Pope Benedict XVI
-
Archbishop Gänswein on Constantine
Archbishop Georg Gännswein was in Heiligenkreuz yesterday and today for a conference on “The Prophetic” in the theology of Pope Benedict XVI. He gave a talk yesterday evening, and today he celebrated Mass and participated in a panel discussion. I was particularly struck by the opening of his talk yesterday. After quoting from a parish… Continue reading
-
Pope Benedict XVI
In the latest episode of The Josias Podcast we reflect with gratitude on the life, death, and writings of Pope Benedict XVI. Urban Hannon and I also recount going to his funeral in Rome. I also take the opportunity to read from my favorite book of Ratzinger’s, a small volume based on a retreat that… Continue reading
-
In Sinu Jesu
A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a book by an anonymous Benedictine monk which had just been published: In Sinu Jesu. I have been reading it slowly in the adoration chapel of the seminary here in Heiligenkreuz, and although I haven’t finished yet, it has already made a deep impression on me.… Continue reading
-
Von Balthasar and Benedict XVI on Anti-Semitism
Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord, vol 5, pp. 579-580: In his insatiable and hateful polemic against the Old Testament, Hegel pursues the one element for which he has no use in his otherwise all-reconciling system: the sovereign and lordly elevation of God above the world, who acts, elects and rejects in complete freedom… Continue reading
-
The Sorrowfulness of the Secular State
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is certainly not an ‘integralist’ in my sense of the word, but there are moments when he comes very close. Consider the following passage of The Yes of Jesus Christ, written when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger: the greatness of soul of the human vocation reaches beyond the individual aspect of human existence… Continue reading
-
On Contemporary Critiques of Ultramontanism; With a Comparison of Recent Supreme Pontiffs to Liverpool FC Managers
Jürgen Klopp’s appoitment as Liverpool FC’s new manager may not be “the most exciting event … ever,” but it is certainly terribly exciting. I have been a Liverpool supporter ever since my youth, when, not having a TV, I started looking for soccer clips online and found Timbo’s Goals, a now long defunct LFC fan site that… Continue reading
-
Catholic Social Teaching on Lake Garda
Christopher Zehnder has written an excellent post comparing Pope Gregory XVI’s anti-modernism and Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’. I took a similar approach in my own appreciation of Laudato Si’, praising it for its clear eyed opposition to technocratic modernity. I did, however, also write that I thought Pope Francis ignored “some elements of Catholic Social Teaching that ought really… Continue reading
Sancrucensis 