Beware of anyone whose key concept is power. It's not a problem just for "other people". Each one of us has our own little "Synodal Way" inside of us. We all have a desire to make our judgments the final word in questions of theology, church governance, and most especially, morals. We want to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: we think we can be like God.
A Smaller, Purer Church?
In reality, all Fr. Ratzinger was doing was looking at social trends, the "signs of the times" (see Matthew 16:3). He saw a society in which Christian belief was becoming less important with, as a consequence, progressively less social advantage to membership. As the advantage diminished and eventually disappeared, the less committed members would move out, and on to something else . . .
Our Hope is in The Lord (Forget the Tech Tyrants)
Our hope is not in politics, or programs, or policies, or in people: our hope is in The Lord: Spes in Domino est.