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Benedict XVI responds to criticism of his essay on the Church and the sexual abuse crisis </h1>
</div><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/08/27/benedict-xvi-responds-to-criticism-of-his-essay-on-the-church-and-the-sexual-abuse-crisis/">https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/08/27/benedict-xvi-responds-to-criticism-of-his-essay-on-the-church-and-the-sexual-abuse-crisis/</a></div><div class="gmail-sf-article-header__content">The retired pontiff said many critics missed the very point he was making </div></div><div class="gmail-sf-article-content"><div class="gmail-sf-article-content__text">
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has responded to<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> criticism of</span> his essay on
<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> the abuse crisis,</span> saying many <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">negative reactions have confirmed</span> his
central thesis that <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">apostasy and alienation from</span> the Faith <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">are at the
heart of the crisis </span>– <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">by not even mentioning</span> God <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">in their critique</span> of
his essay.</b></span></p>
<p>In a brief statement in reaction to such criticism published in
German magazine “Herder Korrespondenz,” the former pope pointed to a
“general deficit” in the reactions to his essay, saying that <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>many </b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>critical responses</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>missed <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the very point he was making.</span></b></span></p>
<p>Published in April by <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-benedict-xvi-the-church-and-the-scandal-of-sexual-abuse-59639">Catholic News Agency</a>, the National Catholic Register, and in the <a href="https://de.catholicnewsagency.com/story/die-kirche-und-der-skandal-des-sexuellen-missbrauchs-von-papst-benedikt-xvi-4498">original German by CNA Deutsch</a>
as well as other media, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Benedict’s essay described </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the impact of the
sexual revolution as well as – independent from it – a collapse of </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>moral
theology </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>in the 1960’s</b></span>, before suggesting how <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the Church should respond
by recognizing that “only obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ
can point the way.”</b></span></p>
<p>Reactions to the essay have been particularly strong in Germany,
where insiders say the former pope, a native Bavarian, has long been
subject to sustained criticism from certain quarters.</p>
<p>Benedict cited the example of a critical response to his essay from a
German professor of history, pointing out that while the professor’s
response was four pages long, “the word God does not appear [once],”
even though apostasy was the central claim of the scholar’s argument.</p>
<p>Such a critique of his essay thus “shows the seriousness of a
situation, in which<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> the word ‘God’ </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>in theology even seems to be
marginalized.”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“As far as I can tell, in most reactions to my contribution, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">God </span>does
not appear at all,” the former pope wrote. “Therefore, the central
issue I wanted to raise is not being discussed.”</b></span></p>
<p>Criticism of this kind only served to demonstrate “the seriousness of
the situation,” Benedict continued, “in which the word God often
appears to be on the margins, even in theology.”</p>
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