Posted on 09/06/2018 11:53:12 AM PDT by Repent and Believe
In his self-created role as the “contemplative member” of an “expanded papacy”, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger — aka “Pope Emeritus” Benedict XVI — has a lot of time on his hands these days, and he uses some of it to write on theological matters.
Back in 1972, Fr. Ratzinger was very busy with a lot of things, such as arguing for the permissibility of public adulterers to receive Holy Communion in “individual cases”. At the time he also co-founded the theological journal Communio, together with such unsavory characters as Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Fr. Karl Lehmann, and others.
Last year, the “Pope Emeritus” penned a theological essay on apostate Judaism which he sent privately to “Cardinal” Kurt Koch. Koch is currently the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, meaning he is the head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, which, interestingly enough, also oversees the Novus Ordo Sect’s interreligious efforts with regard to the Jews. Although it was not meant for public consumption, Koch persuaded Ratzinger to submit his article for publication in Communio, where it was printed in the July/August 2018 issue (pp. 387-406).
The Austrian Novus Ordo press agency kathpress was among the first to publish a report on the Ratzinger monograph, which is available in German here. It is entitled Gnade und Berufung ohne Reue, which basically translates as “Irrevocable Grace and Calling” or “Grace and Calling without Repentance”. These words are an allusion to Romans 11:28-29: “For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance”, meaning, God does not revoke (repent of) His promises and gifts. The Vatican II Sect has long hijacked these sacred words and distorted their true meaning to promote their apostate theology in favor of the Old Covenant as being more or less still valid for the Jews in our day; but more on that later.
The following is our translation of portions of the kathpress report about the new Ratzinger essay, providing a good summary of what the “Pope Emeritus” is saying:
…The aim of Benedict’s text is to provide a reflection on the post-conciliar rejection of the so-called “substitution theory” and the talk about the “convenant never revoked [by God]”.
…
Indeed the text, signed with “Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI” and dated October 26, 2017, presents quite a critical reflection on previous “standards” in Jewish-Christian dialogue, or rather, in post-conciliar theological thought concerning the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. In concrete terms, Benedict XVI sees a need for greater precision with regard to the two key phrases “substitution theory” [aka “Supersessionism”] and “never-revoked covenant”: “Both theses — that Israel has not been replaced by the Church and that the [Old] Covenant has never been revoked — are basically correct, but they are too imprecise in many ways and must be critically reflected on further”, Benedict writes in his essay.
Thus, there “never was, as such, a substitution theory” — in other words, the idea that the Church has taken Israel’s place — the retired Pope observes, pointing to pertinent encyclopedias. Rather, from the Christian point of view Judaism has always enjoyed a special status insofar as Judaism is not “one religion among many” but “is placed in a special situation and therefore must be recognized as such by the Church”. As a result he explains his thesis by means of the remaining differences between Judaism and Christianity, namely, in view of the temple worship, the ritual laws, the place of the Torah, the Messianic question, and the Promised Land.
…
Likewise, the question of the “never-revoked covenant” between God and the Jews — a statement that goes back to John Paul II and is today part of the obvious horizon of interpretation for Judaism from a Christian point of view — requires that distinctions be drawn, according to Benedict XVI. Although in principle the statement is “to be regarded as correct, in its details it still requires many clarifications and much deepening”: in the sense, for example, that there wasn’t just one covenant between God and His people but there were many covenants. In addition, Benedict says, the expression of a covenantal revocation is not part of the theological vocabulary of the Old Testament, and similarly the idea conveyed thereby of a contract between two equal partners does not correspond to biblical theology.
“The formula of the ‘never-revoked covenant’ may have been helpful in a first stage of the new dialogue between Jews and Christians, but it is not adequate in the long run to express the magnitude of the reality in a way that is passably appropriate.” This is Benedict’s final verdict.
(“Benedikt XVI. veröffentlicht Text zum christlich-jüdischen Dialog”, kathpress.at, July 6, 2018; our translation.)
In Ratzinger’s native country of Germany, the new monograph has created a firestorm of outrage. According to a report in the July 26, 2018, edition of the national Novus Ordo weekly Die Tagespost (p. 11), the “Pope Emeritus” has been criticized by journalists, theologians, and rabbis for his latest theological contribution. Even the official web site of the German conference of Novus Ordo bishops published a critical review by Felix Neumann. A fairly dispassionate commentary was provided by Prof. Thomas Söding in the the Aug. 2018 edition of Herder Korrespondenz.
Now that a few weeks have passed, some reactions in English have poured in as well: •“German bishops’ website sharply criticizes Pope Benedict for new essay on the Jews” (Maike Hickson) •“Benedict on the Jews: Criticism richly deserved” (Louie Verrecchio) •“Benedict XVI criticised for new article on Jewish-Christian relations” (Christa Pongratz-Lippitt) •“Benedict XVI’s article on church and the Jews ‘will create reaction’” (Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner)
Meanwhile, “Cardinal” Koch himself has joined the debate, trying to placate the Jews and other critics with these rather unmistakable words: “It is important to me not to engender any misgivings on the Jewish side but [instead] to clarify the Catholic position and to ensure that no one on the Christian side will get the idea that there could be any justification for Anti-Semitism or Anti-Judaism or that there must or should be a Christian mission to the Jews” (“Vatikan: Keine Infragestellung des Dialogs mit den Juden”; katholisch.de, Aug. 13, 2018; our translation).
