Pope Benedict's & Cardinal Sarah's New Book

[MagdalenaRita]

It was his secretary who speaks for him.

It doesn’t look like the secretary was speaking for the Pope. Cardinal Sarah and Pope Benedict had been speaking all along. Cardinal Sarah had all his documents prepared and ready and had already reminded the Pope that there would probably be controversy once the book came out. The Pope apparently had even seen the cover before printing and was good with it.

 

[Weserthy]

Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register indicates that he has heard that pressure was applied from the Vatican to have Pope Benedict’s name removed from the book and that Benedict did indeed see the cover:

 

[CilladeRoma]

I find it appalling that people will not believe Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who has been Benedict’s personal, private secretary for years and would rather believe news outlets with agendas and an ax to grind against the Holy See.

 

[MagdalenaRita]

I find it appalling that people will not believe Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who has been Benedict’s personal, private secretary for years and would rather believe news outlets with agendas and an ax to grind against the Holy See

And what about Cardinal Sarah? Are we not to believe him but rather believe he has an agenda and an ax to grind?

I don’t think so.

"Cardinal R. Sarah
@Card_R_Sarah
(https://twitter.com/Card_R_Sarah)

Attacks seem to imply a lie on my part. These defamations are of exceptional gravity. I give this evening the first proofs of my close collaboration with Benedict XVI to write this text in favor of celibacy. I will speak tomorrow if necessary.+RS"

 

[CilladeRoma]

In the name of charity, I will only say I still believe, and always will, AB Georg Gänswein, over any other player in this fiasco.
Unless and until Benedict says something different, I will take the AB word over Cardinal Sarah’s

 

[MagdalenaRita]

In the name of charity, I will only say I still believe, and always will, AB Georg Gänswein, over any other player in this fiasco.
Unless and until Benedict says something different, I will take the AB word over Cardinal Sarah’s

That is your privilege but others have the right to believe Cardinal Sarah since he has the documentation to back up what he is saying or perhaps even to believe there were some misunderstandings that happened.

It’s not about believing news outlets and media with an ax to grind over an Archbishop. No one is doing anything appalling.

 

[stpurl]

Right. It seems to me that those who want to believe one person (Cardinal Sarah) have bent over backward not only to provide written proof but have also been (especially Cardinal Sarah himself) the soul of charity in not ascribing any kind of malice. It seems to me that those who want to believe “the Vatican” i.e. Archbishop Ganswein, have had a rather different and frankly uncharitable attitude, casting aspersions on Cardinal Sarah, on various so-called ‘conspiracy theorists’, on web sites, etc. etc.

It is dang ugly, and I’ll just say the ugliness is fairly one-sided. And that to me is really indicative of where the truth lies.

 

[CilladeRoma]

I have no ill will toward Cardinal Sarah, nor do I think he did anything wrong.

I do think that he could have just accepted what the Archbishop said about Benedict and moved on instead of releasing a contradictory statement.

 

[InThePew]

Depending on what the contracts say, BXVI may have no say in the matter any more. The publishers have the power now

As I understand it, the French publishers have agreed the change (as you might expect they would to keep the client happy) so I’d expect Ignatius to follow suit. As I said before, I think it’s more likely to be a misunderstanding as to the significance of Benedict’s role than anything else. Commentators like Pentin, and Arroyo and friends seem to want to use this as an avenue for pushing their own opinions, promoting gossip and rumour ahead of the official Vatican line. Given Benedict’s character, I do not believe that he would have intended to generate controversy or to be seen as interfering; therefore it would not surprise me if he agreed to have his name removed regardless of what may initially have been agreed. Overall, it’s just another example of something which should easily have been avoided altogether.

 

[stpurl]

But he did do exactly that. He complied with the request that was made (whoever actually DID request it) and not only that, reiterated his obedience to both the Pope Emeritus AND to Pope Francis. However, other statements were made that were patently false. Was a Cardinal, a son of the Holy Church, supposed not to simply ‘accept a personal wrong’ but in doing so to outright lie about it?

 

[Weserthy]

There was a meeting yesterday between Cardinal Sarah and Pope Benedict to discuss the controversy. Cardinal Sarah says there is no misunderstanding:

Cardinal Sarah Meets with Pope Benedict: No Misunderstanding

Cardinal Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, issued a series of statements via Twitter on Friday, saying that his meeting with the former pope went well.

www.ncregister.com

 

[tafan2]

another

I do not think that it is should be a matter of taking Cardinal Sarah’s word over AB Ganswein or vice versa. There was confusion somewhere as to what had been said or done previously.

I do think that he could have just accepted what the Archbishop said about Benedict and moved on instead of releasing a contradictory statement.

But he was being very unfairly attacked by members of the media and one should be able to defend one’s character.

 

[AngelaMarie]

But he was being very unfairly attacked by members of the media and one should be able to defend one’s character.

Exactly. This is what he had to say, from the above article.

“Because of the incessant, nauseating and deceptive controversies that have never stopped since the beginning of the week, concerning the book From the Depths of Our Hearts, I met Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI this evening,” said Cardinal Sarah.

“With Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, we have seen how there is no misunderstanding between us,” said Cardinal Sarah. “I came out very happy, full of peace and courage from this beautiful interview.”

Cardinal Sarah encouraged people to read and reflect on the book, and thanked his editor and his publisher, “for the thoroughness, probity, seriousness, and professionalism which they have shown,” and added “excellent reading to all!”

(My personal opinion is that the archbishop went overboard in trying to protect BXVI from the media controversy. Clearly, BXVI was well aware and knew what he was doing even if it was going to create such controversy )