«In several seminaries homosexual "clubs" were formed which acted more or less openly and which clearly transformed the climate in the seminaries».
This is what we read in "What is Christianity" book - published posthumously by Mondadori - by Joseph Ratzinger , pope emeritus who died last December 31st .
In the volume, Benedict XVI recounts that «in a seminary in southern Germany, candidates for the priesthood and candidates for the lay office of pastoral contact person lived together. During the common meals, the seminarians were together with the married pastoral representatives, partly accompanied by their wife and children and in some cases by their girlfriends. The climate in the seminary could not help priestly formation".
Still on the subject of seminaries, Ratzinger continues: "A bishop, who had previously been rector, had allowed pornographic films to be shown to seminarians, presumably with the intention of thus enabling them to resist against behavior contrary to the faith" .
Again, speaking of the meeting that Pope Francis had convened with the presidents of all the episcopal conferences of the world on the subject of abuse, Ratzinger highlights: «In the context of the meeting of the presidents of the episcopal conferences of the whole world with Pope Francis, especially at heart the question of priestly life and also that of seminaries. With regard to the problem of preparation for the priestly ministry in seminaries, we note in fact a large collapse of the current form of this preparation".
The book was published posthumously according to the will of Benedict XVI , entrusted to his closest collaborators, Elio Guerrero and Georg Gaenswein, with a letter dated May 1, 2022: «This volume, which collects the writings I composed in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae, must be published after my death".
A choice that Ratzinger justified as follows: «For my part, in life, I no longer want to publish anything. The fury of the circles against me in Germany is so strong that the appearance of my every word immediately causes a murderous shout on their part. I want to spare myself and Christianity that."
(Unioneonline/lf)
