An “extended ministry” for the papacy is impossible – non veni pacem

By Father David Nix

Why can there only be one Pope at a time? Because Christ only appointed twelve apostles only one pope. Saint Peter is “named 191 times (162 as Peter or Simon Peter, 23 as Simon and 6 as Cephas).” That is more than all the other apostles combined. The office of Peter (munus in Latin) is therefore singular. The Pope is much more than “first among equals,” as the New Testament clearly proves in the figures above. Furthermore, countless magisterial documents (and saints who have opposed the anti-popes throughout history) all emphasize: there can only be one valid Pope of Rome. at any time.

Yet a decade ago, Vatican Archbishop Georg Gänswein wrongly believed that Pope Benedict XVI could split the papacy into “an expanded ministry.” Even the mainstream Aleteia There was a story in 2016 that quoted Ganswein explaining this: “Since the election of his successor Francis on March 13, 2013, there have not been two popes, but de facto an expanded office – with an active member and a contemplative member. This is why Benedict XVI did not specify either his name or the white cassock. This is why the proper name by which we can address him today is “Your Holiness.” On February 11, 2013, in Latin, in the presence of the surprised cardinals, he introduced the new institution of ‘Pope Emeritus.’”

Note again that this was published in 2016:after the alleged resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013, but for his death in 2022. It is clear that Gänswein did not believe Benedict complete resigned the papacy. Did Benedict do that? This may seem like an outdated question, but the answer to it may also reveal nothing less than how God himself views the current church crisis in Rome, which is now at a fever pitch.

In 2023 I wrote one article about two relatively unknown aspects of coercion under which Pope Benedict XVI semi-resigned from the papacy in 2013. As you can see in that article, Canon 188 states: “A dismissal of grave fear inflicted wrongfully or with malice. substantial error, or simony is void by the law itself.” The article linked above evaluates the “severe fear” imposed by Benedict from 2010 to 2013. In that sense, Benedict was the victim of the St. Gallen mafia in his quasi-resignation from the papacy.

But was Benedict also the perpetrator of an attempt at a split papacy over the entire Church? Some say so, and that this was based on substantial errors regarding the understanding of the papacy that preceded his election by decades of his academic career. Proponents of this theory maintain that a substantial error could involve a misunderstanding of the papacy, which could lead to a half-resignation, which would of course amount to no dismissal at all (at least until death.)

To be fair, some traditionalists today maintain that Pope Benedict XVI intended it that way complete to resign the papacy (and they claim they can prove it). Others say he did not intend to resign completely. (They also say they can prove it.) The fact is: Both groups can prove it. But Benedict saw almost everything through the Hegelian eyes of: Statement + Contrast = Synthesis. In principle, two opposing ‘truths’ can be united to create a ‘truth’ Super-truth (or synthesis.) For most of the last decade of his life, Benedict believed that Francis was pope. This is true. But Benedict Also believed Benedict was pope. This is evident from the overwhelming evidence that follows that Benedict wrongly believed that a pope could semi-resignation.

In 2013 from Pope Benedict XVI Declaration (considered his resignation from the chair of St. Peter, archived here) Benedict first referred to the Pope Munus (office) twice at the beginning of that short 250-word document, but later he only renounced the ministry of St. Peter (“plena free declare me…renuntiare…ministerio Episcopi Romae, successor Sancti Petri”) translated into English on the Vatican website as: “With complete freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter.” Again at the beginning of the document he clearly refers to the office, but later only relinquishes the ministry (in that short 250 word document.)

I have studied languages ​​intensively for twenty years. Anyone who says “Munus means the same as ministry‘ not only shows that they don’t understand how Latin works, but they also show that they don’t understand how language works. The first step in learning a language is knowing that every single word reveals reality or a lie. Yes, there are synonyms, but even synonyms don’t mean exactly the same thing. (Munus And ministry aren’t even synonyms, by the way.) Yes, Pope Benedict XVI was a Hegelian who wrongly believed that truth is found between synthesis and antithesis. However, he was still a German who used words surgical precision.

If we combine these two facts, the outcome is obvious: Benedict meant it Munus And ministry as two different things. However, these two things would (as will be proven later in this article) become (in his broken Hegelian spirit) one contemplative pope and a active pope. In true Catholic theology, of course, these things cannot coexist.

