Faith and Culture: The 'Ratzingerian Marxists' and the 'Anthropological Emergency'

By Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.
11/25/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Our country would be better served if the Catholic Social Doctrine was better-known by our politicians, whether they be Catholic or not

Perhaps Americans can learn from the "Anthropological Emergency" manifesto and the efforts of the "Ratzingerian Marxists" Barcellona and Paolo. God knows that our fractured society has lost the ability to communicate sensibly on those things which ought to guide our life in common and our political life. The right and the left seem to yell past each other.

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CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Karl Marx and Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) would seem to little in common. Between a materialist atheist who believed in economic determinism and a man who believes in God and in moral freedom (and who was the bane of liberation theology) there would seem to be too large a no-man's-land for these two and their disciples to meet.

But faith is not so easily suppressed, and it sometimes finds admission and flowering in the least likely of souls. Recent events in Italy seem to prove this. It is an odd phenomenon, but some of the Italian communist party, including such notables as Pietro Barcellona and Paolo Sorbi, have appeared to have abandoned Marxism and entered into the Catholic fold.

The reason? Well, of course, God-who alone moves human hearts and gives the grace of faith. But God also uses human instruments, and in this case the human instrument appears to have been Pope Benedict XVI. For this reason, these Marxist converts to the faith have been called "Ratzingerian Marxists." Perhaps a better name would be "Ratzingerian Ex-Marxists."

Pietro Barcellona, formerly a professor of Philosophy of Law and the University of Catania, and a former member of the Italian Communist party (PCI), was known as an avid exponent of Marxist atheistic materialism. But in 2010, he stirred up quite a controversy when he announced his conversion to Catholicism. Apparently, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the staunch communist, materialist, and evolutionist walls that Barcellona had installed in his heart to keep out faith fell also.

At first, philosophical nihilism seized him, but the non-God of materialistic evolution gives no comfort to the soul. Life, and life's work become meaningless in a world which could just as well have done without you because it does not know you. "The coming into the world of a human being has no meaning in the evolutionary sequence," Barcellona has said.

Something else had to be found to give meaning to his life. God, of course, would make the cosmos friendly, since there would be a God behind the cosmos. But Barcellona distrusted religion, as he saw it as a sort of "pure psychological projection," a comforting opiate perhaps, but no more.

Eventually, however, Barcellona came to see that this cannot be said about Christianity. "I was struck emotionally by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ, in fact, is an epochal rupture in the traditional way of seeing the relationship between God and the world, between what is divine and what is human. It presents an absolute discontinuity with respect to all hypotheses regarding the understanding of God in all other religions."

Christ is the "zero point" of history: God and man met in one person. Jesus is a historical fact, and not any psychological projection or dream induced by opiates.

In 2010, Barcellona wrote about his experience in a book entitled Encounter with Jesus.

Paolo Sorbi, former professor of sociology, is also a former Marxist and former member of the Italian Communist party and convert to the Catholic faith. He currently heads up the Pro-Life office of the Archdiocese of Milan, and is the program manager of the Italian Catholic radio station, Radio Maria.

Barcellona and Sorbi, along with two other post-Marxist thinkers, the professor of history, Giuseppe Vacca, a philosopher and political scientist, Mario Tronti, joined forces in publishing a manifesto directed to the Italian left entitled "Anthropological Emergency: Towards a New Alliance Between Believers and Non-Believers." It was published in the Avvenire magazine on October 16, 2011, and it created a tremendous stir on the left.

The focus of the manifesto is on the serious threat to humanity based upon the technological manipulation of life through genetic manipulation and artificial conception. It stresses the need for the left to take seriously the threat to mankind by these technologies, to dialogue with the Catholic Church and seriously consider the the anthropological and bioethical teachings of Benedict XVI, especially those with which he was responsible while Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, such as Donum vitae, and Dignitas personae.

"The manipulation of life" the manifesto begins, "originating in the developments of technology and of the violence inherent in the processes of globalization in the absence of a new international order, puts us in the presence of an unprecedented anthropological emergency. This ...

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

blacksheep09
5 months ago
Catholic Christian's should strive too ensure when given the chance to select government offical's the selected individual know's the differance between .GOV and .GOD; this model was shown to us in the Sinai and we should this model.
judy claar
5 months ago
Andrew Greenwell, Another superb article! Fascinating! ....And then on the other side of the coin, again I say, fascinating, simply fascinating! The first side of the coin represents your article. Facts. And all of that that is good and true. The second side of the coin, echoes the voices of Thomas, our Lord's disciple, Bill Sr., Stephen Volk, myself and others, with these resounding words running through out their brain: "Beware of men in sheep's clothing."

