work is done by people, not by “something.” Behind every camera, every written word, every book, there is a person, there are people he appreciated, whose work he appreciated, regardless of what sometimes had been used or said against him.
EWTN.TV: One cannot think of Pope Benedict without rekindling the memory of his resignation. That is not about to change, and will continue to be a subject that stirs people’s interest. So I would like to ask you again: Did you see it coming? Was it clear to him that he would go down that road one day?
Gänswein: Well, as far as I’m concerned, I didn’t see it coming. If and since when he started to nurture this thought, is something I don’t know. The only thing I know is that he told me about it when the decision was already made. But I definitely didn’t see it coming – and that made the shock for me even greater.
EWTN.TV: In his latest memoirs – I refer to the interview-book Last conversations with Peter Seewald – Benedict XVI makes it very clear that external pressure or adversities would never have made him resign. So this cannot have been the case…
Gänswein: That’s right.
EWTN.TV: …So this is the final word that puts an end to the discussion on possible motives…
Gänswein: In another book – the penultimate project carried out with Peter Seewald in Castel Gandolfo – he had already answered the question whether or not a Pope could resign, in the affirmative. I don’t know in how far he had, already then, considered resignation, stepping back from his office, an option for himself. When you start to have thoughts like that, you do it for a reason. And he has named these reasons very openly…and very honestly, too, one has to say: the waning of his forces, spiritual and physical. The Church needs a strong navigator, and he didn’t have the feeling that he could be that strong navigator. That’s why he wanted to put the faculty bestowed upon him by Jesus back into His hands, so that the College of Cardinals could elect his successor. So obviously, the pontificate of Benedict XVI will also go down in history because of his resignation, that is clear, inevitable…
EWTN.TV: I found it really moving to watch him deliver his last speech to the priests of the diocese of Rome, the one on the Second Vatican Council. In that moment, I couldn’t help asking myself: Why does this man resign? There was clearly a spiritual force! It was an extemporaneous speech in which he exposed one more time his whole legacy, so to say, on the Second Vatican Council, expressing his wish it might one day be fulfilled…
Gänswein: In fact, that was in the Audience Hall. There was this traditional encounter, established many years ago, where the Pope, every Thursday after Ash Wednesday, met with the clergy of Rome, the clergy of his diocese. There were questions and answers, or even other forms of encounter. And in 2013, he was asked to talk about the Second Vatican Council, which he did. He delivered an extemporaneous speech in which he described, one more time and from his point of view, the whole situation and development of the Council, giving also his evaluation. It is something that will remain; something very important for the comprehension of the Second Vatican Council and Ratzinger’s interpretation of it. As far as I know, up to this day there is no other theologian who has defended the documents of the Second Vatican Council on so many levels, and so intensely and cogently as he did. And that is very important also for the inner life of the Church and the people of God!
EWTN.TV: And I think it is safe to say that he contributed to the shaping of the Council…
Gänswein: In fact, being the consultor, the advisor of Cardinal Frings, he did have a part in it. Many of the theological contributions of the Cardinal of Cologne had actually been written by Professor Ratzinger. There are lots of documents where you can clearly see that. And there are also dissertations on this subject which investigate into the possible influence of the then-Professor Ratzinger.
EWTN.TV: Let’s come back to the moment of his resignation, the very last hours. Whoever watched it on TV, was surely moved to see the helicopter departing for Castel Gandolfo. You, too, were visibly moved…And then, the final moment, when the doors in Castel Gandolfo closed. That was the moment when I – and I guess, many others – thought that we might never see Pope Benedict again. But then things turned out quite differently…
Gänswein: Yes, indeed, the farewell: the transfer to the heliport, the flight in the helicopter over the city of Rome to Castel Gandolfo, the arrival at the Papal Villa. And indeed, at 8 p.m. the closing of the doors. Before, Pope Benedict had delivered a short speech from the balcony, his farewell speech. And then? Well, the works in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae hadn’t been finished yet, so the question was: where could he stay? And the decision was quickly taken: the best option would be Castel Gandolfo. There he will have everything he needs, since no one knows how long the works will last; so he can stay there as long as necessary.
