N THE PAST, we have hesitated to post articles by Sandro Magister, because his reporting on the Vatican music situation has been so reprehensible, sensationalistic, and scandalously erroneous. However, the following article seems worth sharing. Here’s an excerpt:
ROME, June 17, 2013 – There have been two news items in recent days that have shed new light on the relationship that binds Pope Francis to his predecessor, Benedict XVI.
The first is the announcement, made on June 13 by Jorge Mario Bergoglio himself, of the imminent release of an encyclical written “with four hands”:
“Pope Benedict passed it along it to me. It is a powerful document, even I will say there that I have received this great work: he created it, and I have carried it forward.”
It is the encyclical on faith that pope Joseph Ratzinger had planned to publish after the previous ones dedicated to the other two theological virtues: charity and hope. At the time of his renunciation of the pontificate it was almost finished.
Curiously, the first encyclical of Benedict XVI, “Deus Caritas Est,” had also made use of some material prepared during the previous pontificate. But in that case its general construction, and the first of its two great sections in particular, the more theological one, was typically Ratzingerian.
This time, instead, almost the whole composition of the encyclical is by Ratzinger. It is as if pope Bergoglio had limited himself to writing its preface and conclusion. His signature becomes a strong sign of acknowledgement of the pope who preceded him.
You can read the entire article here:
* * Benedict Wanted a “Poor” Church, Too [url]