Chronicles from the mountain: Two years with Benedict
By Angela Ambrogetti, Andrea Gagliarducci and Marco Mancini
Thanks to Beatrice and her site, www.benoit-et-moi.fr/2017 , for pointing out yet another lead by the Spanish-language site
www.benedictogaenswein.com whose organizers have shown great initiative in the past four years… The following is translated from
their Spanish rendering of the original Italian.
Preface
by Mons. Georg Gaenswein
to Cronache dal monte: Due anni con Benedetto
In February 2015, when ACIStampa was born, I could not have imagined that after two years, I would be asked to introduce a book dedicated to Benedict XVI by its staffers Angela Ambrogetti (editor), Andrea Gagliarducci and Marco Mancini. This book collects a series of articles that ACI Stampa has published about the Emeritus Pope .
This anthology is special for two reasons. The first, because it is intended as a tribute to Benedict XVI on the occasion of his 90th birthday on April 20, 2017. The second is a sense of temporal exploration in its subtitle, ‘Two years with Benedict’, coinciding with the life of the news agency for which the authors work.
Certainly, it is a gesture of homage and grateful remembrance for a man who has always followed the path of existence as the highest expression of a refined and gifted spirit that the authors recognize in him.
Beyond these, the publication merits attention for its contents which offer in a lively and well-informed journalistic way the life of the Emeritus Pope during the time period they cover.
Indeed, these journalists have not failed to follow the Emeritus Pope in his discreet and limited public appearances, and have informed their readers of the many initiatives for study and research of this excellent theologian and extraordinary man of culture, of the activities of his former students, of the inauguration of the Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Library at the Collegio Teutonico in the Vatican, of the annual Ratzinger Prize awards to illustrious theologians, and of his simple but very rich life of prayer and contemplation of the mystery of God which he has always sought with the totality of his mind and heart throughout his whole life.
Also to be noted are the articles about the special relationship of the reigning pope with his predecessor, a relationship characterized by esteem and gratitude [???] manifested many times by the Holy Father Francis, and reciprocated by the Emeritus Pope in prayer for his successor’s ministry as the Universal Pastor.
The anthology also includes glimpses of the Emeritus Pope’s daily life, such as his afternoon walks in the Vatican Gardens to pray the rosary, sometimes ending with a meeting with selected guests; and the authors’moving narrations of their own meetings with him on such occasions, and events like the ‘Bavarian feasts’ that periodically take place for Benedict XVI.
And lastly, their references to his celebrations of Mass, especially on Sundays when he always delivers a homily, demonstrate the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of Benedict XVI’s small domestic household.
These articles and writings show the figure of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI as a man in love with Christ, servant of the truth and of the Church, a gentle and obedient pilgrim in history, able to penetrate the contradictions of our time, totally immersed in the mystery of God, who alone can give meaning to the search for love and hope that is in the heart of every man.
While wishing everyone a good read, I express to the authors my gratitude for having given us this significant gift.
VATICAN CITY
March 18, 2017
Beatrice also informs us that there is now a French edition of Elio Guerriero's hefty biography of Benedict XVI
first published in Italian in 2015.