And so two months later, he returned to Rome, and has been living in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae ever since. He himself had said that he would withdraw, going up to the mountain in order to pray. He didn’t mean a withdrawal into private life, but into a life of prayer, meditation and contemplation, in order to serve the Church and his successor. His successor often told him that he shouldn’t hide. He invites him often to important public liturgies, consistories like – I remember it well – the inauguration ceremony of the Holy Year on the 8th of December 2015.
He is present, even when no one sees him. But often he has been seen. He simply wants to be present, as much as possible, while remaining all the same invisible.
EWTN.TV: Many people wish to meet him, and he allows them to. Does he enjoy these encounters? I myself had the chance of a brief encounter with him. There are still many people who ask to see him.
Gänswein: Yes, there are many people who ask to meet him; and many are sad when this is not possible. But those who come, are all very happy, very glad. And the same goes for him. Every encounter is also a sign of affection, a sign, so to say, of approval. And human encounters always do us good.
EWTN.TV: Do some of these people also ask him for advice?
Gänswein: Definitely. I’m convinced of that. I’m never there, though; these encounters are private. Of course, he sometimes talks about it, we talk about those visits. There are indeed people who seek his advice on personal matters. And I’m convinced that the advice they receive is indeed good…
EWTN.TV: Does he still receive many letters? Who writes to him?
Gänswein: People he has known in the past. And also people I don’t know, and he doesn’t know, but who have clearly re-discovered him through literature. They express their gratitude, their happiness, but also their worries: people from all around the world. The people who write to him are very different; they do not belong to the same category, no: it’s people of different ages, of different positions, from all walks of life, a complete mixture.
EWTN.TV: We have talked about “seeking advice:” Pope Francis, who is of a certain age himself, has always said that we should ask our grandparents for advice. Has Pope Francis ever asked Benedict for advice? What kind of relationship do they have?
Gänswein: Yes, indeed, in one of his interviews, Pope Francis is said to be happy about having a grandfather like Benedict – a “wise” grandfather: an adjective not to be omitted! And I am convinced that, as far as this is concerned, one thing or another will come up, or come out, from their contacts and encounters.
EWTN.TV: Your relationship with Benedict is a very close, very personal one. I don’t know if it would be appropriate to talk about a relationship between father and son. Have you ever talked with him about your future?
Gänswein: No.
EWTN.TV: It is known that you would love to engage in pastoral care, that you already do engage in pastoral care.
Gänswein: It was always like that: we didn’t talk about it. Only the very moment he said that he would resign, he asked me to accept the office I still hold. It was his decision, and he hadn’t talked with me about it beforehand. I was very skeptical, and remarked: “Holy Father, that might not be my thing. But if you think it is right for me, I will gladly and obediently accept it.” And he replied: “I do think so, and I ask you to accept.” That was the only time we talked about me and my future career.
EWTN.TV: What are the subjects you talk about? What are the issues that concern him in our world full of crises; what worries him about the situation of the Church?
Gänswein: Well, of course, Pope Benedict takes an interest in what happens in this world, in the Church. Every day, as the conclusion to the day, we watch the news on Italian TV. And he reads the newspapers, the Vatican press review. That is a large range of information. Often we also talk about actual issues that concern our world, about the latest developments here in the Vatican, and beyond the Vatican, or simply common memories regarding things happened in the past.
EWTN.TV: Is he very worried about the Church?
Gänswein: Of course, he has noted that the faith, the substance of the faith, is about to crumble, above all in his homeland, and that inevitably worries, troubles him. But he is not the kind of man – he never was and never will be – who will have the joy taken away from him! On the contrary: he brings his worries to his prayers, hoping that his prayers will help to put things right.
EWTN.TV: He brings them to his prayers and surely also to Holy Mass. On Sundays, he delivers homilies, and is also keeping notes. What happens to these notes?
Gänswein: Well, it is true that Pope Benedict comments on the Gospel. He does so every Sunday, and most of the time only in the presence of the (consecrated laywomen of) “Memores Domini” and myself. Sometimes there might also be a visitor, or – should I not be there – a fellow priest who will then concelebrate. His homilies are always extemporaneous. It is true, he has a sermon notebook, and he takes notes. And I have been asking myself the same question: what happens to these notes? Of course we will keep a record of them. I would like to ask him one day if he could take a look at the notes we have, in order to approve them. I don’t know, though, if that day will ever come.
