https://www.dailycamera.com/2023/01/04/opinion-marc-thiessen-the-tragedy-of-pope-benedict-xvi/
Before going any further, my confession (pun intended). I am a pastor in good standing in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ordained 1981), and currently licensed in the Upper Diocese of South Carolina in the Episcopal Church of the USA, I consider myself an Evangelical Catholic. Anyone who has seen me at the altar would understand that. At times I have been told to become Roman Catholic (my wife would have something to say, as she has herself been ordained for some time now.). Over the years I have enjoyed friendship and collegiality with Roman Catholic priests, nuns, and laypeople. I have received the Eucharist openly and sometimes not so openly.
Thiessen's point is that because Benedict XVI resigned, the way was paved for Francis to be elected. There was a time when conservative Catholics like Thiessen answered criticisms of a pope with "You cannot criticize the Pope!" However, that does not apply to a pontiff like Francis who is perceived by some conservative Roman Catholics as being liberal-socialist-wrong-terrible,
Had Joseph Ratzinger not been elected in 2005, he would be remembered as a great theologian. There is no question about either his intellect or his piety. He also had every right to speak on matters pertaining to Roman Catholicism. I purposely did not say church, because the link below to the 1991 Declaration says there is only one Church established by Jesus Christ: the Roman Catholic Church.
I am not alone in disagreeing with this, and other points It is a turning back of the progress made by Vatican II. When the Declaration came out, I stopped crossing myself the Latin way, and did so the Orthodox way (right to left, not left to right anymore).
Benedict's mistake was not his resignation. It was facing an increasingly-secularized world by reverting back to views that were incorrect and potentially alienating fellow Christians. In some conservative Roman Catholic circles, he was seen as a possible rival to Francis, which Benedict rejected.
I am sorry that my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters experience this turmoil. We have our own in the ELCA, as does every part of the Church. By that term I mean all Christians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominus_Iesus
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