On July 5, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the former Archbishop of Cologne in Germany died at the age of 83.
Pope Emeritus Benedict, who stepped down from the papacy in 2013, sent a special message to be read at Meisner's funeral. Because Pope Benedict rarely makes statements, and because of specific language within the message, many Catholics are speculating that he is signaling his support for the "Dubia."
Meisner made headlines earlier this summer when he and three other cardinals reissued a request to Pope Francis to clarify his message on marriage, Amoris Laetitia. Meisner along with Cardinals Walter, Brandmüller, Carlo Caffarra, and Raymond Burke signed a "Dubia" (which means "doubts" in Latin) asking for a meeting and expressing their concern that the teaching may cause confusion within the Church.
Both the original and subsequent requests are couched in very respectful language. However, the act was considered a hostile resistance to Pope Francis by many other high-ranking church leaders.
One sentence in particular indicates that the former Pope is siding with the four cardinals. Benedict writes:
"We know that it was difficult for [Cardinal Meisner], this passionate shepherd and pastor, to leave his office, especially in a time in which the Church especially needs convincing shepherds who resist the dictatorship of Zeitgeist and quite decisively from the Faith live and think."
First, Benedict refers to his old friend Meisner as a "passionate shepherd and pastor." Thomas Peters of the Catholic Vote points out that many against the "Dubia" accuse the four cardinals of being out of touch with modern Catholics -- or of being bad "shepherds."
More strikingly, Benedict calls the current era in the Church a "dictatorship of Zeitgeist," a German word meaning "the spirit of the age." Peters points to this as evidence that Benedict is praising the cardinals for going against the current cultural trends and speaking the truth about marriage.
Dr. Thomas Williams of Notre Dame points to the same sentence in a piece at Breitbart.
The Vatican did not respond to the cardinals' first letter in 2016 and has yet to respond to their second request, which was issued this summer.
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