I do not consider Pope Benedict XVI to have been perfect. Which pope in history was?

Even Pius XII allowed the infamous Teilhard de Chardin to remain a priest and teacher in the Church. Why he did so I will never know. And he ordained or consecrated many of the leading luminaries who went on to form the difficult, somewhat ambiguous theological content of Vatican II.

I think Benedict had blindspots, yes. Still, I think he was attempting “in his own way, to dig our way out of trouble,” the trouble of neo-modernism, or Progressivism. Benedict proposed a hermeneutic of reform or “reform of reform” as the interpretive key which would resituate the Council more explicitly into the whole Tradition of the Church while restoring the traditional Latin Mass to a place of preeminence as so many millions long for. Would this be enough? Without the resurrection of the traditional Anathema which punishes pernicious error I don’t know.

Still, I largely agree with Joseph Pearce that,

“Pope Benedict XVI will go down in Church history as one of the greatest popes. In this heartfelt defense of Pope Benedict’s words and works, a tribute to his life and legacy and an homage to his sanity and sanctity, Joseph Pearce’s biography provides an unforgettable encounter with this great historical figure. 

As the defender of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI fought tirelessly and largely successfully against the forces of secularism first as the indomitable Ratzinger, and then as the incomparable supreme pontiff. As an uncompromising defender of the dignity of the human person, he fought the wickedness of the world in his unremitting battle against the dictatorship of relativism and its culture of death. Within the Church, he fought against the spirit of the world in his war on modernism and its worship of the spirit of the age, restoring the splendor of truth in his defense of orthodoxy and the splendor of the liturgy in his defense of tradition. 

Years from now, Catholics will still look back on Pope Benedict’s enduring legacy with enormous gratitude. For he successfully steered the Barque of Peter in charity and truth against the evil tides that sought to engulf the Church.”

An important book. Also available in Audible and Kindle.

— Joseph Pearce on the heart and mind of a real shepherd

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“While brutal leaders like Lenin and Stalin, and eventually tamer socialist leaders like the U.K.’s Clement Attlee, all pursued human perfection through state control, C. S. Lewis sounded the siren against progressivism’s clear dangers.”— Sovnations, Instagram (emphasis added).

We must strive for justice, fairness, but Marxism is definitely not that.