The Astounding Heresy in Benedict XVI’s Book “The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood”

*This is from my continuing study of Benedict XVI’s books. For those who don’t know, Benedict XVI is Joseph Ratzinger.

The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood by “Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger (Ignatius Press)

BENEDICT XVI SAYS THAT PROTESTANTISM IS NOT HERESY

“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood, pp. 87-88: “The difficulty in the way of giving an answer is a profound one. Ultimately it is due to the fact that there is no appropriate category in Catholic thought for the phenomenon of Protestantism today (one could say the same of the relationship to the separated churches of the East). It is obvious that the old category of ‘heresy’ is no longer of any value. Heresy, for Scripture and the early Church, includes the idea of a personal decision against the unity of the Church, and heresy’s characteristic is pertinacia, the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way. This, however, cannot be regarded as an appropriate description of the spiritual situation of the Protestant Christian. In the course of a now centuries-old history, Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function in the development of the Christian message and, above all, often giving rise to a sincere and profound faith in the individual non-Catholic Christian, whose separation from the Catholic affirmation has nothing to do with the pertinacia characteristic of heresy. Perhaps we may here invert a saying of St. Augustine’s: that an old schism becomes a heresy. The very passage of time alters the character of a division, so that an old division is something essentially different from a new one. Something that was once rightly condemned as heresy cannot later simply become true, but it can gradually develop its own positive ecclesial nature, with which the individual is presented as his church and in which he lives as a believer, not as a heretic. This organization of one group, however, ultimately has an effect on the whole. The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined.”

Well, there you have it. Benedict XVI not only tells us that Protestants are not heretics, but that Protestantism itself is not heresy. This is clearly Benedict XVI’s worst and most explicit heresy so far, besides his teaching that Christ may not be the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. This is such an incredible heresy that there is absolutely nothing that anyone on earth can say to defend this apostate. It is undeniable proof that he is not a Catholic.

Heresy is a rejection of a dogma of Catholic Faith. Protestantism is the rejection of many dogmas of the Catholic Faith. Protestantism is not only heresy, but the most notorious and destructive collection of heresies with which the Church ever had to contend. Protestantism rejects many dogmatic Councils of the Catholic Church, as well as dogmatic definitions on the priesthood, justification, the papacy, papal infallibility, the sacraments, Our Lady, etc., just to name a few. Protestantism is heresy in every single one of those areas. But Benedict XVI tells us that Protestants are not heretics and that Protestantism is not heresy. Incredible! This means that one can reject all the Councils and dogmas of the Catholic Church and it is not even heresy. This proves that Benedict XVI is without any doubt a complete heretic and not the Pope. Those who deny this are simply liars.

Pope Pius XI, Rerum omnium perturbationem (#4), Jan. 26, 1923: “The saint was no less a person that Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Universal Church. Like those brilliant examples of Christian perfection and wisdom to whom We have just referred, he seemed to have been sent especially by God to contend against the heresies begotten by the [Protestant] Reformation. It is in these heresies that we discover the beginnings of that apostasy of mankind from the Church, the sad and disastrous effects of which are deplored, even to the present hour, by every fair mind.”

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