Posted on 08/21/2013 6:05:38 AM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
08/21/2013
Andrea Tornielli
vatican city
“God told me to.” This was Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s reason for stepping down from the pontificate. An anonymous individual who visited Ratzinger about a week ago gave a statement recounting what was said during the private meeting, Catholic news agency Zenit reports.
Ratzinger’s decision to stay out of the limelight still raises many questions, six months after the shock announcement of his resignation, Zenit says. One person was lucky enough to hear the reasons for this decision from Ratzinger’s very lips. Although the Pope Emeritus lives a cloistered life, he does very occasionally accept highly private visits in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican which is his current residence.
During these meetings, the former Pope does not comment, reveal secrets or make any statements that may weigh on the new pontificate as “the words that were said by the other Pope.” He is as discreet as he has always been. At most, all he does is observe the wonders that the Holy Spirit is doing through his successor, or he talks about himself and about how his decision to resign was the result of divine inspiration.
When asked why he stepped down from the Throne of Peter, the Pope Emeritus said “God told me to.” Ratzinger then apparently added that there was no apparition or any phenomenon of this kind. It was a “mystical experience”. The Lord planted the seed of an “absolute desire” in his heart “to remain alone with him, secluded in prayer." According to the source, this mystical experience has lasted throughout all of these past months, increasing his longing for a unique and direct relationship with the Lord. The more the ope Emeritus observes the "charisma" of his successor, Pope Francis, the more he realizes that his decision to resign the papacy was "the will of God," Zenit reports.
So it seems that not only is Ratzinger more convinced than ever about the prudence of his decision which sparked controversy among his closest collaborators, but he is also happy with his successor's achievements so far. In a previous interview with a German academic, Benedict XVI spoke about how he and Francis were in tune in theological terms. It is also worth noting that Francis never misses a chance to publicly praise his predecessor, whose advice he treasures.
Ping for later
I have no doubt that this is absolutely true.
I pray for the Pope Emeritus to continue being blessed in his remaining years.
Dittos.
Amen.
Published August 21, 2013
| AFP
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VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Benedict XVI has said God told him to resign as pope and that his successor's "charisma" reflected this divine inspiration, Catholic news agency Zenit has reported.
"God told me" to step down, the pope emeritus was quoted as saying by a visitor who met him recently, Zenit said in a report in Italian media on Wednesday.
The 86-year-old Benedict XVI, who has retained his papal name, now lives in a former monastery inside the Vatican walls and has made no public appearances.
He only very rarely meets with visitors, Zenit said.
Benedict shocked the world with his resignation announcement on February 11, when he said he was stepping down because he felt his weak physical and mental state no longer let him fulfil his duties.
Rumours of a serious illness were quickly denied by the Vatican, as was speculation that a far-reaching scandal over a series of leaks revealing intrigue in the Vatican had forced him to leave.
But Benedict was quoted by Zenit as saying he had a "mystical experience" in which he received a divine message that fostered the "absolute desire" to be with God in private prayer.
He was also quoted as saying that the "charisma" shown by successor Pope Francis showed that the resignation was indeed "God's will".
Benedict on Sunday visited the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo for a short walk in its sprawling grounds but usually lives in virtual seclusion.
Francis has said Benedict is like "a live-in grandfather" and informed sources say he regularly consults his predecessor.
I wonder why God told him to resign.
Why did God tell him to resign?
Because he needed to rest and prepare for going home to the Lord? Because his prayers for the Church were really needed and were, at this point, the best contribution he could make? Because God had a good idea He didn’t consult the rest of us about?
I wondered if this quote from Pope electors told of ‘Smoke of Satan’ in Vatican contains a clue:
“It is another thing when what is said about us is the truth, as has happened in many of the accusations of pedophilia. Then we must humble ourselves before God and men, and seek to uproot the evil at all costs, as did, to his great regret, Benedict XVI."
Fr. O'Connor and Fr. Martin both encountered and tangled with some ‘Smoke of Satan’ in the Church hierarchy and the messages in True Life in God also speak to this infiltration and it being overcome.
Interesting times times infinity!
Do you understand the word “mystical?”
Yup, only God knows.
Then there will be no more confession to a 'man', no more 'Mary worship', no more following false doctrine and 'remembrance' at communion time. Eventually, he'll have to come out publicly to those he deceived telling them of false doctrine - IF he is having a direct relationship with The Lord.
Because ‘popes’ are ‘man’s creation’ and not from God.
God mystically answers the prayers of all Christians. That he should answer Ratzinger’s prayers doesn’t seem all that headline worthy. That was my only point.
However, your comment is a string of untruths: you are seriously misled, and in a way that is frightening. You are starting to attribute to demons the works of the Holy Spirit, and to attribute to the Holy Spirit the works of the demons.
bookmark
Ping!
YUP that works for me LOL!
MYSTICISM
The supernatural state of soul in which God is known in a way that no human effort or exertion could ever succeed in producing. There is an immediate, personal experience of God that is truly extraordinary, not only in intensity and degree, but in kind. It is always the result of a special, totally unmerited grace of God. christian mysticism differs essentially from the non-Christian mysticism of the Oriental world. It always recognizes that the reality to which it penetrates simply transcends the soul and the cosmos; there is no confusion between I and thou, but always a profound humility before the infinite Majesty of God. And in Christian mysticism all union between the soul and God is a moral union of love, in doing his will even at great sacrifice to self; there is no hint of losing one’s being in God or absorption of one’s personality into the divine.
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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