EWTN.TV: Pope Benedict is undoubtedly one of the greatest theologians…as far as of our century is concerned, he surely is! He has been referred to as the “Mozart of theology.” In your introduction to the already mentioned book Über den Wolken mit Papst Benedikt XVI (Above the Clouds with Pope Benedict XVI) you wrote: “Pope Benedict XVI is a Doctor of the Church. And he has been my teacher up to this day.” What have you learned from him, maybe even in the last weeks?
Gänswein: As I already said, my theological thinking started with the reading of Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity. The theological teacher who accompanied my theological studies, and the time that followed, has always been the theologian Ratzinger, and still is. Being given the chance to meet him in person, to learn from his personal example, is of course an additional gift, something unexpected, and I am very grateful for that. I know it is a grace – a grace for which I will thank the Lord every single day.
EWTN.TV: So what could be, in your opinion, the lesson Pope Benedict would like us to learn from his pontificate?
Gänswein: His great concern was that the faith could evaporate. And it is surely his greatest wish that every man be in direct relationship with God, the Lord, with Christ, and that we might dedicate to this relationship our time, strength and affection. Whoever does that, will prove the same sentiment Benedict has in mind when he talks about “joy.” I think the greatest gift would be, if men allowed his proposal or what moved him, to become part of their lives.
EWTN.TV: Our wish to you: could you please assure Pope Benedict also in the name of our viewers, of our thankfulness, our sentiments of appreciation, and convey him our heartfelt best wishes for his 90th birthday! And thank you so much for this conversation!
Gänswein: Thank you. I will gladly convey your wishes, and thank you for having me!
[…]
The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, And whither then? I cannot say (Frodo sets off with dwarves akin to Vademecum in The Rings). Synodos[Gk] can mean road, meant for journeying how long depends since as Tolkien observed they invariably interconnect for an endless journey. Matt Hoffman, “We are told that conversion means abandonment of the old”. Form, style, and structure together suggest not a cosmetic, rather definitive reevaluation. “Abandonment of the old” Apostolic Tradition? Dreams, prophecies and visions are promised excitements on this endless journey [akin to Bilbo’s journey in The Hobbit]. Benedict’s hermeneutic of continuity, for Catholicism in the midst of an expected synodal search and discovery mission not fully disclosed, is possible only if anchored in Christ’s revelation. That much of what Benedict XVI gave the Church has already been jettisoned by his successor, that anchoring is tentative at best. Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea [Bilbo in the Hobbit]. And endless gloom?
Well said, Fr. Morello.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.”
-Bilbo Baggins
Only a mind that lacks a fundamental orientation and humility towards God would be inclined to trivialize the reality of how that divinity was equally involved in the lives of all the peoples of the past, and how their essential truthful understandings, divinely endowed, could not possibly be much different from our own. Bigotry towards the peoples of the past counts as a pernicious bigotry too. God is not a lazy idiot. To dismiss continuity with the past is to dismiss reality with the present, and with eternity.
We may consider realities that are true, although we don’t name them truth. That’s due to their transient nature. Principles found in the natural sciences possess a higher degree, the more permanent the closer to the full meaning. Consequently, metaphysical principles achieve a higher level among the sciences. They are permanent principles, truths within a transient universe. Permanence then distinguishes those principles that we call truth, and those which relate directly to the divinity who is an unchangeable, definitively dynamic truth. Moral principles fall into that category, since moral good finds its identity in Him. Time is transient moral and theological principles are not. + Pope Francis’ error is to conceive time as an independent principle of change for principles that transcend time. + And in that vein I agree with Aquinas that the only absolute truth is God. All else is dependent for existence on Him. That Pope Francis neglects to adhere to the permanence of truth and its universal applicability, specifically moral and theological, ensures the failure of the Synod on synodality.
