Benedict XVI Promotes Heresies During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

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

Benedict XVI, Catechesis, January 23, 2008: “In these days, Christians of various Churches and Ecclesial Communities are joining in a unanimous chorus of entreaty to ask the Lord Jesus to re-establish full unity among all his disciples... In asking for the grace of unity Christians join in Christ’s own prayer... The patient journey of the search for full communion between all Christians continued after the Council... Thanks precisely to this spiritual ecumenism – holiness of life, conversion of heart, private and public prayer – the common search for unity has in recent decades recorded considerable development... And this is because, in praying together, Christian communities place themselves before the Lord... Prayer in common is not, therefore, a voluntaristic or purely sociological act, but rather an expression of faith that unites all Christ’s disciples. In the course of the years, fertile collaboration has been established in this field, and since 1968, the then Secretariat for Christian Unity, which subsequently became the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and the World Council of Churches prepare jointly these booklets for the Week of Prayer for Unity; they then distribute them throughout the world, covering areas that they never would have managed to reach on their own.”[1]

Notice that Benedict XVI states that the booklets for the Week of Prayer for Unity are actually prepared by the non-Catholics at the World Council of Churches and Benedict XVI’s Church. The World Council of Churches (WCC) is an international ecumenical organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. The WCC has a membership of over 340 churches and denominations. [2] So Benedict XVI is praising the joint publications made by heretics and his sect.

Benedict XVI, Discourse to members of the Joint Working Group of the World Council of Churches and the “Catholic Church” on the occasion of their visit to the Vatican, January 25, 2008: “The World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church have enjoyed a fruitful ecumenical relationship dating back to the time of the Second Vatican Council... On this day, then, we think back with gratitude to the work of so many individuals who over the years have sought to spread the practice of spiritual ecumenism through common prayer...”[3]

Benedict XVI, Homily, January 25, 2008, for the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: “This evening I cordially greet the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, who has come to Rome to join us on the centenary of the Week of Prayer. I am pleased that members of the ‘Joint Working Group’ are present and I greet them with affection. The Joint Group is the means of cooperation between the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches in our common search for unity.”[4]

The Catholic Church already possesses unity. The Catholic Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The oneness or unity of the true Church is one of the four marks of the Church. Therefore, unity is something that already exists in the Catholic Church.

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (# 10), Jan. 6, 1928: “So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it…”

But according to the statements above from Benedict XVI, as well as the official teachings of Vatican II, “Christians” are still searching for Christian unity and for the re-establishment of Christian unity. Such a notion is heretical.

We can also see how Benedict XVI promotes “common prayer” together with Lutherans, other heretics and the World Council of Churches. Praying in common with heretical sects and non-Catholic religions is a grave sin, but Benedict XVI does it and encourages it all the time.

Pope Pius IX, Neminem vestrum (# 5), Feb. 2, 1854: “We want you to know that those same monks sent Us a splendid profession of Catholic faith and doctrine… They eloquently acknowledged and freely received the regulations and decrees which the popes and the sacred congregations published or would publish – especially those which prohibit communicatio in divinis (communion in holy matters) with schismatics… They acknowledge that they condemn the error of the schismatic Armenians and recognize that they are outside of the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Benedict XVI’s Recent Heresies

The Heresies of Benedict XVI file

Notes:

[1] L’ Osservatore Romano, January 30, 2008, p. 15.

[2] Statement on World Council of Churches Official Website

[3] L’ Osservatore Romano, February 6, 2008, p. 9.

[4] L’ Osservatore Romano, January 30, 2008, p. 9.