Letter #17, 2023 Fri Jan 13: Antichrist[2023-01-13][Engleză]One sees how the power of the Antichrist is expanding, and can only pray that the Lord give us strong shepherds, who defend his Church in this hour of need from the power of evil. A controversial sentence on the Antichrist written by Pope Benedict XVI in a private letter to a Slovakian intellectual, Vladimir Palko, in 2015. The content of the letter which seems to be quite authentic was never revealed by Palko until after the death of Pope Benedict on December 31. Now the news that Pope Benedict may have thought that we are living in the time of the Antichrist is spreading like wildfire across the internet. An attempt to clarify the questionThe true threat for the Church, and thus for the Petrine service, does not come from this sort of episode: It comes instead from the universal dictatorship of apparently humanistic ideologies. Anyone who contradicts this dictatorship is excluded from the basic consensus of society. Pope Benedict XVI, speaking to his biographer Peter Seewald, as cited in Seewalds fascinating biography of the late Pope (link) *** Letter #16, 2023 Friday, January 13: Antichrist The topic of the Antichrist always draws attention, because it is connected in the popular mind with the end of this world. The topic may draw special attention if it comes up in the thought of someone authoritative like the late, much-loved Pope Benedict XVI, who died on December 31 at the age of 95. And that is what has just happened. *** The internet is starting to fill with reports and videos about the mention of the word Antichrist by the late Pope in a 2015 private letter to a man in Bratislava, Slovakia, named Vladimir Palko. Palko, a respected scholar (a mathematician) and a statesman in Slovakia, decided to make the letter public (the article below gives the details of this decision) just after the death of Pope Benedict two weeks ago. This led in tha last few days to the internet filling with videos and articles with titles like this: Pope Benedict says Time of the ANTICHRIST is NOW Is the Pope right? (link) and POPE BENEDICT LETTER REVEALED WE ARE IN THE TIME OF THE ANTICHRIST (link) *** Given this high level of emotion, and the desire expressed by some readers to know what it is really all about, it seemed fitting to look at the exact wording that Pope Benedict used, something still unknown to many, in order to put this in perspective. A reader named John, for example, just wrote to me: This article (enclosed) quotes Benedict XVI saying it is the time of the Antichrist. This is something which I have not seen covered almost anywhere. Why? So this letter is just to examine this phrase of Pope Benedict, bring it to your attention, give you the exact wording, and in this way allow you to have a better understanding of what this is all about. *** But, right from the outset, I wanted to give you the precise phrase Pope Benedict used. Here is the passage in the original German: Man sieht, wie die Macht des Antichrist sich ausbreitet, und kann nur beten, dass der Herr uns kraftvolle Hirten schenkt, die seine Kirche in dieser Stunde der Not gegen die Macht des Bösen verteidigen. And here is the passage with each phrase translated into English: Man sieht (One sees), wie die Macht des Antichrist (how the power of the Antichrist) sich ausbreitet (is expanding, or spreading out) und kann nur beten (and can only pray), dass der Herr (that the Lord) uns kraftvolle Hirten schenkt (us powerful Shepherds gives, that is, gives us powerful Shepherds), die seine Kirche in dieser Stunde der Not (who His Church in this hour of need) gegen die Macht des Bösen verteidigen (against the power of evil defend). Again: One sees how the power of the Antichrist is expanding, and can only pray that the Lord gives us strong shepherds, who defend his Church in this hour of need from the power of evil. *** So we come to the question: Does this passage mean that Pope Benedict saw this age, our present time, as the age of the Antichrist? I think that would be a leap. It would be more than what he explicitly says. That said I do think Pope Benedict was telling Vladimir Palko, and so all of us, that this time does have greater, more widely spread, more extensive evils than many previous times. Pope Benedict did not believe, and say here, that this time is precisely the last age, but he did believe that the evil of this time is such that believers today face greater difficulties, more powerful temptations, more dangerous deceptions, than at many times in the past. That is, there were grave evils in previous generations, showing the Antichists power from the institution of slavery to concentration camps and gulags, from the burning and bombing of churches to the persecution of Christian believers but even still, looking at our present time, he sees the power of the Antichrist is expanding, spreading. Benedict does specifically say that this time, this hour, is an hour of need. We would be right, then, to interpret his thought as asking all of us to keep the faith, and protect our families, and one another, from the expanding power of the Antichrist. *** But does this passage contain the concept that history is nearing its definitive, final end? That the final battle must be fought in these precise years ahead of us, whether it be three or five or seven years (until we reach the year mentioned in Agenda 2030 and these links I give below are literally the first three that came up under the heading Agenda 2030, they are not chosen by me or recommended by me, they are only what appeared first in my internet search on the topic link, link, link, link)? *** Each of us has the right to choose to judge the signs of the times to decide whether this period is the period of battle for the faith or just one more period among many, like the time of the Roman persecutions, or the time of the Arian heresy, or the time of division of the Church into various sects and denominations, when priests were arrested, drawn and quartered, or the time of the French Revolution, when 6,000 nuns were guillotined, or the time of the Soviet gulags, when thousands upon thousands of Christians were arrested and sent to Siberia to die of overwork and bitter cold. But yet, here is what Scripture has to say: Beware of Antichrists 1 John 2:17-19 17 