BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Paparatzifan, 11/02/2013 14:20:

---

Teresita, no puedo parar de llorar...

Si, lo mejor que puedo decir es 'menos mal que no lloramos su muerte' aunque esta noticia es una especie de muerte para nosotros que lo amamos con un amor incomparable... Rogamos por su buena salud en los anos que le quedan, ciertos que el sera siempre feliz, gozoso y sabio.

TERESA

---

Estoy viendo el briefing del Padre Lombardi y dice que irà a un convento de clausura en el Vaticano. Tal vez no lo veamos màs... Estoy destruida, Teresita, no estoy preparada para este golpe tan grande! No tengo consuelo...

Cardinal Sodano's words
to the Holy Father
after the announcement
Translated from the Italian service of

February 11, 2013

At the end of today's public consistory for the canonization of new saints, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, spoke the following words to the Holy Father:

---

Holiness, beloved and venerated Successor of Peter, your emotional message has reverberated in this hall like lightning from a clear blue sky.

We heard you with a sense of disorientation, almost of total incredulity. In your words, we see the great affection that you have always had for the Holy Church of God, for this Church that you have loved so much.

Now allow me to say in the name of this apostolic gathering, the College of Cardinals, of all of us who are your dearest collaborators, allow me to say that we feel even more close to you now than we have been in all these luminous eight years of your Pontificate.

On April 19, 2005, if I remember well, at the end of the Conclave, when I asked you, with trepidation even on my part, "Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?", you did not hesitate, although with equal trepidation, to respond, saying you accepted, trusting in the grace of the Lord and the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Like Mary, that day you gave your Yes and began your luminous Pontificate in the sign of continuity, that continuity in the history of the Church of which you have often spoken to us, in continuity with your 264 predecessors on the Chair of Peter over the course of 2000 years of history, from the Apostle Peter, the humble fisherman from Galilee, to the great Popes of the last century starting with St. Pius X to Blessed John Paul II.

Holy Father, before the 28th of February - which as you said is the day on which you wish to put an end to your Pontifical service which you have done carried out with so much love, so much humility - before that day, we shall be able to express our sentiments to you much better.

As will so many pastors and the faithful all over the world, as will all men of good will, and the authorities of all nations.

This month we will have the joy of hearing your voice as Pastor, on Ash Wednesday two days from now, on Thursday when you speak to the clergy of Rome, in the Angelus of the coming Sundays, and in the Wednesday audiences. So there will be many more occasions to hear your paternal voice.

But your mission will continue. You said that you will always be close to us in witness and in prayer. The stars in heaven will always continue to shine, just as the star of your Pontificate will continue to shine among us.

We are close to you, Holy Father. Bless us.

---

Father Lombardi's
initial news briefing
Translated from the Italian service of

February 11, 2013

"The Pope took us all by surprise on a day which for the Vatican is, shall we say, a festive day [It is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, as well as the World Day for the Sick, which observance is centered to day in Benedict XVI's beloved Marian shrine to Our Lady of Graces in Altoetting - we can all reflect on why he chose this day to make this announcement], and so we have had to organize ourselves, so to speak, in a very short time for this very important situation".

So spoke Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, director of the Vatican Press Office, to begin a briefing during which he gave a few more data about the resignation announced by the Holy Father.

---

As many of you know, this morning he called an ordinary public consistory regarding some causes for canonization during which a date was set for the canonization. On this occasion, as in such public consistories, all the cardinals present in Rome and who could physically attend, were invited to take part, and so there were quite a number of cardinals present {in addition to the cardinal members of the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood).

The Pope chose this particularly significant occasion, with the presence of many members of the College of Cardinals, to give his announcement.

He said that he had repeatedly examined his conscience before God. This was therefore a personal decision, a profound one, taken in prayer before the Lord from whom he received the mission he is carrying out. And he came to the certainty that his remaining strength in his advanced age no longer allows him to to exercise the Petrine ministry in an adequate way. So the examination of conscience regarded his strength to continue the job.

He goes on to say that he is well aware that this ministry is spiritual by its nature and that it must be carried out not just by deeds and words but also with suffering and prayer. So there is a function of suffering and prayer in this ministry.

Among the reasons for his resignation, as he said in his words, are that the circumstances in today's world when compared to the past are much more demanding for the speed and the number of problems that must be faced, and therefore, shall we say, the demand for much greater strength to face them. A strength that the Pope says has diminished greatly in him in the past few months.

This statement is significant: "Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter..."

This, we might say, is a formal declaration that is important from the juridical point of view. The Code of Canon Law, Canon 332, Paragraph 2, says: "In case that the Roman Pontiff should renounce his office, it is required for its validity that the renunciation be made freely and must be manifestly so stated. It is not required that anyone accepts it".

The two fundamental points are therefore that the resignation is freely done and its due manifestation. Freedom and public manifestation - as the public consistory was at which the Pope made known his intention.

Benedict XVI will remain in the full functions of his office and service until February 28 at 8:00 pm. From that moment, the situation will be a sede vacante which is regulated from the juridical and canonical point of view by the texts that refer to a sede vacante in the Code of Canon Law and in the Apostolic Constitution Universi dominici gregis by John Paul II.

The Pope's statement is consistent with what he said to Peter Seewald in the book-length interview Light of the World in 2010, in which there were two questions specifically referring to the hypothetical resignation of a Pope.

Seewald asked the first question in relation to difficult situations weighing on his Pontificate, and if the Pope had ever thought of resigning. His answer was: "When he danger is great, one cannot flee, and that is why certainly, now is not the time to resign. (The reference had to with the sex-abuse scandals). It is precisely at times like this that one must resist and overcome the difficulty. This is what I think: One can resign at a time of serenity, or when one can no longer do the job, but one cannot leave at the moment of danger and say, 'Let somebody else take care of it'.{

So the Pope said that difficulties are not a reason to resign but rather not to resign.

The second question of Seewald: "Therefore is there a conceivable situation which you might consider opportune for a Pope to resign?" And the Pope's answer was: "Yes, when a Pope comes to a clear awareness that he is no longer physically, mentally and spiritually able to carry out the responsibility entrusted to him, then he has the right, and even in some circumstances, the duty to resign".

When the sede vacante begins, Benedict XVI will be transferring first to Castel Gandolfo, and afterwards, when the preparations are done, at the monastery of the cloistered nuns in the Vatican.

Personally, I greeted the announcement of the Pope's resignation with great admiration, for the great courage, the spiritual freedom and the great consciousness of his responsibility in the Petrine ministry.

Benedict XVI has offered us a great testimonial of spiritual freedom, of a great awareness of the problems of governing the Church in the world today.

---

UPDATING ON THE RUN

This from ANSA, the Italian news agency:

- Mons. Georg Ratzinger, Pope Benedict's older brother, said he had known for months about his brother's plan to resign, according to a newsflash from Die Welt. [I have been trying to rack that down with no success so far. But I am all numb just now, performing reflexively and not really focused as I should be...]

- Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, whose seven-year term as President ends in May, said that the Pope's decision represented "great courage, and the greatest respect on his part". (He couldn't have imagined when he bid farewell publicly to Benedict XVI two weeks ago that the latter would precede him out of office.)

ANSA also adds the following statements from Fr. Lombardi:

"There is no specific illness that influenced the decision of the Pope," Fr. Lombardi told newsmen today. "In the past several months, his strength has greatly diminished. We know his age and that it is normal for persons at his age to progressively lose their physical strength. The Pope has felt this in recent months and has acknowledged it lucidly".

The Pope has suffered pain in the joints, but the weight of his responsibility has also affected his general condition, according to sources in the Vatican. He also suffers from chronic atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeats that can be extremely debilitating and even fatal) but has refused to use medicines prescribed to prevent blood coagulation. [That's a strange thing to allege - he has been reported to be on anti-coagulant medicine since he had a slight cerebral stroke in the early 1990s, and one cannot imagine him refusing to take medication when it is prescribed for his health.]

Fr. Lombardi said that "the Pope has absolutely not been depressed, and has constantly shown spiritual calm and self-mastery in his relations with others. There were no signs of depression or discouragement even if he must have been profoundly affected by recent difficulties, but I would not say these had anything to do with his decision," Lombardi continued.


The 'instant historians'
already having their (nay-)say



Very appropriate for Benedict XVI, who has been the lightning rod for almost all the major media attacks (and therefore public opinion) against the Church for the better part of three decades, to announce his historic decision as the Christian world begins Lent.

