Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Pope "Rethinks" Clerical Celibacy. In Order to Reinforce It:


It is the sign, he says, that God exists and that one allows himself to be seized by passion for him. This makes it a great scandal, and the desire is to eliminate it. The complete transcript of Benedict XVI's latest statement on this issue. And of a surprising preview of it, from 2006 

by Sandro Magister


ROME, June 15, 2010 – Benedict XVI has reached out to those who were expecting a "rethinking" of the rule of celibacy for the Latin clergy. But in his own way.

On the evening of Thursday, June 10, in St. Peter's Square, the eve of the closing of the Year for Priests, answering five questions from as many priests from the five continents, pope Joseph Ratzinger dedicated one of his answers precisely to illustrating the meaning of the priestly celibacy. And he did so in an original way, departing from the current historical, theological, and spiritual literature.

The complete and authenticated transcript of the pope's answer, released by the Vatican two days later and reproduced further below, permits a deep understanding of his reasoning.

Celibacy – the pope said – is an anticipation "of the world of the resurrection." It is the sign "that God exists, that God is part of my life, that I can base my life on Christ, on the future life."

For this reason – he continued – celibacy "is a great scandal." Not only for today's world, "in which God has no place." But for Christianity itself, in which "God's future is no longer considered, and the now of this world alone seems sufficient."

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