See other Religion Articles
Title: Former Pope Benedict blames church’s scandals partly on the ‘60s
Source:
[None]
URL Source: https://nypost.com/2019/04/10/forme ... hs-scandals-partly-on-the-60s/
Published: Apr 10, 2019
Author: Sohrab Ahmari
Post Date: 2019-04-10 19:43:30 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 682
Comments: 15
When Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy in 2013, he vowed to live the rest of his days in seclusion, to serve the Catholic Church “through a life dedicated to prayer.” But the church’s spiraling abuse crisis prompted him this week to return to the limelight. The retired pontiff has drafted a 6,000-word document in his native German and aims to publish it in a monthly periodical for clergy in his home region of Bavaria. Benedict says the document, an English translation of which I’ve reviewed, is meant to assist the Church in seeking “a new beginning” and making her “again truly credible as a light among peoples and as a force in service against the powers of destruction.” In the preface, he makes it clear that he is “no longer directly responsible” for the church and that he consulted Pope Francis before resolving to make the document public. Nevertheless, Benedict’s “The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse” has the unmistakable ring of a papal document. You might even call it a post-retirement encyclical. It’s written with his signature precision and clarity of insight and offers a piercing account of the origins of the crisis and a vision of the way forward. The church’s still-radiating crisis, Benedict suggests, was a product of the moral laxity that swept the West, and not just the church, in the 1960s. The young rebels of 1968, Benedict writes, fought for “all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer conceded any norms.” Benedict adds: “Part of the physiognomy of the Revolution of 1968 was that pedophilia was now also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate.” This might strike contemporary readers as puzzling. But those who lived through that wretched decade will remember that some of the leading ’68ers also advocated “anti-authoritarian education,” which involved some pretty unsavory interactions between adults and children. Hippie communes weren’t child-friendly places, either. “I have always wondered how young people in this situation could approach the priesthood and accept it, with all its ramifications,” Benedict writes. “The extensive collapse of the next generation of priests in those years and the very high number of laicizations were consequence of all these processes.” The church, in other words, was no more immune to the disorders of that decade and its aftermath than the rest of society. How come? Benedict blames clerics and theologians who, in the aftermath of Vatican II, abandoned natural law — the notion that morality is written into human nature itself and can therefore be grasped by human reason — in favor of a more “pragmatic” morality. Under the new dispensation, “there could no longer be anything that constituted an absolute good, any more than anything fundamentally evil; there could only be relative moral judgments.” see also Pope nixes French cardinal resignation after cover-up The real world result was that “in various seminaries, homosexual clubs were established, which more or less openly and significantly changed the climate in seminaries.” The new morality also encouraged a “critical or negative attitude toward hitherto existing tradition,” he writes, in favor of a “new, radically open relationship with the world.” For one bishop, the German pontiff says, that meant going so far as screening porn for seminarians. In many seminaries, meanwhile, students caught reading his own books, written while he was still a cardinal and known for their doctrinal rigor, would be “considered unsuitable for the priesthood.” The looseness of those years also affected how the church handled cases of abusive priests, who we now know targeted mostly boys and young men. In church proceedings, “the rights of the accused had to be guaranteed” above all else, “to an extent that factually excluded any conviction at all.” Such absolutism in defense of the accused was incorrectly seen as a “conciliar” requirement — anything less was a betrayal of Vatican II. Hence the cover-ups and shuffling around of abusive priests. It’s impossible to miss Benedict’s bitterness toward what he sees as distortions of Vatican II, a council he helped shape as a young theologian. So what is to be done now? Benedict recommends reforming church law, to give as much emphasis to protecting the faithful, not least the faith of ordinary Catholics, as to safeguarding the procedural rights of accused priests. But no amount of procedural reform, the pope notes, can substitute for the recovering Catholicism’s absolute moral standards. “Why did pedophilia reach such proportions?” he asks. “Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God.” Yet he ends on an optimistic note: “Yes, there is sin in the church and evil. But even today there is the holy church, which is indescribable.” Amen.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
I guess that we'll never know what forced his resignation/retirement from pope-hood.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
Let's wait for Hollywood to supply a narrative before wasting time investigating.
“I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.” - William S Burroughs
I'll have to wait for the Youtube condensed version.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
Best guess is that a powerful faction wanted the Roman Catholic church to be a player in the NWO and Benedict wasn't the right person for that.
Best guess that I've yet heard, thanks.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
Of course it was the fault of those dirty hippies. The Holy Mother Church,it's Pope's,Cardinals,Priests,and Nuns are living perfection and beyond criticism. Dirty damn hippies! (some of you may detect a faint trace of sarcasm above) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
This started before the hippies came along. Vatican 2 went to hell because of the Beatniks, like Pope Francis! I know a guy who turned into a hippie after he got back from Vietnam. ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
And, of course, pedophilia was no more acceptable in the 1960s than it is now. Benny had to pull that particular punch.
To spell it out it was in the 1960s that the priests were leaving in droves to get married and the chuch decided to recruit priests who wouldn't want to get married.
The Lutherans did that way back in the 1600s. Do you recall the schisms which split apart the Roman Catholic Church? ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
Difference being that a married priest could be a Lutheran priest.
Quite true. And the Lutheran pastor here in town is definitely married. ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
I know one VERY well. Some people considered him to be a violent,dangerous hippy if anyone tried to push him around. "Peace,love,or bust your freaking head open if you give me grief." If you are a proud redneck,it is really embarrassing to get your ass kicked by a hippy. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Yeah, and the guy I know who was a hippie is happily retied with a wife and 2 kids. Have not seen him in years. But I still work every day. He was several years older than me. A month after he dropped out of college he got a draft notice. They sent him to Vietnam. One of his first jobs was with City of Chicago Forestry. One day one of the black guys on his crew didn't show up. So he went to his house to get him. He told me the neighbor on the first floor was hollering up the stairwell, "Get your monkey ass out of bed, the Forestry's here." LOL "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#2. To: Lod (#1)
#3. To: Dakmar (#2)
#4. To: Lod (#1)
#5. To: Ada (#4)
#6. To: Ada (#0)
#7. To: sneakypete, Beatnik Pope Francis, vat 2 (#6)
Dirty damn hippies!
DACA Shithole Dreamers - Make America Great Again?
#8. To: sneakypete (#6)
it was the fault of those dirty hippies.
#9. To: Lod (#5)
#10. To: sneakypete (#6)
#11. To: Ada (#10)
To spell it out it was in the 1960s that the priests were leaving in droves to get married and the chuch decided to recruit priests who wouldn't want to get married.
#12. To: BTP Holdings (#11)
The Lutherans did that way back in the 1600s. Do you recall the schisms which split apart the Roman Catholic Church? ;)
#13. To: Ada (#12)
Difference being that a married priest could be a Lutheran priest.
#14. To: BTP Holdings (#8)
I know a guy who turned into a hippie after he got back from Vietnam. ;)
#15. To: sneakypete (#14)
If you are a proud redneck,it is really embarrassing to get your ass kicked by a hippy.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest