[Editor’s note: The following statement, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, was first published in Italian on Duc in altum. Here below is the official English translation.]
We have seen all the news broadcasts about the new cardinals who have visited the pope emeritus, led by Pope Francis. The images of the two popes together with the new cardinals, purposely wanted and widely circulated, have once again a mystifying instrumental function: to show the complete harmony and continuity of the magisterium of the two popes. It has also been reported that Pope Benedict advised the new cardinals to be faithful and obedient to the Pope.
In reparation for the ignoble abuse committed against the pope emeritus and the unworthy exploitation of his image, it seems to me fitting and proper that the bishops gathered in the Synod for the Amazon to protect the “Mother Earth” — whence we came and whither we shall return — may also receive a word from Pope Benedict XVI, this time one that is authentic.
It comes to us from the homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI in the Eucharistic concelebration with the members of the International Theological Commission, in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel, on Friday, October 6, 2006.
And our speech and thoughts must always serve to ensure that what God says, the Word of God, is listened to and finds room in the world. Thus, once again we find ourselves invited to this process of forfeiting our own words, this process of purification so that our words may be nothing but the instrument through which God can speak.