Monday, February 25, 2013

2003 Ratzinger Interview



Thanks to John Sonnen for this English interview with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from 2003

4 comments:

Malvenu said...

Thank you, Father, for posting the video. Two comments (from right near the end) struck me above all:

“[Pope John Paul II’s] suffering is in communion with the suffering of Christ”

“Seeing the suffering Pope [JPII], I cannot say to the Pope, ‘I will retire, I will write my books’; Seeing him…I have to continue”

Some have said that 'having seen' JPII towards the end of his papacy Benedict might have thought it was a case of 'Seeing the suffering of JPII I have to get out before it happens to me. So what has changed?

I can't help thinking, particularly in the light of the above comments, that there is something sinister going on. That was my initial reaction on hearing the news and not much has changed for me to change my mind.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Malvenu, This is a fallen world there is always "something sinister going on".
I think we should accept the Pope's words about retiring, first of all.

Secondly, we can ask why now? The answer is presumably he feels he has done all he can, and now is the best time for someone else to take over. Someone who can strengthen the heirarchy and cleanse the Curia.

Malvenu said...

I do hope you are right about the timing, and about trusting in Benedict's judgement, etc.

I really ought to stop moaning and start praying a bit more about what is to come!

Our Lady of Good Success-pray for us. said...

'the suffering Pope' left a church with internal sufferings not seen since the reformaton - why should a wise successor not seek to avert this?

Thanks for posting this interview: some quotes:

RE: Tridentine Mass...'important for the continuity...we are not a new Church today from 500 years ago...thus what was Holy for the Church 500 years ago is ALWAYS Holy for the Church.'

RE: imperative in the Liturgy: 'that you can see the sacrifice of Christ is here and the Triune God is in contact with us.'

RE: Problems with homilies: 'priests and bishops presenting their preferred ideas and not the completeness of the Faith.'

RE: abuse scandals: 'general and specific elements of the scandals - 1: the weakness of human being (general) even among priests and bishops; 2: why so prolific? A weakness of Faith. If the Lord is more than an 'idea', is the Person of my deepest friendship, if I know personally the Lord and am in contact of Love everday in the Lord, if everyday Faith is a reality and the ground of my life the most sure reality, and not just another 'possibility'...in this case, if I'm really in contact with the Lord, the Lord will help me with these temptations...and I can even overcome what seems impossible...[however] if the Faith is not realised, if the Faith is weak and only begins to be an hypothesis, so that it is not a fundament of one's life, so begins all these problems...so an essential point for me is a weakness of the Faith, and not a sufficient presence of Faith WITHIN THE CHURCH...for the last 50 years the 'idea' was that we (the Church) also have so many ideas in common with the world, [whereas] Faith as a personal gift of the Lord was not so present...

RE: the solution: relearn, reconvert to a deeper Faith. Also of last 50 years, the 'moral' teaching of the Church has been unclear. So many 'masters' of the Church said, 'no this is not a sin, this is not a sin,this is common'...[the idea being that] what is average of doing is also permitted...with these ideas we have no clear moral teachings. [The rememdy to this] is conversion to profound and deep faith with the life of prayer and the sacraments. Humble faithful persons, humble praying people...are the confidence of the Church.'

RE: SSM: 'the nature of sexuality finds its place in the context of Marriage'...

Q: this today is a very contested notion and a very contested teaching re: gay marriage, invitro outside of marriage; how do you bring this teaching {that the nature of sexuality finds its place in the context of Marriage (one woman, one man, till death to us part)}...
A: '...you cannot think that I now in one minute could clarify what all these great people in great books can clarify...the nature of human beings is given...men and women are created one TOO the other...a creational relation...it is essential that God created man and woman to be ONE...our nature is always present and we can understand it if we WILL understand it...these other things are a counter-culture...not in conformity with an internal indication of our beings...'

RE: The Church - what now?: 'the dangers of the Church today...that We would be only a 'social association', and not founded in the Faith of the Lord...the danger in these times with all the activities and external visions is to underestimate the importance of Faith, and to lose the Faith..a church where the Faith would not be so essential. The great hope is that we see a new Presence of the Lord, the Sacramental Presence of the Lord, the Eucharist is an essential Gift of the Lord and gives us the opportunity to Love the other, rather than work for the other. [the importance] of a new presence of the Eucharistic Christ and a new love for Christ and Christ's present in the Eucharist is most important in our time.'

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