The Astounding Heresy in Benedict XVI’s 1993 Book The Nature and Mission of Theology

By Bro. Peter Dimond, O.S.B.

*This is from my continuing study of Benedict XVI’s books. For those who don’t know, Benedict XVI is Joseph Ratzinger.

The Nature and Mission of Theology by “Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, 1993 (Ignatius Press, 1995)

Since there are so many heresies from Benedict XVI, I have limited myself to including only those heresies that are truly noteworthy.

HERESIES IN THE NATURE AND MISSION OF THEOLOGY:
– BENEDICT XVI ADMITS THAT CHURCH TEACHING AGAINST MODERNISM AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY HAVE BEEN SUPERSEDED (REPLACED)
– OTHER QUOTES OF INTEREST IN THE NATURE AND MISSION OF THEOLOGY

BENEDICT XVI ADMITS THAT CHURCH TEACHING AGAINST MODERNISM AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY HAVE BEEN SUPERSEDED (REPLACED)

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Nature and Mission of Theology, 1993, p. 106: “The text also presents the various forms of binding authority which correspond to the grades of the Magisterium.  It states – perhaps for the first time with such candor – that there are magisterial decisions which cannot be the final word on a given matter as such but, despite the permanent value of their principles, are chiefly also a signal for pastoral prudence, a sort of provisional policy.  Their kernel remains valid, but the particulars determined by circumstances can stand in need of correction.  In this connection, one will probably call to mind both the pontifical statements of the last century regarding freedom of religion and the anti-Modernist decisions of the then Biblical Commission.  As warning calls against rash and superficial accommodations, they remain perfectly legitimate: no less a personage than J. B. Metz, for example, has remarked that the anti-Modernist decisions of the Church performed the great service of saving her from foundering in the bourgeois-liberal world.  Nevertheless, with respect to particular aspects of their content, they were superseded after having fulfilled their pastoral function in the situation of the time.”

Benedict XVI admits that the Church’s Magisterial teaching against Modernism and religious liberty have been “superseded” in particular aspects.  The word supersede means “to set aside…take the place of.”  Benedict XVI is saying that the Catholic Church’s Magisterial teaching against Modernism and religious liberty have been replaced.  The Catholic Church’s Magisterial teaching against Modernism and religious liberty cannot be replaced, since they pertain to Faith.  These teachings constitute unchangeable and infallible teachings of the Catholic Church on those issues of Catholic Faith.

Benedict XVI’s statement is bold heresy, and constitutes a stunning admission that the Conciliar Church’s teaching on religious liberty and Modernism are contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church.  Here is Pope Pius IX’s infallible, ex cathedra condemnation of religious liberty, in which he declares that all the sons of the Catholic Church must hold this false doctrine to be firmly condemned.

Pope Pius IX, Quanta Cura (#’s 3-6), Dec. 8, 1864, ex cathedra: “From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our predecessor, Gregory XVI, an insanity, NAMELY, THAT ‘LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND WORSHIP IS EACH MAN’S PERSONAL RIGHT, WHICH OUGHT TO BE LEGALLY PROCLAIMED AND ASSERTED IN EVERY RIGHTLY CONSTITUTED SOCIETY… But while they rashly affirm this, they do not understand and note that they are preaching liberty of perdition…  Therefore, BY OUR APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY, WE REPROBATE, PROSCRIBE, AND CONDEMN ALL THE SINGULAR AND EVIL OPINIONS AND DOCTRINES SPECIALLY MENTIONED IN THIS LETTER, AND WILL AND COMMAND THAT THEY BE THOROUGHLY HELD BY ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AS REPROBATED, PROSCRIBED AND CONDEMNED.”(Denz. 1690; 1699)

Below is Pope Pius X’s solemn confirmation of the Decrees against Modernism – those “anti-Modernist decisions” referred to by Benedict XVI in the quotation above.  Pope Pius X confirms that if anyone departs from these Decrees against Modernism – those “anti-Modernist decisions” – they are condemned.  Notice that Pius X even mentions that Modernists (such as Benedict XVI) try by “artifices of every kind to destroy the force and efficacy” of these Decrees.

Pope St. Pius X, Motu proprio, “Praestantia Scripturae,” Nov. 18, 1907: “…Modernists, who by sophisms and artifices of every kind endeavor to destroy the force and efficacy not only of the Decree, ‘Lamentabili sane exitu’… but also of Our Encyclical Letter, ‘Pascendi Dominici gregis,’ given on the eighth of September of this same year by Our Apostolic Authority, We repeat and confirm not only that Decree of the Sacred and Supreme Congregation, but also that Encyclical Letter of Ours, adding the penalty of excommunication against all who contradict them; and we declare and decree this: if anyone, which God forbid, proceeds to such a point of boldness that he defends any of the propositions, opinions, and doctrines disproved in either document mentioned above, he is ipso facto afflicted by the censure imposed in the chapter Docentes of the Constitution of the Apostolic See, first among those excommunications latae sententiae…”

OTHER QUOTES OF INTEREST IN THE NATURE AND MISSION OF THEOLOGY

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Nature and Mission of Theology, 1993, p. 97: “For a long time I shared the impression that the so-called heretics were really more interesting than theologians of the Church, at least in more recent times.”

Benedict XVI refers to theologians not of the Church (i.e., heretics) as “so-called heretics,” indicating that he doesn’t really believe that they are heretics.  And it is true that he doesn’t believe they are heretics, since he states clearly in his book The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood that Protestantism is not even heresy.

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Nature and Mission of Theology, 1993, p. 89: “It seems to me that hitherto still much too little notice and consideration have been given to the fact that the two great impulses behind the development of the doctrine of primacy to its full form originated not so much from an interest in unifying as from the dynamism released by the exigencies of pluralism.”

This seems to indicate that the doctrine of the primacy developed for practical reasons, rather than the fact that it was instituted by Our Lord in St. Peter, and is a revealed truth of the Faith.  This statement really shouldn’t surprise us, since Benedict XVI states in his book Principles of Catholic Theology that the primacy of jurisdiction of the Popes wasn’t even held in the First Millennium.

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