The personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus is speaking out again.
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s long-time personal secretary, has given a sweeping interview in which he accuses his fellow German bishops of downplaying Catholic dogma, and insists that popes cannot change the Church’s with “half sentences or somewhat ambiguous footnotes.”
Gänswein, who also serves as Prefect for the Papal Household for Pope Francis, made his remarks in an interview published Monday in the Ravensburg newspaper Schwäbischen Zeitung.
“Considering the baselines of their theological convictions, there is definitely a continuity” between Benedict and Francis, Gänswein said, according to a Catholic News Agency translation.
“Obviously, I am also aware that occasionally doubt might be cast on this, given the differences in representation and expression” between the two men, he added.
“But when a pope wants to change an aspect of the doctrine, then he has to do so clearly, so as to make it binding,” noted the 59-year-old archbishop, a canon lawyer who formerly worked in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“Important magisterial tenets cannot be changed by half sentences or somewhat ambiguous footnotes,” he said, in an apparent reference to the controversy over Amoris Laetitia.
Go here to read the rest. It is hard not to suspect that the Archbishop is not merely speaking for himself but also for the Pope Emeritus. Is he?
It is nice to have what appears to be a little truth emerging from what otherwise is a fetid swamp of ambiguity, dissembling, and general cowardice.
“Bless their hearts” – those revolutionaries from Germany, please God, and give them the grace to repent.
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Our iniquity quota seems to be reaching full measure- remember in the OT when God didn’t intervene against the Amorites until the measure of iniquity was full? Genesis 15 – it is a puzzle but sometimes He lets us run our course.
God bless Archbishop Gänswein. This whole thing must be such a trial for him. I thank God he is speaking.
“iniquity” – according to my bible study is can be “anomia or without law” “lawlessness””
Anzlyne, great observation. The God of the OT is no different than the God of the NT. Same God. Humanity is constantly changing, re-learning and in constant need of redemption. Sometimes the greatest mercy is “to let us run our course”.
And for that reason, I think this challenge is less a trial for him than the moral ambiguity of evil that lurked in dark places. Evil loves to be hidden. Good loves clarity. They have the buildings, but we have the Faith! Perhaps God, goodness, Grace are all on the march! Perhaps he sees that also.
One of my all time favorite verses from scripture: Proverbs 28:1
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion”.
“Important magisterial tenets cannot be changed by half sentences or some-
what ambiguous footnotes.” in an apparent reference to the controversy
over Amoris Laetitia.
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I believe His Excellency is correct, but I also believe that the people who pushed
for the ambiguities and contradictions found in Amoris Laetitia are already
contemptuous of the law and well-defined dogma. It is in confusion and
ambiguity that they are able to change the practice of the Faith, without
the need to formally change one word of doctrine.