BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

I have dilly-dallied about translating the following two items because some assertions by Guerriero directly challenge my interim choice to ignore all the indications in his book and Seewald's that Benedict XVI appears to be publicly giving unconditional support to Jorge Mario Bergoglio - which would mean endorsing all the un-Catholic and anti-Catholic words and acts of the latter. It amounts to a state of denial on my part which I find preferable to protesting passionately, "How could you, Joseph Ratzinger????"

Elio Guerriero visits Benedict XVI:
An old disciple and a splendid professor
By Alessandro Notarnicola

Sept. 23, 2016

“Finally it happened. A few days ago, I took the train to bring my book to Pope Benedict. I was a bit timorous, really. I was bringing the book to the theologian Pope. I, an old disciple, to him, a speldnid professor.”

Thus author and theologian Elio Guerriero, who is a regular contributor to Avvenire, wrote on his Facebook page. A few weeks ago, Mondadori published his Servitore di Dio e dell’umanità. La biografia di Benedetto XVI.

Guerriero accompanied his note with the photo which shows him seated next to the emeritus Pope who looks up smiling from leafing through the book of which, while it was being written, he had agreed to review the manuscript, responding to numerous questions of clarification and providing valuable suggestions to a biography that he had authorized Guerriero to write.

The author recalls his visit: “As soon as I entered the library-salon, I felt good vibrations. I handed him the book, and he paused to look at the cover. He nodded and said, ‘The background color reminds me of Bavaria’. And those who know his love for his Bavarian homeland, the comment was a compliment. Then he went through the Table of Contents attentively, asking an explanation for the theme titles, and thanked me with great conviction. I told him that the public interest shown in the book confirms a widespread perception that we are going through a kind of ‘Ratzinger renaissance’ that has nothing to do with those who insist on seeing a contrast between him and his successor, who say that what he says in public about Pope Francis is dictated by circumstance. Which is nonsense. Pope Benedict is sincere and more free than ever. But those who remember his teaching and his person with renewed interest do not lose sight of his invitation to the essentials of the faith, his writings on love and faith, his appeals about Europe that its leaders ought to have listened to. And even if his attention now seems directed elsewhere, to the next life, I think he is grateful for
the acknowledgment of facts and truth in the book”.

Guerriero explains that since he became a bishop, Joseph Ratzinger had always interpreted his role as servant of God, which explains the title he chose for this book. A role which he has continued even under the ministry of Papa Bergoglio, who is linked spiritually to his predecessor by the concept of mercy. The book starts with a Preface written by Pope Francis and ends with an interview with Benedict XVI.

In the Preface, Pope Francis describes his predecessor underscoring his courage and determination. Guerriero points out that Joseph Ratzinger was always someone who was not afraid to take unpopular positions when it had to do with the good of the Church.

“It is what he did as a theologian, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and as Pope. You will recall his interview book with Messori in 1984, when he criticized liberation theology [as it was then practised in Latin America], incurring great unpopularity. And whereas many theologians had said they had ‘re-formed’ themselves, quite generically, ‘in the spirit of Vatican II’, he was always guided by what the Council ‘dictated’ [what its documents actually say]. He followed the example of Hans Urs von Balthasar who was never afraid to criticize dominant theological positions. And as Pope, he often exhorted bishops and priests to be courageous, not to become mediators of consensus”.

For his blog, Aldo Maria Valli, lead Vaticanista for RAI State TV, interviewed Guerriero:

'Benedict XVI:
Servant of God and of mankind'
Translated from the blog
of Aldo Maria Valli
Sept. 23, 2016

“This ample biography of my predecessor Benedict XVI is welcome: It offers a reliable and balanced overview of his life and the development of his thinking”.

Thus begins Pope Francis’s Preface to Elio Guerriero’s book Servitore di Dio e dell’umanità. La biografia di Benedetto XVI (Mondadori, 542 pp), a work in which the author, a theologian and Church historian who for a long time was lead editor of Jaca Books and San Paolo publications, combines his competence as a specialist with his narrative abilities and his admiration for the emeritus Pope.

Elio Guerriero, how did this book come about and what is its purpose?
I met Cardinal Ratzinger for the first time in 1985. I was working with San Paolo publishing house and I was assigned to pursue the translation of his works in Italian. The work required that we would meet from time to time, and so, in addition to growing acquaintance with his works, our personal relationship also grew. Right away, one noted the difference between the person and the image that was current about him.

Then, he was elected Pope, with a Pontificate marked by extraordinary Magisterium and governing difficulties. [Guerriero appears to adopt unquestioningly the media commonplaces about Benedict’s Pontificate. What specific governing difficulties did he have that were any different from or worse than governing difficulties encountered in the Pontificates of his predecessors – or of his successor, for that matter? There were never any genuine or major scandals, and even the ‘worst’ of his personnel problems (his choice of Cardinal Bertone as Secretary of State, the manufactured problems about Ettore Gotti Tedeschi at IOR) never did result in anything disastrous or injurious in the long run to the Vatican or to the Church.]

