Pope Benedict XVI | Manessah ben Israel
The cases of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Morris Wolff are presented to commemorate the birthday of Anne Frank, which is June 12. The reincarnation case of Barbro Karlen/Anne Frank is also presented. These four cases demonstrate that individuals can change religion from lifetime to lifetime. In the case of Morris Wolff/Joseph Hewes, Hewes was a Quaker, which is a Christian religion, whereas Morris Wolff was born into the Jewish faith.
In the cases of Pope John Paul II/Benedict Spinoza, Pope Benedict XVI/Manasseh ben Isreal and Barbro Karlen/Anne Frank, each was Jewish in a past lifetime and Christian in the contemporary lifetime. In my presentations I always point out that if 70 years ago, the German people knew that one could be born Jewish in one lifetime and Christian in another, then the Holocaust could never have happened. Similarly, evidence of reincarnation can serve as an “Antidote to 9/11.”
The case of Barbro Karlen/Anne Frank is especially compelling as Barbro has had complete memories of her lifetime as Anne Frank since childhood. This type of case, in which a child has spontaneous memories of a past lifetime, has been studied extensively by Ian Stevenson, MD of the University of Virginia. Typically, the child describes the past lifetime as soon as the child can speak. In the most dramatic of these cases, the child remembers their past life name, past life village or city and gives the biologic parents enough information that the child can be reunited with the past life family. The child, when reunited with the past life family, can identify past life family members by name and reveals past life family secrets. As a result, the past life family accepts the child as the reincarnation of their deceased loved one.
Dr. Stevenson has studied thousands of childhood reincarnation cases and has published numerous volumes, meticulously documenting the facts of each reincarnation case. Dr. Stevenson’s works include:
Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation
Cases of the Reincarnation Type: India
Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Thailand and Burma
Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Sri Lanka
Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Lebanon and Turkey
Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect
The reincarnation cases of Anne Frank, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Morris Wolff are presented in the following spirit: When humankind realizes that reincarnation is the method in which the human soul evolves, that we keep returning to this planet to learn lessons, that karma is real and that we must experience the effects of our prior actions, that we can change religion, race, gender and ethnic affiliation from lifetime to lifetime, then humankind will finally decide to live in peace.
False separation based on differences in religion, race and ethnic affiliation will no longer cause division and conflict. Further, when we realize that we will keep reincarnating on this planet until our growth is completed, we will strive to create a civilization on earth that we look forward to returning to, a planet home that is free of hunger, war and strife, a planet home that is peaceful and beautiful.
Let us now explore the reincarnation case of Pope Benedict XVI/Manasseh ben Israel. The method in which this case was derived is explained on the page featuring the case of Pope John Paul II/Benedict Spinoza. One extraordinary feature of this case is that an author featured prominently on this web site, Wayne Peterson, several years ago gave the then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, a three hour discourse on Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom at a small private dinner. This meeting will be described by Mr. Peterson himself at the end of this narrative.
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Manasseh ben Israel was born in 1604 in Spain, but his family had to flee Lisbon due to the persecution of Jews in Spain at that time. Jews who left Spain and Portugal due to persecution were called “Morranos.” Benedict Spinoza’s family was also considered Morranos, fleeing Portugal due to persecution. Spinoza’s and Manasseh’s families sought refuge in Amsterdam, much like Anne Frank’s family fled persecution in Germany and settled in the same city, Amsterdam. Manesseh became a rabbi in Amsterdam and in 1627, he founded a Hebrew printing house. He soon became one of the leading rabbis in Amsterdam, based on his oratory skills and scholarship.
Manasseh taught in the Talmud Torah school at the same time that Benedict Spinoza/John Paul II, emerged as a star student of the school. The artist Rembrandt lived in the same neighborhood as Spinoza and Manasseh. Rembrandt eventually painted a portrait of Manasseh. Manasseh learned to speak in ten languages and wrote in five, allowing him to communicate with people of many cultures. Soon, Manasseh became one of the most famous rabbis in the world.
