Gratitude for Pope Benedict XVI

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

We're told in the Book of Isaiah, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isa. 52:7).

It's interesting to read the statements of various people in the last few days about the death of Pope Benedict.

Pope Francis has said, “We are moved as we recall him as such a noble person, so kind. And we feel such gratitude in our hearts: gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world; gratitude to him for all the good he accomplished, and above all, for his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his recollected life.

“Only God knows the value and the power of his intercession, of the sacrifices he offered for the good of the Church” (Pope Francis, Homily, December 31, 2022).EAD ALSO

All very beautiful words that can lead us to pray to and pray for Pope Benedict, and thank God for the Popes that we have in our Church. We can be very proud of our Church, very proud of our Popes—the great contribution they're making to the whole of society, and, in particular, in our own lifetimes, how they have led the Church in such a sturdy way.

All this can help us to make resolutions to be better children of the Church, more united to the Holy Father, praying more for his intentions, and leading other people to do the same.

If you open the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury, you will also find a beautiful photograph of Pope Benedict, and a very beautiful statement coming from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

It says, “I join with the church throughout the world, and especially with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and all in the Catholic Church, in mourning the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI” (Archbishop of Canterbury, Statement, December 31, 2022).

These are rather beautiful words coming from the head of the Anglican Church.

He says, “In Pope Benedict’s long life and ministry of service to Christ in His Church he saw many profound changes in the church and in the world. He lived through the Nazi regime in Germany and served briefly in the Second World War. As a younger theologian and priest he witnessed first-hand the discussions of the Second Vatican Council.

“As a professor and then as an Archbishop he lived in a divided Germany but saw too the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of his homeland.

“Pope Benedict was one of the greatest theologians of his age—committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence. In all things, not least in his writing and his preaching, he looked to Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. It was abundantly clear that Christ was the root of his thought and the basis of his prayer.”

These are all beautiful words coming from the Archbishop of Canterbury: words of unity, words of praise, words of gratitude.

He continues, “In 2013 Pope Benedict took the courageous and humble step to resign the papal office, the first pope to do so since the fifteenth century. In making his choice freely he acknowledged the human frailty that affects us all.

“In his retirement in Rome he has led a life of prayer and now he has gone to the eternal rest granted by the Father. In his life and ministry, Pope Benedict strove to direct people to Christ. May he now rest in Christ's peace, and rise in glory with the Saints.”

It's a rather interesting, brief summary of the life of Pope Benedict through the prism of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and we see he has a very deep appreciation for what he has seen.

The Prelate of Opus Dei has said, “With the death of Pope Benedict XVI, we have lost a priest, a theologian, bishop, cardinal, and pope who saw himself as ‘a humble laborer in the Lord's vineyard’ (Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Blessing and First Greeting, April 19, 2005).

“Along with our grief, it is natural for us to thank God for his life and teachings. The discretion and sobriety with which the German pontiff lived since 2013, in an attitude of prayer, were his last lesson” (Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, Letter, December 31, 2022).

Msgr. Ocáriz worked under Pope Benedict as Cardinal Ratzinger in the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for many years, and in his letter he goes on to say something about those years.

He said, “Since I first met him personally in 1986, when I began to collaborate with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as a consultor, I was struck by his readiness to listen to everyone.

“I had the opportunity to be alone with him on many occasions for questions related to the Congregation and other matters. In those encounters, he was never the one to end the conversation or to point out that he had other issues to attend to.

“It was edifying to see his consideration for others' opinions, even when they differed from his. Contrary opinions could be put to him with ease; they did not bother him, even when they came from someone younger or with less training or experience.

“The truth was what really mattered to him, so he took his episcopal motto from some words of St. John: Cooperatores veritatis–‘Cooperators of the truth’ (3 John 8).

“His humility and love for the Lord,” he said, “made him capable of responding with a ‘yes’ to what the Lord and the Church asked of him. It is well known that he presented his resignation to St. John Paul II on several occasions so that he could be replaced by someone younger, with more physical vitality. When the Pope asked him to remain in office, Cardinal Ratzinger did so without hesitation.”

We see wonderful examples for our own correspondence to our Christian vocation in all that the Pope did.

“But the Lord had other plans,” he continues, “and he had to hear the words of St. John applied to himself: ‘Amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go’” (John 21:18).

“In the same way, he knew how to step aside when, in the presence of God, he saw that he could no longer adequately exercise the demanding responsibilities that come with the mission of the successor of Peter.

