Fausto Gomez (OP)
On December 31, after nearly 10 years as Pope Emeritus, Pope Benedict XVI was taken by the Lord from this life. Born on April 16, 1927, in Marktl Am Inn, in Bavaria, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained priest, along with his brother, Georg, in 1951. He was appointed Bishop of Munich (1977), and three months later he was elevated to Cardinal by Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On April 19, 2005, he was elected as the 265th Pope of the Church.
His abdication as Pope is considered by many as the key happening of his pontificate and life. I remember that historic day clearly. We were going to take supper in our convent of Macau when we heard the incredible news: Pope Benedict XVI is resigning as Pope! It was the evening (Macau time) of February 11, 2013, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the International Day of the Sick when the Pope announced his resignation as Supreme Pontiff of the Church to take effect on February 28 at eight in the evening.
Why was Benedict XVI going to resign? The Pope’s words: “After having examined repeatedly my conscience before God, I have come to realize with certitude that my strength, due to advanced age, is not enough to carry out appropriately the Petrine ministry” (Address to Consistory, February 11, 2013). At first, the unexpected news of the papal resignation seemed incredible, shocking, saddening! Then, most of us thought that the resignation was an extraordinary act of humility and service to the Church, and a singular act of courage.
What is the heritage or legacy of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022)? Although history will be the judge later on, let me point out what I consider some essential accomplishments of Pope Benedict XVI. For many people, his main message is his life: a coherent, lucid, humble, prayerful and joyful life. I remember the Pope’s last tweet of February 28: “I wish that each one of you experiences the joy of being a Christian.” Most people would agree – I surmise – that his legacy is his theology as Joseph Ratzinger and the magisterium as Pope Benedict XVI: his clear and profound teaching on faith and morals.
For me, personally, I treasure his three encyclicals focused on the close relationships of the virtues, in particular of faith, hope and charity, and truth and justice: Deus Caritas Est (On Christian Love, 2005), Spe Salvi (On Christian Hope, 2007) and Caritas in Veritate (On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth, 2009). (Lumen Fidei could be considered his fourth encyclical: it was authored and published by Pope Francis [June 29, 2013], but mainly written by Pope Benedict XVI). The former Pope Benedict also left us two important Apostolic Exhortations: Sacramentum Caritatis (On the Holy Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission, 2007), and Verbum Domini (On the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church, 2010). Among other significant messages, speeches, homilies, etc., I point out his Message for the World Day of Peace (January first of every year).
I underline, moreover, the three books on Christ, Jesus of Nazareth: books of theologian Joseph Ratzinger and of Pope Benedict XVI. As a great theologian, Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is generally classified as an ardent follower of St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure and Hans Urs von Balthasar. All the writings and messages of the Pope, including his acclaimed Light of the World (A Conversationwith Peter Seewald, 2010)are centered on Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life of every believer. No wonder that Pope Benedict XVI chose the name Benedict, after St. Benedict of Nursia for whom “nothing is preferable to the love of Christ.” And no wonder that his last words as Pope Emeritus, and just before he died, were, “Jesus, I love you.”
Pope Benedict XVI, moreover, placed the human person at the center of morality. It is interesting to note that Benedict XVI liked to speak of one morality or ethics only, not of two – as many like to do -, that is, life ethics and social ethics. He says that there is only one morality, one ethics because the human person, an individual and a social being is the subject and the center of all ethics. Is he “progressive” on social ethics and “conversive” on sexual morality? Sexual ethics and social ethics are intertwined. Two illuminating texts:
- As Augustine said, a State which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves (DCE, 28). In addition to justice man needs, and will always need, love (DCE, 29). The presence of suffering, of loneliness, of material need calls for love (DCE 28). A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak (DCE, 31).
- If there is lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death…, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology (CV, 51); It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love (SS, 25);
Certainly, Vatican II continues to be the most significant event of the Church since last century. We owe to Pope Benedict XVI the calling of the Year of Faith (2012-2013) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). For him – for us – Vatican II is, as St. John XXIII said, “A great grace and a sure compass.” Benedict XVI: “If we interpret and implement it, guided by a right hermeneutics, it can be and can become increasingly powerful for the ever-necessary renewal of the Church” (Address to the Roman Curia: December 22, 2005).
After Pope Benedict resigned as Pope, a magnificent gesture of humility and faith, people asked: What will Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI do? The Pope himself answered when he announced his abdication: “I wish to serve with my whole heart with a life dedicated to prayer.” He made it clearer in subsequent messages. I heard him say it again from the balcony of his apartment on his last Angelus on February 24. Before a crowd of two hundred thousand people, mostly young (and some oldies, like me) filling St. Peter’s Basilica Plaza, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The Lord is calling me to dedicate myself still more to prayer and to meditation.” And he added: “But this does not mean abandoning the Church; on the contrary God asks this of me, to serve the Church with the same dedication and love…, but in a way that is more adapted to my age and my strength.” On the last audience of February 27, the Pope said: “I am not abandoning the cross, but remain in a new way with the crucified Lord. I no longer carry the power of the office for the government of the Church, but in service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter’s bounds.” On February 28, 2013, the last day of his pontificate, Benedict XVI gave a brief and emotional final farewell in the evening. He said then: I will simply be “a pilgrim who is beginning the last part of his pilgrimage on earth.” Pope Francis has underlined two characteristics of Benedict XVI: faith and prayer. Four days before his resignation, Pope Benedict said:
- To pray is not to isolate oneself from the world and its contradictions… Prayer, rather, leads us back to the journey, to action. The Christian life consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love (Last Angelus, February 24, 2013).
In his Spiritual Testament, which he signed on August 29, 2006, and was made public after his death, Pope Benedict XVI tells us to remain firm in the faith. He asked pardon “with all my heart” to those he could have offended. He gives thanks to God, family, friends, collaborators and all Christians, including us all. We, in return, are also grateful to him: Thank you, Lord, for giving us Pope Benedict XVI. Now is our turn to pray for him: May he rest, Lord, in your merciful hands.
(Photo credit and license: GNU Free Documentation License. Archive of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland – www.prezydent.pl. Source: Wikipedia)
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