Manasseh’s best known work is The Conciliador, which is concerned with explaining inconsistencies found in the Old Testament. This book was written to make the Old Testament and the Jewish religion more understandable to Gentiles, or Christians. This book gave Manasseh a world wide reputation and led to his correspondence with some of the greatest religious and philosophical minds in Europe.
A chief concern for Manasseh was the acceptance of Jews in various countries, particularly England. King Edward I had banished Jews from England in 1290 and as a result, in the time of Manasseh, Jewish people had not been able to legally live in England for the past 350 years.
Manasseh wrote The Hope of Israel in 1650, to support the admission of Jews into England. Manasseh drew the attention of Oliver Cromwell, who headed the British government in that era. Manasseh traveled to London in October 1655 and printed a pamphlet directed to Cromwell entitled, Humble Address to the Lord Protector, which was later introduced into a national conference in December 1655. At this meeting, British lawyers proclaimed that there was nothing in English law which prohibited Jews from settling in England. This conference did not bring immediate resettlement of Jews into England, but public opinion did start to sway regarding the matter. Manasseh died on November 26, 1657 without accomplishing his goal, but the publicity that he generated regarding the issue eventually did lead to the readmission of Jews into England.
Joseph Ratzinger, who has become Pope Benedict XVI, was born in Germany on April 16, 1927, 270 years after Manasseh ben Israel died. Joseph grew up in Bavaria and witnessed World War II first hand. As a boy, he was required to participate in the anti-aircraft service. After the war, Joseph studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and was ordained a priest in 1951, at the age of 24. He later became a university professor and taught theology at several institutions. In 1969, Father Ratzinger became a Vice President of the University of Regensburg.
By the age of 35, Father Ratzinger was well known as a theologian, having published numerous works. In 1977, he was elected Archbishop of Munich and later that year, Joseph Ratzinger was made a Cardinal by Pope Paul VI. After Karol Wojtyla/Benedict Spinoza became Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger become one of the Pope’s closest confidants and he was named to many important church posts by the Pope John Paul II.
Of interest, Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger shared a great affinity for Jews and Cardinal Ratzinger became a member of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. Cardinal Ratzinger called for dialogue with the Jewish community and urged prayer for “greater esteem and love toward this people, the Israelites.” This is of interest, as both Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger have been identified as being Jews in their past lifetimes as Benedict Spinoza and Manasseh ben Israel, respectively.
Given these brief biographies of Manasseh ben Israel and Joseph Ratzinger, what are their similarities and differences, given the premise that in a past lifetime, Joseph Ratzinger was Manasseh ben Israel? The main similarity is that both Manasseh ben Israel and Joseph Ratzinger can be described as world class intellectual theologians and authors. The primary difference is that Manasseh ben Israel was born into a Jewish culture while Joseph Ratzinger was born into a Christian family. Both, though, have demonstrated great talent in contributing to the doctrines of the religions they were born into.
Let us examine the relationship of Manasseh ben Israel and Benedict Spinoza, who we proclaim reincarnated as Pope Bendict XVI and Pope John Paul II, respectively. When Spinoza was born in 1632, Manasseh ben Israel was 28 years old. When Spinoza was 10 year old and going to school at Talmud Torah, Manesseh ben Israel was one of the primary teachers at that school. In 1655, when Manesseh visited England to appeal for the readmission of Jews into England, Spinoza was 23. Manasseh ben Israel was, at the time, one of the most famous rabbis on the world, while Spinoza was recognized as a star student of Talmud Torah, where Manesseh ben Israel taught. Spinoza would later become one of the most famous philosophers of Jewish descent in history.
While the exact relationship between Spinoza and Manasseh ben Israel is unclear through historical documents, they must have had an impact on one another, especially since they lived in the same small neighborhood. In this light, it is interesting that Joseph Ratzinger took on the name Benedict, the same name that Spinoza adopted in his youth (Spinoza’s given name was Barach, which he changed to the Latin equivalent, Benedict). If these reincarnation cases are accepted, then these two Jewish philosopher/theologians of the 17th century, Spinoza and Manasseh ben Israel, reunited at the Vatican in contemporary times in the personages of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
The reincarnation research described in Return of the Revolutionaries: The Case for Reincarnation and Soul Groups Reunited, has been associated with many synchronistic events, which in my mind represents spiritual guidance. An example involves a spontaneous meeting that I had with Reverend Michael Beckwith, Founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, which resulted in my reincarnation research graphics being delivered President Bill Clinton by Reverend Beckwith in the year 2000 on October 30, which is John Adams’ birthday. Another event that I believe was orchestrated by the spiritual world is a meeting in which brought Wayne Peterson and Cardinal Ratzinger, who has become Pope Benedict XVI, together.
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In his book, Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary Beings, Mr. Peterson describes his personal experiences with the Masters of Wisdoms, spiritual beings who are responsible for the evolution of humanity. In particular, Mr. Peterson writes of the spirit being Maitreya, who is described as a new spiritual leader, or Christ, for humanity. We may imagine, in Spinoza’s terms, that a person called a Christ is one whose mind has merged with the mind of God. It is the premise of Mr. Peterson’s book that Maitreya is ready to appear before humanity, much as the being Jesus emerged 2000 years ago. Given the rather shocking nature of this proclamation, it is especially interesting that Mr. Peterson engaged in a prolonged discourse to Cardinal Ratzinger, the current Pope. Let Mr. Peterson describe the event in his own words:
“During my years of living in Washington, D.C., I began to have private conversations with people about the reappearance of the Christ. I could not give any public lectures since I was employed by the Federal Government and would have had to clear any public statement with government officials first. Receiving approval would have been difficult or impossible since I was a director of the Fulbright Scholarship Program, and any public lecture on the reappearance of the Christ would have been seen as inappropriate.
Nevertheless, I did accept private invitations to speak about Maitreya as the reappeared Christ. Persons familiar with Catholic Church officials in the U.S. and Rome offered one such occasion. I was asked to speak about the reappeared Christ at a private dinner for a delegation from the Vatican. When told that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the delegation leader, I was somewhat apprehensive about facing such an important audience. I had no idea how much information these men already had on the topic, but assumed it was little or none.
To my great surprise, Cardinal Ratzinger accepted the invitation to attend this dinner and to hear me speak. In addition to the Cardinal and a group of other foreign visitors, there was a Jesuit priest from Georgetown University and an important friend of President Clinton. After delivering what sounded to me like a prolonged monologue on Maitreya and his mission, I was shocked when the room remained totally silent. Not even the Jesuit priest sitting next to me said anything, no questions, and no denials.
Perhaps it was the overpowering presence of a close friend of the Pope, I thought, or maybe they already knew as much as I did about it. It just didn’t seem possible that no one would feel compelled to respond. Finally, the host asked Cardinal Ratzinger for his opinion. He replied that the Vatican was fully aware of all this, but that it was up to the Holy Father to make a statement. Well, Cardinal Ratzinger now is the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. I expect this new Pope to bring changes to the Church beyond what anyone currently believes is possible.”
Wayne Peterson
In conclusion, I do assert that Joseph Ratzinger, who has become Pope Benedict XVI, is the reincarnation of Manasseh ben Israel. This case demonstrates how talents come through from lifetime to lifetime and how religious affiliation can change from incarnation to incarnation. These phenomena are also demonstrated in the case of Anne Frank/Barbro Karlen. Though some may dispute the case of Manasseh ben Israel/Pope Benedict XVI, no rational person can dismiss the reincarnation case of Anne Frank/Barbro Karlen.
Evidence of reincarnation is here to stay and will grow exponentially with time. We shall see if religious leaders will open their minds to this research and thus choose the path of unity and peace, or whether this research will be rejected and the path of separation and conflict will be continued. I pray for peace.
