From The Depths Of Our Hearts

From the Depths of our Hearts book. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. The Catholic Church faces a major crisis and the turmoil in.

From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy and the Crisis of the Catholic Church was launched on 15 January in France, following a pre-publication statement suggesting that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had co-authored the book. The book's official author, Cardinal Robert Sarah, has been known to have Orthodox views, particularly on those surrounding celibacy and sexuality.One chapter, which has been co-signed by both clerics in question, re-affirms the doctrine that priests and other clergy must make a vow to celibacy and to encourage this in their priestly brotherhood. This has been said to be a direct protest against events at the end of last year when Pope Francis hosted the controversial Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region.The practices and discussions of this Synod caused widespread debate and even an incident of vandalism.

In the closing document, a proposal was made for married men who are already part of the diaconate clergy, and in a stable marriage, to be ordained as priests to relieve vast shortages in the area. As Pope Francis prepares his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation (usually published around six months after a synod closes), the publicity surrounding Cardinal Sarah's statements is sure to create tensions.The chapter of From the Depths of Our Hearts is clear in its opposition, with the writer stating, 'I cannot be silent!' Cardinal Sarah, in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, has called it 'a cry for love for the Church' and the 'crisis' it is facing.

This should not necessarily be a surprise to those already familiar with Cardinal Sarah's orthodox views and strong vocalisation of such. In this book and in his other work, Cardinal Sarah vouches for priestly celibacy being an absolutely necessary element of the vocation to the priesthood.The chapter creates a detailed study of both the Old and New Testaments, with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI stating that the Old Testament demonstrates that 'the relation between sexual abstinence and divine worship was absolutely clear' throughout Israel. The chapter goes on to justify that with the regular, and often daily, celebration of the Eucharist, there is a necessity to keep abstinence throughout a vocation to the modern priesthood. Cardinal Sarah then builds upon this with a set of concerns around modern pastoral practices, calling for a renewal of the 'spiritual reality of the sacrament of Holy Orders'.Cardinal Sarah goes on to describe ordaining married men as a 'pastoral catastrophe' which also leaves the notion open to 'adaptation to customs and cultures' – precisely what he sees as the goal of the Amazonian Synod. This is not the first time that the issue of local adaptation has reared its head with regards to sacramental practices. Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation following the Synod on family life, caused controversy in 2016 when it was suggested that it advocated for divorced and re-married people to take communion under certain, local circumstances.

While some groups have praised this encouragement of local engagement in local issues, others see this as an attack on universal doctrine.Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is perhaps not the doctrinal dictator made out in reviews of From the Depths of Our Hearts. Primordial cyst radiology. In 2011, he established The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

This offered Anglicans, both individually and corporately, to be received into full Catholic communion, after discerning an agreement with Catholic principles. In the UK, three bishops, two with their wives, were received into the Church and later ordained to the Catholic priesthood.Anglicanorum Coetibus, the Apostolic Constitution made as part of the establishment of the Ordinariate states that 'those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfil the requisites established by canon law.

The Catholic Church faces a major crisis and the turmoil in priestly ministry is at the heart of it. “The priesthood is going through a dark time,” write Pope Emeritus Benedict and Cardinal Robert Sarah.

“Wounded by the revelation of so many scandals, disconcerted by the constant questioning of their consecrated celibacy, many priests are tempted by the thought of giving up and abandoning everything.”In this book, Pope Emeritus Benedict and Cardinal Robert Sarah give their brother priests and the whole Church a message of hope. They honestly address the spiritual challenges faced by priests today, including struggles of celibacy. They point to deeper conversion to Jesus Christ as the key to faithful and fruitful priestly ministry and church reform.From the Depths of Our Hearts is an unprecedented work by the Pope Emeritus and a Cardinal serving in the Vatican. As bishops, they write “in a spirit of filial obedience” to Pope Francis, who has said, “I think that celibacy is a gift for the Church I don’t agree with allowing optional celibacy, no.”Responding to calls for refashioning the priesthood, including proposals from the Amazonian Synod, two wise, spiritually astute pastors explain the biblical and spiritual role of the priesthood, celibacy, and genuine priestly ministry. Drawing on Vatican II, they present priestly celibacy as more than “a mere precept of ecclesiastical law”.