“Like everyone,” he said, “I received the news of his resignation with a mixture of sorrow and affection for this great successor of St. Peter. In recent months, his physical vitality visibly waned, but his mental lucidity, serenity of spirit, simplicity, and kindness did not.”

“Benedict XVI steered the boat of the Church on the sea of history with his eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, on ‘days of sun and of light winds, days when the catch was abundant; there were also moments when the waters were rough and the winds against us, as throughout the Church's history, and the Lord seemed to be sleeping.’ But he knew that the boat belonged to Christ” (Quoting from the last General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, February 27, 2013).

As Pope Francis has said, as we mourn his passing, we can give thanks to God for such a great Pope, for this great gift to the Church.

He came to the See of Peter after many years of working in Rome. It was well known, as Msgr. Ocáriz has said, that he wanted to retire and go back to his beloved Bavaria, spend time in prayer, reading, studying theology, but God had other plans.

The Roman commentator John Allen, when it was coming up to the conclave, had interviewed many people in Rome, many cardinals, and he said, with his American frankness, ‘Nobody wants the job.”

Perhaps the person who wanted it least was Cardinal Ratzinger. The papal spokesman at the time, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, said he had to have dealings with Cardinal Ratzinger, who was running the Church in that interim period.

There was one sign that appeared at the funeral of John Paul II, a sort of a placard, Santo subito, which means, Proclaim him a saint immediately.

These sentiments were repeated a few times, and the papal spokesman said, “I thought I'd better ask Cardinal Ratzinger if we should make some sort of a statement that these things don't happen overnight. But when,” he said, “I presented that to his eminence, he said, No, let's leave that problem for his successor.”

Navarro-Valls said, “I learned from that that he had no intention of being his successor. He wanted to be on the first plane out of Rome.”

It is said that when the votes mounted and finally he was elected, he put his head in his hands, as though saying, ‘Oh my God, what have you done?’

His secretary says that when he got called into the Sistine Chapel after the election of Pope Benedict, and he saw him as Pope for the first time, he said his face was paler than the white of his cassock.

In many ways he was a reluctant Pope. But yet he accepted the will of God.

He was referred to early on as the successor of John Paul II. But he liked to clarify with this characteristic clarity that he was not just the successor of John Paul II; he was the successor of Peter.

To emphasize the point, before going out to St. Peter's Square to celebrate his Inaugural Mass, he vested at the tomb of Peter, where all the cameras would be focused.

He produced many wonderful encyclicals during his incumbency: Deus caritas est–God is love; an Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis–The Sacrament of Charity, Spes salvi–Saved by Hope; and also his books on Jesus of Nazareth.

Don Álvaro del Portillo worked for a long time in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a long time, even before Cardinal Ratzinger went there. Eventually, in the process of beatification of Blessed Álvaro, Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the people who testified in that process.

Don Fernando also worked under him for many years in the congregation. He had a great respect and reverence for him.

Cardinal Robert Sarah has publicly stated that he should be named a Doctor of the Church. That's something that comes usually long after a saint has died. It’s not common to hear people speak like that during a person's lifetime.

But it shows you the esteem and the respect with which Pope Benedict was regarded.

The Prelate of Opus Dei many years ago said, “Let us pray a lot for the Pope, both for him and for his intentions. The burden that lies on his shoulders is a very heavy one. Divine providence counts on our prayers and sacrifices to give him strength and make his words effective.”

In 2006, when commemorating the first anniversary of his Pontificate, Pope Benedict said, “I feel more and more that alone I could not carry out this task, this mission. But I also feel that you're carrying it with me.

“Thus I am in a great communion and together we can go ahead with the Lord's mission. ... I offer very warm thanks to all those who in various ways support me from close at hand or follow me from afar with their affection and their prayers” (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, April 19, 2006).

The election of Pope Benedict was a fast one. It happened, I think, just in one day. He was the first Pope to give a live interview on television. He was a great teacher.

It was said that “people went to see John Paul II, but they go to listen to Pope Benedict XVI.” John Paul II communicated with gestures; Benedict XVI communicated with ideas. Topics of beauty and truth and love were very prominent in his discourses, things that the world needed very much.

He talked a lot about how we have to promote the cult of beauty because the world is presenting very ugly things, particularly to young people. He had a great doctrinal continuity with John Paul II. He was very easily understood by all.

He showed his availability for mission, even at the eleventh hour, when God asked him at a late time in his priesthood, just like Pope Francis, to take up the burden of the Church on his shoulders, to raise an example for vocation.

