I write this on Trinity Sunday 2016
Something odd happened to me in 2005, which scared me and gave me goosebumps.
Why on earth am I writing about something that happened to me over 10 years ago? Because a few days ago, the Vatican issued a communique to the world, saying that Pope Benedict has denied having a conversation with Proffessor Dollinger regarding the Third Secret of Fatima. Apparently Proffessor Dollinger said that Cardinal Ratziger told him that the unrevealed part of the Third Secret is to do with a bad Council and a bad Mass. Steve Skojec's latest post on OnePeter5 is about this new revelation by Proffessor Dollinger, and it has gone so viral that it got the Vatican's attention. So this quick communication from the Vatican shows a nervousness on their part, to issue such a strong statement on behalf of Pope Benedict. So, who is lying? The Vatican, Pope Benedict or Proff Dollinger. I don't think the latter is lying.
So back to my past. While I was studying in my second year at Maryvale Institute in February 2005 for the part time BA Divinity, and while Pope John Paul II was still alive, I was perturbed to read a book by the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. It was called "God and the World - A conversation with Peter Seewald", Ignatius Press, 2000. It was in a question and answer format. It has been a best seller I believe.
On page 294, Peter Seewald asks Cardinal Ratzinger about Mary being the mother of God, and the Cardinal replies, "obviously she is not God's mother in the sense of His having come from her. But she was in the sense of having been the mother of that man who was entirely at one with God." Now I remember re-reading and re-reading the last part and red flags were popping up all over my head, and I felt a quickening of my heart-beat inside. Anyway, I wrote to my tutor, that wonderful canon lawyer - Father John Redwood (RIP). I quoted the troubling sentence to him. He wrote back, "I agree with you. Ratzinger's statement that Mary was the mother of that man who was entirely at one with God" is ambiguous. She was the mother of the man who WAS God!" The ever so subtle and carefully worded answer from Cardinal Ratzinger is a Christological heresy denying that Jesus Christ IS God! So, does Pope Benedict believe that Jesus is God? It would seem not - according to his reply to Mr Seewald.
Another interesting article on Pope Benedict's theology was written by late Father Luigi Villa in December 2011, where he critiques a book by Pope Benedict, called, "The God of Jesus Christ" - the title alone gives the heebie jeebies! That title alone says that Jesus is NOT God. Here is the link - please read it! So if this is the case, then Pope Benedict is a subtle Arian. No one has picked up on this except Fr Villa - who held a doctorate in theology.
Another interesting podcast I listened to today was a criticism of Catholic bloggers who blog anonymously. And there are many of them! Good writing and all that, but they hide behind anonymity. I blog under my real name and yes it has got me into 'trouble' of course it has! I have lost friends yes. My blog eventually caused me to leave Opus Dei. But I refuse to be anonymous.
There is a lot of nostalgia for Pope Benedict, while Pope Francis causes havoc with his many plane interviews and apostolic exhortations. But this nostalgia is quite odd IF Pope Benedict is a crypto Arian.
