#Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

[soiledlight]

"What Jesus preaches in the Sermon on the Mount, He now does; He does not offer violence against violence, as He might have done, but puts an end to violence by transforming it into love. The act of killing, of death, is changed into an act of love." -Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

[professorambrius]

96th Birthday of Late Pope Benedict XVI

This past Sunday, April 16th, would have been the 96th Birthday of the Late Pope Benedict XVI.

Born Joseph Ratzinger, he had a devotion to the church and sereved as professor, Archbishop, Cardinal and later Pope when elected in the Conclave of 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

As Pope, Benedict was known for his conseravtive views on matters and adherence to tradition. Yet despite his reputation for being stern, Benedict had a shy persoanlity and was quit gental according to those who knew him best.

One Febuary 28th, 2013, Benedict resigned from the Papacy, citing his advance age. He was succeded by Pope Francis. Now Pope Emertius, Benedict would continue to live on the grounds of the Vatican in a small former monastary, staying out of the public eye for the most part and leaving only once to visit his aling brother.

Benedict XVI passed away January 31st, 2023.

Loved by many and disliked by many, Pope Benedict XVI leaves behind a legacy that will be discussed for a great many years.

[popewearsprada]

You know Pope Benedict’s death and funeral didn’t go by without comments from Ma. Here are a few about this Nazi rally.

Tens of thousands of dummies waited 5 hours for goddamn Joe RatziNazinger’s FUN-eral ma$$. OMFG. He’s roasting 2 eternities in Hell.

Jesus X the stench/stinky old people. Especially the nun$. I see no smelly jiffy johns. Where does this sea of white weirdos POOP?

Note one and only lonely black cardinal.

Love the hats.

Joe RatziNazinger died today, 12-31-2022, Sat. Roasting in Hell with King Eddie, his bro King George, his daughter Queen Liz, Adolph. He should have been in prison. Happy Joey Ratzi Nazinger is roasting in Hell.

[kriswager]

Pope Benedict XVI has died

Pope Benedict XVI has died

Pope Benedict XVI was a conservative pope, who pushed the Catholic Church backwards in his eight years as the pope. He will be mostly known for being the first pontiff to step down in 600 years, but I hope he will also be remembered for the evils that he stood for, and never had to face the consequences of. Pope Benedict XVI was involved in covering up the massive child abuse happening in the…

[fear-not-beloved]

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. ― Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict

[eternal-echoes]

The new document signed by Pope Francis and DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández was written in response to a bishop from the Philippines who had expressed concern at the growing number of Catholics in his diocese who are taking part in Freemasonry and asked for suggestions for how to respond pastorally. The dicastery’s response, dated Nov. 13, calls for “a coordinated strategy” involving all of the bishops in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to promote catechesis “in all parishes regarding the reasons for the irreconcilability between the Catholic faith and Freemasonry.” The Freemasons are the largest worldwide oath-bound secret society. Freemasonry promotes ideas and rituals incompatible with the Catholic faith, including indifferentism, or the position that a person can be equally pleasing to God while remaining in any religion, and a deistic concept of a “Great Architect of the Universe.” The Vatican document reaffirms that “those who are formally and knowingly enrolled in Masonic Lodges and have embraced Masonic principles” fall under the provisions of the Catholic Church’s 1983 “Declaration on Masonic Associations.” The 1983 declaration, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, declares that Catholics who enroll in Masonic associations “are in a state of grave sin and may not receive holy Communion.”

[momentsbeforemass]

Benedict XVI

(by request, my homily from our Mass for the Dead for Pope Benedict XVI)

A few days ago, we learned of the death of Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI.

Before he was pope (when he was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) and even when he was pope, although he was a gentle soul, fond of cats, classical music, and playing the piano, he was popularly portrayed as grim and heartless.

Although he did more than anyone in Rome (including John Paul II) to end child abuse in the Church, he was often blamed for it.

Although he was a warm and open-minded scholar, he was branded a close-minded enforcer of inflexible dogma. Some even labelled him “God’s Rottweiler.”

Which says more about the people throwing the labels around that it does about him. If nothing else, it says that they never read anything that he wrote.

Because if you read anything that he wrote – whether as Benedict XVI or as Cardinal Ratzinger or even Father Ratzinger – what always shines through is his focus on what he saw as the essentials of our Faith: love and hope.

Which almost doesn’t make sense.

Because he grew up in Nazi Germany. When the horrors were happening, he was old enough to understand what was going on. When he was 14, his cousin was taken away and killed by the Nazis. His cousin’s crime? Having Down syndrome.

He literally saw humanity at its worst. He had every reason to despair, to give up – on himself and on humanity.

It would have been easy to turn away from it all. A lot of Germans of his generation did.

