Benedict XVI is the spiritual father of the Catholic Church. I am reasonably certain that he takes that responsibility very seriously. He is also a well-read scholar of the Early Church Fathers. If anyone can separate the wheat from the chaff of some of the Early Church Fathers, Benedict XVI can. Given that you have raised this issue, can you cite anything that Benedict XVI has said in this audience or last week's audience (a link to it is above) regarding Origen that is heretical?
” Benedict XVI is the spiritual father of the Catholic Church.”
Indeed he is. As I have remarked many times, you Latins should listen to him very closely as we may be seeing a true modern Father in this pope. Why do you suppose we Orthodox are so taken with him?
But the Pope, ELS, is in Rome and people read online and in their homes and libraries, often alone and without guidance. In my opinion, at least for the first few years it is extremely important to have an on the spot spiritual father to direct our studies. This isn’t some innovative idea. The Fathers themselves are quite adamant about this. One of the reasons we see such a confusion of belief on very basic dogmatic matters among Protestants is in some measure because of the lack such guidance. Much of the theology of the Fathers is at first confusing and obscure. In some instances we find basic fundamental error. Without direction, a Christian can end up going down the wrong path. Did you know, for example, that in the early Church catechumens were not allowed to read the Gospel of +John? It was considered too complex for them. Even after baptism and chrismation study of +John was allowed only under direction for some period of time.
“Given that you have raised this issue, can you cite anything that Benedict XVI has said in this audience or last week’s audience (a link to it is above) regarding Origen that is heretical?”
No, of course not, nor did I expect I would. The sermons are wonderful, as they almost always are. I would have no concerns at all were the pope sitting at the side of each student as he or she started to read Origen. But he is not and while no warning about reading the Fathers with the consensus patrum in mind or that Origen was, with reason, condemned as a heretic is necessary for some of us, for others it absolutely is. With all due respect, I think this is particularly necessary among Western Christians whose traditions, or better said, theological mindset, for the past 1000 years have been something less than patristic. +BXVI is clearly changing that but as with all important change, like with the synodal system he recently proposed, there are some dangers which you folks ought to be aware of.