In other words, when Jesus Christ told the Chanaanite woman, “I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24), He actually meant that He was sent to everyone except for the Jews. Likewise, when our Blessed Lord instructed His disciples: “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mk 16:15-16), He really meant to exclude the Jews — it’s just that St. Mark forgot to put a little asterisk beside “every creature”, or perhaps he did and it got deleted with its corresponding footnote.
The very fact that the Jews act as though they had a right to weigh in on what Christian theology ought to be, what may and may not be said with regard to them, as though they ruled over the Catholic Church, is an unparalleled impertinence. It is also a frightful testimony to how much the Novus Ordo Sect has humiliated Christ before His declared enemies and made itself subservient to them — all under the label of “Catholic Church”.
It is both infuriating and tragic that it would never occur to such “Catholic authorities” as Mr. Koch to tell the Jews, lest there be any illusion on their part, that of course there will be a Catholic mission to convert them as much as anyone else, since their souls too are precious in the sight of God and Christ and the Church desire their salvation no less than that of anyone else. This would be exercising true charity towards the disciples of Annas and Caiaphas, who, as long they persist in their blindness, will never see the face of God — for it is a dogma of the Catholic Faith that “those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life” (Council of Florence, Bull Cantate Domino; Denz. 714).
It is manifest that the false “Catholics” of the Vatican II Church are in plain denial of Divine Revelation, and yet after nearly six decades they can still get away with it. No one will make a big fuss about this, however, because it doesn’t involve sins against the Fifth or Sixth Commandment. It is only when it comes to abortion, adultery, unnatural vice, and so forth, that the “conservative Catholics” come out in bulk and protest; when it comes to the very essence of the Christian Faith being denied — that all must convert to Jesus Christ and His Church to be saved — they all fall silent. No petitions, no dubia, no interviews, no appearances on EWTN, no Rosary processions, no special web sites, nothing. It’s just not stimulating enough of a topic.
(snip)
Finally, we must not forget what the “Pope Emeritus” said about his modification of the traditional Good Friday Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews, a change which had become “necessary” after the universal permission for the use of the 1962 Missal (“traditional Latin Mass”) was granted on July 7, 2007, in the “Apostolic Letter” Summorum Pontificum. (For the background to the Good Friday prayer controversy and how the Novus Ordo version differs essentially from the traditional prayer from before Vatican II, please see our post, “The Crucified Christ Betrayed.”) Thus, on Feb. 4, 2008, Benedict XVI released his own version of the prayer for the Jews, which was to be used exclusively in the Good Friday liturgies celebrated under Summorum Pontificum. The Ratzinger text was basically a compromise between the traditional formula and the Novus Ordo version.
Regarding the introduction of this new prayer, the Antipope Emeritus wrote in his final interview book:
I was of the opinion that one cannot let that go on [the praying of the traditional Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews], that even those using the old liturgy must change at this point in time. One had to have a form of the prayer created that fitted with the spiritual style of the old liturgy, but which was at the same time consonant with our modern understandings of Judaism and Christianity….
I’m still happy today that I managed to change the old liturgy for the better at that moment. If one withdrew this new formulation of the supplication, as is always demanded, this would mean that the old, unacceptable, text with the perfidi Iudaei [“faithless Jews”] would have to be prayed…. Until then the old intercession was prayed, and I replaced it with a better one for this circle of people [i.e. traditionalists in union with the Modernist Vatican].
(Benedict XVI, Last Testament: In His Own Words, trans. by Jacob Phillips [London: Bloomsbury, 2017], Chapter 12; underlining added.)
This is Joseph Ratzinger on the Jews. As is evident, he may be a lot of things but a Roman Catholic is not one of them.
Conclusion
What must we conclude from all these facts? The tragic truth is that for decades, Joseph Ratzinger has been confirming Jews in their blindness and unbelief! For him to be portrayed now, as he no doubt will be, as some kind of ultra-conservative bulldog on the grounds that he has relativized some of the Vatican II Sect’s more openly heretical theses with regard to the Jews, is absurd. But, alas, in our strange times people are willing to consider someone orthodox simply for not denying all dogmas — rather than for not denying any!
One of Ratzinger’s fundamental errors is his failure to draw an essential distinction between the Jews who lived at the time of the Old Covenant, who were indeed God’s Chosen People then (see Deut 7:6; Jn 4:22), and the Christ-rejecting Jews and their progeny, who “say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Apoc 2:9; cf. Rom 9:6).
To think that conservative Novus Ordos consider this man the great orthodox alternative to the clearly heterodox Francis, is a sad testimony to how frighteningly far the Great Apostasy has already advanced.
So then the Catholic Church taught error and bigotry for 1960 years.
I don’t need to defend the Catholic Church. Your views are outmoded, you must defend. If that can be said about a long list of rules that you use only to tell people they’re wrong. You can call mimicry religion, I call it kindergarten.
No, if *my* views are outmoded then you are preaching that the *Catholic Church’s* views were outmoded. Which I totally expect from a Vatican II “religionist” who believes that Vatican II actually taught Catholic doctrine.
Not a logical fallacy at all. Those that think it is should be looking into what the Catholic Church actually taught prior to Vatican II...not pointing fingers at those who have and claiming their views are “outmoded”. The problem is these same folks like the new, non-Catholic teaching.
Of course it seems that way to you.
How on earth do you know what I believe about “doctrine” or “Vatican 2” or if I’m a “religionist”? I assure you I don’t fit in your simplified categories. Thankfully neither dies God.
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