#pope emeritus pope benedict XVI

[blackswaneuroparedux]

How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Ephesians 4, 14). Having a clear Faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching', looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an 'Adult' means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth.

- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Never were truer words spoken than by this misunderstood and much maligned great theologian and staunch defender of the Christian heritage of the West against the forces that seek to weaken and destroy it from within.

RIP Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger (1927-2023)

#pope emeritus pope benedict XVI #catholic #church #religion #western society #society #values #secularism #christianity #papacy #joseph ratzinger #icon

[finnthewitch]

#spn #supernatural #dean winchester #castiel #pope #pope emeritus benedict xvi #the pope

[deadpresidents]

Pope Benedict XVI lying in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, January 3, 2023.

#Pope Benedict XVI #Benedict XVI #Popes #Papal History #Papal Funerals #Funeral of Pope Benedict XVI #Vatican #St. Peter's Basilica #History #Death of Pope Benedict XVI #Pope Emeritus #Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #Joseph Ratzinger

[a8ra]

#Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #pope benedict xvi #catholic #tlm

[thepastisalreadywritten]

#Pope Benedict XVI #Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #Pope Francis #What is Christianity? #Che cos’e il Cristianesimo

[usarmytrooper]

The Vatican has announced that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today. It seems somehow fitting that he left us on this last day of 2022. He was not as popular as his predecessor, Saint Pope John Paul II, or his successor, Pope Francis. He was not a showman. He was not flashy. But he was a true believer and a faithful servant of our Lord and of our Church. When he believed that he could no longer serve as he should, he became the first pope to resign the throne of Saint Peter in 600 years. How many in such an exalted position would willingly and humbly relinquish power as he did?

He was Pope when I took the plunge and joined the Catholic Church. He made me proud of that decision, and will be in my prayers. Farewell, Benedict!

#benedict xvi #pope benedict xvi #pope emeritus #rest in peace #rip

[tail-feathers]

A recent quote from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on preparing for his death…

From the last sentence from “The Last Battle” by C.S. Lewis:

“[…] now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Rest in Peace, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

#Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #c.s. lewis #RIP

[indynerdgirl]

Edward Pentin - December 28, 2022 VATICAN CITY —Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is suffering from aggravated kidney failure and had a recent modification to his pacemaker, an informed Vatican source has told the Register. The source said Benedict XVI has been experiencing “kidney failure which has worsened in the last few hours.” The source added that the 95-year-old Pope Emeritus had a modification to his “pacemaker about a month and a half ago to regularize his heartbeats” but stressed that it was unrelated to his kidney failure. The Vatican has yet to confirm his exact condition but confirmed on Wednesday that Benedict had experienced a sudden decline in his health, is currently stable and under medical care. Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni issued a statement to reporters at 11.30 this morning saying that he was able to “confirm that in the last few hours there has been an aggravation due to advancing age. The situation at the moment remains under control, constantly monitored by doctors.” The statement followed Pope Francis’ disclosure of his condition at this morning’s general audience: “I would like to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who is supporting the Church in silence,” Francis said. “Remember him - he is very ill - asking the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end.” The Vatican said that after the audience, Francis visited Benedict at his Mater Ecclesiae Monastery residence in the Vatican. The Register has contacted Benedict’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, for comment but he has not yet responded. In recent years, Benedict XVI has become noticeably very frail, immobile, and unable to speak clearly, but Archbishop Gänswein and various visitors have testified to his mental alertness and relatively good health. Earlier this month, Pope Francis praised the Pope Emeritus saying that “all of us sense his spiritual presence, his accompaniment in prayer for the whole Church and his constant contemplative gaze.” Pope Francis was presenting the Ratzinger Prize to French Jesuit theologian Michel Fédou and Jewish law professor Joseph Weiler. Benedict was not present at the ceremony but received the prize winners at his residence.

