Posted on 02/03/2014 11:37:02 AM PST by ebb tide
She wanted to convert. She listened to Cardinal Ratzinger and died a Lutheran.
Sigrid Spath was the most famous German translator in Rome. She worked in the Jesuit General House, and then in the Vatican, since the days of Paul VI and translated around 70,000 pages of documents from Italian, French, English, Spanish or Polish into German, as well as several texts by Joseph Ratzinger, as Cardinal or Pope, as he also wrote original texts in Italian. The granddaughter of a Lutheran pastor, Spath was born in Villach, Carinthia (Austria), on August 1, 1939 (that is, just one month before the war), and she died this Sunday, February 2, 2014, in Rome.
May she rest in peace.
Now, the information above comes from the Vatican Radio article on Sigrid Spath, from which we have chosen this remarkable excerpt:
Sigrid Spath translated in these cases [documents written by the Pope in Italian] the German Pope into German. One of her favorite books was Ratzinger's "Introduction to Christianity", dozens of copies of which she gave to Protestant students visiting Rome.
As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger charged her personally with the German version of particularly sensitive documents, such as his response to the objections of Protestant theologians to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification of 1999. It was also Cardinal Ratzinger who, according to her own testimony, advised Sigrid Spath to remain a Protestant, and not to convert to the Catholic Church, as she had considered in a moment of crisis. She could do more for both churches if she remained a Protestant, said the Cardinal. The Carinthian remained in the Protestant Christuskirche in Rome [the Evangelical-Lutheran community of Rome] throughout her life.
Note: Life-changing decisions should be avoided, if possible, in moments of distress and personal crisis, when reflection and meditation are impossible. But the justification presented by the Cardinal for why she should permanently remain a Protestant obviously influenced her in a permanent way, so that she felt compelled to declare it to others openly.
What difference would it have made?
PFL
Enough to make one a conservative Lutheran.
No difference. Follow the example of Jesus in the new testament. Believe his words. You will be saved by forgiveness, grace and faith. Simple enough for a child to understand.
If I have to follow His example, how does forgiveness, grace and faith come into the picture? Sounds more like I"ll be saved by works.
More proof that it’s not just Francis that thinks no one needs to convert to Catholicism. Remember proselytizing is solemn nonsense. This is ALL the direct result of the false ecumenism put forth at the Vatican II council. This is all the result of the New Religion that is the post Vatican II church.
Uggh. I get sicker and sicker and angrier and angrier the more the scales drop from my eyes.
When will we get a pope that will return the Church to its 1960 year old ways?
We are all united by our common baptism.
Remember the decision to convert is not just only a calling but a lifetime commitment that must not be done during the middle of a personal crisis, when decisions could be made in haste.
Do you think Protestants need to convert?
She could do more for both churches if she remained a Protestant, said the Cardinal.
“Note: Life-changing decisions should be avoided, if possible, in moments of distress and personal crisis, when reflection and meditation are impossible. But the justification presented by the Cardinal for why she should permanently remain a Protestant obviously influenced her in a permanent way, so that she felt compelled to declare it to others openly.”
Major decisions during personal difficulties should not be made. Wise advice.
She was still a Christian though. Common baptism.
She was a heretic.
No.
——Do you think Protestants need to convert?——
Don’t be silly, many Catholics think Protestants are fallen Catholics...lost little sheep...beguilded by Sola Scripture....
Only half tongue in cheek...
But she was to do so much more for both churches if she didn’t convert has NOTHING to do with any personal crisis. Did he even suggest giving conversion some thought even in the future? It sounds to me that there was no prodding here what-so-ever. Typical VII.
This explains all.
What it comes down to is that, once the crisis passes, she can begin the effort of what is called discernament when it is not clouded.
Did not Jesus command not to “judge” ?
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