VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Whereas the Second Vatican Council gave the Catholic Church a “lovely” doc on the priesthood, “it didn’t face the basic query” of the distinction between Catholic and Protestant understandings of ordained ministry, wrote Pope Benedict XVI in an essay revealed after his demise.
An evidence of the facets of “sacrifice and expiation” within the celebration of the Eucharist and, due to this fact, within the function of the Catholic priest was the main target of two of the brand new essays included in “What’s Christianity?”—a e book launched solely in Italian in late January by Mondadori.
Pope Benedict dated the preface of the e book Could 1, 2022, and included an order that it not be revealed till after his demise, which occurred Dec. 31.
Solely 4 of the 16 essays within the e book are revealed for the primary time. All of them have been written between 2014 and March 2022.
“The fury of the circles against me in Germany is so robust that the looks of any phrase from me instantly provokes a murderous clamor on their half. I need to spare myself and Christendom this.”
The essay on “The Catholic Priesthood” is a whole revision and growth of a contribution retired Pope Benedict gave to Cardinal Robert Sarah for inclusion within the e book “From the Depths of Our Hearts,” revealed in 2020. The principle thrust of the e book was a protection of priestly celibacy, however Pope Benedict stated Cardinal Sarah had no permission to checklist him as co-author of the e book and insisted he had contributed solely intensive notes that turned one chapter.
Elio Guerriero, who helped Pope Benedict compile the essays in “What’s Christianity?” stated the controversy over the e book with Cardinal Sarah was what led Pope Benedict to insist on ready to publish the gathering of essays till after his demise.
“I don’t need to publish anything in my life,” Guerriero stated Pope Benedict informed him. “The fury of the circles against me in Germany is so robust that the looks of any phrase from me instantly provokes a murderous clamor on their half. I need to spare myself and Christendom this.”
An evidence of the facets of “sacrifice and expiation” within the celebration of the Eucharist and, due to this fact, within the function of the Catholic priest was the main target of two of the brand new essays included in “What’s Christianity?”
The brand new model of the essay does defend priestly celibacy as probably the most applicable expression of the whole self-giving of a priest to God and as a situation for ritual purity in step with the Israelite priesthood. However the brand new model focuses extra on the connection to historical priesthood and the providing of a sacrifice than it does to celibacy.
Neither model of the essay talked about the persevering with apply of ordaining married males within the Japanese Catholic church buildings, nor the exceptions granted by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict himself to married former ministers of the Anglican Communion and different Christian denominations who turn into Catholic.
The brand new model and a brand new essay on “The Which means of Communion,” each insist on the variations between the Catholic understanding of priesthood and the Lutheran understanding of ministry and between the Catholic understanding of the Mass and the Lutheran understanding of the Lord’s Supper.
The variations, he wrote, “will not be superficial and informal however point out a basic distinction in understanding the mandate of Christ” on the final supper when he informed his disciples, “Do that in reminiscence of me.”
That distinction, Pope Benedict wrote, have to be taken into consideration as Catholic leaders take into account increasing eucharistic hospitality to Lutherans past the particular events when church legislation permits it.