It's no surprise that Pope Francis has focused our attention on gratitude: gratitude to God for the great gift of Pope Benedict, his spiritual refinement, his passion for truth, his intellectual brilliance, and all this in a harmony that attracts because of its simplicity.

It's interesting to see how the head of the Anglican Church also brings out these points. He was very personable, refined, educated. He loved silence, order, the austere life.

He didn't have the electrifying personality of John Paul II, but he had an attractive style of preaching. He showed his imperturbability, which comes from a deep spiritual life. He combined German rigor with Latin intuition and brilliance.

His books are all bestsellers. They've achieved an extensive spread of his thoughts and a big influence in public opinion.

It's interesting to watch the media in the last few days, how the death of Pope Benedict has grabbed all the headlines on a global level. It’s particularly important for Catholics to realize who the Pope is—even a Pope Emeritus—Vicar of Christ on earth.

There was a secular journalist in an Irish secular newspaper who was commenting a few years ago on the visit of Pope Francis for the World Day of Families. He said he was accompanied by 1,300 journalists. That's about seven airplanes.

Without realizing it, he said, when President Trump came last year, he was accompanied by 700 journalists. Without realizing it, the secular journalist was really saying that the most important person in the world, and the leader of the world, not just spiritually, but in many other matters, is the Vicar of Christ on earth.

We have a lot to be proud of, a lot to be grateful for. At moments like these, it's good for us to appreciate the gift. We're told in Scripture, Si scires donum Dei–“If you knew the gift of God” (John 4:10).

I have lunch every month with a Scottish priest who has a doctorate in canon law from University of Louvain. He has a great mind; he writes a lot. Lately he's been reading a lot of the books of Pope Benedict.

Each time we meet, it's interesting to hear him, with all of his intellectual brilliance, speaking about the great mind of Pope Benedict. It's one of his characteristics on which the whole world seemed to agree on. That greatness of mind is universally accepted by his followers, and also by his critics.

He was used to discussion. He spoke with grace and intellectual eloquence. He had cordial meetings with Hans Kuhn and also with Bernard Fellay, the founder of the St. Pius X Society, a schismatic group from the Catholic Church.

He was a witness to the world at the funeral of John Paul II and in his own Inaugural Mass, both of which were conducted with a characteristic peace.

The Prelate of Opus Dei liked to remark at the time that his fidelity enters through the eyes. He was prepared in a special way by Providence. As we look back, we see these things.

As we look forward, we could be mindful of an indication of St. Josemaría to pray for the Pope, “to pray every day for the Pope” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, Point 134), but also to pray for the future Popes that will come, because God is preparing certain people throughout history to walk “in the shoes of the fisherman.”

The media might have chosen John, but God chose Peter.

If ever there was a moment when we thought, maybe somebody else might have made a better Pope, or we might have made a different choice, we better watch our step.

I heard somebody say once, ‘It's better to be with the Pope and to be wrong than to be without the Pope and to be right’ because the Pope has a 99.9 percent chance of being right, especially on moral issues.

But if we take the position that ‘I am right, I know more than the Pope,’ we could set ourselves on a tangent that could lead us out of the Church, as many people have done in history—brilliant people also.

Our place is with the Holy Father, “united to the vine” (John 15:4). We have to engrave that in our minds and in our hearts. Every day of our life, walk with a greater fidelity to the See of Peter, because that's the road that leads to heaven.

Pope Benedict quoted St. Josemaría on one occasion, as a saint of our times, when he was speaking to the Association of Workers of Italy, an organization that had no connection with Opus Dei.

He said the Church has to help humanity in the formation of the culture of the 21st century. Both he and John Paul II came from the diocese in the world where some of the largest concentration camps were located in the Second World War. Auschwitz was in the diocese of Krakow and Dachau was in the diocese of Munich.

There were 5,000 priests in Dachau. Every time a priest in occupied Europe spoke out against the Nazis, he was put on the next train to Dachau where 3,000 of them were killed in the most brutal ways imaginable. It’s very good to read the history of Dachau.

Those two popes have seen, up close and personal, what happens when human dignity is debased: the barbarity that comes about, the refinement of human cruelty.

We see these popes speaking so forcefully about the dignity of the human person.

As Cardinal Ratzinger, as head of the Doctrine of the Faith, early in his incumbency he produced the document Donum vitae–The Gift of Life. It's on the Internet.

It spoke about in-vitro fertilization and cloning in the mid-1980s, when those things were just beginning. It seemed ahead of its time. It was a work of genius; a wonderful gem.

That document was sort of updated with a document called Dignitatis personae–The Dignity of the Human Person, in 2008.