From today, emphases added by me. Vatican News later posted this:

#pope benedict xvi #Pope Emeritus #Catholic News #Catholic Church #prayers #prayer requests #tumblr catholics

[eyecantread]

Look, Pope Benedict helped cover up the biggest systemic sexual abuse of children in Catholic history; why in the hell is everyone focused on his childhood? Everyone who brings up the fact that Benedict was a member of the Hitler Youth as some sort of gotcha is missing the point and making it super easy for his defenders to whitewash his real crimes by distracting us from his actual fuck ups. He wasn't a Nazi. He was a child in Nazi Germany and there's a difference. Benedict joined the Hitler Youth as a child. You know who else did? Every other able bodied German child whose parents couldn't flee the country or in prison or being targeted by the holocaust. Membership in the Hitler Youth was required by law, it wasn't voluntary. He also served in the German military during the twilight of WWII, but as a non-com and a draftee at that! He spent the last days of the war in an allied prisoner of war camp! His parents hated the nazis and members of his own family were killed by them. It's not something that can or should be held against him. He was drafted when he was 16 years old. What can and should absolutely be held against him are the things he did and failed to do as an adult member of the clergy with the power to do things! In January 2022, a report written by German law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl and commissioned by the Catholic Church concluded that Cardinal Ratzinger failed to adequately take action against clerics in four cases of alleged abuse while he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982. Criticize the man by all means for not using his power to stop sex abuse in the church, he absolutely deserves it! But don't condemn him for what he had to do as a powerless child and citizen under the most fascist regime of the 20th century! You're helping to take focus away from his actual fuck ups and the very real victims of the Vatican when you do this!

#pope benedict xvi #Pope Emeritus #Nazis suck

[banji-effect]

I can’t find if they’re planning to livestream Benedict’s funeral but OMG, two major state funerals in four months, us funeral-enjoyers (me) are loving it

#pope emeritus benedict xvi #all things considered I'm not surprised he died so quickly after the vatican announced he was poorly #much like qeii's doctors saying she was 'under consultation' and then she died hours later #a little bit of a whiplash for st. peter's square since it'll be major funeral one day and then epiphany celebrations the next

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The theology of littleness is a basic category of Christianity. After all, the tenor of our faith is that God's distinctive greatness is revealed precisely in powerlessness. That in the long run, the strength of history is precisely in those who love, which is to say, in a strength that, properly speaking, cannot be measured according to categories of power. So in order to show who he is, God consciously revealed himself in the powerlessness of Nazareth and Golgotha. Thus, it is not the one who can destroy the most who is the most powerful...but, on the contrary, the least power of love is already greater than the greatest power of destruction.

- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

RIP Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger (1927-2023)

#pope emeritus benedict xvi #benedict xvi #catholic church #theologian #ratzinger #death #christianity #vatican #religion #icon

[agentsama]

Requiescas in Pace, Sancte Pater.

Ruhe in Frieden, Heiliger Vater.

Rest in Peace, Holy Father.

#catholic #religion #Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #Pope Benedict XVI #pope #pope emeritus

[deadpresidents]

Saw your photo post of Pope Benedict XVI and wanted to know if you know any books about him to share?

You know, I've always had at least a passing interest in Papal history, but what really got me fascinated in the history of the institution and its leaders and traditions was when Pope John Paul II died in 2005. I couldn't stop watching coverage of his funeral and, especially, the Conclave because neither of those things had ever happened in my lifetime. I'm not even Catholic -- or religious! -- but there I was hooked by the combination of majesty and mystery with the whole deal.

Then-Cardinal Ratzinger was the leading figure of the funeral ceremonies for John Paul II prior to that Conclave and he went into the Conclave as the leading candidate among the Papabile, so it was not surprise when he was quickly elected and became Pope Benedict XVI. Because of all that, I ended up with a lot of books about Pope Benedict (long since surpassed by the library of Pope Francis books I now have), and even quite a few books written by Benedict XVI. Unless you're really into learning about his theological philosophy, I'd skip most of the books that Ratzinger/Benedict wrote. The exception would probably be Pope Benedict XVI's encyclicals: God Is Love (Deus Caritas Est), Saved In Hope (Spe Salvi), and Charity In Truth (Caritas in Veritate), which I do find interesting. Plus, the Ignatius Press of San Francisco publishes each of the encyclicals in gorgeous little volumes that are nice to collect. Benedict was also working on another encyclical when he resigned in 2013 -- The Light of Faith (Lumen Fidei) -- which was completed and released by Pope Francis, but credited as the work of "four hands" and considered the only encyclical co-written by two Popes.

