The Vatican faces a new and unexpected turbulence arrival this time from the peaceful gardens, where he lives retired for nearly seven years, Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign since the FIFTEENTH century. Then, Joseph Ratzinger announced that he would not interfere in the life and governance of the Church. But in the last few months, his silence was interrupted two times by changing the step of the current papacy. The last in a book that will be published tomorrow, supposedly written in tandem with the cardinal Robert Sarah —the preferred of the far right in the next conclave— at which he opposes head-on the celibacy optional and, above all, the ordination of married men, as the advanced Le Figaro Sunday. The problem, however, is not the issue itself, but the interference is nothing innocent in an important topic and on the that Francis will have to decide in the next few weeks.
The relationship between two men who dress the same and live within a few meters is not always easy. Neither one sang to the Beatles when they met, and the other was left to teach to dance tango, as noted in the movie The two popes these days. The reality is that both pontiffs —of 83 and 92 years respectively— have maintained a communication exquisite in the ways, and that Bergoglio himself pushed with their support for Ratzinger was appointed Pope in 2005. But the coexistence of ideological and theological is somewhat more remote from that mellifluous melody. Opponents Francisco have tried to use Benedict XVI since he retired as a symbol of the righteousness theological in front of what they consider a betrayal of the Church (the current pope has been accused of heretic). And the publication of the book signing now with Sarah —who defended himself yesterday on Twitter that is not a text against Francis— returns effect that flag of war.
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Benedict XVI is opposed to the end of celibacy in a book
The text and the time of its publication are not casual. The book explicitly refers to the synod on the Amazon which took place last October in the Vatican and to the controversial decision voted by the assembly of bishops —was approved with 128 members in favor and 41 against, but with a minimum quorum of 120— of the emplacement of the Pope to study the ordination of married men in some remote places where the faithful do not have access to the sacraments. Francisco must decide soon on whether to give final approval in the apostolic exhortation that composes it and the text attributed to Benedict XVI can be considered only as a pressure to that decision.
The defenders of Francis remind us that Ratzinger has a health very fragile which does not allow you to hold lengthy conversations and, much less, write. The conversations are always filtered by two or three people from their private environment outside of the control of the Holy see, and point to that sector, with inclinations conservative, as responsible for the mess. In addition, late yesterday, some media published a version of the environment of Ratzinger as the pope emeritus would not know in reality the true use that is going to do the essay that he wrote months ago about the celibacy or the cover of the book where his signature appears. Sarah posted soon after on Twitter, the correspondence with the pope emeritus that supposedly would prove that I knew the exact plans of how I would edit the book and give your autoriización to do so “as planned”.
Other sources consulted that deal with Benedict XVI, claim that it preserves lucidity enough to not be manipulated in a matter of this kind. “From the point of view of their capabilities, there is no doubt that you know what has been published. It is lucid and goes out to walk daily by the vatican gardens. It is not comparable to the last months of John Paul II. Another thing is that he wouldn’t have known the final version of the book,” says someone with access to Ratzinger, who is referred to a contact 15 days ago.
this Is the second time, in fact, that a text of Benedict XVI is to question the action of this pontificate. The last one was last April, when the pope emeritus questioned the persecution carried out recently of some priests accused of pedophilia, as we are reminded by the historian and expert on the Church Lucetta Scaraffia. “When Benedict published those pages will not be told to anyone and appeared in a newspaper bavaro. He remembered his instructions about the abuse and seemed to criticize an action less balanced and weighted for Francisco. Why now? Order men handcuffed to cancel the celibacy of the priests. I think that what bothers you more to Benedict XVI is that the Pope twist points clear of the tradition by making exceptions instead of discussing them openly and thoroughly”.
The Vatican, surprised with the release, went to step this Monday through Andrea Tornielli, its editorial director. The veteran journalist said that the book is a contribution “in filial obedience to the Pope”. But, in addition, entered into the substance of the matter, recalling that the own Benedict XVI also admitted exceptions to allow anglican priests married to be part of the catholic Church. Many now think that, in addition to ignore the fact of how unusual such a precedent, the text of Ratzinger and Sarah is an offense towards all of them, to whom the cardinal of the guinean calls “priests of the second” by the fact of being married. A point of apparent no return that risk of spread the historical relationship between the two popes.
