Benedict XVI’s Heresies with Protestants during the “Week of Christian Unity”

By Bro. Michael Dimond, O.S.B.
Read more of Benedict XVI’s Recent Heresies

Benedict XVI’s January 19, 2012 Address to an ecumenical delegation from Finland:

“Dear Bishop Sippo,

Dear Bishop Hakkinen,

Distinguished Friends from Finland…

The annual visit of an ecumenical delegation from Finland testifies to the growth of communion among the Christian traditions represented in your country. It is my profound hope that this communion may continue to grow, bearing rich fruit among Catholics, Lutherans and all other Christians in your beloved homeland. Our deepened friendship and common witness to Jesus Christ – especially before today’s world, which so often lacks true direction and longs to hear the message of salvation… the recent ecumenical bilateral dialogue document in the Finnish-Swedish context not only reflects a rapprochement between Catholics and Lutherans over the understanding of justification, but it urges Christians to renew their commitment to imitate Christ in life and action.”[1]

Benedict XVI declares the Lutheran layman Hakkinen a “Bishop.” This is a denial of Catholic teaching on holy orders. The Church has been very clear that Lutherans do not possess valid priests or bishops. Benedict XVI declares that he is in “communion” or united with Protestant “Churches.” He then says that Protestants bear true witness to Jesus Christ and give the world “the message of salvation.” He concludes his heretical address by declaring that Catholics and Lutherans now have a common understanding of the doctrine of justification. He is a total heretic!

Lutheran 'Bishop' of Mikkeli address to Benedict XVI

Lutheran “Bishop” Hakkinen of Mikkeli address to Benedict XVI: “The Lutheran Church also continues the Apostolic Church and the old Church tradition in Finland. This offers a natural basis for furthering unity. A practical example of this is this annual pilgrimage to Rome of a Catholic and Lutheran bishop. Together we will celebrate common ecumenical mass…”[2]

The Lutheran “Bishop” tells Benedict XVI that he is on a pilgrimage to Rome with the “Catholic” Bishop. The Lutheran layman then says that “we will celebrate a common ecumenical mass.” I’m sure the apostate Benedict XVI thinks this is great.

Benedict XVI’s January 27, 2012 Address to the “Bishops of the U.S.”: “… powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such… Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion… Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience. Yet in faith we can take heart from the growing awareness of the need to preserve a civil order clearly rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition…” [3]

Typical of Benedict XVI, he promotes the condemned heresies of freedom of religion and conscience. One must also ask why Benedict XVI would use the term “Judeo-Christian”? Why wouldn’t he just say Christian Tradition? The answer is that Benedict XVI is an apostate who accepts and embraces Judaism. It’s why, more than once, he has worn a mitre with the Star of David.

Anti Pope Benedict XVI wears Star of David (Jewish) mitre

Benedict XVI’s January 22, 2012 Reflection about ecumenical Week of Prayer: “May this spiritual event that unites Christians of all traditions increase our awareness that the true unity for which we strive cannot be solely the result of our own efforts but, rather, will be a gift from on high, to be ceaselessly prayed for. Every year the booklets for the Week of Prayer are compiled by an ecumenical group from a different region of the world. I would like to reflect here on this point. This year the texts have been proposed by a joint group of representatives of the Catholic Church and of the Polish Ecumenical Council, comprised of various Churches and ecclesial communities of the country. The documentation was then revised by a committee made up of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.”[4]

Benedict XVI says, once again, that unity is something we are striving for – rather than something the Church possesses as one of its marks. This is heresy. He then says that the booklets for the Week of Prayer are compiled by an ecumenical group. Benedict XVI declares that the texts have come from “Catholics” and various Protestant Churches. He also acknowledges that the material was revised by a committee from the World Council of “Churches.”

Benedict XVI’s January 22, 2012 Reflection about ecumenical Week of Prayer: “… recognizing and accepting the transforming power of faith in Jesus Christ sustains Christians in the search for full unity among themselves.”[5]

Benedict XVI states that Christians are searching for full unity among themselves. The Church by definition is one. This means a unity of faith exists and will always exist among members of the Catholic Church. Those outside the Catholic Church are not considered Christians since they are outside the one true Church of Christ.

Benedict XVI’s January 27, 2012 Address to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “The theme of Christian unity is closely linked to this task. I would therefore like to reflect on several doctrinal aspects concerning the ecumenical path of the Church which has been the object of deep reflection at this Plenary Meeting, which coincides with the conclusion of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In fact, the impetus of the ecumenical endeavor must spring from ‘spiritual ecumenism’, the ‘soul of the whole ecumenical movement’, which is found in the spirit of the prayer that ‘they may all be one’ (John 17:21)… An important step in this discernment was made in the preparation and application of the provisions for groups of the Anglican Communion who wish to enter into full communion with the Church, in the unity of our common and essential divine Tradition, maintaining their own spiritual, liturgical and pastoral traditions which are in conformity with the Catholic faith (cf. Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, art. III). Indeed, a spiritual richness exists in the different Christian denominations which is an expression of the one faith and a gift to share and to seek together in the Tradition of the Church… furthering the reestablishment of full unity among all Christians. Indeed, the division among Christians, ‘openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages that most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature’ (Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 1)… Jesus prayed: ‘that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me’ (John 17:21).”[6]

Benedict XVI allows the Anglican “converts” to retain “spiritual, liturgical and pastoral traditions” particular to the non-Catholic Anglican “Church.” This is heresy. The Catholic Church condemns and does not allow people to use Anglican spiritual, liturgical and pastoral “traditions.” But the apostate Benedict XVI does allow this because he is a heretic. Benedict XVI once again talks about how we need the “reestablishment of full unity among all Christians”; and more than once he quotes the words of John 17:21: “they may all be one.” He cites these words of Jesus Christ frequently, but with the meaning that Christ’s prayer for unity has not yet been fulfilled! The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus’ prayer was fulfilled when Christ established the Catholic Church. In his January 6, 1928 encyclical letter on religious unity, Pope Pius XI addressed those who bring forward these words of Our Lord.

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928: “For authors who favor this view are accustomed, times almost without number, to bring forward these words of Christ: ‘That they all may be one…. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,’ with this signification however: that Christ Jesus merely expressed a desire and prayer, which still lacks its fulfillment. For they are of the opinion that the unity of faith and government, which is a note of the one true Church of Christ, has hardly up to the present time existed, and does not to-day exist.”