Pope Benedict's Legacy: Wrong on the Gospel, Right on Social Issues

Protestants Can Laud Benedict's Defense of Absolute Truth, While Criticizing His Defense of a False Gospel

On January 4, 2023, more than 100,000 mourners gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City for the two-hour funeral of Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict died December 31, 2022, at 95 years of age.

Benedict and Archibishop Antoine Ganye, perform a ritual upon in Cotonou, Benin.

The first German pope in almost a millennia. The first pope to retire in almost 600 years. The first “pope emeritus”.

The current pope, Francis, presided over his funeral. Never before in the history of Roman Catholicism has a pope presided over the funeral of another pope.

The papacy is, among other things, the chief teaching position within the Roman Catholic Church. But long before he was the Bishop of Rome, Benedict was known for his intellectual defense of a more traditional Roman Catholicism and Western Civilization in general. He continued in this vein as Pope. Daniel McCarthy, writing for the New York Post:

In a short speech at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12, 2006, Benedict gave a brilliant defense of Christianity as a religion of reason as well as revelation — a religion of persuasion, not conquest, and a teacher of objective morality in an age when science had become merely empirical. The Regensburg lecture stirred controversy and was mistaken for an attack on Islam. In fact it was an affirmation of Socratic philosophy along with the Catholic faith, and its message was universal. This was the heart of Benedict’s pontificate and of Ratzinger’s life’s work. 

The then Ratzinger fiercely defended a conservative interpretation of Catholic doctrine. His approach garnered him such nicknames as “the Panzer Cardinal” and “God’s Rottweiler”. For example, in 2004, he stated: “Monogamous marriage, as a fundamental structure of the relation between man and woman and at the same time as the basic cell in the formation of the larger community, was modeled on the basis of biblical faith.”

BENEDICT’S PRE-PAPAL EFFORTS

In 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Benedict, then known as Joseph Ratinzger, as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. During the “Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition” (official name) of the 16th century, this department was known as “the Holy Office”.

It was set up in 1542 to promote proper Roman Catholic teaching and to defend Rome against what it saw as heretical doctrines. The dicastery’s goal was to "spread sound Catholic doctrine and defend those points of Christian tradition which seem in danger because of new and unacceptable doctrines”. In the 16th century, this department was instrumental in the Counter-Reformation, acting as the “Supreme Court” for heresy trials.

Ratzinger served in this capacity until 2005. Al Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote that “In that role Ratzinger reinvigorated and lent massive intellectual credibility to the conservative resurgence that dared to defy theological liberalism and, most specifically, Marxist-infused liberation theology.”

At 78, Archbishop Ratzinger was selected as the Pope by the College of Cardinals in 2005, acting as John Paul’s successor. Like John Paul II, Ratzinger was a critic of modern secularism. In a homily shortly before becoming the Pope, he lambasted the “dictatorship of relativism, which does not recognize anything as definitive, and whose ultimate goal is” solely to satisfy “the desires of one’s own ego”. He also openly lamented the Catholic church’s global clerical abuses: “How much filth there is in the church, and even among those … in the priesthood”.

Benedict resigned from the papacy in 2013. He was succeeded by the significantly less conservative Pope Francis, whose more progressivist vision has undone some of Benedict’s passionate labor and theological work.

Benedict placing a crown on Our Lady of Lourdes for sick pilgrims in 2007

THE PROTESTANT REACTION

When something like this happens, I’m always interested in the Protestant reaction. On Reformed Reddit, user paulusbabylonis wrote Benedict probably was “the most scholarly and theologically astute pope the Roman Church saw in the past century” and probably “the only pope of the past century whose theological writings are actually worth reading”. I find this response to be charitable, helpful, and insightful.

On the other hand, Revolt News published a poem titled, “Remembering Pope Benedict XVI, an Antichrist”. Here’s a sample:

Pope Benedict XVI, and all those before
Were seen by reformers as an antichrist, and so much more
A threat to the gospel, and to salvation's way
True Bible believers knew they must mark and avoid, every day

Over at WORLD News, Carl R. Trueman offers a less acerbic take in his piece titled “Remembering Benedict XVI”. Underneath the headline reads: “the late pope emeritus offered a brilliant and compelling analysis of secularism”.

Whatever our reaction, we Protestants must remember this true conviction: that the office of “Pope” is biblically without justification. In the New Testament, the Church of Christ is given Elders and Deacons - that’s it. (See Acts 14:23, 20:17; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1).

We must keep in mind that the Roman Catholic Church, despite the many positive things it stands for, also stands on a foundation that literally anathematizes salvation by grace alone through faith alone, contrary to Ephesians 2:8-10 and Romans 3:20-5:11. See the following four anathemas from the Council of Trent, which is still considered binding:

Canon 9. “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.”

Canon 11. “If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema.”

Canon 12. “If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.”

Canon 30. “If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema.”

I bring Trent into the discussion so we can remember what is truly at issue between Protestants and Catholics. It’s much more than a temporal matter, however important said temporal matter may be.

We should respect and appreciate Benedict’s defense of key biblical values, such as cherishing marriage and protecting life, while not embracing his organization’s defense of a diluted gospel. Still, for better or for worse, Rome is a little less robust with Benedict gone.

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CONTRIBUTOR: VOCAB MALONE

NOTE: see my discussion on the Roman Papacy here