47
" The intellectual climate of the 1970s, for which the 1950s had already paved the way, contributed to this. A theory was even finally developed at that time that pedophilia should be viewed as something positive. Above all, however, the thesis was advocated-and this even infiltrated Catholic moral theology-that there was no such thing as something that is bad in itself. There were only things that were "relatively" bad. What was good or bad depended on the consequences.
In such a context, where everything is relative and nothing intrinsically evil exists, but only relative good and relative evil, people who have an inclination to such behavior are left without no solid footing. Of course pedophilia is first rather a sickness of individuals, but the fact that it could become so active and so widespread was linked also to an intellectual climate through which the foundations of moral theology, good and evil, became open to question in the Church. Good and evil became interchangeable; they were no longer absolutely clear opposites. "
― Benedict XVI , Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Signs of the Times - A Conversation with Peter Seewald
51
" That is why the second coming of the Lord is not only salvation, not only the omega that sets everything right, but also judgment. Indeed at this stage we can actually define the meaning of the talk of judgment. It means precisely this, that the final stage of the world is not the result of a natural current but the result of responsibility that is grounded in freedom. This must be regarded as the key to understanding why the New Testament clings fast, in spite of its message of grace, to the assertion that at the end men are judged "by their works" and that no one can escape giving an account of the way he has lived his life. There is a freedom that is not cancelled out even by grace and, indeed, is brought by it face to face with itself: man's final fate is not forced upon him regardless of the decisions he has made in his life. This assertion is in any case also necessary in order to draw the line between faith and false dogmatism or a false Christian self-confidence. This line alone confirms the equality of men by confirming the identity of their responsibility. ...
Perhaps in the last analysis it is impossible to escape a paradox whose logic is completely disclosed only to the experience of a life based on faith. Anyone who entrusts himself to a life of faith becomes aware that both exist: the radical character of grace that frees helpless man and,no less, the abiding seriousness of the responsibility that summons man day after day. Both together mean that the Christian enjoys, on the one hand, the liberating, detached tranquility of him who lives on that excess of divine justice known as Jesus Christ. ... This is the source of a profound freedom, a knowledge of God's unrepentant love; he sees through all our errors and remains well disposed to us. ... At the same time, the Christian knows, however, that he is not free to do whatever he pleases, that his activity is not a game that God allows him and does not take seriously. He knows that he must answer for his actions, that he owes an account as a steward of what has been entrusted to him. There can only be responsibility where there is someone to be responsible to, someone to put the questions. Faith in the Last Judgment holds this questioning of our life over our heads so that we cannot forget it for a moment. Nothing and no one empowers us to trivialize the tremendous seriousness involved in such knowledge; it shows our life to be a serious business and precisely by doing so gives it its dignity. "
― Benedict XVI , Introduction to Christianity
54
" Let us go a step farther. From the crisis of
today the Church of tomorrow will emerge-
a Church that has lost much. She will become
small and will have to start afresh more or less
from the beginning. She will no longer be able
to inhabit many of the edifices she built in pros-
perity. As the number of her adherents dimin-
ishes, so will she lose many of her social privi-
leges. In contrast to an earlier age, she will be
seen much more as a voluntary society, entered
only by free decision. As a small society, she will
make much bigger demands on the initiative of
her individual members. Undoubtedly she will
discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to
the priesthood approved Christians who pursue
some profession. In many smaller congregations
or in self-contained social groups, pastoral care
will normally be provided in this fashion. Along-
side this, the full-time ministry of the priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But in all of the
changes at which one might guess, the Church
will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center:
faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son
of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit
until the end of the world. In faith and prayer
she will again recognize her true center and ex-
perience the sacraments again as the worship of
God and not as a subject for liturgical scholar-
ship. "
― Benedict XVI
55
" Cada educador, cada maestro que quiere transmitir nuevos conocimientos a sus oyentes, recurrirá alguna vez al ejemplo, a la parábola. Mediante el ejemplo, acerca al pensamiento de aquellos a los que se dirige una realidad que hasta entonces estaba fuera de su alcance. Mostrará cómo, en una realidad que forma parte de su ámbito de experiencias, hay algo que antes no habían percibido. Mediante la comparación, acerca lo que se encuentra lejos, de forma que a través del puente de la parábola lleguen a lo que hasta entonces les era desconocido. Se trata de un movimiento doble: por un lado, la parábola acerca lo que está lejos a los que la escuchan y meditan sobre ella; por otro, pone en camino al oyente mismo. "
― Benedict XVI , Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration
57
" Se presenta hoy la ideología del éxito, del bienestar, que nos dice: Dios es tan sólo una ficción, sólo nos hace perder tiempo y nos quita el placer de vivir. ¡No te ocupes de Él! ¡Intenta sólo disfrutar de la vida todo lo que puedas! También estas tentaciones parecen irresistibles. El Padrenuestro en su conjunto, especialmente "líbranos del mal", nos quieren decir: cuando hayas perdido a Dios, te habrás perdido a ti mismo; entonces serás tan sólo un producto casual de la evolución, entonces habrá triunfado realmente el «dragón». Pero mientras éste no te pueda arrancar a Dios, a pesar de todas las desventuras que te amenazan, permanecerás aún íntimamente sano. "
― Benedict XVI , Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration
