Private revelations

Private revelations

Joseph Ratzinger’s thoughts on private revelations

In THE RATZINGER REPORT book, an exclusive interview on the state of the Church, we can read some pearls of wisdom. In 1984 Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) granted an interview to the Italian journalist Vittorio Messori.

The approach of the Church on private revelations is always of an observational type, especially in the presence of the current mystical realities.
The OPERA DELLA TRINITÀ SANTISSIMA wishes to make its readers aware of how true it is the opinion of the beloved and lamented Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
We faithfully republish the words of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Here are his words:

No apparition is indispensable to faith, Revelation ended with Jesus Christ. He himself is the Revelation. But we certainly cannot prevent God from speaking in our time, through simple people and also by means of extraordinary signs, that denounce the insufficiency of the cultures that dominate us, masked by rationalism and positivism...

Private revelation - even though it is unique and cannot be overcome - is not a dead thing, it is alive, vital.
Joseph Ratzinger
The Ratzinger report
The Ratzinger report.

Abstract

Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) renowned theologian and Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives an exclusive in-depth interview to a famous Italian journalist, Vittorio Messori, on the state of the church near the end of the of twentieth century. Cardinal Ratzinger speaks candidly and forcefully about the challenges of the Church in the Post-Vatican II era.
Here is the complete text of a meeting many have called a “historical turnabout” in the Church. The roots of the crisis that has troubled Catholics in the twenty years since the Council are analyzed with forthright clarity by one of the most authoritative voices in the Vatican. This is a clear and uncompromising report on the dangers that threaten the Faith, from one who every day receives the most reliable information from every continent.
Yet Ratzinger’s observations are as hopeful and balanced as they are clear-sighted, forcefully re-affirming the immense and positive work of Vatican II, whose genuine fruits this book provides a guideline for achieving.