What greater sacrifice could a Pope offer for Lent than to renounce his office, knowing full well not just that he is doing so for the right reasons - for which he has squared his conscience with the Lord - but that he is thereby inviting a fresh load of opprobrium to be heaped on him by the media and other critics who cannot and will not waste any occasion to unload on him!

Unfair treatment by the media has always been, to my mind, the greatest cross Joseph Ratzinger has had to bear, as physical suffering was for John Paul II. And as a man of God, and the Vicar of Christ since April 19, 2005, we can be sure he sees this cross, as John Paul saw his cross, as his way of participating in the passion of Christ.

Benedict XVI is too clear-thinking to subject the Church to anything similar to her seeming lack of direction and governance in the final years of the previous Pontificate. The world has seen the example of suffering in Christ shown by John Paul II, a lesson that will forever mark the Church and Christians around the world. It does not need another such extreme example from a Pope, and this Pope has rightly decided he will set a different example, no less humble and historic.

Surely, he knows that the rest of his days will be marked by the same cross of unfairness and vilification perpetrated by a hostile media, but that too is the inevitable consequence of a decision I can only consider selfless.

An article in Corriere della Sera is headlined 'John Paul II did not come down from his cross' which is precisely the perverse reaction that has cropped up in some quarters. A most unworthy comparison that even the Blessed Pope himself would find despicable.

An obseervation from a follower of Father Z's blog, who appears to have watched the consistory proceedings on CTV:

---

It is perhaps also important to note that the Pope has not merely “stated his intention” of resigning. The Pope has already actually resigned the See of Peter, but has stipulated that his resignation will be effective on February 28th, 2013, at 8:00 p.m., when the Vacancy of the Holy See will begin.

The necessary juridical declaration has already been made. The Pope took the care of making it formally, before an Ordinary Public Consistory, today, February 11th, 2013, and after reading his Declaration he handed to Cardinal Sodano (the Dean of the Sacred College) the written and signed document containing the Declaration of Abdication. The written document is actually dated Feburary 10th, 2013.

With the formality of making the announcement in the presence of an Ordinary Public Consistory, and particularly by making the formal declaration in the present tense (“declaro”) it is clear that the resignation is already an accomplished juridical act, that is for the moment ineffective, and that will become effectively automatically once the term of days, the lapse of time, established by the Pope is reached. No additional documents will need to be signed, and no additional statements made.

---

I'm still trawling about at random but I am glad I came across this early reaction from a prominent Catholic commentator, who expresses unequivocally in his last line (which I have raised to a subtitle) something of what we Benaddicts feel about the impending resignation of our Pope. Even if Thompson hedges somewhat on what Cardinal Ratzinger did against clerical sex abuse, to say outright that 'Benedict XVI is the Pope who has inspired us most in our lifetime' boldly breaks the unwritten canon in the public and media mentality that all the papal superlatives for a modern-day Pope belong to John Paul II alone....

Pope Benedict XVI resigns:
Unbelievable news, but evidence
of his deep humility
He will be intensely missed by those of us for whom he was,
in his quiet way, the most inspiring Pope of our lifetimes.

February 11, 2013

The Vatican has announced that Pope Benedict XVI is to resign on grounds of ill health. This is almost beyond belief. Yet there is a precedent – Celestine VI in 1294. Moreover, there has always been a suspicion that Joseph Ratzinger would step down from office if he became incapacitated: he has a radical and stubborn streak in him that means he would take advantage of the facility to resign the throne of Peter if he felt it necessary for the good of the Church.

But still: Catholics will be deeply shocked and, in most cases, dismayed by this decision, which I see above all as an act of self-sacrifice by a man not prepared to see the Church suffer as a result of his increasing frailty.

Benedict XVI's achievements as pontiff have been remarkable. He has renewed the worship of the Church, reconnecting it to the majesty and deep piety of the past. He has forged new links with non-Catholics, for example by bringing ex-Anglicans into the fold through the Ordinariate. He has promulgated teaching documents further integrating the love and teaching of Christ with the structures of the Church – structures that, it would appear, he feels now unable to continue ruling.

There have been been public relations disasters, notably over the readmission of ultra-traditionalist bishops to the Church, one of whom had Nazi sympathies. But there have been unexpected successes too: not least his remarkable visit to Britain, when his gentle wisdom profoundly touched even sceptics.

Always, as with his predecessor, there has been the shadow of the Church's inaction in the face of paedophile scandals. Benedict had the full measure of their wickedness; whether he did enough to prevent them in his earlier role as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith will never be clear, but his detestation of those crimes has never been in doubt.

Yes, the controversies surrounding child abuse have darkened his reign; my own feeling is that he has had to shoulder the burden of scandals that should have broken many years before he became pope, and also that his personal culpability as the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog during that period should not be exaggerated. John Paul II rather than Benedict XVI can be accused of turning a blind eye to certain abominations, not least to those of the Mexican child abuser the late Fr Marcel Maciel, whom Benedict sent into disgraced exile as soon as he became Pope. One reason Maciel was not dealt with in time was that John Paul II was too ill and, let us be honest, mentally enfeebled to confront Maciel's crimes. Ratzinger has been determined from the beginning not to allow the same situation to overtake him.

The achievements of Benedict XVI have been subtle, above all in renewing and purifying the way the Catholic Church worships its Creator.

He will be intensely missed by those of us for whom he was, in his quiet way, the most inspiring Pope of our lifetimes.


And a very thoughtful instant reaction...

Pope Benedict’s resignation in historical context
by Donald S. Prudlo

February 11, 2013

In shocking news that quickly demonstrated the ongoing relevance of medieval historians, Pope Benedict announced that he will lay down his governance of the Church of Rome at the end of this month. \\]

uch an event has not happened for nearly 600 years when his predecessor, Gregory XII, sacrificed himself in 1415 to bring an end to the Great Western Schism. It is appropriate, in an historical Church, to look back. Rooted in tradition, we see that we do have the resources to cope with such a stunning and in some ways heartbreaking announcement.

Benedict XVI used the occasion of a canonization consistory to make this most momentous of announcements. In canonizing, the Ppe exercises his office as pastor and teacher of all Christians in an extraordinary way, making this consistory a solemn moment for such an announcement. '

The consistory was held with the cardinals who will govern the Church in a sede vacante, therefore it was highly fitting for the Pope to address this message to them. It was also fitting in such a moment that the Pontiff expressed himself in the universal language of the Catholic Church: Latin.

Just as he had in the first address to his Cardinals after election, Benedict underscored the universality of the Church spread throughout the world, by speaking its catholic language at this most solemn of moments.

Further, in fixing the date for the canonization after his own resignation, Benedict emphasized the continuity of the Petrine office, for on 12 May, we will have a new Supreme Pontiff to undertake that blessed ceremony.

It is well too to see if we can glean any significance from the saints to be honored. Two are holy foundresses of female orders. After his resignation, Benedict will retire to such a monastery to live out his life in prayer and reflection, and indeed, in penance for the Church that he loves so much.

Also to be canonized are Antonio Primaldi and the 800 martyrs of Otranto, brutally killed in an Ottoman raid in 1480, when they refused to convert to Islam.

By the end of the 1470s Mehmed II, called “The Conqueror” was preparing a death blow to Europe. Having taken the impregnable city of Constantinople, and having pacified the Balkans, his fleet was freely sailing the Mediterranean. Having taken “New Rome” he set his sights on “Old Rome.”

He launched a raiding party in 1480 on the maritime city of Otranto, at the heel of Italy’s boot. Thousands were massacred in what was probably an expedition meant to instill terror in seafaring Italy. After a two week siege, the city fell. The civil and religious leaders of the city were either beheaded or sawed in half.

800 of the leading men of the town refused to convert to Islam and were sentenced to death. Led by Antonio Primaldi, who had been a spokesman for the group, they were beheaded, one by one on a hill outside town. Antonio and his townsmen had, in reality, saved Europe for the unstoppable Mehmed II died at only 49 the next year, frustrating Ottoman plans for expansion.

What can this seemingly incongruous thing tell us about Benedict? In the first place he, like the martyrs of Otranto, had been on the vanguard of the fight to save Europe. Like them he confronted an aggressive Islam.

More than that however, soon-to-be Saint Antonio and his companions died for their Catholic faith and their freedom to practice it. They are martyrs of religious intolerance. In reality they are living echoes of the Regensburg address, they gave their lives for the principles the Pope enunciated there.

In response to violence and intolerance they laid down their lives. In a similar way the aging Pope has laid down his responsibilities after giving his whole life for the religion of Faith and Reason. How appropriate and beautiful that the Pope selected this moment to make his announcement.