However, when it comes to the Popes, I've always been more interested in the biographical than ecclesiastical, and there is no shortage of great biographies about Benedict XVI. Elio Guerriero's 2018 biography, Benedict XVI: His Life and Thought (BOOK | KINDLE) is excellent. But the very best books about Pope Benedict are those written by Peter Seewald, who basically ended up as Benedict's official biographer and had incredible access to the German Pope. Seewald's 2008 book, Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait, is a solid starting place and takes you about halfway through his pontificate. Benedict XVI: Last Testament: In His Own Words (BOOK | KINDLE) from 2017 is basically a book-length interview of Benedict by Seewald. But the definitive work about Ratzinger is the two-volume biography Seewald recently published -- Benedict XVI: A Life, Volume I: Youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council, 1927-1965 (BOOK | KINDLE), published in 2020, and Benedict XVI: A Life, Volume II: Professor and Prefect to Pope and Pope Emeritus, 1966-the Present (BOOK | KINDLE), which was published in 2021.

Two other titles are worth mentioning just because they are written from unique points of view. My Brother, the Pope (BOOK | KINDLE) was written by Benedict XVI's older brother, Georg Ratzinger, who was also a Catholic priest and died in 2020 at the age of 96. And John Paul II: My Beloved Predecessor is obviously not necessarily a book about Benedict, but it was written by him and provides an interesting glimpse of the relationship between then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II. Oh...and I'd also suggest Anthony McCarten's The Two Popes: Francis, Benedict, and the Decision That Shook the World (BOOK | KINDLE), which was originally published as The Pope, and used as the basis for a great little movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce, as Benedict XVI and Francis respectively.

It might seem like I mentioned every book about Benedict XVI, but I promise I narrowed it down to the best ones in my library. If you're just looking for a good, comprehensive biography, go with any of the books by Seewald.

#Pope Benedict XVI #Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #Benedict XVI #Papacy #Popes #Papal History #Books about Popes #Death of Pope Benedict XVI #Funeral of Pope Benedict XVI #History #Catholic Church #Religion #Religious History #Religious Leaders #Peter Seewald #Biographies #Elio Guerriero #Anthony McCarten #Papal Encyclicals

[a8ra]

May the angels lead you into paradise Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI; may the martyrs come and welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.

May choirs of angels welcome you and with Lazarus, who is poor no longer may you have eternal rest.

#Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #pope benedict xvi #catholic #tlm #funeral #pope

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Vatican shares first photos of Benedict XVI after death

By Hannah Brockhaus

1 January 2023 / 05:28 am

The Vatican on Sunday shared the first photos of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI since his death on December 31.

Benedict’s mortal remains have been laid in the chapel of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, the pope emeritus’ home after his resignation, until they will be brought to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing on January 2.

Benedict XVI is dressed in red and gold vestments and wearing a gold miter.

Popes are traditionally dressed in red for their funerals.

The former pope has his rosary in his folded hands.

The photos, the first of the deceased Benedict to be released, were taken on the morning of January 1.

Benedict XVI will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica from January 2-4. His funeral Mass will take place in the Vatican square on the morning of January 5.

"The funeral will be solemn but sober," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

After the funeral Mass, Benedict XVI’s remains will be entombed in the Vatican crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.

Bruni told journalists on January 1 that some of the people closest to Benedict, likely those who worked for him in his household, will view the body at the Vatican monastery on Sunday.

The Vatican has released photographs of the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on 31 December 2022, at age 95. | Vatican Media

#Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #Pope Benedict XVI #Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger #Mater Ecclesiae Monastery #St. Peter’s Basilica #Vatican

[professorambrius]

97th Birthday of Late Pope Benedict XVI

Today marks the Birthday of Joseph Ratzinger who headed the Catholic Church as Pope Benedict XVI.

He would have turned 97 years old today.

#My Post #Pope Benedict XVI #Pope Emeritus #Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI #Jospeh Ratzinger #Pope #Catholic Church #Birthday #97th Birthday #Happy Heavenly Birthday