VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
After the homily addressed today by Benedict XVI to rebel Austrian priests, their leader Mgr. Helmut Schüller took the floor
Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City
At first it might seem like an extreme attempt to keep a stiff upper lip: the leader of the “rebel” Austrian priests, Mgr. Helmut Schüller, stated he was satisfied with the homily pronounced today by Pope Benedict XVI who responded directly to the Pfarrer Initiative which he supports. In an interview with TM News, Schüller said that the Pope’s homily was “an open explanation” and “There was no threat or sanction implied.”
Indeed, the Pope did not make any harsh remark about the group or its initiative and, unusually, engaged in a “dialogue” with the priests who supported the initiative, in an attempt to put himself in their shoes and even raised potential objections to his own reasoning. Benedict XVI focused on the subject of “disobedience”, frequently asking himself and the priests present whether this really was the path to a “true renewal” of the Church, “or just a desperate push to do something, to transform the Church according to our wishes and ideas?”
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