I have no insight into the reasons for the Pope’s decision, though I fear that rapidly declining health is at the head of the list. How blessed we were to have a man who inherited the hardest job in the world, at an age where others feel the bitter decline of old age.

For eight years he has governed the Church with a steady hand, righting the bark of Peter so inundated by the forces of the world. Perhaps he was fearful of manipulation by those who so often surround the centers of power. He refused to let his bodily weakness be a vehicle for damage to the Church. For all of these we are profoundly grateful.

His legacy in doctrine, liturgy, and theology far outstrips the relative brevity of his pontificate. He is truly a worthy successor to St. Benedict, Father of monks and patron of Europe, to Benedict XIV -the shining light of learning, and to Benedict XV — the great Pope of Peace.

Perhaps in our initial shock we may have neglected to think of some of the advantages of this development. Benedict will be able to advise his successor, ensuring a continuity of governance that will be unparalleled in the recent history of the Church. He will be able to give the new Pope “the lay of the land.” [I doubt he will volunteer to do this. And if his successor does seek his advice, we will not get to know about it.]

In this way Benedict helps to 'dis-intermediate' (?) various curial interests, which, like any bureaucracy, make it difficult to begin a reign. I believe this will be the most orderly transition of authority witnessed in historical memory, even in an age of peaceful conclaves.

I offer one final thought: Benedict has offered us a witness of the exceptional sovereignty of the Pope. Truly he is the successor of Peter who has freely manifested his resignation, which can be accepted by no power on earth. Such a demonstration of papal authority is astonishing in its constitutional implications.

St. Peter Celestine pray for us and for your successors!

"Benedict XVI leaves the Pontificate" is how the OR reports the historic announcement in its issue for tomorrow - English translation of the article from news.va

The unexpected announcement
that rang out in the Concistory Hall
Translated from the 2/11-2/12 issue of



The picture is taken during the liturgy of the consistory, before the Holy Father made his announcement.



Dismay, surprise, amazement and emotion at the words of Benedict XVI who announced his decision to “renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome”. These sentiments were etched on the faces of the cardinals, bishops and prelates – assembled for the Ordinary Public Concistory on Monday morning, 11 February, in the Concistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace – who heard the unexpected announcement in the Pope’s own voice.

Everyone’s eyes met, a light murmur swelled in the hall and astonishment faded into sorrow. Yet, after the first few moments of confusion, the unanimous recognition that the Pope’s act was a very lofty act of humility made headway among those present – who included the papal masters of ceremony, representatives of the postulations, choristers of the Sistine Chapel Choir, papal chair bearers and technicians.

It was a decision that took everyone by surprise. As did the fact that the Pope – accompanied by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, and Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the Pope’s Almoner, Mons. Leonardo Sapienza, Regent of the Papal Household, and Alfred Xuereb of the Pope’s Private Secretariat – chose to communicate it personally, when, at the end of the celebration of Midday Prayer and after the announcement that the three canonizations on the agenda of the Concistory would be held next 12 May, he read the Latin text of the Declaratio written in his own hand.

Speaking in a firm, calm voice, while those present listened to him in an almost unreal silence, he explained the reasons for his decision, made “with full freedom”, and “after having repeatedly examined my conscience before God”.

The prayerful, joyous atmosphere turned into sadness. The spokesman who rose to the occasion was Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals who immediately took the floor on behalf of all the cardinals.

“Your Holiness, beloved and venerable Successor of Peter”, he said, “your moving message rang out in this hall like a bolt from the blue. We heard it with a sense of bewilderment, almost totally unbelieving. In your words we noted the great affection which you have always had for God’s holy Church, for this Church which you have so deeply loved”.

Now, he added, “may I be permitted to tell you on behalf of the apostolic ‘upper room’, the College of Cardinals, on behalf of your dear co-workers, that we are closer to you than ever, as we have been especially close in these luminous eight years of your pontificate”.

The Cardinal assured Benedict XVI that “before 28 February, as you said, the day on which you wish to give the last word to your papal service, carried out so lovingly, so humbly, before 28 February we will have an opportunity to express our sentiments to you better. A great number of pastors and of the faithful, scattered across the world, will do likewise, as will numerous people of good will, together with the authorities of a great many countries”.

He then made a reference to the upcoming commitments of the Pope. During this month we shall have the joy of hearing your voice as a pastor: on Ash Wednesday, then on Thursday with the clergy of Rome, at the Angelus on the coming Sundays, at the Wednesday General Audiences. There will thus be many occasions on which to hear your fatherly voice again”.

“Your mission”, he concluded, “will nevertheless continue”. You said that you will always be close to us with your witness and with your prayers. Of course, the stars of heaven always continue to shine and thus the star of your pontificate will always shine among us. We are close to you, Holy Father, and please bless us”.


The future of God
Editorial
by Giovanni Maria Vian
Translated from the 2/11-2/12 issue of


It is an event without precedent [not in 600 years] and consequently, the news instantly went around the world that Benedict VXI has decided to resign the Papacy.

As the Pope himself announced with simple solemnity before a group of cardinals, from 8 p.m. on Februayr 28, the episcopal seat of Rome will be vacant, andshortly thereafter, a conclave will be held to elect a new Successor to the Apostle Peter. Thus he specifies in the brief text which the Pope composed directly in Lain and which he read at the consistory.

The Pope's decision had been taken months ago, after the trip to Mexico and Cuba (in March 2012), and in a secrecy that no one could breach, after "having repeatedly examined" his conscience "before God" (conscientia mea iterum atque iterum coram Deo explorata), because of his advancing age.

Benedict XVI explained, with his characteristic clarity, that his strengths are no longer suited to an adequate exercise" of the immense task required of him who is elected "to govern the bark of St. Peter and to announce the Gospel".

Because of this, and only because of this, the Roman Pontiff, "well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom" (bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate) renounces the ministry of Bishop of Rome entrusted to him on April 19, 2005.

The words that Benedict XVI chose indicate with transparency his respect for the conditions provided by canon law for resigning from a responsibility that cannot be compared with anything in the world for its real weight and its spiritual importance.

It is well-known that Cardinal Ratzinger did not in any way seek to be elected Pope, but his election was one of the fastest in the history of the Papacy, which he accepted with the simplicity of one who has truly entrusted his life to God.

Therefore, Benedict XVI has never felt himself alone, in his authentic and daily relationship with he who lovingly governs the life of every human being and in the reality of the communion of saints, sustained by the love and work (amore et lavore) of his co-workers, and supported by prayer and the affection of so many oeople, believers or not.

His renunciation of the Papacy must be seen in this light, a renunciation that was freely made but above all, confident in the providence of God. Benedict XVI knows well that papal service, "by its spiritual nature', can also be carried out "suffering and praying, but he underscores that "in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith", a Pope also needs "both strength of mind and body" a strength that has been deteriorating in him with age.

In his words to the cardinals - who were first dumbfounded and then profounbdly moved - and with a decision that has no comparable historical precedents - Benedict XVI has shown a lucidity and humility which is, above all, as he one said, an adherence to reality, being down to earth (humus, the same root word for humilis).

Therefore, no longer feeling that he is able to 'adequately fulfill' the ministry entrusted to him, he announced his resignation. With a decision that is humanly and spiritually exemplary, in the full maturity of a Pontificate which, from its very beginning and for almost eight years, day after day, has not ceased to surprise and which will leave a deep mark in history. The history that the Pope reads trustfully in terms of God's future.

I hope this is the last time I express my disappointment with Mr. Vian, who adds nothing to the Pope's beautifully composed statement (he simply scrambles it up, and badly) other than that the decision began to take shape after the trip to Mexico and Cuba... Also, one would have expected pictures worthy of the once-in-six-centuries event from the OR, but I understand they only had less than two hours to prepare from the time of the announcement to the time the newspaper had to go to press for tomorrow's issue...

I am trying to keep on top of developments now because if I don't, it will be difficult to catch up enough to do justice to the magnitude of this story. As historic as it is for the Church, for us who love, admire and venerate Benedict XVI as we have not done for other Popes, it represents a most unexpected and draconian adjustment to what we have considered an elementary fact of our daily life that we have been living most joyously since April 19, 2005.

We have 17 days left to have him in office, but I hope that the Forum continues, in order to be able to continue to keep his Pontificate in the right perspective for other laymen like us., and to leave a record, however feeble, of promptly countering the lies, distortions and misrepresentations that have been made of his person and his work.

I will leave it to others to follow the next Pope, whoever he will be, the way we have tried to follow Benedict XVI's Pontificate and the back story of Joseph Ratzinger, and document most of what we could about it. God willing, we can continue to do so, since there is an almost infinite wealth of material to mine.

