Zenit.org recently published a two-part interview w/ Fr. Matthew Lamb on Cardinal Ratzinger's work of ecclesiology, Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today. Link to it here via Insight Scoop (which has discovered the magic of linking to individual Zenit stories, unlike RC2). I found this fascinating:
Reflecting on the commission given to Peter he sees that he is commissioned to forgive sins. As he writes in "Called to Communion," it is a commission to dispense "the grace of forgiveness. It constitutes the Church. The Church is founded upon forgiveness. Peter himself is the personal embodiment of this truth, for he is permitted to be the bearer of the keys after having stumbled, confessed and received the grace of pardon." You have, as they say, to read the whole thing, but I've never seen the sacraments of Eucharist and Confession so directly linked --and I am charmed by the idea that Peter is the keeper of the keys in a sense precisely because of his dramatic experience of failure --and of course, forgiveness.
