Where Peter Is

there is the Church

Where Peter Is

Tagged: Pope Benedict XVI

abuse crisis / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis

What to make of Benedict’s essay on the crisis?

This Thursday, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI published an article in a German newspaper about the sexual abuse crisis. In it, the Pope Emeritus takes some hard stances against the decline in sexual morality that took place following the 1960s in general, and the Second Vatican Council in particular. Francis’ detractors, unsurprisingly, have read it as a vindication of their claims that the root cause of the abuse crisis is the Church’s sexual decay. They see...

New Evangelization / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis / Remnant

The Remnant: it is not what you’ve been told

From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges (…) And so it seems certain to me that...

Gaudete et Exsultate / Holiness / Lumen Fidei / Pope Benedict XVI

Suffering is a Part of Holiness

Humility can only take root in the heart through humiliations. Without them, there is no humility or holiness. If you are unable to suffer and offer up a few humiliations, you are not humble and you are not on the path to holiness. The holiness that God bestows on his Church comes through the humiliation of his Son. He is the way. Humiliation makes you resemble Jesus; it is an unavoidable aspect of the imitation...

Amoris Laetitia / Catechism of the Catholic Church / death penalty / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis

We do not Possess the Truth: How the Church Changes Her Teachings

“We must move toward an idea of truth that is evermore inclusive, less restrictive; at least, if we are thinking of the truth of God and not some human truth, however solid it may appear to us. The truth of God is inexhaustible; it is an ocean of which we can hardly see the shore. It is something that we are beginning to discover in these times: not to make us slaves to an almost...

abuse crisis / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis

The Pagan law of Eternal Return and the faithful’s inconstancy

“Their position is quite reasonable; nay, in a sense it is infinitely reasonable, just as a threepenny bit is infinitely circular. But there is such a thing as a mean infinity, a base and slavish eternity. It is amusing to notice that many of the moderns, whether sceptics or mystics, have taken as their sign a certain eastern symbol, which is the very symbol of this ultimate nullity. When they wish to represent eternity, they...

abuse crisis / Holiness / Pope Francis

If Even the Pope is Corrupt…

If even the Pope is corrupt, it means that I was drastically wrong about him. I have been drastically wrong before: I was once a Protestant! If even the Pope is corrupt, it means that I thought someone an eminently holy man who was not. It means that I still have much to learn about the love of God– but when has that not been the case? It is a lesson in humility and humiliation,...

abuse crisis / Breaking / Church News / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis / Scandal

Gänswein: Benedict will not comment on Vigano’s accusations

The following is a translation of an article from Die Tagespost. The original article can be found here. The private secretary of Pope Emeritus Benedict denies reports which claim that Benedict confirmed the reports of former Vatican diplomat Vigano. The claim that the former pope confirmed the reports is devoid of any truth and has no basis in reality. Archbishop Georg Gänswein, private secretary of Benedict XVI, has rejected the claim that the former pope...

Gradualism / Mercy / Pope Francis

When Mercy Saved Me

“Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.” -Divine Mercy in My Soul, paragraph 301 “I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) I am an addict. The matter of my addiction is between God and me but, because there is a Church and I am a part of it, it’s also between...

Environment / Laudato Si / Pope Francis

The Tall Tale of the Hippie Pope

In my view, Laudato Si’ has been intentionally ignored by various factions within the Church, who have consequently done the devilish work of keeping the Faithful from even considering the letter. The demands of the Pope are too much for some to bear, so they have decided that they will not let the Faithful decide whether they will bear them. All the dissenting groups have, however, taken the same course to accomplish their goal, and...

Homilies / Pope Francis

The Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

“Once we turn our back on the cross,” Pope Francis declares, “Even though we may attain the heights of glory, we will be fooling ourselves, since it will not be God’s glory, but the snare of the enemy.” In his homily for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul this year (available here on the Vatican website), the Holy Father focuses on the transformation Christ’s love begets in His disciples, taking them from a life...

Holiness / Mercy / Pope Francis

Why I Trust the Pope

I have the firm conviction that, since at least 1939, the Church of Rome has been led by saints in the persons of the Roman Pontiffs. Some may mock it, deride it, think it naive, or whatever they like; but it seems right and fitting to me that the Lord would ensure us such holy leadership in such an unprecedented time of cultural, social, philosophical, theological, and anthropological, upheaval. In other words, right when we...

Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones

Work Is for Man: A Deeper Look at the CDF’s Quaestiones

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently published in English a wonderful summary of Catholic teaching on markets and money. Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones discusses broad principles and then applies them to specific situations, including the most recent financial crisis, the LIBOR rigging scandal, and the abuse of derivatives. One development that lacks explicit mention, however, is Universal Basic Income (UBI). The reason for this may be that UBI is more of a...

Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis

Blurred lines – much ado about nothing

When I wrote my 3-part series “Was Pope Benedict forced to resign?”, I was able to gather a lot of evidence showing how the Pope Emeritus has a positive opinion about the reigning pontiff. So, imagine my contentment when, just the week after I published that series, a letter from Benedict was made public where the Pope Emeritus said, and I quote: “I applaud this initiative that wants to oppose and react to the foolish...

Breaking / Church News / Papal News / Pope Benedict XVI / Uncategorized

Benedict’s letter: The saga continues

First, an apology is in order. When we launched this site, one of our stated intentions was to let stories unfold in their entirety before posting our commentary. When the original story of Benedict’s letter was published, I jumped the gun and posted my analysis of the contents that were publicly available as part of my five-year tribute to Francis’s papacy. The following day, more details were revealed, from a previously unpublished third paragraph, as...

Breaking / Church News / Papal News / Pope Benedict XVI / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

The Mystery of Benedict’s blurry text

What I am about to propose, for those of you who might be interested in a plausible explanation, is a hypothetical scenario that might explain the missing paragraph from the original news reports on Pope Emeritus Benedict’s letter, as well as the deliberately blurred text in the accompanying photograph. If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already read a more than a handful of papal critics claiming that this is “proof” that there’s a conspiracy...