Sorry for being away for 3 hours... I would have loved to feature a good photo spread on a historic day but the available pictures online so far from the newsphoto agencies are typically unrepresentative, and worse, too few. This is the best I can do so far.



The occasion was a public consistory to announce the canonization of new saints - including 801 Italian martyrs killed by invading Muslim Turks in the 15th century. It was a solemn liturgical occasion with everyone present in choir dress, including the Pope, who also wore the mozzetta and stole of papal authority.





After the liturgy was over came Benedict XVI's surprise announcement:




Cardinal Sodano addressed the Pope in behalf of all present and the College of Cardinals.



The best photo I have seen so far from today's event. What a beautiful portrait of serene joy after such a momentous decision!

Here's the first of the MSM wrap-ups of this historic day - AP's headline is, as usual, negatively tendentious, but for all that, this article could have been much worse. Simpson did not even resurrect Regensburg, about which he was among the most accusatory!

Pope's bombshell sends
troubled Church scrambling
By NICOLE WINFIELD and VICTOR L. SIMPSON


VATICAN CITY, February 11, 2013 (AP) — With a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI did what no Pope has done in more than half a millennium, stunning the world by announcing his resignation Monday and leaving the already troubled Catholic Church to replace the leader of its 1 billion followers by Easter.

Not even his closest associates had advance word of the news, a bombshell that he dropped during a routine morning meeting of Vatican cardinals. [It is truly infuriating that two reporters who have covered the Vatican for probably three decades between the two of them should show such ignorance of Church events that they would call a solemn public consistory to declare the canonization of new saints 'a routine morning meeting'.]

And with no clear favorites to succeed him, another surprise likely awaits when the cardinals elect Benedict's successor next month.

"Without doubt this is a historic moment," said Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, a protege and former theology student of Benedict's who is considered a papal contender. "Right now, 1.2 billion Catholics the world over are holding their breath."

The move allows for a fast-track conclave to elect a new Pope, since the traditional nine days of mourning that would follow a Pope's death doesn't have to be observed. It also gives the 85-year-old Benedict great sway over the choice of his successor. [Which implies that the punctiliously correct Benedict XVI would seek in any way to influence how the cardinals will vote! One imagines he will scrupulously do his best to keep out of sight after February 28, and one is not sure if he will even take part in the Holy Week liturgies or the inaugural Mass of his successor. We can imagine him giving a statement, perhaps written, about the new Pope, and then perhaps, one photo opportunity to show him pledging his allegiance to the new Vicar of Christ (unless he does this in public at the inaugural Mass.)

True, he appointed more than half of the cardinal electors as presently constituted, but even if most of them happen to reflect his point of view on most things about the Church, they will be voting freely and not likely to consult him about the coming vote.]

Though he will not himself vote, he has hand-picked the bulk of the College of Cardinals — the princes of the Church who will elect his successor — to guarantee his conservative legacy and ensure an orthodox future for the Church.

The resignation may mean that age will become less of a factor when electing a new Pope, since candidates may no longer feel compelled to stay for life.

"For the century to come, I think that none of Benedict's successors will feel morally obliged to remain until their death," said Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois.

Benedict said as recently as 2010 that a Pontiff should resign if he got too old or infirm to do the job, but it was a tremendous surprise when he said in Latin that his "strength of mind and body" had diminished and that he couldn't carry on. He said he would resign effective 8 p.m. local time on Feb. 28. [One only has to read the transcript of the amazing lectio divina he gave extemporaneously last Friday to the seminarians of Rome to know that Benedict XVI is no less strong in mind today than he ever was!]

"All the cardinals remained shocked and were looking at each other," said Monsignor Oscar Sanchez of Mexico, who was in the room at the time of the announcement.

As a top aide, Benedict watched from up close as Pope John Paul II suffered publicly from the Parkinson's disease that enfeebled him in the final years of his papacy. Clearly Benedict wanted to avoid the same fate as his advancing age took its toll, though the Vatican insisted the announcement was not prompted by any specific malady.

The Vatican said Benedict would live in a convent for cloistered nuns inside the Vatican, although he will be free to go in and out. Much of this is unchartered territory. The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said he isn't even sure of Benedict's title — perhaps "Pope emeritus."

Since becoming Pope in 2005, Benedict has charted a very conservative course for the Church, trying to reawaken Christianity in Europe where it had fallen by the wayside and return the church to its traditional roots, which he felt had been betrayed by a botched interpretation of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

His efforts though, were overshadowed by a worldwide clerical sex abuse scandal, communication gaffes that outraged Jews and Muslims alike and, more recently, a scandal over leaked documents by his own butler.

[The AP having been one of the worst felons in trying to implicate Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI directly in even just one sex-abuse case and its cover-up, I don't expect them to convert overnight on this matter. BUT IT IS PART OF THEIR DESPICABLE BLACK MYTH ABOUT B16 THAT THEY PRESENT THE SCANDAL
1) AS IF THE CRIMES OCCURRED DURING HIS PONTIFICATE, WHEN THEY DID NOT,
2) AS IF THE SCANDAL HAD NOT FIRST ERUPTED IN ALL THE VIRULENCE MEDIA COULD MUSTER UNDER THE PREVIOUS POPE, WHICH IT DID, and
3) AS IF THE RECYCLED FUROR IN 2010 WAS NOT DUE TO ANYTHING BENEDICT XVI HAD FAILED TO DO, BUT BECAUSE OF RE-IGNITED PASSIONS OVER CRIMES WHICH MOSTLY OCCURRED IN THE 1970s-1990s.

I'm not even expecting the MSM to credit him for all the things he has done against this 'filth' in the Church, but at the very least, they ought not to lay down all the blame at his door, since he of all people has been blameless in all this, which is what they have been doing all along. This complete disregard for historical and current facts is truly appalling, and won't end soon, because unlike Nixon, the MSM will always have Benedict XVI to knock around. The truly malevolent will find new excuses to do so even after he is no longer Pope. He is destined to carry this Cross to the end of his days.]
.
Many of his stated priorities as Pope also fell short: He failed to establish relations with China, heal the schism and reunite with the Orthodox Church, or reconcile with a group of breakaway, traditionalist Catholics. [Please read all his initial discourses as Pope and point out where those priorities are mentioned! He never said he would 'heal the schism' about anything - because he always says that Christian unity will be the work of the Holy Spirit above all. These reporters mistake original initiatives undertaken by Benedict XVI for 'priorities' - when his priority has always been to bring back the primacy of God to a secular world and to re-catechize Catholics in the essentials of their faith, ]

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner — the same situation as when Benedict was elected after the death of John Paul. As in recent elections, some push is expected for the election of a Third World Pope, with several names emerging from Asia, Africa and Latin America, home to about 40 percent of the world's Catholics.

The Vatican stressed that no specific medical condition prompted Benedict's decision, saying he remains fully lucid and took his decision independently.

"Any interference or intervention is alien to his style," Lombardi said.

The Pope has clearly slowed down significantly in recent years, cutting back his foreign travel and limiting his audiences. He now goes to and from the altar in St. Peter's Basilica on a moving platform to spare him the long walk down the aisle. Occasionally he uses a cane. [I must confess I felt alarm, but no premonition of today's event, when I saw him being wheeled down the rather short aisle of the Cappella Maggiore in Rome's major seminary last Friday.]

As early as 2010, Benedict began to look worn out: He had lost weight and didn't seem fully engaged when visiting bishops briefed him on their dioceses. [How absurd! How do they know this? Were they present at these ad limina visits?]

But as tired as he often seemed, he would also bounce back, enduring searing heat in Benin to caress a child and gamely hanging on when a freak storm forced him to cut short a speech during a youth festival in Madrid in 2011.

His 89-year-old brother, Georg Ratzinger, said doctors recently advised the pope not to take any more trans-Atlantic trips.

"His age is weighing on him," Ratzinger told the dpa news agency in Germany. "At this age, my brother wants more rest."

Benedict emphasized that to carry out the duties of being Pope, "both strength of mind and body are necessary — strengths which in the last few months, have deteriorated in me."

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited" to the demands of being the Pope, he told the cardinals.

In a way, it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Benedict himself raised the possibility of resigning if he were too old or sick to continue.

"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," Benedict said in the 2010 book Light of the World.

But he stressed that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the sex abuse scandal.

"When the danger is great, one must not run away. For that reason, now is certainly not the time to resign. Precisely at a time like this one must stand fast and endure the situation," he said.

Although Popes are allowed to resign, only a handful has done it — and none for a very long time.

