Monday, March 18, AD 2024 9:25pm

PopeWatch: Dictatorship of the Zeitgeist

 

There has been a lot written about the message sent by the Pope Emeritus in regard to the funeral of Cardinal Meissner.  Archbishop Georg Gänswein, former personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus, has denied that the statement was in way aimed at Pope Francis.  Here is a translation of the entire statement.  You be the judge:

 

In this hour, when the Church of Cologne and believers further afield take their leave of Cardinal Joachim Meissner, I am with them in my heart and thoughts and am pleased to accede to Cardinal Woelki’s wish and address a word of reflection to them.

When I heard last Wednesday by telephone of the death of Cardinal Meissner, I could not believe it at first. We had spoken to each other the previous day. From the way he spoke he was grateful to be on holiday now, after he had taken part the Sunday before (25th June) in the beatification of Bishop Teofilius Maturlionis in Vilnius. His love for the neighbouring Churches in the East, which had suffered persecution under Communism, as well as gratitude for endurance in suffering during that time left a lifelong mark on him. So it was certainly no accident that the last visit of his life was made to a confessor of the faith.

What struck me particularly in the last conversations with the Cardinal, now gone home, was the natural cheerfulness, the inner peace and the assurance he had found. We know that it was hard for him, the passionate shepherd and pastor of souls, to leave his office, and this precisely at a time when the Church had a pressing need for shepherds who would oppose the dictatorship of the zeitgeist, fully resolved to act and think from a faith standpoint. Yet I have been all the more impressed that in this last period of his life he learned to let go, and live increasingly from the conviction that the Lord does not leave his Church, even if at times the ship is almost filled to the point of shipwreck.

There were two things which in this final period allowed him to be increasingly happy and assured:

– The first was that he often related to me that what filled him with deep joy was to experience, in the Sacrament of Penance, how young people, above all young men, came to experience the mercy of forgiveness, the gift, in effect to have found life, which only God can give them.

– The second, which again and again touched and made him happy, was the perceptible increase in Eucharistic adoration. This was the central theme for him at World Youth Day in Cologne – that there was adoration, a silence, in which the Lord alone speaks to hearts. Some pastoral and liturgical authorities were of the opinion that such a silence in contemplation of the Lord with such a huge number of people could achieve nothing. A few were also of the opinion that Eucharistic adoration as such has been overtaken, because the Lord wanted to be received in the Eucharistic bread and not be looked at. Yet the fact that a person cannot eat this bread as just some sort of nourishment, and that to “receive” the Lord in the Eucharistic Sacrament includes all the dimensions of our existence – that receiving has to be worship, something which has in the meantime become increasingly clearer. So the period of Eucharistic adoration at the Cologne World Youth Day became an interior event that has remained unforgettable, and not only to the Cardinal. This moment for him was subsequently always present internally and a great light for him.

When on the last morning Cardinal Meissner did not appear for Mass, he was found dead in his room. The breviary had slipped from his hands: he died while praying, his face on the Lord, in conversation with the Lord. The art of dying, which was given to him, again demonstrated how he had lived: with his face towards the Lord and in conversation with him. So we may confidently entrust his soul to the goodness of God.

Lord, we thank you for the witness of this your servant, Joachim. Let him now intercede for the Church of Cologne and for the whole world.

Requiescat in pace!

0 0 votes
Article Rating
10 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Friday, July 21, AD 2017 4:00am

Pope Benedict XVI was wrong to have resigned, and is wrong in his idea of a bifurcation of the Papacy – one part contemplative and spiritual, and another part active and engaged in the world. Many people thing Jorge Bergoglio is an interloper and Benedict still the real Pope. Whatever the truth is, Bergoglio fits the definition of one of the little antichrists in the 1st Epistle of St. John.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Friday, July 21, AD 2017 4:13am

“……..the Lord does not leave his Church, even if at times the ship is almost filled to the point of shipwreck.”

“…..and made him happy, was the perceptible increase in Eucharistic adoration.” Pope Emeritus

For this observer, Pope Emeritus is making his point. Francis is a big boy. His take on the letter is what I’d like to know. After all. He is in charge of this listing ship.

The increase in P.E.A. is a GREAT sign!
Christ is being adored and His leadership is bailing out the sea water….the corrosive sea water that’s​ akin to the smoke of Satan.

Good things await Holy Church!
The owner of the ship will see to it.

Jesus I Trust in You.

Father of Seven
Father of Seven
Friday, July 21, AD 2017 5:02am

There you have it. Archbishop Ganswein can’t read. Because there is no way the Pope Emeritus was talking about the Church historically. Francis is the dictator from the zeitgeist.

Murray
Murray
Friday, July 21, AD 2017 8:25am

Whether else you may think about him, Joseph Ratzinger is an extremely intelligent man with an almost atomically precise gift for language. If (per Ganswein) he had wanted to make some general statement about the eternal mission of the Church, he would have done so. Instead, he deliberately invoked the current crisis:

We know that it was hard for him, the passionate shepherd and pastor of souls, to leave his office, and this precisely at a time when the Church had a pressing need for shepherds who would oppose the dictatorship of the zeitgeist…

…in this last period of his life he learned to let go, and live increasingly from the conviction that the Lord does not leave his Church, even if at times the ship is almost filled to the point of shipwreck.

Add to that his closing remarks on Eucharistic Adoration–again, in a time when the reigning pontiff repeatedly demonstrates his indifference toward the Blessed Sacrament–and there’s simply no mistaking his meaning. Of course he was referring to Francis, and the squeals of outrage from the Bergoglian Minion Brigade indicate that he struck home.

Ronald Sevenster
Ronald Sevenster
Friday, July 21, AD 2017 9:27am

The diagnosis of the Emeritus hit the mark, but it will be of no avail in correcting the disastruous and self-destructive course of the Vatican under Francis. The overwhelming majority of the hierarchy is simply modernist and this won’t change for generations.

Mary De Voe
Friday, July 21, AD 2017 2:04pm

LQC ” – one part contemplative and spiritual, and another part active and engaged in the world.” does not mean deluded nor separated from God.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Saturday, July 22, AD 2017 3:22am

Like so much of Benedict’s it is too subtle to engage many. My opinion is that what he said was aimed at Francis, but not exactly a rallying cry for a palace revolt.

The Bear
Wednesday, July 26, AD 2017 12:17am

There is a old saying, which is NOT to be considered an incitement to violence by some dunderhead, “If you aim at the king, make sure you kill him.” This is such weak tea that IF Benedict truly intended this to be some sort of coded message in a matter of such importance, I would prefer Francis, who at least lets everybody know where he stands. The truth is way too much is being made of this.

Biemkpa Ndubuisi Solomon
Thursday, July 27, AD 2017 10:58am

Pope Benedict Still Remains The Accepted Pope In Our Minds And Hearts. So It Is In The Sight Of God. He Has Spoken Like A Father, Who Still Shepherds, Billions Many Souls. We Are In The Era False christs, The World Is Now In An Injury Time. Francis Is A Fake Prophet

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top