Through the research of a very welcomed and regular commenter on this blog, Mark Thomas, comes a reminder which most of us may have forgotten. After posting this, Wolverine, another commenter, left a link to a New York Times article from 1983 where John Paul II himself, also praised Martin Luther wherein the Times states:
"The Pope referred to Luther as the theologian who ''contributed in a substantial way to the radical change in the ecclesiastical and secular reality in the West.'' He continued: ''Our world still experiences his great impact on history.''In the interests of truth and fairness, it is incumbent upon us to be thorough and honest in our criticism of Pope Francis. This scandal did not begin with him and sadly, it does not appear that it will end with him.
The recent aeroplane interview, a regular occurrence and cross, so it seems, has revealed much more. As I wrote previously, there is also his praise of the wretched heretic Martin Luther, who's act 500 years ago will be commemorated by Pope Bergoglio in Lund, Sweden this coming October, presumably. Whilst we are justifiably concerned about the comments of Pope Francis pertaining to our need for sorrow over how we've abused sodomites for two millennia, our focus should also on the praise of the man who ripped apart Christendom and lead tens to hundreds of millions of souls to Hell.
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Jorge Bergoglio was not the first Pope to praise him, Joseph Ratzinger was!
Look, the problem we have today with Pope Francis is because of Pope Benedict XVI. His actions in February 2013 lead to this. He is responsible. He forsook his office. He abandoned his flock to be hounded by wolves - modernist, heretical, savage wolves, worse than himself.
Earlier today, at a celebration of the 65th anniversary of his ordination, Joseph Ratzinger who gave no sign of being incapable of still being Pope, said:
Earlier today, at a celebration of the 65th anniversary of his ordination, Joseph Ratzinger who gave no sign of being incapable of still being Pope, said:
"His goodness from the first election day and in every moment of my life, I am struck. His goodness is the place where I live and I feel protected"
Lay the cause at the feet of the problem and hold to the fire the feet of those who refuse to fix it.
The Pope, Martin Luther, and Our Time
September 25, 2011 A.D., by Mark Brumley, The Catholic World Report
“Martin Luther” is not a popular figure in most Catholic circles. But now here comes Pope Benedict XVI, a fellow German, visiting his homeland and speaking to German Evangelical Christians, i.e. Lutherans, as we call them here.
"The Holy Father seems comfortable talking about Luther with Lutherans, even talking with obvious regard and sympathy for Luther. Shocking? Not to those who have followed the nuances of Catholic teaching on non-Catholic Christians as it has developed, especially as expressed in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and in papal teaching since then.
"Pope Benedict shows how a Catholic can have a certain sympathetic reading of Luther, notwithstanding the same Catholic’s rejection of Luther’s repudiation of the Catholic Church.
"In this way, a Catholic can see what is most important when it comes to assessing Luther—not denying the problems with him but also not overlooking what Luther got right or demonizing him.
"In his address Benedict makes a number of key points regarding Luther. First, there is Luther’s “burning question”, as Benedict puts it: “what is God’s position towards me, where do I stand before God?” This remains the central question of life today, even though many people don’t realize it.
"Second, there is Luther’s Christ-centered spirituality. Benedict clearly thinks on both of these points Luther is right and that calling attention to this fact is important for all Christians today.
"When it comes to ecumenism, the most important point for Benedict is that we keep in view our common ground as Christians: “It was the error of the Reformation period that for the most part we could only see what divided us and we failed to grasp existentially what we have in common in terms of the great deposit of sacred Scripture and the early Christian creeds. For me, the great ecumenical step forward of recent decades is that we have become aware of all this common ground, that we acknowledge it as we pray and sing together, as we make our joint commitment to the Christian ethos in our dealings with the world, as we bear common witness to the God of Jesus Christ in this world as our inalienable, shared foundation.”