Vatican City, Nov 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Earlier today Vatican Press Director, Joaquin Navarro-Valls responded to certain German press reports, which suggest that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, had full-knowledge of theologian Klaus Berger’s dual membership in both Catholic and Protestant churches when he oversaw the Vatican’s office for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In a formal announcement, Navarro-Valls said that, the Vatican is now able to address the “discussion concerning the confessional identity of the exegete Klaus Berger of Heidelberg…”
Heidelberg, he wrote, “claims to be a Catholic and - according to what has now been made public - in 1968, participating in the Protestant Supper, became a 'member of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church,' the assertion has been made that 'Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope,' had precise knowledge of 'the matter in its formal aspects' and 'raised no objections.'“
He said that "This assertion is false. Until the current discussion arose, no information beyond what was commonly known reached the cardinal, now Pope; there was no knowledge of a dual confessional identity.”