The Catholic News Agency portal (January 11, 2026) reports on Archbishop Georg Gänswein’s remarks in Vilnius promoting the cult of Joseph Ratzinger (“Benedict XVI”). Gänswein admits praying to the deceased antipope rather than for him, while expressing confidence in his imminent beatification. The article portrays this as natural piety, ignoring doctrinal violations in venerating a figure complicit in the conciliar revolution.
Preemptive Canonization Violates Church Law
Gänswein’s declaration that he now prays to Ratzinger—”asking for his help”—constitutes illicit cultus forbidden by Canon 2141 of the 1917 Code. The Church requires conclusive evidence of heroic virtue and confirmed miracles before permitting public veneration, precisely to prevent emotional enthusiasm from replacing judicium Ecclesiae (the Church’s judgment). Pius XI’s Miserentissimus Redemptor (1928) condemned “any new cultus whatsoever introduced without the previous sanction of the Holy See” as “temerarious and illegal.” By circumventing these safeguards, Gänswein promotes the neo-church’s pattern of manufacturing saints to legitimize its apostasy.
“The Church is a very wise and very prudent mother…twice wise and twice prudent.”
This empty rhetoric contradicts his simultaneous lobbying for Ratzinger’s cause. True Catholic prudence would note Ratzinger’s role as peritus at Vatican II, where he helped draft the heretical document Dignitatis Humanae asserting false religious liberty. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he declared Protestants have “a ministry grounded in the sacrament” (Dominus Iesus, 2000)—a direct contradiction of Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis (1943), which teaches non-Catholics are “outside the fold.”
Theological Modernism Disguised as Personal Piety
The portal uncritically relays Gänswein’s claim that working with Ratzinger constituted “formation of the heart, soul, and everything that we can call life.” This subjectivist reduction of holiness to personal experience echoes Modernism’s condemnation in Pius X’s Pascendi (1907): “Religious sentiment…is the germ of all religion.” True formation requires adherence to immutable doctrine, not admiration for a theologian who called the Traditional Mass “a prohibition against thinking with the Church” (1986).
The article’s focus on Ratzinger’s “intelligence” and Gänswein’s doctoral studies exposes the neo-church’s cult of expertise replacing sanctity. Contrast this with the Roman Catechism‘s definition of holiness: “perfect union with Christ through charity.” No amount of academic credentials compensate for Ratzinger’s:
- Support for Assisi interreligious gatherings (1986, 2002)
- Approval of the invalid Novus Ordo Mass
- Refusal to condemn heresies permeating the conciliar church
Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Faith
Gänswein praises Lithuanian Christmas celebrations for preserving “depth” and “reverence,” yet the event featured speeches by:
- A Eurovision singer discussing addiction recovery
- A toxicologist analyzing drug trends
- Clown doctors emphasizing emotional comfort over sacramental grace
This horizontalization of religion into therapeutic humanism fulfills Pius IX’s warning in Quanta Cura (1864) against societies where “the people are accounted as the primary source of all truth and authority.” The article’s silence on the Mass, confession, or sanctifying grace proves its naturalistic bias.
Ratzinger’s Legacy: Architect of the Neo-Church
While Gänswein recalls studying Ratzinger’s theological writings, no mention is made of how they prepared Vatican II’s revolution. Ratzinger’s Principles of Catholic Theology (1987) admits the Council abandoned the “hermeneutic of continuity” for a “new beginning.” His 2005 Regensburg Address praised Islam’s “profound religiosity”—contradicting Boniface VIII’s Unam Sanctam (1302): “Outside the Church there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.”
The beatification push serves one purpose: canonizing the conciliar rupture with Catholic Tradition. As “Benedict XVI,” Ratzinger expanded Communion for adulterers (Amoris Laetitia, 2016) and praised Luther’s “profound religiosity” (2011). True saints defend dogma; Ratzinger dismantled it.
Source:
Gänswein says he prays to Benedict XVI, confirms hope for beatification cause (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 11.01.2026