One of the first pictures taken of Benedict XVI after he was elected (and the 'earliest' one that I have seen, provided to the PRF back in 2006 by Lutheran Guest) shows him leaving the Sistine Chapel after the election presumably on his way to the loggia for his introduction to the world. (If I am not mistaken, is now the prelate greeting him is now-Cardinal James Harvey, then the Prefect of the Pontifical Household.)
From the APRIL 19, 2005 thread of the PRF, this brief reflection written by a parish priest in Rome...
Peter lives again among us –
and there he is!
Beyond silly and miserable pseudo-clerical tactics, beyond stupid modernisms and the equally silly “conservationism” which fill the newspapers, radio and television these days, here we have Peter, Bishop of Rome.
He is called Benedict, the name he has chosen, invoking as his supreme patron the great St. Benedict of Norcia, founder of Western monasticism. The great reformer of an authentic, credible church, clearly identified in the first monastic communities born in the epoch of the barbarian invasions and the collapse of the Roman Empire….
[The new Benedict is] a man with firmness within, strong with himself; gentle and affable, merciful with others, another gift to Rome [after John Paul II], a gift for a Church called to “preside with charity” over the entire universal church.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” is the song that begins Paul's letter to the Ephesians. A benediction which rises to God, “says well of Him” [in the literal sense of
bene-dire].
And here we have a new Pope who “speaks well of God” and who feels grateful to the Lord for having been called to serve as “a simple and humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord.”
Our dear new Pope: may you ever be blessed because “on this rock”, which you are, today we feel even more bleesed than you.
We praise the Lord, and our prayers are all for you, so that you may be for us, Peter for always, during all the earthly time that our Lord has planned for you.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/03/2013 12:27]