Taking seriously Bergoglio’s warnings about synodality is laughable. He wants the chaos to achieve his ends … to create a church in his own bizarre and rudderless image. It’s all about mugging for the secular press and pursuing western European progressivism. His warnings and leeriness are nothing more than covering his behind when things go catastrophically wrong. And they will. God help us get past this guy. Quickly and whatever it takes.
Or, is it less about “pursuing western European progressivism”–in a compendium of synodal “resolutions”–than it is about effectively displacing the papacy itself with the ongoing process? Future popes limited primarily to the role of listening “facilitators,” as is now required of bishops in the Vademecum (handbook)?
Synodality is the functionning of free masonic lodges,guys. And the end is the same: stamp out all hindrance to New World Order. We need to wake up to the extent of the Catastrophe C6 Marx – following Bergoglio’s orders – has unleashed. It is the end of the Catholic Church in Germany. Bergoglio wants that replicated quickly world wide. Understand that the TC Moto Proprio was an Argentinian decoy to keep Catholics focused on the life rafts, while he atomized the mothership. The Apostasy has only just begun if he is not stopped. St Francis, 1226 : “At the moment of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will rise to the Pontificate, and with his cunning will strive to lead many to error and death.” Ask the Chinese what they think of that. Ask the 200.000 Germans fleeing the synodality LGBTQ dream boat a year. Ask Argentina… We will all be fleeing the post-catholic Argentinian Superlodge if Bergoglio is not stopped. He cannot say “Oh deary me, wrong path: get the whole church down it quick” and get away with it. This madness cannot go on. Catholicism is not protestant free-masonry for Bergoglio’s “ThreeEyes Supelodge” masters to destroy. The church is not his to destroy.
I daresay NO bishops have brawn enough and brain enough to stop the building of the Argentian superlodge. It continues apace. Only Christ and His followers with faith remain of His Body. His Body will rise. Meanwhile, the nails do pierce.
Fortunately, our Church is not going the way you envisage. The Holy Spirit will not allow it to happen. There many of us Catholics who are praying for its success, so it will not fail.
So you’re praying for the success of the destruction of the Church?
And yes, it will not ultimately succeed despite the efforts of anti-Catholics like Francis and those with cowardly acquiescence to the massive life-destroying evil Francis pursues.
Dear Mal, in “The Ratzinger Report” PPBVI (who I believe still holds the Munus, the charge and grace of the Petrine Ministry not unlike his namesake PPBIX) says “The Church of Christ is not a Party, not an association, not a club. Her deep and PERMANENT structure is SACRAMENTAL, consequently HIERARCHICAL…authority is not based on the majority of votes; it is based on the authority of Christ himself, which he willed to pass on to men who were to be his representatives until his definitive return.” You see, Mal, the solution is not for a group of corrupt self-proclaimed MAFIA to seize hold of the Divine Institution by cunning, stealth, and “14th-century style corruption” to quote Tracey Rowland, and change the Church into their own Masonic image – but for AUTHENTIC AUTHORITY to be RESTORED. It is NOT for the Sankt Gallen lavender mafia to perform a TRANSFORATION of the Divine Instituition, but for the Divine Institution to DESTITUTE the APOSTATES. It is time for the Sensus Fidei of the Good 11/12ths of Ordained Men to “rediscover the necessity and fruitfulness of OBEDIENCE to the LEGITIMATE ecclesiastical authorities.” (Ratzinger Report) To follow free masons, the Sankt Gallen lavender mafia, a man who schemed his way to the Active Exercise of the Bishopric of Rome – for which he shows the greatest of contempt – is to follow traitors into the Heresy of Heresies: Modernism. Apostasy from the Divine and True Church of Christ is what is at issue here. The Church Crisis we are experiencing is a Crisis of Illegitimate Authority in the hierarchy. Taylor Marshall’s “INFILTRATION” by Sophia Institute Press helps today’s Catholics living through the Sankt Gallen Lavender Mafia Crisis to understand some of the recent historical background to the present situation. The Sensus Fidei – expressed by 200.000 Germans annually turning their backs on the C6 Post-Catholic Marxist NEW CHURCH – should be enough for the remaining Catholics amongst the Cardinals to make a unique Move in a Unique situation.
