On January 5, 2023, Pope Francis presided over the funeral mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square. Political authorities, cardinals, bishops, priests, and representatives from different churches from all over the world gathered at the Vatican to bid Benedict XVI farewell. It is estimated that more than 120 cardinals, about 400 bishops, and almost 4,000 priests attended the funeral of the emeritus pope. More than 60,000 pilgrims have gathered since early in the morning.
The National Catholic Reporter indicated that there would be clergy from various churches present at the funeral:
“Two dozen Christian churches and ecumenical organizations had announced they would have official representatives at the liturgy for the retired pope, who died Dec. 31 at the age of 95. [1]
The Administration for the Berlin-Brandenburg Ecumenical Council (ORBB).
The Berlin-Brandenburg Ecumenical Council (ORBB) was one of the ecumenical bodies that publicly mourned the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Mennonites, Lutherans, Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, Nazarenes, and about 25 other religions make up this ecumenical group of member churches. The chairman of the ORBB is the Roman Catholic Monsignor Dr. Hansjörg Günther of the Archdiocese of Berlin, and the deputy chairman is the Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Dietmar Päschel. [2] Adventist Pastor Dietmar Päschel is not only a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Ecumenical Council (ORBB) administration; he also serves as the head of the Convention of Adventist Churches in Berlin and is the Chairman of the Ecumenical Working Group of Free Churches in Berlin-Brandenburg. [3] [4]
The Berlin-Brandenburg Ecumenical Council’s administration issued the following statement on the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI:
On the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
The ÖRBB churches mourn the loss of Pope Emeritus with the Roman Catholic Church. Benedict XVI, after a long life of great theological creativity, may God grant him the joy of eternal life. Benedict XVI revived – after a few years of stagnation – the theological dialogue between the Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church, which was a matter of great concern to him. On the other hand, some of his statements irritated evangelical Christians not only in Germany and also representatives of other religions. In particular, his writing “Dominus Jesus” from the year 2000 caused discussions, in which the churches that emerged from the Reformation were described as “not churches in the strict sense”. A final judgment of his pontificate will be left to future generations. In any case, what is remembered is his unusual courage to resign as Pope in 2013. [5]
How could any Seventh-day Adventist publicly mourn the passing of a pope, praise him for his “great theological creativity,” and ask God to grant him eternal life, when this same Pope pushed for papal supremacy, denied that Protestants were legitimate churches, blatantly promoted Sunday sacredness, and instructed his cardinal that they needed to be prepared to shed their blood in order to advance the Holy Roman Catholic faith? How could any true Protestant join Roman Catholics to mourn the loss of a Pope who zealously did all he could to revive the medieval traditions of the Roman Catholic Church? Pope Benedict didn’t advocate for Vatican II; he tried to revive the Council of Trent. Have some Seventh-day Adventist leaders become so Roman Catholic that they would mourn the loss of a medieval, crusading, Catholic Pope?
Papal Supremacy
On July 10, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed a medieval teaching from the 16th century that the pope has exclusive authority over all of Christendom. The document issued by Rome claimed that because Protestant churches do not acknowledge the primacy of the pope, Orthodox churches are damaged and Protestant churches are not real churches. Each and every religious organization that does not acknowledge the Pope as the head of the church has been essentially “unchurched” and “excommunicated” by Rome. These are the same issues that were at the heart of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. During his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI said that “Christ established only one church here on earth.” As a result, since they lack apostolic succession—the ability to trace their leaders back to Christ—Protestants cannot be referred to as “churches.” [6]
Sunday Sacredness
Pope Benedict XVI was an ardent proponent of Sunday sacredness. On several occasions, he promoted Sunday observance to both religious groups and the general public. In his closing homily at the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress, Sunday, May 29, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI stated: “Sine dominico non possumus” (without Sunday, we cannot do), that is, we cannot live without joining together on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. “We would lack the strength to face our daily problems and not to succumb.” [7]
Later, in Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS, February 22, 2007, we read: “To lose a sense of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, a day to be sanctified, is symptomatic of the loss of an authentic sense of Christian freedom, the freedom of the children of God … Sunday thus appears as the primordial holy day, when all believers, wherever they are found, can become heralds and guardians of the true meaning of time … Finally, it is particularly urgent nowadays to remember that the day of the Lord is also a day of rest from work. It is greatly to be hoped that this fact will also be recognized by civil society, so that individuals can be permitted to refrain from work without being penalized.” [8]
On September 9, 2007, during another homily of Pope Benedict XVI, “Solemn Eucharist,” at the Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, he said: “Without the Lord and without the day that belongs to him, life does not flourish. Sunday has been transformed in our Western societies into the week-end, into leisure time. Leisure time is certainly something good and necessary, especially amid the mad rush of the modern world. Yet if leisure time lacks an inner focus, an overall sense of direction, then ultimately it becomes wasted time that neither strengthens nor builds us up. Leisure time requires a focus – the encounter with him who is our origin and goal … Give the soul its Sunday, give Sunday its soul.” [9]
Excommunication Pro-Abortion Politicians
On a May 9, 2007 flight from Rome to Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI stated that Catholic politicians in Mexico who were supporting abortion had “excommunicated themselves” from the church and could therefore be denied Holy Communion. This was a threat to every Catholic politician throughout the world: If you deviate from Catholic moral teaching, you will be excommunicated, which means they are going to hell. Pope Benedict XVI attempted to impose severe penalties on those who disobeyed church doctrine, particularly our legislators. [10]
Combating Muslims
During a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany on September 12, 2006, Benedict XVI ignited a firestorm of controversy around the world when he quoted an ancient Byzantine Emperor during his lecture: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” [11]
Combating LGBT+
Pope Benedict XVI warned of “powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage.” He denounced same-sex marriage as destroying the “essence of the human creature.” Pope Benedict XVI said, “People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them but that they make it for themselves.” [11]
Combating Atheism
On November 30, 2007, Benedict XVI issued a new papal encyclical entitled “Spe Salvi.” In it, he said that atheism was responsible for some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” in history. [12]
Shed Blood to Spread the Holy Roman Catholic Faith
In a November 25, 2007 article, the Associated Press published the following: “Pope Benedict XVI elevated 23 churchmen from around the world to the top ranks of the Catholic Church hierarchy Saturday, telling them they must be willing to shed their blood to spread the Christian faith … He told them that the red signifies the dignity of their new office and that they must be ready to work, even to the point of spilling your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for peace and harmony among the people of God, for freedom, and for the spread of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.” [13]
Pope Benedict XVI was Pope for just under 8 years. In his short reign, he attacked Protestants, he attacked the Orthodox churches, he attacked Muslims, he attacked atheists, he attacked the LGBT+ movement, he attacked liberal Catholic politicians, he pushed for Sunday Laws, and he told his cardinals to be prepared to shed their blood to defend the Holy Roman Catholic faith. Was he preparing for a second Holy Inquisition? That kind of language evokes the medieval imagery of a crusade—blood, guts, and all. It certainly sounded like he was on a mission to restore Rome to her former status as a persecuting power.
“Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution.” Great Controversy, p. 564.
We had better wake up. We have no time to lose. Instead of mourning the loss of a Pope who was on a crusading frenzy to restore the spiritual and temporal power of Rome, Seventh-day Adventists should mourn the loss of the spirit of Protestantism within our own ranks. Let us mourn the loss of our historical roots. And let us work to restore our faith to its former glory and beauty so that our work can be cut short in righteousness and so that our Christ may come and take us home.
We as Seventh-day Adventists believe and understand through the Holy Scriptures that we have been raised up in the final hours of earth’s history in order to proclaim the final message of warning to all of mankind. We are not called to join in on the antichrist’s agenda or to promote a compromising position of a false, apostate ecumenical movement. May the Lord help us to return to our true identity; to our historic Seventh-day Adventist mission and message.
“The Lord is about to punish the world for its iniquity. He is about to punish religious bodies for their rejection of the light and truth which has been given them. The great message, combining the first, second and third angels’ messages, is to be given to the world. This is to be the burden of our work” (Kress Collection, 105).
Sources
[2] https://www.oerbb.de/gremien
[3] https://www.apd.media/news/archiv/14794.html
[4] https://www.oerbb.de/post/neuer-vorsitzender-des-%C3%B6rbb-msgr-dr-hansj%C3%B6rg-g%C3%BCnther
[5] https://www.oerbb.de/post/zum-tod-von-papst-em-benedikt-xvi
[6] https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19692094
[9] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7891
[10] https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051002386.html
[11] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-21417767
0
0
0
Pope Benedict was a soul to be saved too. He was a human being too, despite his religious position, and even though we disagree with Catholicism. Tell me, who was
more evil in their high ranking religious position- Pope Benedict or Caiaphas the Jewish High Priest in Jesus’ day? (Of course, two wrongs don’t make a right, but pick
one.) What is your answer and why? Also, does anyone believe the SDA General Conference to be evil in not stopping abortions for profit in SDA hospitals for the
past 50 years? I hope by these questions we see the need to examine ourselves.
Well said.
I recognize the pastor… Dietmar Paschel … this is the same guy who caused Pastor Walter Veith to be banned in Germany…. so he hasn’t changed his loyalties one bit! Nor has the European division of SDA removed his credentials….he is still listed as a SDA pastor…. and ALL the world wonders(#2296 strong’: admire) after the beast!
That means that ecumenism will also cause us to keep Sunday during the Mark of the Beast.
” The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. ”
The Great controversy / 564
Did you know that this was the primary reason why Victor Houteff was condemned as a “False Prophet” by the SDA Church and disfellowshipped back in 1931? I did a detailed review of his writings to see what he was actually saying, and I challenge everyone to do the same. Here is a snippet from our SDA Denomination accused him of:
“Note the name blasphemy is upon all seven heads. Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, 214. (N.B.: The Shepherd’s Rod pointedly disagrees with the teaching of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church concerning the seven-headed or leopardlike beast of Revelation 13. The assertion that Sister White and the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is one of those blasphemous heads, is similar to the assertion that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon.)– Seventh-day Adventist Teaching versus The Shepherd’s Rod., p. 1
Notice that the Rod is decried as erroneous for simply repeating what the Bible teaches that the word “blasphemy” is upon all seven heads! Here is the passage from the Bible: “and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” Rev. 13:1. To accurately see the subject, one must read what the Bible actually teaches rather than appealing to Smith and Wilcox, as the Church leaders did.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and all his predecessors are agents of the devil and it is sad to see the proffessed Adventists showing sympathy to this evil man who participated in massacre of the jews in the WW2; .He was a Nazi soldier during the reign of Adolf Hitler and he was executing orders of this Roman catholic puppet to butcher the jews ; he will be raised in the coming judgement and he will answer for war crimes he committed during the obnoxious Nazi regime and he will be a ripe candidate for the lake of fire and lose the eternal life because he chose to work for his master THE SATAN.