But I think the decisive push to write this book came with his renunciation of the Petrine ministry. I felt compelled to underscore that his decision resulted from his faith that the Church is really led by Christ himself, who would, [B]through the Holy Spirit, choose a pastor able to show the way that she must take, which is what has happened.

What does this book add to what we already know about Joseph Ratzinger and his pontificate?
First of all, there are various clarification on the origins – underscoring the importance of the thought of St. Augustine and St. Bonaventure in his formation – of the ideas which were his major contributions to Vatican II, especially to the Constitution on Divine Revelation.

Then it contains an overview of his tenure as Archbishop of Munich-Freising, of which little has been said before this.

And for his long service at the CDF, I highlighted his ability to unify and to promote the faith, especially with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In his Pontificate, I showed the importance that Pope Benedict always gave to the Church’s universal call to holiness, which was considered the great novelty of Vatican II. For Benedict XVI, the saints are the best explanation of the Gospel over time. And he also proposed a new humanism for the Third Millennium which is a possible way out for the many difficulties the world is facing today.

Benedict XVI will go down in history because of his renunciation. Do you think he should be remembered only for this or also for other contributions he has made to the Church and to mankind?
Of course, his renunciation will be remembered as a significant turning point in the history of the Church, but the contributions he has made to the Magisterium and to Christian life since the latter part of the 20th century to the present is very rich and comprehensive. Pope Francis refers to that authoritatively in his preface to the book.

For my part, I wish to underscore his insistence on the harmonious collaboration between reason and faith, which he has defended from his first university professorship in Bonn in the late 1950s; his constant evocation of the love of God, which opened the way to the path of mercy that his successor emphasizes; and in recent years, the expression of his tender and passionate love for Jesus [in the JESUS OF NAZARETH trilogy]. Other themes are his idea for serious dialog among religions, his love for Creation, the way of beauty which comes from God and leads back to him.

Pope Francis writes in the preface that the presence of an emeritus Pope is a novelty, and because the two popes love each other, it is ‘a beautiful novelty’. Beyond the esteem that they have for each other, is everything truly well with having two popes, or are there problematic issues?
I would not say there are problematic issues, but about the difficulties that could arise in the event that the reigning pope and the emeritus are not in agreement. But it must not be forgotten either that the difficulties are far from minor for a pope who remains in office despite serious illness. This has been the subject of investigation by canon lawyers.

But I maintain that with Benedict XVI, one must start off with the concept of a service that can be carried out fully if one is in good health. Otherwise, while conserving the properly sacramental aspect of the office, one ought to renounce the exercise of the episcopal or papal mandate. [Diversamente, conservando l’aspetto propriamente sacramentale, conviene rinunciare all’esercizio del mandato episcopale o papale.]

[I had to include the original statement in Italian, because all those who argue that the title 'emeritus pope' makes no sense and is canonically impossible say the reason is that a pope is not 'consecrated' sacramentally as bishops are. From his statement, Guerriero apparently thinks there is a 'properly sacramental aspect' to the papal mandate. I don't know if a competent canon lawyer/Church historian can clarify this issue. Does the 'Mass to inaugurate the Petrine ministry' - during which the new Pope is invested with the pallium and his ring of office - not constitute his consecration as Pope? How can that Mass be any sacramentally less than the consecration of a bishop?]

On the other hand, seeing the example before our eyes, we can only thank God and the two protagonists themselves for their beautiful testimony of communion and brotherhood.

The book ends with an interview with the emeritus Pope. Can you tell us how you found him? What struck you the most at that meeting?
That Pope Benedict has kept his mental lucidity intact. But physically, he inevitably shows his age, 90 next year. In the visits I have made to him, I was struck by the serenity of his spirit, his sincere admiration for his successor [OUCH, OUCH, OUCH! Shall I trust Guerriero on this, or is he simply trying to make nice with the pope who wrote a preface to his book?], his closeness to the life of the Church. This confirms for me the rightness of his decision and the quality of his personal witness which remains even during his years in retirement.

Beatrice notes that the formal presentation of Guerriero's book in Rome was to have taken place yesterday with a completely Bergoglian cast of characters - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Fr. Federico Lombardi (named by the Vatican to be the new president of the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger/Benedetto XVI, now considered a Vatican agency), and Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community, described best in Beatrice's words, "who recently was in the news as inspirer and coordinator of the Assisi meeting, and who has projected himself as the key man in 're-framing' Benedict XVI as being in continuity with Jorge Bergoglio (not the other way around)". No chances taken by having a Georg Gaenswein who might once again speak of an 'enlarged papacy'!