These are all wonderful spiritual reading as we move into the 21st century, especially for young, maturing minds. There's a great bulk of ideas there that can shape the family, marriage, society. We have the truth. We have gems.

Benedict was very much involved in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council. We could see details of that in the role of the laity in his Inaugural Mass.

I remember being present at the Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate of John Paul II when 150 cardinals, as part of the ceremony, were to line up to kiss the hands of the Pope and to promise obedience to the Holy Father.

It took about half an hour in the ceremony while the choir sang Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam-“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” (Matt. 16:18).

It was a very moving moment. Of course, when you hear that verse of Scripture sung umpteen times in the space of thirty minutes, it sort of lodges in your brain. It's the one thing I remember from that ceremony.

But with the Inaugural Mass of Pope Benedict, he wanted something much faster. He said, Instead of 150 cardinals, we'll have one cardinal, one bishop, one priest, one nun, and one family with five children. The sad part of the ceremony was over in five minutes.

But really, it was a very clear expression of the role of the laity in the Church. The Church is not just the cardinals and the bishops. The Church is everyone.

He was very much involved in what he called “the reform of the Liturgical Reform.” He published a book in 1986 called The Ratzinger Report. It was very politically incorrect at the time, but criticizing very clearly many abuses that were taking place.

He was a great promoter of the lay movement. He was particularly Christocentric, producing a document in the early part of the new millennium called Dominus Iesus—truths about the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s also on the Internet; very useful reading.

He had a great focus on the Blessed Eucharist.

I heard a seminarian once who was going to serve a Mass that Cardinal Ratzinger was going to say, I think to ordain a bishop in St. Peter's. He came to the Sacristy half an hour before the Mass was due to begin.

He vested and stood for half an hour in silent preparation for the Mass that he was about to celebrate. The seminarian said, ‘That's the way I want to prepare for Mass after I'm ordained.’

In the mid-1980s he also produced the documents and the instructions on the Theology of Liberation that changed the course of the Catholic Church in a very clear way in 1984 and 1986.

He showed he had the credentials for a great moral leader.

Among the first words of Pope Benedict at his Inaugural Mass and homily was that this world is “the desert of pain and poverty” (Homily at the Mass for the Inauguration for the Pontificate, April 24, 2005).

Just think of those words coming from the head of the Catholic Church in the presence of all the dignitaries who are there: presidents and prime ministers from all over the world—words of great challenge to the big powers.

When do you hear any leader of a great power saying that this world is a “desert of pain and poverty”? Wow. He was really firing over their bows.

He said, “From a spiritual point of view, the modern world can seem like a wilderness. But we have the new manna, the Eucharist.”

Twenty thousand people used to go and see him weekly at the Sunday Angelus. In that first September-October of his Pontificate, 50,000 people attended his weekly audiences.

That beat the records of those of John Paul II which was 45,000. The average attendance of all his audiences throughout his Pontificate was higher than that of John Paul II.

In the first year, three million people attended his audiences. That didn't include those of the World Youth Days.

As Pope Francis says, “We have great reason to be grateful for this great Pope that has now passed and gone to heaven.”

We pray to him for all the burdens that Pope Francis has on his shoulders, and for all the future Popes that have to come.

In The Forge, St. Josemaría has told us, “You must love, venerate, pray, and mortify yourself for the Pope, and do so with great affection each day. For he is the foundation stone of the Church, and, throughout the centuries, right to the end of time, he carries out among men that task of sanctifying and governing which Jesus entrusted to Peter” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 134).

One small thing that Pope Benedict did of interesting significance was that he placed a statue of St. Josemaría, the founder of Opus Dei, in the walls of the Vatican.

That figure of St. Josemaría carved in stone, representing everything that he taught and everything that he founded in every last corner of the world, is a message of sanctity for everybody in their ordinary circumstances and apostolate.

Pope Benedict, with his presence, blessed that image on that occasion. In many ways it was a minor event in the whole of his Pontificate. But for people close to Opus Dei it was one of great significance.

In The Forge, we are told, “Your deepest love, your greatest esteem, your most heartfelt veneration, your most complete obedience, and your warmest affection have also to be shown towards the Vicar of Christ on earth, towards the Pope. We Catholics should consider that after God and the most Holy Virgin, Our Mother, the Holy Father comes next in the hierarchy of love and authority” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 135).

We can ask Our Lady to welcome in a special way her “humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord” who contributed so much.

We ask her in a special way to guide the steps of Pope Francis and of all the other future “Vicars of Christ on earth” who will come after him.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

MVF