Sex, scandal, the Church, and a general atmosphere of disintegration: That's the main focus of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's unexpected intervention into today's unhappy Church politics. Benedict, with Pope Francis's consent, has written a statement on the Church and its sex abuse scandal that he plans to publish in a Bavarian periodical. The tone of the document is his usual one, that of calm and matter-of-fact statements. Overall, it's more testimony than analysis, testimony from a man who lived through cultural convulsions and theological betrayals. And it's a faithful man's testimony of God's enduring love.
The Revolution of '68 has always loomed large in Benedict's accounts. The events of that fateful year were felt much more acutely in Western Europe than the United States. The war-smashed continent took a deep breath in 1945, and the next fifteen years saw determined efforts to rebuild. The object was not just material reconstruction, but moral and spiritual restoration as well.
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