We read: “True and proper conversion,” states the Preparatory Document, is “the painful and immensely fruitful passage of leaving one’s own cultural and religious categories.”
DIALOGUE: the Cat and Alice in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland:”
Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
RATZINGER, in “Principles of Catholic Theology,” 1982/Ignatius 1987, pp. 372-3:
“…there are weighty and very disturbing negative factors that cannot be denied—again, to name just a few: anyone who has not discovered it for himself can learn from the statisticians that our churches, our seminaries, our convents have become more and more empty during the past ten years [then, indiscriminate admission to seminaries bred The Scandal]; it does not require extensive proof to show that the climate in the Church is at times not just frigid but even acrimonious and aggressive; it is one of the daily experiences that threatens to destroy the joy of Christianity that all kinds of divisions are disrupting community [….] to see these facts is not pessimism; it is objectivity.”
Ratzinger then examines reasons why the postconciliar period went off the rails: a naïve, post-War and Kennedy-era optimism; exaggerated self-criticism and even self-rejection stemming from Church failings, and “that can only be called neurotic;” disregard for “that luminous trail that is the history of the saints and of the beautiful [….]
“IN A WORD [caps added], it must become clear again that penance [not the same as ‘conversion’ from oneself] requires, not the destruction of one’s own identity, but the finding of it.”
Beautifully sourced and crafted Peter B.
I’ll go with Fr. de Souza – the synod has a credibility and practicality gap.
And an Authority Gap, Gilberta? The solution is for the majority of good men in Holy Orders to strike there and bring down the Sankt Gallen Mafia in the name of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ on a sacramental and therefore hierarchical basis. This crisis does not need a New Church in the image and likeness of the traitors responsible for the situation, but rather credible and Authentic Authority in the hierarchy.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us quite plainly what manner of people we ought to be. Never once in this presentation did he mention hell or repentance. Does this mean that Jesus does not feel hell and repentance are important? No, he does not. He mentioned them quite often elsewhere but not on this occasion. This sermon has a special message which is a powerful one.
Similarly, this synod is not about our doctrines but about how we, as a pilgrim Church on a journey, towards heaven, need to move along.
Let us pray for its success.
There can be no evangelical success to this enterprise confected at it is by the will on men who sustain themselves from a toxic menu of secularism. Its masked unarticulated purpose is the metamorphosis of Roman Catholicism into a rubber stamp for atheistic globalism which is presently manifesting its essential character — bold reckless tyranny and the debasement of humanity created in the image and likeness of God.
We are subsumed in ecclesiastical hubris and self-deceit.
Your “we’ does not include millions of people who love the Church and the Pope, including the many who are praying fir the Holy Spirit to bless this journey. Whether we like it or not, we are on a journey which is not endless but does have heaven as its destination.
Our temporal “journey” is to follow Christ on Calvary.
Is our fidelity to His Church characterized by fidelity to the perennial Magisterium and the Petrine Office or do you “love” a security blanket which affirms error and is fueled by an erroneous personality cult?
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
And the synodal path is just that: the path that leads us to heaven as a Church.
Too late. Pro-lifers who are refusing the abortion tainted vaccines have already been kicked out or the Church and this “journey” like so many lepers by “all-inclusive,” “all merciful” Francis, who has yet to even recognize that there could be a moral objection to the vaccine anymore that he recognizes mercy for the victims of the sins for which he is so anxious to prove his superiority to God by trivializing as non-sins.
Never too late. You might have developed a hatred for the Pope and so wish that this journey in which our pilgrim Church is embarking will fail. It will be for our benefit. The Holy Spirit of God will endure that – in spite of you bad wishes.
Will it be conditional on vaccinations only to be rolled back when numbers are low as with the Slovakian m
Papal mass????
Francis claims to be serving the gospel. But which gospel? Christ’s? I think not. The notion that we know how to make the world a better place and are commissioned by Jesus to attempt it is a false gospel. An anti-gospel, in fact.
