In the interview, Pope Benedict said: “For people today, unlike at
the time of (Martin) Luther and from the classical perspective of the
Christian faith, things have been turned upside down in a certain sense:
Man no longer thinks he needs to be justified in God’s sight, but
rather he is of the opinion that it is God who must justify himself
because of all the horrendous things present in the world and in the
face of human misery.”
The extreme synthesis of such an impression, he said, could be
formulated as: “Christ did not suffer for the sins of men, but in order
to cancel the faults of God.”
“Even if today the majority of Christians would not share such a
drastic overturning of our faith, you could say that it indicates a
basic tendency,” the retired pope said.
Another sign of a strong change in general thinking that challenges
at least medieval Christian thought, he said, is “the sensation that God
cannot simply allow the perdition of the majority of humanity.”
Yet, the Pope Emeritus said, there still exists a general perception
that “we need grace and pardon. For me it is one of the ‘signs of the
times’ that the idea of God’s mercy is becoming increasingly central and
dominant” in Christian thought.
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world...