The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism, a dispute among competing papal claimants. The most famous resignation was Pope Celestine V in 1294; Dante placed him in hell for it.

There are good reasons why others haven't followed suit, primarily because of the fear of a schism with two living popes. Lombardi sought to rule out such a scenario, saying Church law makes clear that a resigning pope no longer has the right to govern the Church.

When Benedict was elected in 2005 at age 78, he was the oldest Pope chosen in nearly 300 years. At the time, he had already been planning to retire as the Vatican's chief orthodoxy watchdog to spend his final years writing in the "peace and quiet" of his native Bavaria.

On Monday, Benedict said he plans to serve the Church for the remainder of his days "through a life dedicated to prayer." The Vatican said after he resigns he will travel to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer retreat south of Rome, and then live in the monastery.

All cardinals under age 80 are allowed to vote in the conclave, the secret meeting held in the Sistine Chapel where cardinals cast ballots to elect a new Pope. As per tradition, the ballots are burned after each voting round; black smoke that snakes out of the chimney means no Pope has been chosen, while white smoke means a Pope has been elected.

There are currently 118 cardinals under age 80 and thus eligible to vote, 67 of them appointed by Benedict. However, four will turn 80 before the end of March. Depending on the date of the conclave, they may or may not be allowed to vote. [Someone has pointed out that two of the cardinals who will turn 80 during the sede vacante are allowed under the rules to take part in the Conclave.]

Benedict in 2007 passed a decree requiring a two-thirds majority to elect a Pope, changing the rules established by John Paul in which the voting could shift to a simple majority after about 12 days of inconclusive balloting. Benedict did so to prevent cardinals from merely holding out until the 12 days had passed to push through a candidate who had only a slim majority.

Contenders to be Benedict's successor include Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan; Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head of the Vatican's office for bishops.

Longshots include Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Although Dolan is popular and backs the Pope's conservative line, being from a world superpower would probably hurt his chances. That might also rule out Cardinal Raymond Burke, an arch-conservative and the Vatican's top judge, even though he is known and respected by most Vatican cardinals.

Monsignor Antonio Marto, the bishop of Fatima in central Portugal, said Benedict's resignation presents an opportunity to pick a Church leader from a country outside Europe.

"In Africa or Latin America, there is a freshness, an enthusiasm about living the faith," Marto told reporters. "Perhaps we need a Pope who can look beyond Europe and bring to the entire Church a certain vitality that is seen on other continents." [With all due respect, both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have looked to the other continents with great consideration. The question is whether there is any Church leader from the Third World who will emerge at the Conclave as a viable contender.]

Cardinal Antonio Tagle, the archbishop of Manila, has impressed many Vatican watchers, but at 56 he is considered too young.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is one of the highest-ranking African cardinals at the Vatican, currently heading the Vatican's office for justice and peace, but he's something of a wild card.

There are several "papabiles" in Latin America, though the most well-known — Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras — is considered far too liberal to be elected by such a conservative College of Cardinals.

Whoever it is, he will face a Church in turmoil: The sex abuse scandal has driven thousands of people away from the church, particularly in Europe. [Bullcrap, they had already left the Church in spirit and in practice long before they found a pretext to trumpet their desertion.] Rival churches, particularly evangelical Pentecostal groups in the developing world, pose new competition. And as the Pope himself has long lamented, many people in an increasingly secular world simply believe they don't need God.

[The Church is not in turmoil because of any of the above. The Church is 'in turmoil' because MSM has declared it to be so, when they mistake the little patches of the elephant that they can touch for the whole elephant. The number of Catholics continues to rise, and a considerable number of new dioceses were created under Benedict XVI. If the next Pope continues to emphasize Benedict XVI's true priorities - which are necessarily long-term goals - the Church will continue to survive as an institution because after all, it was founded by the Son of God himself.]

The timing of Benedict's announcement was significant: Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday, the most solemn period on the Church's calendar that culminates with Holy Week and Easter on March 31. It is also the period in which the world witnessed the final days of John Paul's papacy in 2005.

The timing means that there will be a spotlight cast on Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Italian head of the Vatican's culture office who has long been on the list of "papabile." Benedict selected him to preside over the Vatican's spiritual exercises during Lent.

And by Easter Sunday, the Catholic Church will almost certainly have a new leader, Lombardi said — a potent symbol of rebirth in the Church on a day that celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

Therein lies the significance of the timing of Benedict XVI's announcement, why he did not just wait for the 8th anniversary of his Pontificate to take place. He announced it not just on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes (whose visionary Bernadette's birthday is the same as the Pope's) and the World Day for the Sick, but in time for Lent (his Lenten sacrifice) and with enough time to ensure that there will be a new Pope to lead the Holy Week liturgies culminating in Easter Sunday... The new Pope will go to Rio in summer for WYD, and the new Pope will close out the Year of Faith in November...

Meanwhile, other than the Ash Wednesday penitential procession and Mass tomorrow, and his annual meeting with the clergy of Rome on Thursday - as Cardinal Sodano reminded us earlier today - he will give two more Angelus 'homilies' (Feb. 17 and 24), three more catecheses (Feb. 13, 20 and 27), and, lest anyone forget, his encyclical on faith which will probably be released in the next few days and which will be the most appropriate closing text of his Pontificate. [DIM]
___

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/02/2013 04:55]

I thought it would be good to put together our beloved Pope's two most recent spiritual discourses - the lectio divina to the Rome seminarians on Friday and the Angelus mini-homily last Sunday - as the appropriate commencement of his Pontifical valedictory.

The 264th Successor reflects
on the faith of Simon Peter

---

Eminence,
Dear brothers in the episcopate and in the priesthood,
Dear friends:

Every year, it is a great joy for me to be with you and to see so many young men who are preparing for the priesthood, who listen to the voice of the Lord, and wish to follow his voice and find the way to serve the Lord in our time.

We heard three verses from the First Letter of St. Peter (cfr 1,3-5). Before entering into this text, I think it is important to be attentive to the fact that it is Peter who speaks here.

The first two words of the letter are 'Petrus apostolus' (cfr v 1): he is speaking, and he is speaking to the Churches of Asia and is calling the faithful "chosen sojourners of the dispersion" (ibidem).

Let us reflect a bit on this. Peter is speaking, and he does so - as we hear at the end of the Letter - from Rome, which he calls 'Babylon' (cfr 5,13). Peter speaks: It is almost like a first encyclical, through which the first Apostle, Vicar of Christ, speaks to the Church in all ages.

Peter the apostle: He who speaks is someone who has found in Christ Jesus the Messiah of God, who spoke first among all in the name of the future Church: "You are Christ, Son of the living God" (cfr Mt 16,16) He who introduced us to this faith is speaking, the man to whom the Lord said: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven" (cfr Mt 16,19), to whom he entrusted his flock after the Resurrection,telling him three times, "Feed my sheep" (cfr Jn 21,15-17).

But this is also the man who fell, who denied Jesus, but had the grace to see the look of Jesus, and to be touched in his heart, and to find forgiveness and a renewal of his mission.

It is above all most important that this man, full of passion, of the desire for God, the desire for the kingdom of God, the desire for the Messiah - that this man found Jesus, the Lord and the Messiah, is also the man who sinned, who stumbled, but still remained under the Lord's eyes, and so, he is now responsible for the Church of God, he has been given the responsibility by Christ, he remains the bearer of his love.

It is Peter the Apostle who speaks, but exegetes would tell us: It is not possible that this letter could have been Peter's, because the Greek is so good that it cannot be the Greek of a fisherman from Galilee.

Not only is the language, the structure of the language, excellent, but even the thought is already quite mature, it already expressed concrete formulations in which the faith and the reflection of the Church are condensed.

And so they say, "It is a stage of development that cannot be that of Peter". How to answer this? There are two important positions to take: First, Peter himself - that is, the Letter - gives us a key, because at the end, it says, "I write you dia Silvano, through Silvanus".

This 'dia' can mean different things: It can mean that he, Silvanus, transports, transmits. It can mean that he helped in writing the letter. It can mean that he himself was the actual writer.

In any case, we can conclude that the letter itself tells us that Peter was not alone in writing this Letter, but that he was expressing the faith of a Church that had already set off on its journey of faith, a faith that was increasingly maturing.

He does not write it by himself, as an isolated individual - he writes with the help of the Church, of persons who were helping each other to deepen their knowledge of the faith and therefore entered the depth of his thought, of his rationality, of his profundity.

This is very important. Peter does not speak as an individual, he speaks ex persona Ecclesiae, he speaks as a man of the Church - certainly as an individual too, with his personal responsibility, but also as a person who speaks in the name of the Church. These are not just private thoughts, not like a 20th century genius who wished only to express his personal and original ideas, that no one could have said before him.

