Pope Benedict XVI - From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy, and the Crisis of the Catholic Church

Priesthood, Celibacy, and the
Crisis of the Catholic Church

Translated by Michael J. Miller

IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO

Nicolas Diat edited this work for publication

Original French edition:
Des Profondeurs de nos curs
2020 Librairie Arthme Fayard, Paris

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the BibleSecond Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition) copyright 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved worldwide.

Quotations from Church and council documents have been taken from the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html.

Cover photographs:
Photograph of Benedict XVI: Stefano Spaziani
Photograph of Robert Cardinal Sarah: ric Vandeville

Cover design by John Herreid

2020 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-62164-414-9 (HB)
ISBN 978-1-64229-119-3 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number 2020930631
Printed in Canada

In tribute to the priests throughout the world .

Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine, seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of ones own ego and desires.

JOSEPH RATZINGER, homily given in the
Basilica of Saint Peter on April 18, 2005

All activity must be preceded by an intense life of prayer, contemplation, seeking and listening to Gods will.

ROBERT CARDINAL SARAH,
with NICOLAS DIAT,
The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise

Introduction by the Two Authors

by Benedict XVI

by Robert Cardinal Sarah

Conclusion by the Two Authors

by Nicolas Diat & Robert Cardinal Sarah

We must meditate on these reflections of a man who is approaching the end of his life. At this crucial hour, one does not take speech lightly.

ROBERT CARDINAL SARAH

From the Depths of Our Hearts : this is the simple, moving title that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Robert Cardinal Sarah chose for the book that they are publishing together.

Speech by Benedict XVI is rare. In March 2013, the pope emeritus wished to retire to a monastery in the Vatican Gardens. He wanted to dedicate the final years of his life to prayer, meditation, and study. Silence became the sanctuary for a life far from the noise and the violence of the world. Until today, Benedict XVI has rarely agreed to speak in order to express his thought about important subjects in the life of the Church.

The text that he is offering today is therefore exceptional. We are not talking about an editorial or about notes collected over the years, but rather about an instructive reflection, lectio [lecture, exposition], and disputatio [disputation, debate] at the same time. The intention of Benedict XVI is clearly stated in his introduction: Given the lasting crisis that the priesthood has been going through for many years, it seemed to me necessary to get to the deep roots of the problem.

Astute readers of the pope emeritus will have no difficulty recognizing the style, the logic, and the wonderful pedagogy of the author of the trilogy dedicated to Jesus of Nazareth. The discourse is structured, the citations are abundant, and the argumentation is polished.

Why did the pope emeritus wish to work with Cardinal Sarah? The two men are close friends. They keep up a regular correspondence in which they share their viewpoints, their hopes, and their fears.

In October 2019, the Synod on Amazoniathe assembly of bishops, men and women religious, and missionaries dedicated to the future of that immense regionwas a time of discussion in the heart of the Church in which the future of the Catholic priesthood was addressed in various ways. For their part, from late summer of 2019 on, Benedict XVI and Cardinal Sarah exchanged texts, thoughts, and proposals. They met in order to bring greater clarity to the pages that are confided to the reader here.

I was privileged and dazzled to witness this dialogue. I cannot thank them enough for the honor given to me today to be the editor of this book.

The text by Benedict XVI is soberly entitled: The Catholic Priesthood. Right away the pope emeritus explains his approach: At the foundation of the serious situation in which the priesthood finds itself today, we find a methodological flaw in the reception of Scripture as Word of God. This is a severe, worrisome, almost unbelievable statement.

Benedict XVI did not want to address such a delicate problem alone. Cardinal Sarahs collaboration seemed to him natural and important. The pope emeritus is acquainted with the cardinals deep spirituality, his sense of prayer, his wisdom. He has confidence in him. In the remarks he contributed to Cardinal Sarahs The Power of Silence , Benedict XVI wrote during Holy Week in the year 2017: Cardinal Sarah is a spiritual teacher, who speaks out of the depths of silence with the Lord, out of his interior union with him, and thus really has something to say to each one of us. We should be grateful to Pope Francis for appointing such a spiritual teacher as head of the congregation that is responsible for the celebration of the liturgy in the Church.

For his part, Cardinal Sarah admires the theological work of Benedict XVI, the power of his reflection, his humility and charity.

The intention of the authors is expressed perfectly in this sentence from their joint introduction to the book: The similarity of our concerns and the convergence of our conclusions persuaded us to place the fruit of our work and of our spiritual friendship at the disposal of all the faithful, following the example of Saint Augustine.

The situation is simple. Two bishops decided to reflect. Two bishops decided to make public the fruit of their eminent research. The text by Benedict XVI is of high theological caliber. The one by Cardinal Sarah has a formidable catechetical strength. Their arguments intersect, their words complement each other, their intellects are mutually stimulating.

Cardinal Sarah chose as the title of his letter: Loving to the End: An Ecclesiological and Pastoral Look at Priestly Celibacy. In it we find again the courage, the radical approach, and the mysticism that make all his books so ardent.

Benedict XVI and Cardinal Sarah wished to open and close this book with two joint texts. In their conclusion they write: It is urgent and necessary for everyonebishops, priests, and lay peopleto stop letting themselves be intimidated by the wrong-headed pleas, the theatrical productions, the diabolical lies, and the fashionable errors that try to devalue priestly celibacy.

Obviously the pope emeritus and Cardinal Sarah did not want to hide any of the anxiety that grips their hearts. But they are too well acquainted with Saint Augustine, to whom they turn frequently, not to know that love always has the last word.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzingers episcopal motto was: Cooperatores Veritatis : We must serve in such a way that we might be coworkers with the truth. In this essay, at the age of ninety-two, he wished again to serve the truth. Cardinal Sarahs motto, chosen when he was the young archbishop of Conakry, the capital of Guinea, is: Suficit tibi gratia mea : My grace is sufficient for you. It was taken from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, in which the Apostle Paul describes his doubts, fearing that he will not be capable of transmitting the teaching of the Gospel effectively. But God answers him: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9).