Papa Benedetto Hears about the "Antichrist"
Last week Papa Benedetto made his annual Lenten retreat. This year the preacher of the retreat was Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, retired archbishop of Bologna. The subject of his meditation on Tuesday 27 Feb was the "Antichrist".
Drawing from Three Dialogues on War, Progress and the End of History by Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov, Cardinal Biffi describes the "Antichrist" as someone who "presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist."
"He will convoke an ecumenical council and will seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions, granting something to each one. The masses will follow him, with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants." These small groups will respond by saying: "You give us everything, except what interests us, Jesus Christ." They will form a resitance to the work of the Antichrist.
The Cardinal predicted that "Days will come in Christianity in which they will try to reduce the salvific event to a mere series of values." In other words, they will try to get ride of the cross & what Jesus accomplished by dying on it. Or as he bluntly warns us: "Today, in fact, we run the risk of having a Christianity which puts aside Jesus with his cross and resurrection."
He also warns that the danger of the sprit of "antichrist" is at work to bring that about. If Christians "limited themselves to speaking of shared values they would be more accepted on television programs and in social groups. But in this way, they will have renounced Jesus, the overwhelming reality of the resurrection." This is "the danger that Christians face in our days … the Son of God cannot be reduced to a series of good projects sanctioned by the prevailing worldly mentality."
"(I)f Christianity -- on opening itself to the world and dialoguing with all -- dilutes the salvific event, it closes itself to a personal relationship with Jesus and places itself on the side of the Antichrist."
"(T)his does not mean a condemnation of values, but their careful discernment. There are absolute values, such as goodness, truth, beauty. Those who perceive and love them, also love Christ, even if they don't know it, because he is Truth, Beauty and Justice." But "there are relative values, such as solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature. If these become absolute, uprooting or even opposing the proclamation of the event of salvation, then these values become an instigation to idolatry and obstacles on the way of salvation."
This isn't the 1st time Cardinal Biffi has used Solovyov's works on the Antichrist as a source for a talk. According to a news article in 2000 he gave a talk in Bologna at which he said he believed the "Antichrist" was already walking here on Earth. Cardinal Biffi reminded people that the 7 headed beast was a symbolic description & that the "Antichrist" was a "fascinating personality", a person whom he described as a prominent philanthropist. This was someone whose concern for human rights and the environment and advocacy of ecumenicism masks his real aim: the destruction of Christianity and "the death of God". He is a person "whose outward charm and plausibility had deceived his enemies. "
The article goes on to say that the Cardinal " also identified the Antichrist as an expert on the Bible who nonetheless promotes "vague and fashionable spiritual values" rather than the Scriptures. He advocates ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, including Anglicanism and the Orthodox Church. This appeared to be a worthy aim, but was in fact being used by the Antichrist in an attempt to water down and undermine Catholicism to the point where it collapsed." The article says that the Cardinal didn't have anyone person in mind & that his talk seemed to be a warning about substituting "feel-good" causes, such as ecology and humanitarian aid, for "true religion".
Retreatants Hear of Guises of the Antichrist (Zenit News Agency)
Il Cristianesimo non va ridotto ad una serie di valori condivisi da tutti: (Radio Vaticano summary of the meditation in Italiano)
posted by Al @ 1:57 AM
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