Posted on 11/05/2004 7:03:33 AM PST by Stubborn
VATICAN CITY -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's strict line on Catholic dogma has earned the chief Vatican guardian of orthodoxy a host of nicknames: the Enforcer, the Fundamentalist and Panzerkardinal, a German neologism that compares the Bavarian-born prelate to a battle tank.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Traditionalist?
The recently deceased Michael Davies thought well of Cardinal Ratzinger.
Panzerkardinal is the best nickname ever
FR is legally enjoined from publishing complete articles from the Washington Post.
Where do you get that impression? Why be cynical?
Can someone show some of the traditional things he supports as well as the modern things he doesn't? - if possible.
I could be wrong and will have to see if I can't find out, but I seem to recall him being very much in favor of the novus ordo.
TLM: You must have met a good number of cardinal during your presidency. How many would you say are truly sympathetic to the aims of the [Una Voce] Federation?
MD [Michael Davies]: [Last paragraph of his answer] Finally, I must make special mention of Cardinal Ratzinger. Although his personal inclination is for a reform of the reform, he has been unswerving in his support for the Federation and insistent that those who request Mass according to the 1962 Missal should be granted it. Although it does not come within the scope of the aims of the Federation, I must mention the Cardinal's uncompromising defense and affirmation of Catholic teaching on faith and morals. Throughout his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that body has issued a series of documents of unimpeachable orthodoxy, making it clear that Our Lord is still with His Church in accordance with His promise to be with it all days even unto the consummaton of the world.
In this age and time, I think it is heroic for a cardinal to do what he is supposed to, when so many in the Church aren't.
Does he want a medal? Not likely. More like a crown....
Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Timothy
Chapter 4
His charge to Timothy. He tells him of his approaching death and desires him to come to him.
1 I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his kingdom:
2 Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.
3 For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears:
4 And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.
5 But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry. Be sober.
6 For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith.
8 As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. Make haste to come to me quickly.
Normally, the easiest way to distinguish friend from foe is pretty dependable - by that I mean of course, the foe gets praises from everyone while the friend gets smeared all over the place.
I seem to have always *heard* that Cardinal Ratzinger was a very staunch Cardinal and all that, but what are some of his actual accomplishments or efforts?
I am not saying he is foe - I honestly do not know. I am simply stating that I, me personally, am not familiar with anything at all that he has done or tried to do. Does anyone else know?
Call me cynical if you wish, but someone of his position with his reputation should have a laundry list of well known accomplishments IMHO. I consider myself at least somewhat "up" on alot of things in the RCC and cannot name one single solitary great thing that he has accomplished or has tried to accomplish, so my question should be a simple one - how did he garner such a high reputation?
RATzinger, does the name imply the truth in this one? Or shall we simply say, "BY their friuts you shall know them". Only God can tell . All is not known unless one relly sees with their own eyes, so we shall pray for him.
I've heard the spectrum about Ratzinger, everything from the view that his is a traditionalist to the view that he is a liberal. When I was still outside the Catholic Church, I admired him because he impressed me as someone that stood firmly against all the nonsense. Now that I'm on the inside, I've seen a much greater variety of views about him. I do wish he'd spoken out much more forcefully in the "he said he didn't say" shnenanigans of that carpetbagger McCarrick pulled last summer on the statement clarifying boundaries about proper reception of the Eucharist (the one about whether pro-abort politicos should not receive it). He should have taken McCarrick out behind the Vatican woodshed with a hickory switch. Having said that, my personal impression is that Ratzinger (however much people in this formum may or may not agree with him) is not a Kasper, Mahoney, or McCarrick. In this day and age, that alone is a major accomplishment and something to cheer! I know....there were times when things were different, but that was long before I became Catholic.
I personally figure that there could be (and with Kasper, there are) worse in the Vatican than Ratzinger. Think if it was Mahoney instead of Ratzinger in the position Ratzinger holds! Now that would be big-time trouble!
Despite the title, Ratzinger is no "strict" prelate. He was no fan (his words have been harsher) of the Pius XII/Ottaviani days. He is not a Thomistic theologian (I am not making an accusation, just stating a pure fact) and has welcomingly embraced the Nouvelle Theologiae. He and Karl Rahner used to work closely together.
He has been a friend to Traditionalists regarding the Mass. He has repeatedly upheld Catholic orthodoxy, while balancing the excesses of two JPII Assisi "prayer" meetings and Cardinal Kasper.
On the other hand, he is a proponent of the historical-critical method of Scripture Scholarship, although perhaps not to the extremes of Raymond Brown. He has worked painstakingly to bring disenfranchised traditional Catholics back into full communion with Rome--even though he is NOT a Thomistic theologian.
In today's Church, he is "conservative," but objectively, remember, he was no fan of the so-called overly aggressive Holy Office (against the Nouvelle Theology and theologians) led by Cardinal Ottaviani, of happy memory.
OK. So he would have been regarded a liberal 50 years ago, but is now regarded as a conservative, relative to many in this day and age. Isn't Rahner one of those whose works were pretty questionable and was told not to write any more, or am I thinking of someone else?
BTW how do you know Card Ratzingwer hasn't spoken with McCarrick privately ?
But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother.
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