Benedict XVI Again Rejects Converting the Schismatics

By Bro. Michael Dimond, O.S.B.
Read more of Benedict XVI’s Recent Heresies

Benedict XVI, Address to Schismatic Delegation, June 30, 2005: “Numerous significant gestures have been made since then. I am thinking of the abrogation of the reciprocal condemnations in 1054, of the discourses, documents and meetings promoted by the Sees of Rome and of Constantinople… John Paul II, of venerable memory, exchanged a fraternal embrace with the Ecumenical Patriarch precisely in order to give a strong spiritual sign of our communion in the Saints… This unity that we seek is neither absorption nor fusion but respect for the multiform fullness of the Church…” (L’Osservatore Romano, July 6, 2005, p. 5.)

First, Benedict XVI repeats the heresy that was frequently uttered by Paul VI and John Paul II: he says that the condemnations against the schismatics in 1054 for breaking communion with the Papacy have been overturned, indicating that they are no longer condemned, which is heresy.

Second, Benedict XVI asserts that he is united with the schismatics in the communion of the Saints.

Third, Benedict XVI says that unity with the schismatics is “neither absorption nor fusion.” This phrase was used in the notorious Balamand Statement to indicate that the schismatics don’t need to convert to the Catholic Church. It was also used many times by John Paul II (in his many Joint Declarations with the schismatics) to tell them the same thing. The phrase means that the schismatics don’t need to convert to the Catholic Faith for salvation. That is exactly what Benedict XVI is telling the schismatics again when he says that unity with them is “neither absorption nor fusion.”

Vatican II Sect’s Balamand Statement with the “Orthodox,” #’s 14-15, 1993: “According to the words of Pope John Paul II, the ecumenical endeavor of the sister Churches of East and West, grounded in dialogue and prayer, is the search for perfect and total communion which is neither absorption nor fusion but a meeting in truth and love (cf. Slavorum Apostoli, 27). 15. While the inviolable freedom of persons and their obligation to follow the requirements of their conscience remain secure, in the search for re-establishing unity there is no question of conversion of people from one Church to the other in order to ensure their salvation.”

Benedict XVI’s Recent Heresies

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