A.C.Wimmer of the CNA newsroom, December 29, 2023, reported that on the eve of the first anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI, his biographer, Peter Seewald, stated raised deep concerns about the way Pope Francis is managing his predecessor's legacy.
“ Pope Benedict trusts Pope Francis. But many times he was bitterly disappointed,” Seewald said in an interview published December 27.
Seewald told the New Daily Compass that Pope Francis may have written “nice letters” to his predecessor and described him as a “great pope.” In reality, however, he said, Francis has “erased much of what was precious and dear to Ratzinger.”
Seewald said, “If you really talk about a ‘great pope’ by conviction, shouldn't you do everything possible to refine his legacy? Like Pope Benedict XVI did with Pope John Paul II? As we can see today, in reality Pope Francis has done very little to maintain continuity with his predecessors.”
Instead, the South American pope and the Jesuits wanted to erase much of “what was dear to Ratzinger,” according to Benedict's biographer.
'Stabbed in the heart'
Seewald points to tight restrictions on Pope Francis' traditional Latin Mass, reversing apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI, which recognized the right of all priests to celebrate Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal, in Latin.
“Ratzinger wanted to pacify the Church without questioning the validity of the Mass according to the 1969 Roman Missal,” Seewald said. “How we treat the liturgy,” he explained, “determines the destiny of faith and of the Church.’”
The biographer questions the veracity of “the claim that the majority of bishops voted in favor of the abolition of the Exhortation Summorum Pontificum by Pope Benedict in a worldwide survey.
“What I find especially shameful is that the pope emeritus was not even informed about this action but had to learn about it from the press. He was stabbed in the heart.”
Pope Benedict built “a small bridge to an almost forgotten island of treasure, which until then had been accessible only through difficult terrain. It is a matter of concern to the Pope and there is really no reason to tear down this bridge again.”
Purge employees
Seewald said the “employee purge” completed the picture: “Many supporters of Ratzinger's line and Catholic doctrine were ‘guillotined.’”
Seewald is particularly concerned about Pope Francis' treatment of Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who was both Benedict's longtime secretary and head of the Vatican's Papal Household for both popes for several years. year.
“It was an unprecedented event in the history of the Church that Archbishop Gänswein, the closest collaborator of a very worthy pope, the greatest theologian who ever sat on the Chair of Peter , was shamefully thrown out of the Vatican. He did not even receive a single thank you for his work.”
Seewald notes that Gänswein is not an isolated case: “When a Ratzinger supporter like Cardinal [Raymond] Burke, 75 years old, had his home and salary stripped overnight without any explanation Come on, it's hard to see Christian brotherhood in all of this. ”
Pope Benedict's death 'instrumentalized'
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died at the age of 95 on December 31, 2022. Speaking to journalists on a flight back to Rome two months later, Pope Francis accused people of taking advantage of the Bavarian pope in selfish ways. Pope Benedict XVI, he emphasized, “is not a bitter person.”
“I think the death of Pope Benedict was instrumentalized by those who wanted to serve their own interests,” Pope Francis said during an in-flight press conference on February 5. Francis added that the Those who took advantage of such a good and holy man are partisan and immoral.
Source: Vietcatholic News