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The press office of the Holy See did not disclose the full text of the letter sent by Benedict XVI last February 7 to the prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò.
Viganò, however, has read it (see photo) on the occasion of the presentation to the press of the series "Theology of Pope Francis", published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana and made of eleven pamphlets, by various authors, on various aspects of written and oral teaching current pontiff.
The letter is dated February 7 and is in response to a previous letter from Viganò dated 12 January. But since it was announced on the evening of 12 March, the eve of the fifth birthday of the election to pope by Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the public came as if it were a sort of "vote", more than good, given by Benedict. to his successor at the end of his first five years.
This press release was also encouraged by the press release issued for the occasion by Viganò himself, who mentioned the letter only the second and third paragraphs.
In which, however, Benedict XVI rejects not one but a double "foolish prejudice": both that according to which Francis would be "only a practical man devoid of particular theological or philosophical formation", and the other according to which he himself, Joseph Ratzinger, would be " only a theorist of theology that would have understood little of the concrete life of a Christian today ".
To Francis, Benedict recognizes what is undeniable: to have had a profound "formation" in theology and philosophy. As well as recognizing an "inner continuity" between the two pontificates, where the adjective "interior" is at least as good as the noun "continuity", given "all the differences in style and temperament".
And then there is that final paragraph, omitted in the press release, in which Ratzinger, with sincere candor, gives proof of his fine vein of irony. Read it. And who wants to intend intends.
Here is the complete text of the letter, from the heading to the final signature.
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Benedictus XVI
Pope Emeritus
Most Rev. Mons. Dario Edoardo Viganò
Prefect of the
Secretariat for Communication
Vatican City
7 February 2018
Most Reverend Monsignor,
I thank you for your kind letter of 12 January and for the attached gift of the eleven small volumes edited by Roberto Repole.
I applaud this initiative that wants to oppose and react to the foolish prejudice that Pope Francis would be only a practical man devoid of special theological or philosophical formation, while I would be only a theorist of theology that would have understood little of the concrete life of a Christian today.
The small volumes show, rightly, that Pope Francis is a man of profound philosophical and theological formation and therefore help to see the inner continuity between the two pontificates, even with all the differences in style and temperament.
However, I do not feel like writing a short and dense theological page on them because in all my life it has always been clear that I would write and express myself only on books that I had also really read. Unfortunately, even for physical reasons, I am not able to read the eleven volumes in the near future, all the more so because I am already waiting for other commitments.
I am sure he will have understanding and I greet him cordially.
His
Benedict XVI
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POST SCRIPTUM - Given that Viganò gave full reading of the letter of Benedict XVI in front of numerous journalists, it should be added that on the envelope that contained it was written: "Personal reserved".
Moreover, Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press found that the photo of the letter released by the Vatican was voluntarily rendered illegible in the first two lines of her last paragraph, for the remainder covered by the booklets on the theology of Pope Francis:
