Popularly known as “the Ratzinger prophecy,” then Father Ratzinger stated (excerpted here):
“ . . . a Church will emerge tomorrow that will have lost a great deal. She will be small and, to a large extent, will have to start from the beginning. She will no longer be able to fill many of the buildings created in her period of great splendor. . . She will lose many of her privileges in society … As a small community, she will demand much more from the initiative of each of her members and she will certainly also acknowledge new forms of ministry and will raise up to the priesthood proven Christians . . . (An) interiorized Church, which neither takes advantage of its political mandate nor flirts with the left or the right. This will be achieved with effort because the process of crystallization and clarification will demand great exertion. It will make her poor and a Church of the little people… All this will require time. The process will be slow and painful.”
Are you disturbed by this "prophecy" of the Church becoming poor and a community of "the little people"?
Well, dear Academicians, remain calm. Let's take a cue from history -- salvation history -- from The Book Of The Prophet Jeremiah [Jeremiah 42:1-19]
In the following passage, it is the year 588 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem with his whole army, laid siege to it, decimated it, and began to enslave the residents and deport them to Babylon. In the ensuing panic and confusion throughout Judea, many Israelites wanted to flee to Egypt, which seemed the logical place to go to escape the oppression of the Babylonians. But some Israelites were uncertain, so they sought out Jeremiah who had prophesied the fall of Jerusalem.
Then all the army leaders . . . and all the people, high and low, approached the prophet Jeremiah and said, "Grant our petition; pray for us to the LORD, your God, for all this remnant. We are now few who once were many, as you well see. Let the LORD, your God, show us what way we should take and what we should do." "Very well!" the prophet Jeremiah answered them: "I will pray to the LORD, your God, as you desire; whatever the LORD answers you, I will tell you; I will withhold nothing from you." And they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be our witness: we will truly and faithfully follow all the instructions the LORD, your God, will send us. Whether it is pleasant or difficult, we will obey the command of the LORD, our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us for obeying the command of the LORD, our God."
Ten days passed before the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. Then he called . . . (the) army leaders, and all the people, high and low, and said to them: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to offer your prayer: If you remain quietly in this land I will build you up, and not tear you down; I will plant you, not uproot you; . . . Do not fear the king of Babylon . . . says the LORD, for I am with you to save you, to rescue you from his power. I will grant you mercy ... But if you disobey the voice of the LORD, your God, and decide not to remain in this land, saying, 'No, we will go to Egypt' . . . the sword you fear shall reach you in the land of Egypt; the hunger you dread shall cling to you no less in Egypt, and there you shall die... . It is the LORD who has spoken to you, remnant of Judah; do not go to Egypt! You can never say that I did not warn you this day."
If Pope Benedict's 1969 "prophecy" is truly coming to pass, and you and I are to be a faithful Remnant Catholic Church, then God's advice to the Israelite Remnant, spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, is advice we must seriously accept and apply to ourselves as Remnant Catholics.
And remember: We have an obligation to purify ourselves, and maintain our purity, if we are to be judged worthy to be part of God's Holy People, the Church -- whether it be a Remnant Church or not.
For your examination: A video about God purifying His Church...
To Be Continued . . .
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