Benedict in Way of German Synodal Path - Gänswein

To observers of the church, there was something quite strange about the timing of the attack on Pope Benedict XVI’s character in January 2022.

The correction of a minor mistake in a mammoth 1,000 page report quickly escalated into apparent implication into the abuse contained within the report, with secular media outlets and liberal Catholics uniting in implying something about the story that simply did not exist.

Despite the damaging nature of these claims, not just to Pope Benedict XVI but to the whole church, very few voices had the integrity to join the pope as he defended himself from these false accusations.

Among the very few to speak up was Cardinal Dominik Duka, who wrote:

For me, this is one of the greatest disappointments I have experienced in our Roman Catholic Church. To denigrate a person, to denounce him unjustly and not even to give him the opportunity to evaluate this so-called blessing, which must have cost hundreds of thousands of euros, because it does not give the possibility of a legal reprieve? I ask: what is that?

I point out the following fact: that from the entire record, any priest who has studied church law, or even a layman who has graduated from a theological faculty and attended a course in church law, must understand that the then Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger, had no jurisdiction and no possibility of resolving this case in any way - the priest X. in question was a priest of the diocese of Essen.

Therefore, I protest and indeed take the liberty of calling the Archbishop of Munich, his curia, and the President of the German Bishops' Conference to account for the defamation and tarnishing of the reputation of Pope Benedict XVI!

Those particular facts undermined virtually of the misleading propaganda being proposed by mainstream media and liberal Catholics.

These facts have been elaborated upon in a subsequent interview with Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary Georg Gänswein.

Gänswein told ETWN:

You know the history - there was a mistake after the munich report was published. But this was not a mistake on the part of Pope Benedict, as he himself indicated in his letter. The appendix explains how this happened. It was an accident that unfortunately happened. It should not have happened. But it happened.

I still remember, when we were going through a statement he sent to the law firm, how during the last block of "questions and answers" he said: "I don't remember that meeting - the famous one - on January 15, 1980. But if it says that I was not present, then that absence is proven — or was proved then — thanks to a document from that meeting." And that's where the mistake happened. "So if it says I was absent, I accept that. I said, "Holy Father, it's in the digital documents we just checked, so we can assume it's true." Again, it was not checked, not at all. It only reappeared when the report was presented and one of the experts said: Benedict was present, not absent. I was in shock and the others were in shock too. And then we checked it again. And indeed, there was a mistake. I told Pope Benedict and he said: "We must immediately say that this was a mistake on our part." It wasn't intentional, so it wasn't a lie — the lies are deliberate; it was a mistake. "We have to say it as soon as possible," he insisted. "Prepare a press release, discuss it with the Secretariat of State, and then move on."

As well as elaborating upon the 8,000 pages of files that Benedict was required to sift through, Ganswein echoed Cardinal Duka’s comments by stating:

The minutes of this meeting state: "Archbishop Cardinal Ratzinger present"; the then Vicar General was not present. He was absent. Responsible workers received a request from a German diocese to ask if a priest who would come to Munich for treatment for a certain period of time could stay in the Munich parish. That was the subject of the meeting. The diocese's request was granted. "We appoint a priest or a parish priest in whose rectory he can stay," it was said. It wasn't about content at all. That is, it was only a question of whether this request should be granted or not. And cardinal Ratzinger present, of course, agreed: Of course, if we can help, we will help. What happened later, the cooperation here, the cooperation there, was already beyond his consciousness. At that time, there was no talk of it at all. Also, the reason for the therapy that he could have been a pedophile priest was never mentioned. There is no mention of this in the protocol. The claim that he knew about it, that he protected and covered him is simply a lie. And I have to say quite frankly: It's slander. It's just not true. You have to know the facts as they are, and also accept the facts as they are. And then I can interpret them. But I can't put the chariot in front of the horse. I just can't. That is insinuation. And that ultimately takes away Pope Benedict's moral credibility, and then he can no longer defend himself.

But let me answer the question you asked me earlier – you are absolutely right. Benedict said in writing the letter: "It should be a very personal letter. And that's why there's this distinction between my letter and the appendix. So that people can see that it is my letter, a letter that I wrote, and an appendix that is the work of four co-workers whom I know and approve." But this letter is something he wrote, if you will, in God's presence. The last paragraph is perhaps the key to everything. He says, "Quite soon I will find myself before the last judge of my life," before the gracious judge.

In fact, this was not the first time he had apologized to victims of abuse. I remember very well, and this is also mentioned in the letter, that during his travels as Pope he often met people who had been sexually abused by priests. These meetings were very emotional, always in the chapel, without the presence of the press, always beginning in the chapel with a short prayer and then followed by a meeting. And then I could see the effects of those meetings. And this is a simple presentation of the facts. Many of the victims then testified, whether on radio or television, how this meeting benefited them and relieved them of all the pressure, the heaviness. Benedict always said: Every victim of abuse is too much, every case of abuse is too much, and as a result it cannot be corrected. The only thing that can help is a plea for forgiveness and also a kind of plea for these people to be entrusted to God's protection.

Most interestingly, he comments on the German Synodal Path by stating:

Certain goals that the Synodal Way is aiming at are something for which the person and the work of Benedict stand in the way. And there is this great, great danger that everything that has to do with pedophilia and abuse is now taken monocausally, so to speak, in order to open this Way first and then go down that road. Last week we saw what texts were passed, and where this is supposed to lead.

The Synodal Way is an event that, theologically or ecclesiastically speaking, does not correspond to a synod. It's an event that can be held, and they can also produce texts. But these texts are not binding in any way, and certainly not for the life of the Church. We will see to what extent the results of these texts can be fruitful — or not — for the process of the world Synod. I am convinced that they will not be fruitful. If I want a different Church that is no longer based on revelation, so to speak, if I want a different structure of the Church that is no longer sacramental but pseudo-democratic, then I must also see that this has nothing to do with Catholic understanding, with Catholic ecclesiology, with the Catholic understanding of the Church.

The collusion between media and liberal elements within the church appears to have brought about this coordinated attack on Pope Benedict XVI, using falsifications and the very real abuse of innocent people to achieve their goals.

It is shameful and a warning to the global church to be ready for subversive elements who are willing to exploit any issue and destroy any persons for their own benefit.

Copyright: Catholic Arena