In his most direct reference to the sexual abuse crisis that has reached the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that it was necessary for Christians to “repent” in light of “the attacks of the world, which speaks to us of our sins.”
But in an approach typical of the tough-minded yet media-averse theologian, Benedict aimed his message directly at the church, offering his remarks in an off-the-cuff homily at a small, untelevised Mass at the Vatican.
“I have to say that we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word ‘repentance,’ which seems too harsh,” Benedict said at a Mass later broadcast on Vatican Radio.
“Now under the attacks of the world, which speaks to us of our sins, we see that the ability to repent is a grace, and we see how it is necessary to repent, that is, to recognize what is wrong in our life,” he added.
When you’ve read the article, read what the Pope actually said; the complete homily apparently will soon be posted in English translation on ‘Chiesa’, the Vatican website (http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/?eng=y).
Meanwhile the Italian of the first paragraph, below, means roughly what follows my italics:
[Cari fratelli e sorelle, non ho trovato il tempo di preparare una vera omelia. Vorrei soltanto invitare ciascuno alla personale meditazione proponendo e sottolineando alcune frasi della liturgia odierna, che si offrono al dialogo orante tra noi e la Parola di Dio. La parola, la frase che vorrei proporre alla comune meditazione è questa grande affermazione di san Pietro: “Bisogna obbedire a Dio invece che agli uomini” (Atti 5, 29). San Pietro sta davanti alla suprema istituzione religiosa, alla quale normalmente si dovrebbe obbedire, ma Dio sta al di sopra di questa istituzione e Dio gli ha dato un altro “ordinamento”: deve obbedire a Dio. L’obbedienza a Dio è la libertà , l’obbedienza a Dio gli dà la libertà di opporsi all’istituzione.]
“Dear brothers and sisters, I have not found the time to prepare a true homily. I want only to invite each of you to personal meditation, proposing and underlining some phrases from today’s liturgy which offer themselves in the dialogue between ourselves and the Word of God. The word, the phrase that I want to propose to the meditation community is the great affirmation of St. Peter: “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) St. Peter is confronting the supreme religious institution, which normally is to be obeyed, but God is above this institution and God has given another ‘order’: men should obey God. Obedience to God is freedom, obedience to God gives him the freedom to raise an objection to the institution.”
Thinking of Benedict in Peter’s chair, raising objection to the institution of the Church over the sexual abuse matter, this is powerfully focused.
Indeed; when a biblical theologian of Benedict’s stature sits on Peter’s Chair, these unprepared “meditations†represent something of the fruit of “a prayerful dialogue between ourselves and the Word of God†from which we could [i]all[/i] benefit. Oh that such a fruit would “transform†[i]all[/i] the Churches’ respective sub-cultures and structures, from RC to Southern Baptist via TEC & the AC plus the Antiochenes & Copts…! Now; there’s a path the [i]archegos[/i] might truly “pioneer†(cf. Hebrews 12 in its entirety!) during this 21st C.