Benedict breaks his silence

The merits of this text are undeniable in many ways. In a storm, its author tries to clarify some dark areas and reveal deep dysfunctions, past and present, in the Church. It is necessary to recognize some value to what might seem like a kind of mea culpa. Could it be that the proximity of eternity has something to do with these considerations?

A speech criticized by the media

In fact, the media, at the time, were not deceived and went out on all sides to criticize a boring badysis. In order to discredit the message of the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the most implausible arguments are used.

Some say that Benedict XVI is "manipulated" by his relatives or doubt to be the true author. The relevance of this publication has been strongly questioned. Marco Politi, a well-known progressive Vaticanist, is not afraid to speak of a pamphlet and states: "The Emeritus Pope should have opted for silence" because "in times of greater gravity, a the only voice must be heard from above, otherwise there is a risk of confusion. "Similarly, he expresses suspicions that Benedict XVI may be" influenced by the German ultra-conservative cardinals Walter Brandmüller and Gerhard Müller ", former prefect of the CDF, to whom the Argentine pope did not renew his mandate in 2017; two prelates who, according to him, would be "engaged in a vast maneuver to attribute to culture the sins of pedophilia in the Church gay and the loss of faith. "

Faced with such reactions, the reflections of the eminent German pope merit calmly badyzed. These observations are divided into three parts: the social context; its consequences on the men of the Church; looking for a suitable solution.

Part one: The causes

The social context of the liberation of customs

Benedict XVI begins by recalling that "in the 1960s, an event of unprecedented magnitude took place in history.It can be said that for twenty years, from 1960 to 1980, the rules about baduality have completely collapsed. "

These are the root causes of the abuses: the liberal revolution of the sixties and the aggressive implementation of bad education increasingly unbridled, accompanied by the eruption of badgraphy that immediately invades the screens of cinemas and later , of those of the television. Since then, advocates of panbaduality have begun to praise and promote pedophilia.

This badysis was strongly questioned by the opinion leaders. However, just look at the article entitled Apology of pedophilia (Apology of pedophilia) published in the Wikipedia virtual encyclopedia to learn more about the subject. The introduction is illuminating enough: "The apology for pedophilia refers to all actions, writings and positions aimed at accepting pedophilia by society or renting it. This tendency existed mainly at the time of the so-called badual revolution, especially in the years immediately following 1968, after which some people presented themselves as pedophiles, but also as "sympathizers". Different groups of individuals and isolated individuals have tried to present pedophilia as an acceptable badual attraction or to question the principles of badual majority or badual abuse of a minor. Simultaneously, at that time, pedophilia was subject to media complacency, political and intellectual. This movement never reached a sustainable and important level of recognition despite the fact that, in the 1970s, it benefited from the support of certain media and politicians of limited scope. "

In France, for example, the newspaper Release advocates for a long time the flexibilisation of the legislation on the corruption of the minors, with the support of petitions signed by personalities such as Aragon, Roland Barthes, Simone de Beauvoir, François Chatelet, Patrice Chéreau, Jacques Derrida, Francoise Dolto, Michel Foucault, André Glucksmann, Félix Guattari, Bernard Kouchner, Jack Lang, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jean-Paul Sartre, Philippe Sollers … Daniel Cohn-Bendit, an important figure in the May 1968 revolution, praised pedophilia, even with a girl of five years.

Benedict XVI identifies in this nauseous current that considers pedophilia as "permissible and appropriate" one of the explanations of the corruption of youth, even among a whole generation of priests, many of whom have made a great defection.

The revolution of moral theology

At the same time, there has been a "collapse" in moral theology and the teaching of the Church in the matter of customs, the fruit of a true revolution born of conscious disregard of the law. natural.

Benedict XVI writes: "Before the Second Vatican Council, Catholic moral theology was largely based on natural law, whereas the Holy Scriptures were cited only as a context or foundation in the Council's struggle for a new understanding of theology. the Apocalypse, the choice of natural law was largely abandoned and a moral theology entirely based on the Bible was claimed. "

This admission is important: it is a fact that it is the Council that appears responsible for the abandonment of the natural law. The badysis of Benedict XVI recognizes this abandonment, without measuring what seems to be a break with tradition. Because moral theology can not do without natural law and can not do without it: grace does not destroy nature, but presupposes it. Want to build a moral without this being a complete nonsense (see News of ChristendomNo. 176, March-April 2019, p. 5-9). Moreover, to pretend to contradict natural law and revelation is an illusion. Because the natural law is contained in the Holy Scriptures, the source of the revelation, as the Decalogue clearly shows. This law was inscribed in the heart of man by God himself, author of nature.

From this flow the innumerable excesses of the new theology, and in particular moral relativism, which Benedict XVI rightly denounces. Hence also the claim of independence of theologians against the Magisterium, perceived as an enemy of freedom and slowing down the progress of theology and humanity. Benedict XVI mentions several episodes of this conflict.

The eminent pope tries to defend himself, and with him to John Paul II, emphasizing his work when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is under his direction that the new Catechism of the Catholic Church was published, while the encyclical Veritatis Splendordespite its limitations, reaffirmed the existence of the intangible foundations of morality.

Attacks against the magisterium of the church

Benedict XVI also mentions "the hypothesis that the Magisterium of the Church should have final competence (" infallibility ") only in matters of faith". This hypothesis, widely spread and accepted, meant that "questions of morality should not be included in the field of application of the infallible decisions of the Magisterium of the Church".

Although Joseph Ratzinger sees in this hypothesis "probably something right", which would give him coherence, he defends the existence of a "minimal morality inextricably linked to the fundamental principle of faith", without which the infallibility of the Church and the Pope in matters of faith and moral. The most radical opponents, ignoring this fact, logically claim that "the Church does not have and can not have its own morality".

The response of the emeritus Pope is the clear statement that the foundation of all morality is the revelation that man was created in the image of God, faith in the one God and the only one. Pilgrim aspect of the Christian life. We go to the homeland and the Church must protect the faithful of the world.

Second part: the effects

The second part of Benedict XVI's reflections shows the ravages caused by the double dissolution of Christian morality and by the authority of the Church in matters of morality. It is there that he strives to denounce the effects while protecting the Council and its reforms. However, he acknowledges the inadequacy of the means of punishment and healing that the Church gives after the Council.

Break in training seminars

The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who knows the subject in depth, first addresses the question of priestly formation, openly admitting that "with regard to the problem of the preparation of the Priestly ministry in seminaries, there is a deep rupture with the earlier form of this preparation. "This break in training has allowed the formation" in many seminaries "of homobadual clans, who, acting more or less openly, have considerably transformed the atmosphere of the seminars. in southern Germany, candidates for priesthood and lay ministry candidates as pastoral badistants lived together, at community meals, the seminarians and these candidates ate together, (…) the latter being sometimes accompanied their wives and children It was impossible for the atmosphere of this seminary to guarantee preparation for the priestly vocation. "

The Holy See has been informed of these problems, particularly in the United States. Apostolic visits have been organized. This is the only mention on homobaduality in seminars. In a document dealing with pedophilia, it's more than what the media and opinion makers can support …

Break in the recruitment of bishops

In this atmosphere of moral collapse, Joseph Ratzinger also admits that the implementation of the council has had the effect of elevating the hierarchy of the Church to pastors inadequately trained in their tasks.

"Since the criteria for the selection and appointment of bishops were also changed after the Second Vatican Council, the relations of bishops with their seminaries were also considerably modified, and one of the main criteria for the appointment of bishops was New bishops were their "conciliarity", a term that could have very different meanings In many sectors of the Church, conciliar attitudes were understood as a critical or negative attitude towards the existing tradition, which was now to be replaced by a new, radically open relationship with the world, a bishop, who was previously rector of a seminary, organized the projection of badgraphic films to seminarians, in order to make them resistant to behavior contrary to the faith, everywhere and not just in the United States, there were bishops who rejected the tradition that as a whole and have sought to create a kind of news of "catholicity", modern, in their dioceses. "

Behind this observation hides the true "purification" of which the bishops attached to the tradition have been victims, systematically dismissed or replaced by a progressive episcopate attached to new ideas, those of the Council and the aggiornamentoit allowed almost anything. What is at stake is the application of Vatican II by Pope Paul VI by the appointment of bishops. A subject that deserves to be deepened.

Break in canon law

Finally, Benedict XVI tackles directly the problem of pedophilia and the insufficiency of the means of repression provided for by the new Code of Canon Law. This pbadage is particularly instructive.

"The issue of pedophilia (…) was raised until the second half of the eighties." The bishops of the United States, where the problem had already become public, "asked for help because the canon law, recorded in the new Code (1983), seemed insufficient to take the necessary measures. .) Very slowly, began to take it constitutes a revival and deepening of the deliberately unstructured criminal law of the new code. "

At the root of this deliberately desired weakness, "there was a fundamental problem in the perception of criminal law." guarantee, was considered "conciliar". Above all, the rights of the accused had to be guaranteed, to a degree that would exclude any conviction. (…) The right to defend oneself through the guarantee was extended to a point where convictions were hardly possible. "

The Pope Emeritus justifies his work by explaining his behavior: "A balanced canon law (…) should not only protect the accused (…) It should also protect the faith (…) But no one accept today that the protection of faith is a legal right ".

Because of this guaranteeit was necessary to overcome the difficulty by transferring the powers of the Congregation for the clergy, normally responsible for the treatment of crimes committed by priests, to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the indictment of "Major Crimes against the faith". This allowed "to impose the maximum penalty, that is, deportation, which could not have been imposed under other legal provisions". To protect the faith, it was necessary to establish a real criminal procedure, with the possibility of appealing to Rome.

Thus, the implacable logic of personalism, which puts the individual before society and the common good, has rendered the justice of the Church practically inoperative with the Code of Canon Law of 1983. Since then, the Roman Curia tried to overcome the obstacles, at the cost of legal contortions and unequal results. A real disaster …