“he gathered together his cardinals and told them — characteristically in Latin”.
Latin has been the lingua franca of the west for centuries and even in my youth schoolboys we’re expected to learn the basics of Latin together with the classical culture that came with it. Today it’s use marks the speaker out as a man of a past world.

Although I managed to fail my Latin O level I regret it’s passing as its use amalgamated the classical, ecclesiastical and early scientific eras leading to the classical liberal world view. We now seems to be heading into the barbarism of progressive liberalism and the return of secular dogma without the benefit of an artistic culture grounded in the celebration of some higher purpose beyond material comfort that is soon to be diminished by the demonisation of oil and the multiple benefits it has brought in that respect.

It is mildly disappointing for me to discover, via these comments on Benedict, that UNHERD seems to attract many erudite agnostic conservatives who have little depth and experience in matters of faith. I would have hoped that those who could not understand Benedict’s commitment to truth, beauty and reality. would at least have some respect for him as a human being, struggling to steer his church through the muck and absurdity of the early 21st century.

Great article, Damien.

I confess I’m among those angered by Pope Benedict’s resignation–more than a folly, a disaster of this brilliant and holy man.

The Church in some respects might be “falling apart.” But this could be setting the stage for a regeneration. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

In fact Pope Benedict famously predicted this. He said “from a more simplified and spiritualized church, will flow great power.” And by the way “man in a totally planned world will find himself unspeakably lonely”.

Speaking of plans, despite what one reads about Pope Francis filling the ranks of the Cardinals with his allies, somehow I expect a much different sort of man will replace him. Cardinal Sarah, one hopes.

An excellent article of a life not often discussed and a fair look at a beloved theologian (but a poor politician). It seems most writing these days only seem to relish (gleefully) in the priest scandals of the past decades that finally came to air during his term and his inability to layout timely reforms.

Surely the greatest churchman of his generation, and beatification must take place without delay.

I find it hard to feel sympathy for a man who seemed happy to turn a blind eye or brush under the carpet the stories of abuse committed by his Priests personally. Maybe if he’d made more of an effort to tackle it I’d have some sympathy for his “legacy” being dismantled

Seems trite to emphasize the language of worship when there are so many other issues at play, and yet it is the litmus of whether the Church is historic or progressive. Its suppression says more about the direction of travel than whether a handful of churches still offer a Latin Mass.

“[His election] was an electrifying surprise.”

What? His election was widely predicted, and the fact that he was elected straight away confirmed that.

“Indeed, there’s no doubt that his passion for writing interfered with his effectiveness as pope.”
Excellent point. And it tells us all we need to know about his qualifications to serve as Pope. He seemed more of a fish out of water than fisher of men and linear descendent of the original “Big Fisherman.”
Sad…sad. RIP and leb wohl, Brother Joseph. 

The actual tragedy is that, after the ‘most important’ theology accumulated over 2000 years, we are none the wiser. As any wild animal would tell you if it could, there is no end to suffering and ‘contradictions’ as long as there is life. If the lion were to lie down with the lamb in the garden of Eden, either both would starve or there would soon be no garden. But (as Tom Shakespeare mentioned today on BBC radio) every living thing has what the Japanese call Ikigai – a deeper more primal urge than the Cowardly Lion’s answer to the question “what puts the ‘ape’ in apricot?”. The individual ‘ikigais’, often in conflict, add up to an ‘ikigai’ of the whole. That, I think is the nearest we we will get to ‘natural’ theology, and we won’t find any theology that makes sense in our narratives, based on interests that are frequently imaginary or perverse (think of the example playing out right now in east Europe). What begins as an innovation, whether by the reported words of a prophet or the directives of an emperor, evolves into a ‘sacred’ tradition whose relevance is entirely in the number of its followers, because it cannot change except by following the herd. Yet by its nature it will resist that change, and as long as the followers are numerous or powerful enough the resistance will be effective. Inertia ensures that the next innovation, when it comes, will not arrive through tinkering.

The Catholic Church died when priests could abuse children with ease and without sanction.

Every single act ever by the church in the absence of wholesale crucifixion of paedeophile priests is a hollow farce.

“this same theological genius left the See of Peter in a helicopter, having allowed himself to be crushed by the responsibilities of his office. And then the Catholic Church fell apart.”

Seriously, the author doesn’t think the Catholic Church was falling apart long before Ratzinger retired? Doesn’t think that Ratzinger, and his predecessor, hadn’t been major contributors to the falling apart?

The author seems to think closing debates is to be welcomed when it is this refusal to think and engage with the modern world that is leading to the decline of the church here. Francis is helping by starting debates that need to happen and a long overdue synodal process that focuses on what matters to the world. And it’s not the Latin Mass.
Ratzinger was out of step and out of touch with the world. Theology does not save people, dialogue does.

Ratzinger and his equally revolting brother probably did more damage to the Catholic Church than anyone since Tomás de Torquemada.