As long as we live in our earthly human bodies (inherited from Adam) we have to be good stewards of the earth. It is God’s creation and it is from this earth that we get all our food, medicine and materials for shelter etc. God wants us to “tend and watch over it” Genesis 2:15
And everyone who ever lived believes this self-evident reality that clean is better than dirty. Even Hitler and Stalin believed this. It just requires sinful vanity to feel the need to talk down to everyone else that one is special for pointing out the what they assume those who are their inferiors do not understand, especially when it can become an argument that can be manipulated to justify tyranny.
Absolutely right. I am surprised that you noticed this attitude. Hope you learn from it.
The unceasing flow of vacuous meaningless poetics. Abstract expressionist free-verse katholicism is no substitute for our Lord, Jesus Christ revealed in Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition and understood in the perennial Magisterium of Roman Catholicism.
Well said, James, well said!
Since Pope Francis seems very well disposed towards socialism and communism, let’s just say this Synodality stuff seems to closely approximate Communist Party General Assemblies. they generally take place during October or thereabouts, so do Pope Francis’s meetings. These are usually preceded by a blockbuster interview with aging old Scalfari, where Pope Francis releases some wild non Catholic position. Scalfari of course is an old communist. Perhaps we should seek the “intepretive key” to Francis is a thorough study of communism. There seem to be more and more parallels.
Synodalism is just another heresy, like Jansenism and Arianism before it.
Some heretics do believe what you say.
Not all of them. You certainly don’t.
You got it wrong because you are looking at the wrong list.
The example of over two hundred thousand Hungarians following the Blessed Sacrament shows the way not the synodal rubbish!!!
Rubbish.
If you think the Eucharist is rubbish then you should leave the Catholic faith and go join the Unitarian Church.
Read the post again carefully. You should conclude that I did not call the Eucharist rubbish. I will never call the body and blood of Jesus rubbish.
We read: “I feel a great sadness when I see a community [Germany] that, with goodwill, takes a wrong path because it thinks it is making the church through gatherings, as if it were a political party: the majority, the minority, what this one thinks of this or that or the other, [saying] ‘This is like a synod, a synodal path that we must take,’” said Francis in November of last year. “I ask myself, ‘WHERE is the Holy Spirit there? Where is prayer? Where is the community’s love? Where is the Eucharist?’”
In actually pondering these questions in America, we are reminded of SYNODAL GUIDANCE given a quarter of a century ago: Pope St. John Paul II’s “Recommendations for the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America” (Sept. 18, 1996, in The Pope Speaks: The Church Documents Bimonthly, 42:1, published by Our Sunday Visitor, Jan/Feb 1997)…
The guidance specifically for America concludes with (sixteen) focus QUESTIONS which, while better written, generally resonate with many of the questions for today.
The THEME is different: Instead of invoking the Holy Spirit for “Communion, Participation, Mission,” the theme was “Encounter with the living Jesus Christ [“where is the Eucharist?” above] the Way to Conversion, Communion, and Solidarity.”
The WORDS are different. To gain its “continental” footing, and in the service of continuity (!), conferences of bishops for the “entire American continent [North, Central and South]” might refer at least briefly to this so-called old-fashion (but at least complementary!) type of document from 1996…
The understanding of CONVERSION is (categorically!) different. Not as now primarily replacing the old with the new, or “leaving one’s own cultural and religious categories,” but as “reconciliation with God, with oneself and with others, and it presupposes overcoming the basic rupture which is SIN” (n. 16).
Synodality wouldn’t be so bad except that Francis is at the Helm. They would be Synods of babel—too many leaders, not enough listeners. Will Traditionalists be allowed to participate, or will they be forbidden in the name of the spirit of Vatican ll. I sense another mess in the making. Here’s my input on the Synods, St. John Paul the Great and Pope Benedict XVl were against a parallel Church. I believe that we are in a case of necessity, so a parallel Church or a new Latin Rite (there are already 26 Rites in the Church) is needed. How I wish we had our own Latin Rite, to enjoy the freedom of Christ and escape the bondage of Francis. Persecution once upon a time came from the outside, now the persecution comes from within, it isn’t our bodies they wish to kill but our very souls themselves. a Parallel Church may have become a necessity. Doesn’t the Great, humble, and Merciful Francis want the good for everyone, then he needs to stop placing shackles only on Traditionalists?
