Ratzinger's Intentions for His Retirement: Reflections on Original Sin

In The Ratzinger Report Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger said that if he ever retired he would dedicate his retirement to investigating the reality of original sin.

"If Providence will some day free me of my obligations, I should like to devote myself precisely to the theme of  'original sin' and to the necessity of a rediscovery of its authentic reality. In fact, if it is no longer understood that man is in a state of alienation (that is not only economic and social and, consequently, one that is not resolvable by his efforts alone), one no longer understands the necessity of Christ the Redeemer. The whole structure of the faith is threatened by this. The inability to understand 'original sin' and to make it understandable is really one of the most difficult problems of present-day theology and pastoral ministry."
Joseph Ratzinger, The Ratzinger Report, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1985, 79.

Given the present moral crisis within the Church hierarchy it is clear that such grounding in the reality of sin is badly needed. One can only hope that the Emeritus Pope has indeed been working on that for the benefit of the Church and of the world.