The Prophetic Voice of Cardinal Ratzinger
July 27, 2017
In 1969, Father Joseph Ratzinger (who in 2005 became Pope Benedict XVI) delivered a series of radio sermons that would later be recognized as remarkably prophetic. On Christmas Day, during his final broadcast on Hessian radio station, Hessischer Rundfunk, he spoke lucidly about a coming purification within the Church.
“From the crisis of today the church of tomorrow will emerge – a church that has lost much. … As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges. In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members.”
Hope in Purging
In summary, Father Ratzinger warned against a Church composed of members who simply belong as part of the cultural tradition rather than out of personal conviction. Despite the sermon’s admonition, it aimed to steer the faithful away from despair and toward hope.
The future Vicar of Christ predicted a “crystallization” process that would ultimately result in a Church stripped of its esteemed social privileges but strengthened in its ardent spirit. Of course, such purification of the Church must begin with its individual members.
True Freedom
Father Ratzinger predicted that, in the future, the Church would be formed by those who embrace self-sacrifice.
“Unselfishness, which makes men free, is attained only through the patience of small daily acts of self-denial.” This habit of sacrifice “reveals to a man in how many ways he is enslaved by his own ego… If today we are scarcely able any longer to become aware of God, that is because we find it so easy to evade ourselves, to flee from the depths of our being by means of the narcotic of some pleasure or other.”
We are living through this time of sifting. It is a difficult but necessary purification — a return to foundational faith in Christ. It calls for examination of conscience, renewed belief, and deeper trust in the Holy Spirit and the Church He sustains.
After the sifting, Ratzinger reminds us, comes renewal.