“Always is Also a Forever”—Pope Benedict XVI

It is a good thing that both Ann Barnhardt and Estefanía Acosta frequently remind us of this decisive clue in unlocking the second greatest crisis in Catholic Church history second only—and linked—to what started in the 1960s:

“The ‘always’ is also a ‘forever‘ – there can no longer be a return to the private sphere.  My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this.  I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences, and so on. I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord.  I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter.  Saint Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, will be a great example for me in this.  He showed us the way for a life which, whether active or passive, is completely given over to the work of God.”—Pope Benedict XVI on the 27th of February 2013