Pope Benedict XVI feared the Antichrist was expanding his power and wrote this in a letter in 2015, “As one sees the power of Antichrist spreading, one can only pray that the Lord will give us mighty shepherds to defend His Church against the power of evil in this hour of need.”
Mighty shepherds to defend His Church. Yes indeed. Benedict also wrote this, via Rod Dreher:
The true threat for the Church, and thus for the Petrine service, does not come from this sort of episode: It comes instead from the universal dictatorship of apparently humanistic ideologies. Anyone who contradicts this dictatorship is excluded from the basic consensus of society. One hundred years ago, anyone would have thought it absurd to speak of homosexual matrimony. Today those who oppose it are socially excommunicated. The same holds true for abortion and the production of human beings in the laboratory. Modern society intends to formulate an anti-Christian creed: Whoever contests it is punished with social excommunication. Being afraid of this spiritual power of the Antichrist is all too natural, and what is truly needed is that the prayers of entire dioceses and of the world Church come to the rescue to resist it.
Imagine, if you can, any leader of Western Christianity, whether Protestant or Catholic, saying such a thing with such force. Was Benedict forced into retirement? Picture the roiling of the rainbow-hued snakes as he ascended to the pontificate. Yes indeed, a problem, and the solution?
Being afraid of this spiritual power of the Antichrist is all too natural, and what is truly needed is that the prayers of entire dioceses and of the world Church come to the rescue to resist it.
Do not fear,
LSP
