The Heresy in Benedict XVI’s 1985 Book “The Ratzinger Report”

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 Ratzinger Report (An exclusive interview on the State of the Church) by “Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger (Ignatius Press, 1985)

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

BENEDICT XVI TEACHES THAT EASTERN SCHISMATIC CHURCHES HAVE AN AUTHENTIC DOCTRINE

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Ratzinger Report, 1985, pp. 161-162: “Q. We have already referred indirectly to the Eastern Orthodox Churches.  What are relations like with them?  A. ‘Contacts with them are only superficially easier; in reality we are faced with grave problems.  These Churches have an authentic doctrine, but it is static, petrified as it were.  They remain faithful to the tradition of the first Christian millennium, but they reject later developments on the grounds that Catholics decided upon these developments without them.”

The Eastern Schismatics don’t have an authentic doctrine.  They reject the Papacy, Papal Infallibility and numerous other Catholic dogmas.  They are not faithful to the tradition of the first Christian millennium, since they reject the primacy of supreme jurisdiction of the Pope.  This primacy of supreme jurisdiction of the Pope is not an invention, but was conferred upon St. Peter and his successors by Jesus Christ.  But Benedict XVI holds that the Papacy (the primacy of jurisdiction) wasn’t even exercised in the first millennium, as proven in the article on his book Principles of Catholic Theology.  He holds that it is a fiction, an invention of later ages.  That is why he says that schismatics who reject this primacy of the Pope are faithful to ancient tradition.  By saying that Eastern Schismatic Churches have “an authentic doctrine” Benedict XVI denies the Catholic Faith, the Papacy and Papal Infallibility.

OTHER QUOTES OF INTEREST IN THE RATZINGER REPORT

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Ratzinger Report, 1985, p. 114: “This is why we must look to the example of our brethren of the Eastern Orthodox churches, great teachers – even today – of authentic Christian asceticism.”

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Ratzinger Report, 1985, p. 196: “It is part of the Church’s ancient, traditional teaching that every man is called to salvation and de facto can be saved if he sincerely follows the precepts of his own conscience, even without being a visible member of the Catholic Church.”

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