WHAT NEW DEVILTRY? Pope Emeritus Benedict Praises Raul Castro, Claims He Resigned in Part Because He Couldn't Make it to World Youth Day, Expresses Gratitude to Providence for the Election of Francis

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World Youth Day got to him

The Italian daily, La Repubblica just published an interview with Pope Emeritus Benedict by Elio Guerriero, editor of the Italian edition of Ratzinger's works and author of a forthcoming biography. Andrea Torneilli provided a short summary in English for Vatican Insider.

These are only excerpts, of course:

On Pope Francis:

Obedience to my successor has always been unquestionable. Then there is a sense of deep communion and friendship. The moment he was elected I felt, as many others did, a spontaneous sense of gratitude towards Providence. After two Pontiffs from Central Europe, the Lord set his eyes as it were on the universal Church and invited us towards a broader, more Catholic communion. I personally felt deeply touched right from the start by Pope Francis’ extraordinary human warmth towards me. He tried to reach me by phone right after his election. He wasn’t able to get hold of me so he tried again straight after the meeting with the universal Church from St. peter’s balcony and he spoke to me in a very cordial manner. Since then, he has given me the gift of a marvellous paternal and fraternal relationship. I often receive small gifts, letters written in person. Before undertaking any major trips, the Pope always comes to visit me. The human kindness he has shown me is for me a special grace in this final phase of my life, which I can only be grateful for. What he says about being close to other people are not just words. He puts them into practice with me. May he in turn feel the Lord’s kindness every day. For this, I pray for him to the Lord.

On Cuba and Raul Castro:

I need scarcely remind you of how impressed I was in Cuba to see the way in which Raul Castro wishes to lead his country onto a new path, without breaking with the immediate past. Here too, I was deeply impressed by the way in which my brothers in the Episcopate are striving to navigate through this difficult process, with the faith as their starting point.

On World Youth Day and his decision to resign:

I was very certain of two things. After the experience of the trip to Mexico and Cuba, I no longer felt able to embark on another very demanding visit (to WYD in Rio in the Summer of 2013). Furthermore, according to the format of these gatherings, which had been established by John Paul II, the Pope’s physical presence there was paramount. A television link or any other such technological solution was out of the question. This was another reason why I saw it as my duty to resign.

Read the full summary here.

One would, I suppose, expect the Pope Emeritus to say nice things about Francis, though for faithful Catholics dreading each new day of the current pontificate, Benedict's overly effusive praise of Francis' election and his alleged quality of "being close to other people" are bound to grate.

Regarding being "impressed" by Raul Castro and the collaborationist episcopate in Cuba: Castro is a brutal communist tyrant who personally shot "counter-revolutionary" prisoners. The Cuban bishops are even now helping him suppress dissent, including dissent among Catholics. Would the younger anti-communist Benedict have ever made such outrageous statements?

Finally, that the universal head of the Catholic church felt it was his duty to resign (the first Pope in almost 600 years to do so) because he couldn't manage to attend an outdoor festival of Catholic teenagers in Brazil is of course insane.

I'm reminded of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Everything you thought you could count on is going to pieces. Everyone you believed you could trust is betraying you.

A donkey is wearing a lion's coat.

Now that the Olympics are over, which largely occupied my mind for the last two weeks, I feel a profound sense of depression. There is no new good news about the Church. None. A donkey is wearing a lion's coat and the enemies of God are mocking and jeering.

What new deviltry will the next day bring?

In Final Homily, Pope Asks Youth to Believe in a "New Humanity"

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The Pope at final WYD Mass in Krakow

Are we in one of those low-budget Evangelical end times movies? Or is it just meaningless Obamaesque braggadocio?

From the Pope's finally homily at World Youth Day:

People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centred or small-minded. Don’t be discouraged: with a smile and open arms, you proclaim hope and you are a blessing for our one human family, which here you represent so beautifully! 

With this gaze of Jesus, you can help bring about another humanity, without looking for acknowledgement but seeking goodness for its own sake, content to maintain a pure heart and to fight peaceably for honesty and justice.

Does he mean "new humanity" compared to what we've had before? What's the mechanism for that exactly? A middle-eastern man spends three years as a wandering teacher. Then, 2,000 years later, a south-american man triggers things by finally getting people to understand what that middle-eastern man was really saying.

At long last people stop hating each other, drop their opposition to immigration and become custodians of their cultural traditions without being too right-wing about it. Peace, honesty and justice break out. Goodness is practiced (finally) for its own sake. And we are one human family again.

You don't think that's a fair reading? Fine. You tell me what he means.

If you reject the end times interpretation, then this is merely a vacuous political speech, made doubly annoying by the fact that the audience did not come for politics and much of it no doubt disagrees with the politics of the speaker.

But the speaker surprises them by presumptuously claiming that they all share his politics - pacifist, pro-migrant, open borders, anti-nationalist or anti-traditionalist or whatever he meant by the "small-minded" quip. What if you're a Catholic teenager who, say, supports the current ruling Polish political party or Marine Le Pen or Donald Trump or whomever? Will you be included in the "one human family" too?

And this part of the speech, despite the fact that it references Christ, is not Christian in any sense of the term.

Christ died to save the world from sin, not to save it from Brexit.

And some of us will get our new humanity (or to put it better, glorified bodies free from suffering and pain) when He returns.

Or so the Church has always taught.   

Pope Francis to Youth: God Prefers Us to be Sinful and Weak

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Yes, Bergoglio said this to young people, many of whom are wrestling with all sorts of temptations right now.

For the record, saying God wants us to be morally weak is a vicious and damnable lie.

From Catholic News Agency:

God prefers us weak, Pope Francis says off-the-cuff to youth 

Krakow, Poland, Jul 30, 2016 / 09:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The weaker we are, the more God's mercy can transform our lives. Pope Francis made these impromptu remarks on Saturday to crowds of young people gathered outside of Krakow’s St. John Paul II shrine. 

“Today, the Lord wants us to feel ever more profoundly his great mercy,” the Pope said in a short, impromptu speech, delivered right after his visit to the Polish city’s Divine Mercy shrine. “May we never turn away from Jesus!” 

Pope Francis shared these thoughts to a group of young people who are in Poland for World Youth Day moments before entering the St. John Paul II shrine to pass through its Holy Door, hear confessions, and celebrate Mass for priests and religious men and women.  

We may think that we are the “worst” on account of our sins and weaknesses, the Pope told the youth. However, this is how God prefers us to be, in order that “his mercy may spread.” 

“Let us take advantage of these days to receive all of the mercy of Jesus!”

Read the rest here:

Edit: Ilíon, in the comments below, reminds us of Romans 6, 1-2: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?