But that wasn’t him. God made him with a heart like Mary’s. And instead, he turned to God.

And gave us a very clear-eyed understanding of the heart of our Faith when he said,

"To have Christian hope means to know about evil and yet to go to meet the future with confidence.

The core of faith rests upon accepting being loved by God. Therefore, to believe is to say ‘Yes.’ Not only to God, but to creation, to creatures, above all, to people.

To try to see the image of God in each person and thereby to become one who loves."

That is the heart of Benedict XVI.

The news and social media have been filled with countless versions of Benedict XVI and his legacy, some offer a bit of insight on a good and godly man, others are little more than recycled caricatures.

But to me, this is the real legacy. This is what informed everything that he did, as a priest, as a professor, as a cardinal, and even as pope.

A heart full of love. A heart full of hope. A heart like Mary’s.

And a very Marian model of a life of faith. Not one just for saints and popes, but a life of faith available to each one of us.

All flowing from the call that God gives to each one of us. The call to say “Yes” to God.

And in so doing, “to say ‘Yes,’ not only to God, but to creation, to creatures, above all, to people. To try to see the image of God in each person and thereby to become one who loves."

In this new year, may God grant us the grace to live that legacy.

Today’s Readings

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (July 5)

On July 5, the Catholic Church remembers Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria.

A renowned preacher and promoter of Eucharistic adoration, he founded the order of priests now known as the Barnabites.

In 2001, the future Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wrote the preface for a book on St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, praising the saint as “one of the great figures of Catholic reform in the 1500s who was involved in the renewal of Christian life in an era of profound crisis.”

"The Italian saint deserves to be rediscovered as an authentic man of God and of the Church, a man burning with zeal, a demanding forger of consciences, a true leader able to convert and lead others to good.”

Anthony Mary Zaccaria was born into an Italian family of nobility in Cremona during 1502.

His father Lazzaro died shortly after Anthony's birth, and his mother Antonietta – though only 18 years old – chose not to marry again, preferring to devote herself to charitable works and her son's education.

Antonietta's son took after her in devotion to God and generosity toward the poor.

He studied Latin and Greek with tutors in his youth. He was afterward sent to Pavia to study philosophy.

He went on to study medicine at the University of Padua, earning his degree at age 22 and returning to Cremona.

Despite his noble background and secular profession, the young doctor had no intention of either marrying or accumulating wealth.

While caring for the physical conditions of his patients, he also encouraged them to find spiritual healing through repentance and the sacraments.

Anthony also taught catechism to children and went on to participate in the religious formation of young adults.

He eventually decided to withdraw from the practice of medicine, and with the encouragement of his spiritual director, he began to study for the priesthood.

Ordained a priest at age 26, Anthony is said to have experienced a miraculous occurrence during his first Mass, being surrounded by a supernatural light and a multitude of angels during the consecration of the Eucharist.

Contemporary witnesses marveled at the event and testified to it after his death.

Church life in Cremona had suffered decline in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

The new priest encountered widespread ignorance and religious indifference among laypersons, while many of the clergy were either weak or corrupt.

In these dire circumstances, Anthony Mary Zaccaria devoted his life to proclaiming the truths of the Gospel both clearly and charitably.

Within two years, his eloquent preaching and tireless pastoral care is said to have changed the moral character of the city dramatically.

In 1530, Anthony moved to Milan, where a similar spirit of corruption and religious neglect prevailed.

There, he decided to form a priestly society, the Clerics Regular of St. Paul.

Inspired by the apostle's life and writings, the order was founded on a vision of humility, asceticism, poverty, and preaching.

After the founder's death, they were entrusted with a prominent church named for St. Barnabas and became commonly known as the “Barnabites.”

The priest also founded a women's religious order, the Angelic Sisters of St. Paul, and an organization, the Laity of St. Paul, geared toward the sanctification of those outside the priesthood and religious life.

He pioneered the “40 Hours” devotion, involving continuous prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

In 1539, Anthony became seriously ill and returned to his mother's house in Cremona.

The founder of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul died on 5 July 1539, during the liturgical octave of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, at the age of only 36.

Nearly three decades after his death, St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria's body was found to be incorrupt.

Pope Leo XIII beatified him on 3 January 1890 and canonized on 27 May 1897.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.19 (after 1940)

1942 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp. 1943 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews. 1943 – Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16, an event commonly known and celebrated as Bicycle Day. 1956 – Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco. 1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign. 1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president. 1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station. 1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders. 1973 – The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel. 1975 – India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia. 1975 – South Vietnamese forces withdrew from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War. 1976 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured. 1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours. 1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later. 1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with "Good Night". 1989 – A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors. 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire. 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six. 1999 – The German Bundestag returns to Berlin. 2000 – Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board. 2001 – Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-100 carrying the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station. 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI. 2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961. 2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown. 2020 – A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history. 2021 – The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.

[catenaaurea]

Pope Saint John Paul II with the two men who would succeed him as Bishop of Rome, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) and Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio (Francis)

[de-gueules-au-lion-d-or]

« Un Jésus-Christ qui serait d'accord avec tout et avec tous, un Jésus-Christ auquel manquerait la « sainte colère », la dureté de la Vérité et l'Amour du vrai, ne serait pas le Jésus authentique tel que l'Écriture nous le montre, mais une pitoyable caricature. Un Jésus qui approuve tout est un Jésus sans Croix, car alors il n'y a plus besoin de la douleur de la Croix pour guérir l'homme... Le pardon a quelque chose à voir avec la Verité et pour cela il exige la Croix du Fils de notre conversion. »

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Extrait d'une retraite prêchée en 1986.

[tinyshe]

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI - Biography 

The late Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, was born in Marktl, Germany, on 16 April 1927. At an early age, he discovered the beauty and truth of faith in Christ through his family’s spiritual heritage and their clear witness of goodness and hope, rooted in committed attachment to the Church. On 19 April 2005, he was elected as the 265th Pope, choosing the name “Benedict XVI”. 

DOD 2022.12.31

[fictionadventurer]

Hope

Here is a stack of books that I hope to read within the next couple of months.

Books in the stack:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien: I've got 83 pages left of last year's reread and I've got to quit being dumb and just finish it already.

What It Means to Be a Christian by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: A collection of three sermons by the future Pope Benedict XVI. It is short and should fulfill my goal of finally reading some of his writings.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart: The only book of the series I've never read, though I've wanted to ever since seeing the miniseries. I stumbled on this copy at a library sale and gave it to myself for Christmas, so I'd like to read it soon, but it may wind up getting pushed back to May/June.

A Jane Austen Christmas by Maria Grace: Short nonfiction about Regency Christmas traditions I found just before Christmas. I had wanted to read it during the Christmas season and didn't quite get to it, but there's still a bit of time, and it shouldn't take me more than an hour or two.

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle: January is for travel books, and this will fit the bill nicely.

Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson: I've got a larger collection of her works I'd actually like to finish (especially since it's on The Blackout Book Club's reading list) but I'd settle for finishing this much shorter collection.

A Table by the Window by Hilary Manton Lodge: January makes me want to read books about food and February makes me want to read love stories, so this Christian romance about a restaurant should fit nicely in either category.

Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint Exupery: I first tried reading this several Januaries ago, and now every January makes me think that maybe this will be the year I actually finish it.

An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden: Valentine's Day makes me think of flowers, which turns my thoughts to spring and to gardens, so this year will be the year I finally get beyond the first few chapters of this book.

[mariacallous]

Traditionalists soon concluded that his resignation—and the pontificate of Pope Francis that it brought on—was calamitous for the Church they had envisioned. They were right: Francis has made clear, through his person and his actions, that complex issues can’t easily be declared closed to further inquiry, and that the Church’s responses must go beyond “no” and “never.” But the decade that Benedict spent in retirement on the Vatican grounds gave the traditionalists time to regroup, and gave rise to what David Gibson, of Fordham University, the author of a book about Benedict, calls a Tea Party Catholicism—combative, anti-intellectual, devoted to owning the Catholic libs. This movement owes as much to the American alt-right as it does to any Pope.

In retrospect, it’s possible to wonder how things might have gone had Cardinal Ratzinger said “no” to the papacy itself in 2005, before the conclave elected him, rather than after he had served for eight years. The runner-up in the 2005 conclave was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, of Buenos Aires, who was finally elected in 2013 to succeed Benedict, taking the name Francis. But what if it had been Francis who was elected in 2005? What if he had had those extra eight years to initiate reforms, to deal with clerical sexual abuse and Vatican corruption, and to change the tone and the attitude of the papal office? Such a scenario is the traditionalists’ nightmare. The changes that Francis has brought, fitful and confusing as they sometimes are, reflect his efforts to begin to answer the questions that Joseph Ratzinger suppressed for so many years.

Benedict XVI’s Most Powerful Influence on the Catholic Church Came Before He Was Pope

[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.

[fear-not-beloved]

To have Christian hope means to know about evil and yet to go to meet the future with confidence. The core of faith rests upon accepting being loved by God, and therefore to believe is to say Yes, not only to him, but to creation, to creatures, above all, to men, to try to see the image of God in each person and thereby to become a lover. That's not easy, but the basic Yes, the conviction that God has created men, that he stands behind them, that they aren't simply negative, gives love a reference point that enables it to ground hope on the basis of faith. ― Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict