Thank You, Pope Benedict

THE PHOTO of a lightening bolt striking the top of St Peter’s Basilica – a picture that did the rounds on Twitter and Facebook the evening that Pope Benedict announced his resignation – marked a fitting image for the atmosphere in the Vatican on that historic day, Monday February 11, the feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The announcement, which Benedict XVI read out in Latin shortly before midday, during a routine meeting with most of the cardinals from the Roman Curia, came like a bolt out of the blue, leaving many reeling with shock and disbelief. Only a handful of Joseph Ratzinger’s closest advisers had any idea that he was about to become the first pope in six centuries to step down from the See of Peter – though he had spoken openly of this option, most famously in the book Light of the World in 2010. Answering questions put to him by German journalist Peter Seewald, Ratzinger replied, “If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign”.

Despite some colourful conspiracy theories that have been swirling around the Roman rumour mill over the past months, those were precisely the reasons that led Benedict XVI to make his decision, after “having repeatedly examined (his) conscience before God”. Noting that his “strength of mind and body... in the last few months... has deteriorated,” he calmly told the stunned cardinals, “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”

Two days later, at his penultimate Wednesday general audience, he thanked the crowds for their outpouring of love and prayers “in these days which have not been easy for me.” Knowing there were many who questioned the wisdom of his decision, the Pope reiterated his certainty that “the Church is Christ’s, who will never leave her without his guidance and care.” Later that day in St. Peter’s Basilica for the last time, he presided at the Ash Wednesday Mass, insisting on the need for penitence and personal conversion in this Lenten season, to overcome divisions and rivalries that have disfigured the Body of Christ.

 

Simple, humble worker

 

This calm, corageous resolve to put Christ at the centre and to act in the best interests of the Church, regardless of personal desires or public reactions, is one of the most striking characteristics of this almost eight year pontificate. It was in evidence on April 19, 2005, after the white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and Benedict XVI stepped out for the first time onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the crowds gathered in the square below, describing himself as “a simple, humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.” Over the following days leading up to the inauguration of his ministry on April 24, he made repeated references to his “personal limitations and limited abilities,” phrases which have taken on added poignancy since Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi announced that Joseph Ratzinger had been fitted with a pacemaker several years prior to his election. It’s not hard to imagine, with hindsight, just how difficult it must have been for the elderly, (78 year old) erudite and somewhat shy cardinal, with a passion for cats and classical music, to step into his “beloved predecessor’s” high profile and hugely demanding position.

 

Closer to home

 

Pope John Paul II was known by many as ‘the pilgrim Pope’, the energetic, charismatic globetrotter who saw his mission as that of personally taking the message of the Gospel to people in countries across the world (he visited 129 of them during his 104 journeys abroad). From the beginning, it was clear that Benedict’s focus would be closer to home, with a particular concern for the decline of the Christian faith across the European continent. During his first visit to his native Germany to celebrate World Youth Day, just four months after his election, he told Church leaders, “I therefore believe that throughout Europe… we should give serious thought as to how to achieve a true evangelization in this day and age, not only a new evangelization, but often a true and proper first evangelization.” In words that would become a refrain throughout his pontificate, he warned that “secularism and dechristianization are gaining ground, that relativism is growing and that the influence of Catholic ethics and morals is in constant decline. Many people abandon the Church or, if they stay, accept only a part of Catholic teaching, picking and choosing between only certain aspects of Christianity.”

 

Importance of dialogue

 

Another striking moment on that first papal journey was his meeting with leaders of Germany’s Jewish community at the Synagogue in Cologne. Stressing his intention to continue in the footsteps of his predecessor – the first pope to step inside a synagogue here in Rome in 1986 – Benedict reflected on the “complex and often painful” history of relations between the Jewish and Christian communities and underlined the need to transmit to younger generations “the immensely rich spiritual heritage that Jews and Christians share.” Like the Polish Karol Wojtyla before him, Joseph Ratizinger’s own experience of the Second World War left a profound and personal mark on this commitment to dialogue with the Jews – something that critics tried to call into question during the so-called Williamson affair, when Benedict lifted the excommunication from members of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X. While the Vatican admitted it had been unaware of Williamson’s denials of the Holocaust, Pope Benedict’s own words to survivors of the Nazi death camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2006 and again, during his moving visit to the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem in 2009, clearly illustrate his personal commitment to the struggle against anti-Semitism.

Similar accusations were made against Benedict regarding his relations with the Muslim world, based on a comment taken out of context from a speech about faith and reason at Regensburg University, where he had once worked as a theology professor. While there were violent reactions in some countries, a closer look at the speech shows clearly that Benedict was at pains to underline the importance of dialogue and the rejection of violence for any discussion of religious values. The following year Benedict visited his first Muslim country, Turkey, standing in silent meditation inside Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque, after stressing the need for dialogue as “a sincere exchange between friends.” Interfaith dialogue cannot be reduced to an optional extra, he insisted: on the contrary, it is “a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends.” 

 

Disarming humility

 

Altogether Pope Benedict made 25 pastoral visits outside of Italy, and I was lucky enough to travel with him on four of those journeys – to Turkey in 2006, to France in 2008, to the UK in 2010 and to Mexico and Cuba in 2012. Ahead of all papal visits, much of the secular media seems more interested in planned protests than in the purpose of these journeys, which is to reinforce the faith of local Catholic communities and encourage their cooperation with all people of good will for the benefit of society and the promotion of human dignity. Yet on every occasion, I’ve witnessed how Benedict’s disarming humility and authentic humanity has touched peoples’ hearts and minds in quite unexpected ways. Nowhere was that more striking than during the four day visit to Britain, which began with widespread coverage of a ‘Protest the Pope’ campaign by secular groups, yet ended with journalists vying to provide the most upbeat and positive coverage of the trip. From his encounter with Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh, through his meetings with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey, to his last Mass for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham, the journey was hailed as a huge success, with hundreds of thousands turning out to attend public events or line the streets as the Popemobile drove by. As he did on so many of his foreign trips, Benedict also took time to meet privately in London with victims of sexual abuse, stressing once again the importance of supporting survivors and working to ensure that such horrific crimes can never happen again.

 

Global graduate seminar

 

Above all though, when the dust has settled and the new pope has begun his ministry as the 266th successor of St. Peter, Benedict XVI is likely to be best remembered for his writings – his encyclicals and books, his speeches and homilies, his weekly teachings, which American journalist John Allen describes as a giant “global graduate seminar about the relationship between faith and reason and the place of religion in modern society.” His first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, took critics and fans by surprise, focusing not on dogma (as many had expected from the man who’d served almost a quarter of a century as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), but on the transforming power of God’s love, which makes sense of our existence and of all our human relationships. Taken together with the second such document on hope, Spei salvi, two years later, it invites believers and anyone who is seriously reflecting on the meaning of life to consider key Christian values as important foundations for the future of society. His third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate deals with the pressing social challenges facing the Church, 40 years on from Pope Paul VI’s hugely influential work Populorum Progressio. Coming at the height of the global economic recession in 2009, it had a prophetic tone and contains valuable reflections for economists, politicians and all people of faith who seek to put principles of equality, solidarity and justice into practise in our often cut-throat, consumer societies.

 

The first Twitting pope

 

For anyone approaching Ratzinger’s writings for the first time however, his three book series on the life of Jesus of Nazareth might be the most obvious place to start, since it is more personal in both style and content. Starting with Jesus’ public ministry, the first volume takes the reader through ten chapters from the Baptism in the River Jordan to the Transfiguration on Mount Sinai. The second book deals with the events of Holy Week and Easter, while the third, known as the Infancy Narratives, explores events surrounding the birth of the baby in Bethlehem and is the shortest of this best-selling series.

While these theological works form the most important part of Benedict’s legacy, our former pope will also go down in the history books as the first pontiff to open a Twitter account. In the three months since his @pontifex handle was launched in eight languages, including Latin, he has picked up over two and a half million followers – though from the beginning Benedict was at pains to point out that the Twitter account was not about him as a person, but about bringing people to a personal relationship with Christ.

 

Hidden to the world

 

In one of his last engagements as Bishop of Rome, Joseph Ratzinger told a gathering of priests that he is “retiring to a life of prayer” and will remain “hidden to the world.” Whether or not he publishes any further writings, (many are hoping he may continue with reflections on the Year of Faith to complete the series on faith, hope and love) historians will continue to assess his influence on the Church, half a century on from the Second Vatican Council. Benedict XVI is the last pope to have taken an active part in that historic event, and Catholics will continue to debate his contribution to furthering the agenda that Pope John XXIII began in order to help the Church respond to the challenges of the modern world.

But in some ways, the primary purpose and goals of this pontificate were summed up just a few days after it began – at the first Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on April 27, 2005. On that occasion, the new Pope explained to the crowds why he had chosen the name Benedict: firstly, he said “I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples.” And he added, in words that evoke now his last encounters with the faithful at the end of this short but intense pontificate, “I recall Saint Benedict of Nursia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life. May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions.”