The pontificate of the crisis. What will happen to the Church after “Fiducia supplicans”?

When the planet learned about the death of erstwhile Pope Benedict XVI on December 31, 2022, many asked: what about the Church now? Yes, there is an office pope, Francis; but after Joseph Ratzinger's departure, will there be individual who can clearly identify the essence of the Christian religion and inform of the top dangers to Catholicism?

A fragment of the book “The Pontificate of Crisis. Why did Benedict XVI give way?” by Paweł Chmielewski (Esprit).

Benedict resigned on February 11, 2013; although he announced that he would not be straight active in ecclesiastical matters, he frequently spoke of the stormy waters affected by the nave of the Church – and even of the spiritual power of the Antichrist, which permeates the community of believers. For millions of Catholics, however, his words were not so important, but the very endurance of Benedict, the silent "mnicle" from Mater Ecclesiae in Vatican Gardens. Praying, dressed in papal white, surviving indication of his pontificates and St.John Paul II reminded that even in the age of chaos there are unchanging things in the Church. any sought out in the form of a "Pope-retirement" of a biblical catechist, the 1 who stopped the coming of the boy of demolition (cf. 2 Thes 2:3-12); others believed that Benedict remained Pope and in a mystical way maintained the existence of the actual Church of Christ.

Voices of despair? most likely so; however, in an unprecedented situation begun on 13 March 2013, erstwhile the throne of Peter took over Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Pope Francis – and this is an nonsubjective fact – started a violent redevelopment of the Church, a task that evokes the applause of liberal environments, frequently even those that we have previously associated with strong criticism not only of the institutions of the Church, but even of Christianity as such.

A day after the election of the pope from Argentina, the large master of the large East of Italy, Gustavo Raffi, spoke of hopes of making specified a breakthrough in the Church, which could be accepted by enlightened freelours: “Brothership and the desire for dialog are his first concrete words: possibly nothing in the Church will always be like before. [...] The Jesuit, who is close the end of history, has a large chance to show the planet the face of the Church, which must regain the preaching of the fresh humanity, not the burden of an institution that focuses on defending its privileges. [...] The simple cross, which he founded on his white robe, allows us to hope that the Church of the people will regain the ability to dialog with all people of good will and with the Masonry, which, as the experience of Latin America shows, works for the good and advancement of humanity. [...] This is the “white smoke” we anticipate from the Church of our time.”

These hopes were not unanswered. In 2016, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi of the Pontifical Council on Culture in a loud article invited the “Dear Masoon Brothers” to cooperate2, which was approved by Raffi's successor, the large master Stefano Bisi. In 2022, Bisi opened a fresh part of the masonry office in Terni north of Rome; the ribbon helped cut through the Bishop of Francesco Antonio Soddu's seat. In an extended speech, Bisi sang "Breccia di Porta Pia" – a breach of the Aurelian Wall by revolutionary troops attacking Rome in 1870. "Today, as in the past, our goal is the same: to commemorate all battles for freedom, starting with the 1 that, with the break of Porta Pia, began the end of the Church's dominance, allowing the birth of free and secular Italy," said the large master.

After the Second Vatican Council, the leaders of the Church felt that part of Catholic teaching should be modified in terms of “free and secular” values; today, along with the ongoing synodial process, there are highly far-reaching consequences. The attitude of many hierarchs on moral issues, specified as divorce, contraception, and homosexuality, is changing. The Pontifical Academy of Life under the direction of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia praises the Italian "abortion compromise"5, and considers canceling St Paul VI's teaching on artificial birth control6. In October 2019, the Vatican was allowed to worship the Amazon goddess Pachamama, symbolizing dialog with indigenous cultures. On March 1, 2023, the home of the Abrahamic household was opened in Abu Dhabi for 4 years. It consists of the Catholic church of St. Francis, the mosque of Imam Al-Tayeb and the synagogue of Majmonides; it is simply a symbol of interreligious dialog and the search for “truth” in various ways and traditions. The building was carried out by the advanced Committee of the Human Brotherhood, an organization initiated by Pope Francis and the large Imam Al-Tayeb with a celebrated declaration of February 2019, in which the words of God's want for spiritual diversity were made7.

When Stefano Bisi responded to the letter to the “Dear Masons” card. Ravasi, recalled that the cardinal himself erstwhile wrote the following words: “The fact is only one, but as the diamond has many faces; from our position we can see only 1 of them.” There is most likely no better architectural illustration for this conviction than the home of the Abrahamic Family.

If the Church is to focus primarily on what unites humanity, it can only talk of an enigmatic God who escapes the cognition of any religion. He may besides not talk of him at all, involving his forces primarily in the conflict for peace, prosperity, and ecology. Therefore, with large surprise he commented on the encyclical of Pope Francis Fratelli tutti about the human brotherly Italian philosopher and atheist, Salvatore Natoli:

“Today no 1 is considering the problem of God, even Christians. Christianity can be increasingly characterized by the dimension of caritas, and more frequently by transcendence. Fratelli tuttiThat's how I see it, it shows at all turn. This is simply a large dilemma within Christianity [...]. Transcendence is not denied, but it is increasingly ignored. There is no request for explicit denial if the issue becomes irrelevant."

A fewer years after publication Fratelli tutti The organizer of the planet Youth Days in Lisbon, Bishop Américo Aguiar, announced that at this event the Church does not want to convert anyone; rather, it intends to strengthen Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and atheists in their identities, so that they can all build a better planet together9.

The crisis is growing; it seems that, as announced by 1 of the most crucial German bishops, the Church will shortly be born, where "nothing will be the same"10. By 2020 Catholics around the planet could participate in conventional Holy Mass, which – as Benedict XVI wrote – is for the Church. A year later, Francis declared a number of prohibitions, recognizing that specified a Mass does not have the right of existence in the Church...

Chaos, confusion, insecurity, questioning what is established and always unchanging...

It all awakens the deep anxiety of many of the faithful, the anxiety that Benedict, as long as he lived, could soothe. After his death, the disorder only increased. In July 2023, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández as the fresh prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith, in a peculiar letter ordering him to advance "the diverse currents of thought in philosophy, theology and pastoral practice". In respective interviews he gave immediately after the appointment of Archbishop Fernández, he announced, among another things, the beginning of discussions on the deacon of women, the celibacy of priests, the blessing of single-sex couples and the revision of encyclicals Veritatis splendor Saint John Paul II. The bishops did not gotta wait long for circumstantial actions...

"The fresh events point straight to the regular breach of the dam. In view of the dramatic fall of Christianity in Europe, it can turn into a flood that will destruct what has yet to be preserved," said Benedict XVI, his biographer, Peter Seewald, in a loud interview, in which he pointed to a extremist break-up between Francis and his predecessor. Are those excessive words or an adequate description of reality?

The author of the book tries to answer questions.