By now we have all heard about the Pope on condoms, and those of us who are interested in the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi Lay Institute -or whatever it is exactly- have been parsing the phrases that have appeared in the new book of Interviews with Pope Theologican Ratzinger re Fr Maciel and his Work; personally I have only read snippets and so I cannot form a full opinion.
But we have the gist of the Pope's idea, phrase, that although Maciel was a false prophet, the Legion and Regnum Christi are basically wholesome.
With all due respect -and with the audacity that comes from knowing that the Pope is not talking ex cathedra and therefore could be mistaken- some are questioning Joseph Ratzinger's logic:
"A false prophet can do the work of God". This appears to fly in the face of elementary Biblical Theology
According to my limited knowledge, false prophets were those who tried to find an easy way to Salvation, a short cut, one might say, a magic formula...."Just do this and God is pleased, you are saved"...
Another aspect of false prophets was appearances, falsehoods, 'glittering images'...and that definitely sounds like the Legion of Christ
Could the Pope and his envoy -Apostolic Delegate- continue to be deceived by the glitter of holiness...As the Iranian jeweller said to me the other day: "That is not real gold; that is just dipped in gold. If it were real gold it would cost a lot more!"
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