Quote:Benedetto XVI "What is Christianity" "Almost a spiritual testament"

In the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council, the volume Introduction to Christianity made a young German theologian known to the general public. Today, at the end of his life and as pope emeritus, Benedict XVI bequeaths this work to all men to share his latest reflections on some fundamental themes of the Christian religion.

At the center is God's mercy, which is born of a passion of love for every creature. Priests are at the service of God, called to be in his presence and to be witnesses of his love for him. Then there are the themes of dialogue with other religions, with the Jews, the people of the promise, with the Christian confessions, with the world. This dialogue, however, cannot ignore the central contents of the creed: the incarnation of the Son of God, faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Eucharistic presence, fraternal communion in the Church, the central themes of Christian morality.

As the subtitle states, the volume is almost a spiritual testament, dictated by the wisdom of the heart of a master who is always attentive to the expectations and hopes of the faithful. In the years spent in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican, his discreet presence and his prayers were an important support for the life of the Church. From there he benevolently observed nature, a mirror of the love of God the creator, from whom we come and towards whom we are directed. From there he looked to his country of origin, Germany, to Italy where he spent a good part of his life, to France which welcomed him into his Académie, to the whole of Europe. To these countries the pope emeritus entrusts, in a weak but passionate voice, his request not to renounce the Christian heritage, which is a precious patrimony for all humanity.

In life, Benedict XVI was not always understood. However, no one has been able to deny the lucidity of his thought and the strength of his arguments, which this last work admirably collects.

Quote:A posthumous book by Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus who died last December 31, has been released. The work is entitled "What is Christianity" and collects published and unpublished texts from the period after his resignation. He himself asked the editors, Elio Guerriero and Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, with a letter dated May 1, 2022: "This volume, which collects the writings I composed in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, must be published after my death". In a letter, contained in the book, he explained his choice to Guerriero Ratzinger as follows: "For my part, in life, I no longer want to publish anything. The fury of the circles against me in Germany is so strong that the appearance of every my word immediately causes a murderous shouting from them. I want to spare myself and Christendom this."

Ratzinger: "Those who read my books as unsuitable priests are punished"

In the book, Benedict XVI confides: "There were individual bishops, and not only in the United States, who rejected the Catholic tradition as a whole, aiming in their dioceses to develop a kind of new, modern catholicity. Perhaps it is worth mentioning the fact that, in not a few seminaries, students caught reading my books were considered unfit for the priesthood. My books were concealed as harmful literature and were read only in secret, so to speak."

"Collapse in preparation for priestly ministry"

Benedict XVI also speaks of homosexuality and the fact that there are gay "clubs" in seminaries. Writing about the meeting that Pope Francis had convened with the presidents of all the episcopal conferences of the world on the subject of abuse, Ratzinger underlines: "In the context of the meeting of the presidents of the episcopal conferences of the whole world with Pope Francis, it is at heart above all the question of priestly life and also that of seminaries.As regards the problem of preparation for priestly ministry in seminaries, we note in fact a vast collapse of the existing form of this preparation".

Benedict XVI: "In several seminaries there are homosexual clubs"

Then Benedict XVI underlines: "In various seminaries homosexual 'clubs' were formed which acted more or less openly and which clearly transformed the climate in the seminaries. In a seminary in southern Germany, candidates for the priesthood and candidates for the lay office of pastoral referent lived together. During common meals, the seminarians were together with married pastoral representatives, partly accompanied by their wives and children and in some cases by their girlfriends. The atmosphere in the seminary could not help priestly formation". He then reports that "a bishop, who had previously been rector, had allowed pornographic films to be shown to seminarians, presumably with the intention of thereby enabling them to resist against behavior contrary to the faith".

Pope emeritus: "When I resigned I was too exhausted to make plans"

Benedict XVI also speaks of his resignation in 2013 and says he was "exhausted" at the time. The book reads: "When I announced my resignation from the ministry of Peter's successor on February 11, 2013, I had no plan for what I would do in the new situation. I was too exhausted - in his words - to be able to plan other jobs Furthermore, the publication of the Infancy of Jesus seemed like a logical conclusion to my theological writings." "After the election of Pope Francis I slowly resumed my theological work. Thus, over the years, a series of small and medium-sized contributions have taken shape, which are presented in this volume".