”Synodality as an endless journey” is clericalist idolatry of re-paganized men who have confected a counterfeit church by decapitating Christ from their own body, and substituting themselves as the head. This road they take is as Chesterton projected, eternally walking in circles just as the pre-Christian dragon eating its own tail, with no destination in The Everlasting Man.
Very good, CiM. Synodality amongst this poorly catechised generation, with little to no sacramental awareness, is headed for disaster. Moreover, the recent document on the TLM indicates that those in charge revel in a hermeneutic of disruption, so the dreams of the new synodal participants will be far from the dreams of the prophets of old—and most assuredly be interpreted in such novel ways that fidelity to the Magisterium will be a dusty remnant of deeply-buried Tradition.
It would seem as though most well-formed Catholics will be too discouraged to participate, leaving those who do to engage in a fool’s errand.
I know that this won’t stay up long but;
Permit me to attempt to put this all in layman’s terms – “if you can’t impress them with facts, baffle them with you-know-what.”
The communists always had a written final decision long before they initiated anything.
From the past shameful manipulations of the synods there is ample reason to believe that exactly the same shameful manipulation will occur this time. We believe the outcome has already been decided. Hopefully the African Bishops and others outside of the leftist Church will strongly oppose their leftist agenda.
So, Patricia, do what the Pope asked Catholics to do. Pray that the journey might be a successful one. Prayers are always answered even if there are some people who are hoping that this spiritual exercise fails.
Traditionalists should politely pack the local synodal gatherings. Who is more “marginalized” than they? I’m not kidding. Please someone pass this idea around.
Perhaps, this relatively small group in the huge Catholic Church is already doing so (that will be good) just as it tries to monopolize an increasing number of Catholic sites.
Mal, if the Sankt Gallen Lavender Mafia supporters had sent coherent messages, we would be reading them. The fact is that the go-a-longs either no longer really care or are in Exodus mode (the Francis effect). People writing in are more in Benedict Option mode, because they love Holy Mother Church the more fervantly and can see the tragedy unfolding. Only 1/12th of Christ’s disciples since the beginning have been traitors. May the 11/12ths of good men in holy orders take up the cross and defend the Divine Institution from the Argentinian Marxist ideology.
Mike, I am sorry that you are living in the Make-believe view of the Church at present. I will just state that our beloved Pope, the Vicar of Christ, detests communism especially because it is a form of totalitarianism. He has had first hand experience of its ruthlessness. It is his Christian view that some of the wealth should necessarily trickle down to the poorer brothers and sisters in the community that leads some people to claim that he is a communist.
Mal, two Popes in Rome is not make believe. The republication of The Extended petrine Ministry text by Ganswein in his 2021 book is not make believe. It is on sale. The book “Pope Emeritus?” publishing canonical evidence that Pope Benedict still holds the Munus and the Charge of the Papal office is on sale. It also includes list of serious irregularities in the electoral process of Bergoglio. ISr Lucia’s warning of Two Bishops in Rome and a wrecked Church were referenced by Bergoglio during his canonisation homily in Fatima. “Second Bishop in white who you might think was Pope…. that’s Me!” he said. Or is that text also make believe? Indeed, Mal, if everything is normal in Rome why are we even here chatting about it?
There can only be one synod, one teaching authority, the Magisterium.
No, the Pope is not in favor of adulterers receiving Holy Communion.
In reply to a question on this matter, he said: “I know married Catholics in a second union who go to church, who go to church once or twice a year and say I want Communion, as if joining in Communion were an award. It’s a work towards integration; all doors are open. But we cannot say from here on they can have Communion. This would be an injury also to marriage, to the couple, because it wouldn’t allow them to proceed on this path of integration.”
And what is this “strange cult of the Pachamama?”.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abp-vigano-asks-catholics-to-support-persecuted-clergy-warns-of-epochal-clash-in-church/
Mal, the above link to Archbishop Vigano’s call for an Underground Catholic Church to fight the Free Masons running the Church in Rome is not Make Believe. And when you have read it, a reserach on the same site for “Pachamama” will bring you up to date.
For reminder, if it was not for Archbishop Vigano, Cardinal McCarrick would be the China Specialist in C6 still flying around the World as Bergoglio’s very special envoy.
Sorry Mike, I do not read Lifesite anymore (they have banned me after I submitted posts supporting Vatican2 and Pope Francis) and I have my reasons to distrust Vigano.
Apparently, his actions were influenced by his anger at being denied a chance to return to a position at the Vatican.
“Viganò claims to have known about McCarrick’s proclivities in the early 2000s, before becoming nuncio, but he said nothing. During his 2011-2016 tenure as nuncio, nothing was said or done about McCarrick. Think about it. He had access to the files in the nunciature for five years, yet it didn’t occur to him to expose McCarrick until two years after he retired. Then in 2018 he called upon the nunciature to release the files he claims are there.” https://wherepeteris.com/mccarricks-and-viganos-reckoning/
Hi Mal,
getting banned from Lifesite news must effectively be a bit of a blow, especially as they are one of the few decent media sites around. Your link is to an unfortunate and inaccurate attack on Archbishop Vigano: he denounced what he knew from the outset via letters and internal diplomatic means. Can I recommend you consult the man himself? The first volume of his collected writings “A Voice in the Wilderness” by Angelus Press is out. I gather there is hope of a follow up. What emerges is an international diplomat’s vision of the Political sphere that has been waging civil war against the Catholic Church for decades. There are some very good insights. If it were not for Vigano, Cardinal McCarrick (who abused for the first time in Sankt Gallen) would still be the Sankt Gallen Mafia’s “China deal” expert. Thanks to Vigano – not Bergoglio – McCarrick did not front his second pseudo “Vatican Abuse Summit” in person… You want to defend Bergoglio, Mal? Tell me, what is the Sankt Gallen Mafia programme he says he was elected to follow, and why can’t the church read it? Why did Bergoglio organise an underground pact with selected prelates at the end of the Amazon synod? Are underground pacts synodal? Could you explain what you admire most in the man that Argentina doesn’t? 9 years later… and he is still too afraid of the media fallout to go home. PPBXVI was elected in 2005, and in Germany just a few months later. What is it you appreciate most in that? His way of following scripture rigidly and leaving home and family, perhaps?
Prove your slander that Vigano says what he says because of not getting “promoted.” Prove it. If you can’t, publically apologize for bearing false witness.
With all of these slogans and shibboleths, does anyone get deja vu – the smell of the 60’s and 70’s rushing back upon us?
Have we been duped if our critique of today’s version of synodality is only that it risks validating immorality by an uncritical consensus, or that the German derailment as only an apostasy from the universal Church, or that the successors of the apostles reduced to “facilitators” in a wool-gathering exercise soon to be handed over to the self-compromised Cardinal Hollerich?
Have we been duped? What if the deception of today’s synodality is something else? Instead of the hypothesized blowing of the Holy Spirit, what if synodality is really the ghost of Karl Rahner and Hans Keung?
What if the premise is that the divine self-disclosure in revelation is so obscure that all of our concepts are really devoid of meaning, graffiti, interchangeable clothing attached to the completely unknowable?
We then might presume that contradictory teachings are equally meaningless, phantasms, destined to be mutually assimilated—if only we say “what the hell,” meaning that the Holy Spirit will deliver yet another and non-exclusive phantasm of the moment. The moral absolutes of Veritatis Splendor, and the homosexual lifestyle as well as sequential bigamy and solitary sexual sins, all, are all cut from the same meaningless cloth. Conceptual contradictions do not exist, because the concepts themselves (e.g., moral absolutes, pastoral novelties) are only provisional (!) and do not really exist!
But wait, what?
Pope Paul VI saw this game, way back in the heady days (daze!) shortly after Vatican II, when he recalled that revelation is NOT inarticulate, that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14), that councils are more than ripples within a fluid process of collective self-expression, and therefore that permanent dogmatic formulas are true and, shall we say, admissible (!): “The truths which the Church intends to teach through her dogmatic formulas are distinct [!] from the changeable conceptions of a given epoch and can be expressed without them” (Mysterium Ecclesiae, 1973).
It’s the concepts and the truth, stupid.