A generally good rule of life is to follow the advice you give to others.
Burn of the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was magnificent as head of the Confraternity for the Doctrine of the Faith; then followed by Gerhard Cardinal Mueller another stalwart Catholic.
… “The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.
… I’ll be relaxing at Castel Gandolfo if anyone needs more words of wisdom.”
“I’ll be
relaxingheld incommunicado at Castel Gandolfo; if anyone needs more words of wisdom talk to Bergoglio.”Another view.
Ha! Frank, retiring to Castel Gandolfo for a quiet life of study and prayer was B16’s stated plan … Pope Francis never let him do that. Francis did, however, let him retire to a nice little monastery in the Vatican gardens. A retreat house for cloistered nuns, if I’m remembering correctly. Not the resort town he had hoped for, and little chance for visitors, but not bad digs either.
eh…I’m not sure he sought comfort. I think he was a) relucatant to be the man in charge, and b) a hypocondriac. The result was a man uncomfortable in his role and proved not to be up to the challenge, who then convinced himself he was dying and likely wished he was. Another poor choice by those who continue to fail the Church and its people. That said, he was the epitome of the staff officer, extraordinarily proficient in his role inf the CDF.
I am reminded of the words of Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry in the film Magnum Force, “A man’s got to know his limitations”.
I’ve always loved B16. I believe there were forces beyond his control that were working to sabotage him. He may have been deliberately drugged. Eventually the facts will surface.
Pope B XVI was a brilliant man, but a very big disappointment too. I don’t like quitters.
PS, commentary from Catholic Christendom on Twitter well worth reading:
https://x.com/i/status/2061936805054644274
He certainly merits criticism for abdicating the papacy. But few people sacrificed more comfort and his own desires in service of the Church than Joseph Ratzinger. All things considered, he did follow his own advice.
PS, commentary from Catholic Christendom on Twitter well worth reading:
https://x.com/i/status/2061936805054644274
Same could be said about his immediate predecessor. But then again, any serious Catholic who claims he is not influenced by the the world around him is full of crap!