I pray that they are not like the Biden's, Pelosi's, etc. I Hope and Pray that they continue their conversion and speak out for Catholic Social Justice. I am this way because I am still in mourning over Obama Catholics (all races) voting against their Faith. Forgive me Dear Lord. Blessings...
Bill Sr.
5 months ago
Having practicing Catholics as key members of a ruling political party is no guaranty of good government in a democracy. America has proven that beyond any doubt. Our own Biden, Pelosi, Sebelius, and a host of others who roam the hollowed halls in Washington along with socially corrupt governorships and big city mayors all over the country have driven us to bankruptcy and divided the people into secular camps of perverse but legal behavior against the founding values of our nation mocking the Church and her moral teaching. all of this under the guise of social justice or benevolent benefits and rights.
Mathew Thankachen O.Praem
5 months ago
Thank you Andrew Greenwell for you wisdom and jurisprudence in presenting the interplay of Ratzingerian Marxism with Anthropological Emergency. Happy to hear the ' conversion of two great Italian Communists - their emerging from Communism only but " merge with Christ" and " Encounter Him" in their hearts. Truly, Pope Benedict as his predecessor is the plan of God for our time to merge and forge unity of faith and reason, matter and spirit, faith and science, even the very history to be attuned in to " anthro-theo- centrism" in the language of Raymund Panickar, an Indian theologian. The following is a little poem of mine presenting how satan in the life of man co-exists as if a benefactor, vitiating life, gradually realizes into two forces, leading to the true force that is Heaven ( Christ/ Church) . Rationalization is seen the " conflict between the " image of God" within with the satanic force, in the language of Communists, the conflict between thesis and anti- thesis, leading to the synthesis ie. heaven or hell, depending over the victorious force of either which in the theological jargon is put as "Original Sin".

"Twin Brothers
Satan, the father of death
My dearest friend
And thou no more foe
The one stronger and deeper
Than the other, excelling
To overtake with your
Trick overwhelming life
So fascinating, enchanting
Justifying every thought
Selflessly for me and me alone
So cozy you make me overnight
To follow your way
In a lighter vein, you reign
In the realm of mind and body
Leading to death, lethargy
Oozing away the Life within
The presence of God
The life force, love, energy
Here and now
And I don’t need another proof
Of the roof you promised
In your Father’s house
You, twin brothers
Ever together
Only but to depart
Either way to hell or heaven

Mathew Thankachen O.Praem.
.
Paul-Emile Leray
5 months ago
Christ is the zero point of his-story. That, to me, was perhaps the most important theme of this article. And then? Surrender. (of the negative aspects of self will; what is most selfish) Then? When the glass is empty who fills it with fresh water? Once again, Christ. This article also does well, I sense, to illustrate how certain political ideologies fall under the 'ratio' of reason. Therefore, this helps to show how ideologies can not be superimposed upon God given free will since coercion does not align with God given free will. Brilliant article!
Paul-Emile Leray
Steve
5 months ago
Non-negotiables, what are these? In the US, everything is negotiable, how can this type of society agree to "go back" to any thing that is considered "non-negotiable?
Let me give some real examples:1) Abortion, specifically, in cases that are difficult. Anencephaly; genetically determined growing babies whose diagnosis is incompatible with life; pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. 2) IVF, when married couples are truely trying to live the married life and procreate. Maybe, some day one sperm could fertilize one egg, with assisted techniques. So, there would be no "frozen" embryos, the sperm could be obtained through minor surgery(no need for a man to masturbate to obtain it). The woman would not need to take medication to increase the number of eggs to be fertilized. The only assistance would be the fertilization of one sperm and one egg. 3) Care of the elderly. Absolutely no euthanasia, but why is it necessary to go to extraodinary measures to save terminally ill individuals. 4) Capital punishment. Can we all just say no to capital punishment, period. If we truely believe everyone is capable of salvation, there would be no arguement about capital punishment. But actions due have consequences, and that is prison, with the hope of rehabilitation. 5) Contraception: difficult to negotiate, even NFP can go against Catholic teaching if the couple never plan to procreate.
So, what is non-negotiable?
Stephen Volk
5 months ago
EX MARXISTS? Have we so soon forgotten AA-1025, Cardinal Bea's liberal left, Hans Kung and Schilibeeckx of the Dutch naturalist catechism? These were all Marxist infiltrators, not converts. Pietro Barcellona and Paolo Sorbi will continue the Gramsci incrementalism as "Catholics." Don't be fooled! Infiltrators into Catholicism are a growing problem.
Debbie
5 months ago
I love article like this, seeing the Mighty Hand of God at work.

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