Dr. Edmund Mazza discovered that Cardinal Ratzinger, even before he was elected Pope, believed that the Papacy was undergoing the following development: “I think we must be honest enough to admit the temptation of Mammon in the history of the Church and to recognize in what to the extent that it was a real power that worked to distort and corrupt both the Church and theology, even to its very core. The separation between office as jurisdiction and office as rite was continued for reasons of prestige and financial benefits.”—Cardinal Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology1987, emphasis mine.

So when Pope Benedict XVI virtually resigned in 2013, he believed he could split the papacy into a dual papacy. Again, his Hegelian thinking in all this was a curse (not a blessing) for the entire Catholic Church. Consider more evidence of this in an interview three years later with Mr. Peter Seewald:

Peter Seewald: “Is a delay in performance reason enough to get off Peter’s chair?”
Pope Benedict: “You can… make that accusation, but that would be a functional misunderstanding. The follower of Peter is not merely bound to a position; the office invades your being. Fulfilling a position is not the only criterion.”

Note that Pope Benedict XVI considered it merely an ‘accusation’ that he complete resigned from the papacy in that interview in 2016 (three years after his alleged resignation). Yet Pope Benedict function) but kept the contemplative papacy to himself (Munus) as he said in that interview above: “The follower of Peter is not merely bound to a position; the office invades your being.”

So Pope Benedict clearly believed that in 2005 the office of the See of Peter entered his ‘being’ until his death in 2022. Nothing could take away that eternal gift of the papacy, he wrongly believed. How do we know this? See the quote from again Principles of Catholic Theology which he wrote in 1987 as Cardinal Ratzinger. In other words, he had a broken idea of ​​the papacy even before he became pope.

But in traditional Catholic theology, a resigning pope is supposed to be no pope at all. Jesus Christ Himself established that this is only possible one pope at some point in the history of the Catholic Churchas shown in the first paragraph of this article. Any attempt by a pope to withdraw part of papal responsibility would therefore be null and void.

Unfortunately, Benedict here did not believe in the traditional theology of the papacy. This theological reality at odds with his legacy is clearly supported by the foolishness of Benedict’s own words during the week of his “resignation.” These words are still shockingly found on the Vatican website (archived here) for Pope Benedict XVI stated:

“The ‘always’ is also a forever’ – it is no longer possible to return to the private sphere. My decision to resign from active ministry does not revoke this. I am not returning to private life, to a life full of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences, and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain at the side of the crucified Lord in a new way. I no longer bear the power of governing the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of St. Peter’s. Saint Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, will be a great example for me in this. He has shown us the way to a life that, whether active or passive, is completely given up to the work of God.”

Note that when Pope Benedict Of course, I believe this is a substantial error. , because he even believed this idea past his unusual attempt to become the ‘contemplative pope’ in 2013. Therefore, in the above quote he remained both physical and hierarchical within the ‘enclosure of Saint Peter’. (Some translations call it the ‘area of ​​St. Peter’.)

There was clearly a substantial error in Benedict’s understanding of the papacy in 2013 (and for many years before that, as evidenced by his writings as cardinal). When Benedict was still alive, I asked Fr. Paul Kramer on mine podcast (at minus 30) as the idea of ​​the active pope work next to the contemplative pope was exclusively the idea of ​​Cardinal Georg Gänswein or if it was the idea both Georg Ganswein And Pope Benedict XVI. Fr. Kramer replied strongly in favor the last. And he should know, because he has had many high-ranking contacts in Rome for decades. (More evidence for this is provided by a US civil lawyer at Catholic Esquire.)

That night in 2013, lightning struck the Vatican twice. Does that sound like a resignation accepted by God? Even Benedict himself declared: “I no longer bear the power of governing the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of St. Peter.” Yet he kept his word by living as Pope in the Vatican. Few people doubt this. But for those who do, Mark up Non Veni Pacem often reminds us: Pope Benedict, who lived in the Vatican from 2013, continued to wear white, just like the Pope, and gave the apostolic blessing (as only a pope could do that.) Benedict even invented the new, false term: pope Emeritus.

All of the above is overwhelming evidence that Benedict deliberately attempted to… half– resignation from the chairmanship of Peter. Yet even the most basic papal theology has maintained for the past 2,000 years that: half– is dismissed no dismissal at all. Pope Benedict

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