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.
As you can see from Biggirl’s response, most modern day Catholics don’t think other Christians need to convert. Like VII, they believe that Christ’s Church only subsists in the Catholic Church. Other Christians are a part of Christ’s Church, just imperfectly so. They are partially in communion. They just don’t have the “fullness of the Truth”. Christ’s Church lacks unity.
The “don’t judge” stuff always come out when the truth is spoken. The Church has called non-Catholics heretics, infidels, and the like for hundreds of years. All of a sudden this is no longer true?
Do you believe in EENS? It’s a dogma of the Catholic faith.
No, Jesus Christ said no such thing. He said, “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” John 20:23
I think you’ve got Jesus Christ confused with the current Bishop of Rome. Big, big, big difference!
Apparently so, as it is the opinion of the last two Popes. Makes a Catholic wonder what other dogma is invalid.
On the other hand, maybe the dogma 'extra Ecclesiam nulla salus' is still valid but he didn't like her. Which would be worse?
But he didn’t like her? I’m not following.
Nasty, but otherwise that dogma doesn't seem operative. Be a little different if he hadn't been a prince of the church.
In response to this question the document recognises that “the wound is still more profound in those ecclesial communities which have not preserved the apostolic succession or the valid celebration of the eucharist”.[13] For this reason they are “not Churches in the proper sense of the word”[14] but rather, as is attested in conciliar and postconciliar teaching, they are “ecclesial Communities”.[15]
Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress in the communities concerned and even amongst some Catholics, it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of “Church” could possibly be attributed to them, given that they do not accept the theological notion of the Church in the Catholic sense and that they lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church.
What is that?
I am correct though.
Correct about what?
If this is true and there’s not more to the story, it’s very sad. What’s to be said about the deathbed conversion then? Should it not happen because it is during a moment of crisis?
Why am I not surprised you even had to ask that question?
If she converted at her deathbed, the baptism would be accepted as long as it was done in the name of the Most Blessed Holy Trinity, she would be receieved then into the Church.
Wow. You totally missed mlizzy’s point.
That is how the Catholic Church receieves new members who were baptized in other churches, the baptism is accepted as legit and as long as they read a formal statement. This is what is done now in RCIA.
And what is wrong with asking a question?
Nothing. It’s just a question I would not expect from a practicing Catholic.
Mlizzy’s point wasn’t whether the baptism was valid. The point was that if conversion is not a good idea during times of crisis, then what about deathbed conversions? That’s probably the biggest crisis anyone could ever have.
Oops.
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