The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever. 18 Dear children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. *** Romans 13:12 The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. *** This means, I think, that for us, the time is now. Others will have their time; we have this time. One sees how the power of the Antichrist is expanding, and can only pray that the Lord gives us strong shepherds, who defend his Church in this hour of need from the power of evil. *** Now follows the entire article by Rod Dreher where he tells how he met with Vladimir Palko, and found out about this private letter from Pope Benedict. It is a fascinating article. (It is also very long I ask you pardon for this ) Rod Dreher is an American writer who in a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, after having been a Catholic. I recently met with him in Budapest, Hungary, where he is now living, and we had a good conversation for some time. I would say, do not be overly concerned about the words of Pope Benedict, since we have known the situation already for some time. Rather, please do this if you have time: click on the last link in Drehers article, which is this link the video only takes 5 minutes and consider whether this time is perhaps truly different from prior times, and why [End, introduction to very long Rod Dreher report on the reference of Pope Benedict to the Antichrist.] Vladimír Palko. (2022, October 3). In Wikipedia. Vladimír Palko, 65, is a Slovak politician. He is a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and former interior minister of Slovakia. On 12 March 2008 he established a new party called Conservative Democrats of Slovakia. He received a letter from Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in 2015 which spoke about the Antichrist. He just released the letter a few days ago, after Pope Benedict passed away on December 31, the last day of 2022 (link) Support the Moynihan Letters Benedict XVI: It Is The Time Of Antichrist (link) In 2015, BXVI wrote letter to Catholic statesman Vladimir Palko, urging prayer against the expanding power of the Antichrist By Rod Dreher, for The American Conservative January 10, 2023 In November, I was visiting Bratislava, and had dinner with my friends Vladimir Palko (pictured above), a mathematician and retired statesman, and Jaroslav Danika, editor of the conservative magazine Standard. Vlado was one of my sources for Live Not By Lies. We were talking about the ailing Pope Benedict XVI. Vlado mentioned that in 2015, he received a letter from Benedict XVI, as Pope Emeritus. Oh? Vlado, a member of the underground Catholic Church who went on to serve as Interior Minister in one of the countrys post-Communist governments, had written a book called The Lions Are Coming: Why Europe And America Are Heading for a New Tyranny, about the rising anti-Christian nature of Western life and politics. The book had been translated into German (the hyperlink under the title is to that edition), and a copy of it found its way to Benedict from an Austrian bishop. Vlado was grave as he spoke of the letter. It was very short, he said, and appreciative of the book. And at the end, the Pope Emeritus spoke of the Antichrist. Vlado did not want to say precisely what Benedict had said. He told us that he would not release the letter until after Benedict died. Last week, I met Jaroslav for dinner in Rome. We were both there for Benedicts funeral. I asked him if Vlado was preparing to release the letter. He said he wasnt sure, because Vlado was getting cold feet. Vlado is an old-school Catholic, and was afraid of being a stumbling block to the faith of others. I urged Jaro to encourage Vlado to say the truth, because it is important for the world to know how the holy pope who just us read the signs of the times. Today Standard published a short interview that Jaro conducted with Vlado in which he revealed the contents of Benedicts letter. Here is an excerpt from the interview, which Ive translated via Google into English: When you reported the letter for the first time, you decided not to publish part of the text, noting that it was not the right time to do so. The reason was the sensitive content and concerns that the late Pope expressed about the state of the Catholic Church. Could you elaborate on what exactly it was? Yes, its like that. The letter is not long, it has twelve lines. In the second half of the letter there is a sentence, about three lines long, in which the Pope Emeritus makes some striking claims. The sentence reads as follows: We see how the power of the Antichrist is expanding, and we can only pray that the Lord will give us strong shepherds who will defend his church in this hour of need from the power of evil. In German it reads like this: Man sieht, wie die Macht des Antichrist sich ausbreitet, und kann nur beten, dass der Herr uns kraftvolle Hirten schenkt, die seine Kirche in dieser Stunde der Not gegen die Macht des Bösen verteidigen. What did you think then? And what do you think about it today? Concepts such as the expansion of the Antichrists power, the church in its hour of need, and the need to defend the church from the power of evil are serious and weighty. All the more so because they were uttered by a person in whose expression throughout his life accuracy was combined with the appropriateness of the terms used. He delivered serious public messages even as Pope, but these formulations are several degrees more urgent. The situation of the world and the church troubled the Pope Emeritus very much. He was obviously suffering from it. I think about it very often, but I do not dare to interpret or interpret his statements. I would consider that presumptuous at this point. Im just a Christian former politician and I dont feel competent. As a politician, I adhered to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and did not back down in any fight. However, I rarely comment on the church and only on details. To express some fundamental judgments about its state in general requires both a person who is a better example of Christian virtues and a more theologically sophisticated one. Its a job for saints. Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com Contor Accesări: 851, Ultimul acces: 2025-02-13 21:14:14
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