Ratzinger in the posthumous book: "Against me fury and shouting assassin"

Quote:Italian general: US official bragged Benedict would be ‘forced’ to resign weeks after 2005 election

Jan 5, 2023 - 6:11 pm EST

(LifeSiteNews) — On the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s burial, Piero Laporta, a retired Italian brigadier general, published a stunning piece on his own blog.

This Catholic author, who previously lobbied to have Benedict participate (and influence) the controversial Synod on the Family some eight years ago, is now revealing that in the first weeks after the election of Joseph Ratzinger to the papal throne in 2005, an official of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) “was bragging about the resignation to which H.H. Benedict XVI of revered memory would soon be forced.”

If this story is true, however, “soon” would have to mean almost eight years, as that is the time it actually took for Benedict to resign.

Laporta is a retired brigadier general who worked for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Italian Military, and since his retirement writes for multiple blogs and for different newspapers, collaborating with, among others, our colleague Marco Tosatti and his blog Stilum Curiae.

Laporta’s January 3 blog entry starts with the comment that he “shudders” at the publicly displayed “crocodile tears” by a representative of the community of San Egidio, in regards to Pope Benedict’s death.

In light of these tears, “memories pass before my eyes,” he added.

Laporta then revealed that there exists “a great Roman circle that is still active today,” that is more powerful than the so-called “Sankt Gallen group,” which has been historically opposed to Benedict.

Laporta further relayed that in 2005, “a leading delegate of the U.S. government, who had his hands in Italian finances (where he is still active) and in Italian politics,” and was “a figure in the highest ranks of the National Security Agency (NSA),” was “bragging about the resignation to which H.H. Benedict XVI of revered memory would soon be forced.”

This man, Laporta went on to say, spoke “with a nonchalance and with an arrogance” outside of his own circle about this matter.

This “Roman circle” was reportedly dedicated to the slogans “God is dead” and “Jesus is fake news,” and was in “panic” when Benedict was elected.

The “Sankt Gallen Mafia,” Laporta added, was “no joke,” but is a mere fig leaf compared to this “Roman circle” that Laporta refers to as a “dome of demons.”

According to the Italian general, it was this group who “isolated” Benedict, “leaving him alone while the nescionalsecuiritiagensi [NSA] goons scourged the truth, then crucified it.”

It is not known whether this man, who at the time reportedly worked for the U.S. government, actually played a role in the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. However, for the sake of discussing the fullest narrative of this historic resignation, it might be helpful to report on Laporta’s observations, making it a possible piece of the puzzle.

Another piece of this puzzle could be the fact that at the time of Benedict’s resignation in February of 2013, the Vatican Bank was unable to function, since it had been suddenly excluded from the SWIFT system and was thus incapable of performing necessary international transactions.

As Giuseppe Nardi of Katholisches.info reminds his readers today in his report on Laporta, Maurzio Blondet had discussed this matter in Italian, in 2015.

In light of Laporta’s blog post, Blondet, a Catholic journalist, quoted Laporta and said that it was wise that Laporta did “not disclose” the U.S. official’s name. He then re-posted his 2015 report titled “Ratzinger could neither buy nor sell,” which outlined the Vatican’s 2013 financial problems with the SWIFT system, thereby implying that he himself sees a link between Laporta’s report and this financial aspect of the history of Benedict’s resignation.

A third puzzle of the piece – which refers to the above-mentioned Sank Gallen Group – is that there might have been a conversation between Cardinal Carlo Martini and Benedict in 2012, in which the head of the Sankt Gallen group suggested to Benedict that it was time for him to resign. This story has been amply discussed by author Julia Meloni, which LifeSiteNews covered here.

Perhaps only future historians will be able to put together a fuller picture as to why a pope would resign, thus leaving the Church in the hands of modernists who are out to undermine the core of the Catholic Church’s doctrine and morals.

LifeSiteNews has reached out to Laporta to obtain further details, particularly as to why the NSA official would say that they would “soon” force him to resign, considering the alleged discussion took a place a full seven years before Benedict’s actual resignation.

Quote:The Saint Gallen Group, also called the Saint Gallen Mafia, was an informal group of high ranking like-minded liberal/reformist clerics in the Catholic Church, described by the Bishop of Saint Gallen, Ivo Fürer, who hosted the discussions, as a Freundeskreis ('circle of friends') – who met annually in or near St. Gallen, Switzerland, in January, to freely exchange ideas about issues in the church.