No. He does not speak as an individualistic genius, but he speaks within the communion of the Church. In the Apocalypse, in the initial vision of Christ, it says that the voice of Christ is the voice of all the waters in the world )cfr Ap 1.15).

This means to say that the voice of Christ reunites all the waters of the world. it carries all the living waters that give life to the world. This is the very grandeur of the Lord who carries in him all the rivers of the Old Testament, of the wisdom of peoples.

And what is said here about the Lord also goes, in another way, for the apostle, who does not intend to say a single word that is his alone, but truly carries in himself the waters of the faith, the waters of the whole Church, and therefore, of fertility, of fruitfulness - a personal testimony that opens to the Lord, that becomes open and wide. That is why this is important.

It also seems important that in the conclusion of this letter, Silvanus and Mark are named, two persons who also were among the friends of St. Paul. So through this conclusion, the worlds of St. Peter and St. Paul come together:

It is not a theology that is exclusively Petrine against a Pauline theology, but it is a theology of the Church, of the faith of the Church, in which there is diversity - certainly - of temperament, of thinking, of the style of speaking, between Peter and Paul. And it is good that there is such diversity, even today, of various charisms, of various temperaments, but nonetheless, not contradictory and which are united in the common faith.

I wish to say one more thing: St. Peter writes from Rome. It is important, Here we have the Bishop of Rome, we have the start of the succession, we have the start of the primacy concretely situated in Rome, not just sent from the Lord, but also situated here in this city, in what was the capital of the world.

How did Peter come to Rome? This is a serious question. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that after his escape from the prison of Herod, he went to 'another place' (cfr 12,17) - eis eteron topon - and we are not told which place. Some have said Antioch, some say Rome.

In any case, in this chapter, it is also said that before escaping, he entrusted the Judeo-Christian Church, the Church of Jerusalem, to James, but entrusting it to James, he nonetheless remained Primate of the universal Church, of the Church of the pagans, but also of the Judeo-Christian Church.

Thus we see that in Rome, we find both parts of the Church - the Judeo-Christian, and the pagan-Christian, united, an expression of the universal Church. And here in Rome, he found a large Judeo-Christian community.

Liturgists tell us that in the Roman canon, there is a trace of typically Judeo-Christian language. We see that here in Rome, where both parts of the Church were found, united, an expression of the universal Church.

For Peter, certainly, the passage from Jerusalem to Rome was the passage to the universality of the Church, to the Church of the pagans and of all times, and to the Church of the Jews, as well. I think that, going to Rome, St. Peter was not thinking only of this passage - Jerusalem/Rome, Judeo-Christian Church/universal Church.

That of course, he also recalled the last words that Jesus addressed to him, reported by St. John: "When you grow old... you will go where you do not want to go... someone else will dress you... will extend your hands" (cfr Jn 21,18).

It is a prophecy of the crucifixion. Philologists show us that this is a precise expression, a technical term, 'to extend the hands' for the crucifixion.

St. Peter knew that his end would be martyrdom, it would be the Cross. And thus, he would be completely following Christ. So going to Rome certainly meant going to martyrdom - in Babylon, martyrdom awaited him.

Thus, the primacy has this content of universality but also of martyrology. Going to Rome, Peter accepts anew the word of the Lord - go towards the Cross - and invites us, too, to accept the martyrological aspect of Christianity which ca have diverse forms.

The Cross too can have very diverse forms, but no one can be Christian without following the Cross, without accepting that martyrological moment.

After these words about the communicator, some words also about the persons to whom the letter was written. I have already said that Peter defines those whom he is writing to, as 'chosen sojourners of the dispersion' - eklektois parepidemois (cfr 1 Pt 1,1).

Once again we have this paradox of glory and Cross. chosen, but dispersed as strangers. 'Chosen' is Israel's title of glory: we are the chosen ones, God elected this small group of people not because we are great, it says in Deuteronomy, but because he loves us (cfr 7,7-8).

We are chosen: this is what St Peter transmits to all who are baptized, and the contents of the first chapters in his First Letter is that those who are baptized enter into the privileges of Israel - they are the new Israel.

'Chosen' - it is worth reflecting on this word. We are chosen. God has always known us, before we were even born, before we were conceived. God has wanted me to be Christian, to be Catholic, he was wanted me to be a priest.

God thought about me, he sought me out from among millions, from so many - he saw me and he chose me, not for my merits which I do not have, but out of his goodness. He wanted me to be the bearer of his choosing, which is also always mission, above all, mission - and responsibility for others.

'Chosen': We must be grateful and joyful for this fact. God thought of me, he chose me to be Catholic, as a bearer of his Gospel, as priest. I think it is worthwhile reflecting on this several times, and to enter once more into the fact of having been chosen - he chose me, he wanted me, and I am responding.

Perhaps today, we might be tempted to say - we do not want to be joyful for having been chosen, it would be triumphalism. But triumphalism would be thinking that God chose me because I am great - that would be mistaken triumphalism.

To be joyful because God has chosen me is not triumphalism, but gratitude, and I think we should re-learn this joy: God wished that I be born so, in a Catholic family, that has known Jesus from the start.

What a gift it is to be wanted by God, so that I have been able to know his face, I have come to know Jesus Christ, the human face of God, God's human history in the world.

To be joyful because he chose me to be Catholic, to be in his Church, in which subsistit Ecclesia unica, in which the only Church subsists. I must be joyful because God has given me this grace, this beauty of knowing the fullness of the truth of God, the joy of his love.

'Chosen' - a word of privilege and humility at the same time. But 'chosen', as I said, is accompanied by parapidemois - dispersed, strangers. As Christians, we are dispersed and we are strangers. We see that in the world today: Christians are the most persecuted group, because he do not conform, because Christianity is a stimulus, against the tendencies to selfishness, to materialism, all these things.

Of course, Christians are not just strangers. We are also a Christian nation. We are proud to have contributed to the formation of culture. There is a healthy patriotism, a healthy joy in belonging to a nation that has a great history of culture, of faith.

Nonetheless, as Christians, we are also always strangers - which was the destiny of Abraham described in the Letter to the Hebrews. As Christians, today we are always strangers. In the workplace, Christians are a minority - they find themselves in a situation of extraneousness: others wonder that today anyone could still believe and live as Christians do.

This is part of our life. It is a way of being with the crucified Christ. Being a stranger, not living according to how everyone else lives, but living - or at least seeking to live = according to his Word, very much different with respect to what everyone else says.

We may all say, "Everyone does this, why not me?" But no, not I, because I wish to live according to God. St. Augustine once said, "Christians do not have their roots below like trees, but they have their roots above, and they live in this gravitation, not in the natural downward gravitation".

Let us pray to the Lord that he may help us accept this mission of living in dispersion, as a minority, in a certain sense; of living like strangers but nonetheless responsible for others, and thus reinforcing goodness in this world.

So now we come to the three verses for today's reflection. I would like to underscore, and interpret a bit, as far as I can, three words: 'given new birth', 'inheritance', and the phrase 'safeguarded through the faith'.

Given new birth - anaghennesas, in the Greek text - means that to be a Christian is not just a decision of my will, an idea of mine: I see that it is a group that I like, so I make myself a member, because I share their objectives, etc.

No, to be a Christian is not to join a group to do something, it is not an act of my will alone, not primarily of my will, of my reason. It is an act of God. Rebirth does not concern only the sphere of the will, of thought, but the sphere of being.

I am reborn: this means that to become Christian is first of all passive. I cannot say, 'I make myself Christian', but I am caused to be reborn, I am remade by the Lord to the very depth of my being. And I enter into this process of rebirth - I allow myself to be transformed, renewed, regenerated.

I think this is very important. As a Christian, I am not simply carrying out an idea of mine that I share with some others, and when it no longer pleases me, then I can leave. No, it has to do with our deepest being. To be a Christian begins with an act of God, it is above all an act of God, through which I let myself be formed and transformed.

This is a matter for reflection, precisely in a year during which we are reflecting on the sacraments of Christian initiation, to meditate on this passive and active aspects of being regenerated, of living a completely a Christian life, allowing myself to be transformed by his Word, by the communion of the Church, by the life of the Church, through the signs that the Lord works in me, that he works for me and with me.

To be reborn, to be regenerated, also means that I thereby enter into a new family: God my Father, the Church my Mother, other Christians my brothers and sisters.

To be regenerated, to allow oneself to be regenerated,thus implies that we allow ourselves to be willingly inserted into this family, to live for God the Father and from God the Father, to live from communion with Christ his Son who regenerates me through his Resurrection, as the Letter says (cfr 1Pt 1,3).

To live in the Church, allowing myself to be formed by the Church in many senses, in many ways, and to be open to my brothers, recognizing others as truly my brothers who, like me, are generated, transformed, renewed, in which one bears responsibility for the other. In short, a responsibility of Baptism which is a lifelong process.

The second word: inheritance. It is a very important word in the Old Testament, which says that Abraham and his seed would inherit the earth. This has always been God's promise to his people: You will possess the earth, you will inherit the earth.

In the New Testament, this word becomes a word for us: we are the heirs, not of a specific nation, but of God's land, the future of God. Inheritance is a thing of the future, and so this word says above all that as Christians, we have a future: the future is ours, the future is God's.

And so, being Christians, we know that the future is ours, that the tree of the Church is not a dying tree but the tree that always grows anew.

We thus have a reason not to let ourselves be moved, as Pope John said, by the prophets of doom who say, "The Church may well be a tree that came from a mustard seed, that has grown in two millennia, but now, its time is past, now it is time for it to die". No, the Church always renews herself, she is always reborn. The future is ours.

Of course, there is false optimism and false pessimism. A false pessimism that says the time of Christianity is over. No! It starts anew. And false optimism is that which, after the Council, when convents closed, seminaries closed, said, "That's nothing, everything will be well". No! Not everything is going well.

There have been serious and dangerous stumbles, and we should acknowledge with a healthy realism that these things cannot be, that we must not be doing the wrong things. But also being sure at the same time, that if here and there, the Church dies somewhat because of the sins of men, because of their lack of faith, at the same time, she is reborn.

The future is truly God's - this is the great certainty of our life, the great and true optimism that we know. The Church is the tree of God which lives eternally and carrieseternity in her, and the true inheritance - eternal life.

Finally, 'safeguarded through the faith'. The text of the New Testament, of the Letter of St. Peter, uses a rare word, phrouroumenoi, which means 'watchmen', and the faith is like the 'watchman' who safeguards the integrity of my being, of my faith.

This word connotes above all the watchmen at the gates of a city, where they are stationed to safeguard the city so that it may not be invaded by the forces of destruction. In this way, the faith is the watchman of my being, of my life, of my inheritance.

We must be grateful for this vigilance of the faith that protects us, helps us, guides us, gives us security: God will not let me fall from his hands.

"Safeguarded by the faith" - that is how I will conclude. Speaking of the faith, I must always think of that sick Syro-Phoenician woman who, in the midst of a crowd, found her way to Jesus, touched him to be healed, and was healed.

The Lord asked, "Who touched me?" And they tell him: "But, Lord, everyone touches you, how can you ask, who touched me?" (cfr Mk 7,24-30). But the Lord knows.

There is a way of touching him that is superficial and external, which has really nothing to do with a true encounter with him. And there is a way of touching him profoundly. This woman touched him truly - not only with the hand but with her heart, and thus she received the healing power of Christ, by touching him truly from within, in faith.

And this is faith: to touch Christ with the hand of faith, with our heart, and thus enter into the power of his life, into the healing power of the Lord.

Let us pray to the Lord that we can always touch him in this way in order to be healed, made whole again. Let us pray that he will not allow us to fall down, that he holds us by the hand and thus safeguards us for true life. Thank you.

---

---

Dear brothers and sisters:

In the liturgy today, the Gospel according to St. Luke presents the account of how the first disciples were called, with a version that is original compared to that of the other Synoptic evangelists, Matthew and Mark (cfr Mt 4,18-32; Mk 1,16-20).

In fact, it is preceded by Jesus preaching to the crowd and by a miraculous catch of fish achieved by the will of the Lord (Lk 5,1-6). As the crowd is gathering along the shore of Lake Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee) to listen to Jesus, he sees Simon who is disheartened because he had not caught any fish the whole night.

First, he asks if he can get into Simon's boat to preach to the people a little distance away from the shore. After his preaching, he tells Peter to go out into the deep with his companions and to cast their nets (cfr v 5). Simon obeys, and they catch an incredible number of fish.

In this way, the evangelist makes us see how the first disciples followed Jesus, trusting in him, in his Word, which is also accompanied by prodigious signs.

Let us note that before the sign [the miraculous catch], Simon addresses Jesus as 'Master' (v 5), whereas afterwards, he calls him 'Lord' (v 7). It is the pedagogy of God's call, who looks not so much at the quality of those he chooses but at their faith, such as that of Simon who says, "At your command, I will lower the nets" (v 6).

The imagery of fishing points to the mission of the Church. St. Augustine comments about this: "Twice the disciples set out to fish on the Lord's command: once before the Passion, and again, after the Resurrection. The whole Church is pictured in the two events: the Church as it is today, and as it will be after the resurrection of the dead. Today, it gathers together a multitude that is impossible to enumerate, including the good and the bad. After the resurrection of the dead, it will only have the good ones" (Discourse 248,1).

The experience of Peter, which is certainly unique, is also representative of the call to every apostle of the Gospel who must never be discouraged from announcing Christ to all men to the very ends of the world.

Nonetheless, today's text also makes us reflect on the call to priesthood and the consecrated life, It is the work of God. Man is not the author of his own vocation, but responds to the divine invitation.

Human weakness should not make us fear when God calls. We must trust in the power of his mercy which acts precisely on our poverty. We must confide ever more in the power of his mercy which transforms and renews.

Dear brothers and sisters, may this Word of God also revive in us and our Christian communities the courage, the confidence and the initiative to announce and bear witness to the Gospel.

Let not failures and difficulties lead to discouragement. It is for us to cast the nets with faith - the Lord will do the rest.

Let us trust also in the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles. To the call of the Lord, she - well aware of her littleness - responded with total trust, "Here I am" (Behold your handmaid...)

With her maternal help, let us renew our readiness to follow Jesus, Master and Lord.

---

Very apropos to the Petrine discourses above is the prompt commentary of Jose Luis Restan:

Benedict XVI's Pontificate:
Like lightning in a clear blue sky
Translated from

February 11, 2013

It turned out to be extremely simple to adhere to the words in the note signed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Rouco Varela, a few hours after Benedict XVI announced to the world his resignation from the Petrine ministry: "We are affected like orphans by a decision that fills us with sorrow, since we have felt ourselves made sure and illuminated by his very rich Magisterium and his paternal closeness".

It was more or less what I felt as I took the stairs at COPE [Spanish radio network for which Restan is an editor] to comment on the air about news that a priori was one I would never have wished to report. But nonetheless...

All it takes is a moment to listen and to look at him, to let the words of this Pope who is a musician as well as theologian, enter the mind and the heart, in order to realize the greatness of his service to the Church.

Last Friday, before 150 seminarians in Rome, his diocese, Benedict XVI bared his heart wide open. Perhaps he was leaving us a kind of testament, even if surely would not want it to be thought as such.

He spoke of Peter, the fisherman from Galilee, "that man full of passion, of desire for the Kingdom of God", that man who nevertheless had stumbled, had sinned, and despite all that, remained under the gaze of his Lord. Who made him the rock, the foundation for the edifice of the Church.

One is almost overcome by shivers to think that as he spoke, the man Joseph Ratzinger was fully aware that for the moment, he is Peter - Peter whom Jesus warned he that in his old age, would be led where he did not want to be.

And so the brilliant mind and thinking heart that the cardinals called to steer the Church less than eight years ago now heads towards the silence of a cloister to simply pray and meditate.

There is nothing more useful and practical that he can do for the Church - Mother and spouse - now that he feels his physical strength going and perhaps even the erosion of weariness on his spirit.

He knows only too well the crossroads at this historical moment, the keys to culture, the depth of the wounds to civilization in our time. A time that demands a vigor of body and spirit which he was not afraid to simply say that he feels losing day by day.

It is very possible that in this way Papa Ratzinger thought he would spare the Chuch the agony of an indefinite time during which he would find it difficult to keep up the impulse necessary for the renewal of the Church and the new evangelization, which have been his two great passions in these years.

He leaves us an immense legacy of acts and words, a teaching comparable to those of the great Fathers of the Church in the early centuries, a governance that has brought rigor and transparency to the structure of the Church, cleaning out inertias and bad practices that had been embedded for decades.

Above all, he leaves us his profound sympathy for the human heart, for its tortured search and for its inextinguishable potential for nobility.

He leaves us his smile of tenderness and understanding of evils that he has dissected with surgical precision, never forgetting that such shadows can never totally swallow the compass of the human heart that points towards the Infinite.

Last Friday night in Rome, he told us that we Christians are always, in a sense, like strangers in the world: because we do not conform to its ways, to the dominant culture today. And yet we know that the future belongs to God, and therefore to us. That the tree of the Church is not a dying tree, as the prophets of doom would have us believe - because the Church always renews herself, she is always reborn.

This, he said, was not the false optimism of those who say, "It's all right - things will turn out well". He knows too well the serious stumbles that afflict men and the things (too many, alas) that are not going well within the Church.

But looking into the eyes of future priests for the city of Peter and Paul, Benedict XVI reminded them that "if here and there the Church dies a little because of the sins of men, because of our lack of faith, she is always born again".

The future is really God's. How clear and conscious is this certainty in the heart of the Pope! That is why the Church will not die, because despite the failings of its members and the hostility of the world, she carries in her the seed of eternal life.

Cardinal Sodano said it best in his metaphor that the Pope's word had been like lightning from a clear blue sky.

The years of Benedict XVI's Pontificate have been that. And we have much to be thankful for.

It is past midnight now, and I feel like I am still moving on automatic pilot, almost in an unreal parallel world... and then, I came across this article which is truly most beautiful and moving, because it comes from the heart of a priest who was formed by the teachings of Joseph Ratzinger. It's what I had always thought I would feel if I were a boy or a young man wanting to be a priest, not just imbibing the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, but seeing him as the model of a priest - all the hopes and wishes I have had for all the seminarians, priests and bishops who have been privileged to be addressed by him all these years...

In any case, by the end of the article, I found myself bawling my heart out, shedding all the pent-up tears of love and veneration for Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI - whom I could not have imagined I could love any better, but I do, more and more - along with the shock, dismay and bewilderment that I have not had a chance to indulge in all day. Thank you, Fr. Smith, for sharing your story...

Benedict XVI and the mustard seed
Rev Fr Christopher Smith

February 11, 2013

On 19 April 2005 I made it into Piazza San Pietro just as smoke was coming out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. It was a grey cloudy day, so it was hard to make out whether the smoke was white or black. The bells were supposed to ring to announce the election of the successor to John Paul II, but nothing happened, so we were all confused.

The Piazza began to fill with more and more people, seminarians, sisters and laypeople running down the Via della Conciliazione as fast as they could. The atmosphere was electric, because we all knew that we were going to participate in something historic.

Rome had been my home for almost seven years by that point. I had moved there after graduating from Christendom College because I wanted to live in the heart of Christendom, close to the Holy Father. I also was desperate to find my place in the Church, to find my vocation.

When I entered seminary a year after my move to the Eternal City, I passed through the portals of the Roman Major Seminary, the house of formation for the Diocese of Rome. I was bonded to Rome, to Peter and to the Church, and began to find my place in the Church and in the world.

Those were the declining years of John Paul II’s reign. I had several opportunities to meet and serve the Pope, and I was always awed in his presence. To see him so sick and suffering, but carrying on as he did, was amazing.

But there was another figure who had always been close to me: Joseph Ratzinger. Even as I was always close to John Paul II, it was Ratzinger who inspired me from an early age. I had read Vittorio Messori’s The Ratzinger Report when I was in high school, and at college read deeply from the rich canon of Ratzinger’s theological works. I knew that to be steeped in Ratzinger’s thought was not always to make oneself appreciated.

Shortly after I entered the seminary, Ratzinger’s long awaited The Spirit of the Liturgy came out. I had devoured all of his other writings on the liturgy, and longed to see how his teaching on the sacred liturgy and music could be lived in the heart of the Church.

But the other seminarians warned me that to identify myself too closely with Ratzinger was “career suicide.” All I had ever wanted to be was a parish priest anyway, so I was not worried about that. Yet I was a New Man at the seminary and so I exchanged the Ignatius Press cover of that seminal work for a 1970s bookcover of the encyclicals of Paul VI. Needless to say, I fooled no one.

That book sparked endless discussion at the seminary, in favor and against, and I increasingly began to imbibe the Ratzingerian view of the world, the Church and theology. A professor at the Gregorian nicknamed me Ratzinger because I always invoked his name, a moniker of which I was humbled and proud, even if it was meant as a light-hearted jab.

For a seminarian in Rome in the early years of the Third Millennium, Ratzinger was a formidable personage. I heard him speak several times, and wanted so much to spend hours in a room picking his brain on so many things. The only regret that I take with me from those years in Rome is that I was so struck by his humility I could never bring myself to crowd around him like the others did.

But my devotion was total. From time to time, I would serve the early Masses at St Peter’s Basilica, and come across the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith as he ambled across the Piazza to go to to work. And I always shouted out, Buon giorno, Eminenza! hoping one day to serve him in some capacity.

After John Paul II’s death, Ratzinger’s presence, quiet, serene and hopeful, dominated the Roman scene. I participated in so many Masses both for the mourning for the passing of the only Pope I had never known and the election of the next Peter.

As the cardinals filed by, there were sounds of enthusiasm from the faithful. But whenever Ratzinger walked by, the sound was deafening. If vox populi, vox Dei had any weight with the porporati at all, they could not have ignored the visible and audible response of the People of God to the Bavarian theologian. [This is something that I do not recall any Vaticanista or visiting commentarista ever noted before or after the Conclave!]

He is a theologian of incomparable stature. When the Bishop of Charleston assigned me to study dogmatic theology for my license, it was not my first choice. I had never thought of it before; I wanted to be a liturgist. But in Ratzinger I uncovered the fact that liturgy, and its reform and restoration, finds its deepest meaning in the Christ which dogmatic theology encounters in awe and wonder.

Dogma became the academic road ecclesiastical obedience laid out for me, and it bound me even more to the man who would be elected as the Successor to St Peter.

I cannot adequately describe what I felt to hear the word Joseph as the Dean proclaimed the new Pope. I knew it had to be him. I knew for weeks it had to be him. I count the day of his election as one of the happiest of my life, because it was so personally significant to me. A man who had inspired me to be a priest, a theologian and a Christian engaged with both the Tradition and the modern world at the same time now reigned from the Throne of the Fisherman.

The Mass of the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry and his Enseatment at the Lateran Basilica were moments of pure joy for me. I wanted to call them coronation and enthronement, they were so glorious.

But more impressive than the ceremonies surrounding these historical events I was privileged to take a part in, was listening to him teach as Peter. Clear, distinct, and poetic all at the same time. A master class with one of the greatest professors in human history was being offered to all of humanity, if we would just listen and learn.

During the Mass at the Lateran Basilica, I was given the great honor to distribute Holy Communion. I was upset, however, to discover that I was to go all the way outside of the Basilica and down the Piazza and out into the streets to perform my appointed task. Selfishly, I balked at the idea of not being able to participate in the end of a liturgy which meant so much for me.

But as I looked back at the grand doors of the Mother and Head of all the Churches of the City and the World, carrying Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in my hands, I was flooded with a sense of completion. Formed close to the heart of the Church, I was imbued with spirit of Eternal Rome, the vision of Pope Benedict XVI and the mission of the fishermen.

It would not do for me to tarry around Rome while the man I revered as my greatest Teacher made the world into his classroom. Like any good student, I had to go back into my mission field to hand on what I had received.

The only Pope I have ever named in the Canon has been Benedict. Today, the day on which he announces his resignation, I offered the Ordinary Form in English and said his name like I have every day of my priesthood. I offered that Mass, on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, and prayed for him, knowing he was sick, and all the sick on this World Day dedicated to them.

After Mass, I discovered the news by text message from a friend I had called from the Piazza on Election Day. Later that day, I offered the Extraordinary Form in Latin. I’m not sure if what I did was rubrically correct, but to the prayers of this day’s feast I added the prayers for the Pope.

And I freely admit how hard it was for me to say that name that I have pronounced every day since my Ordination shortly after his election with such gratitude.

I am a priest of the Benedict XVI Generation.

The way that I approach theology, liturgy, preaching, pastoral life, everything, has been profoundly influenced by this amazing man. I will always thank God for his constant presence in my life, and in the lives of those I touch because of his example to me. I have enough sentiment in me to want to write the Holy Father personally to tell him all this, but I know that he will never receive it. But even in that he continues to teach me.

Few understood the rich symbolism involved when Benedict XVI visited the grave of the oft misunderstood Celestine V and placed his pallium upon it in 2009. Now, in hindsight, it comes across as a prophetic moment.

As the Sovereign Pontiff, our sweet Christ on Earth, transitions into a life of prayer and penance, in a hidden Nazareth within the walls of the Vatican, he shows us that the Church belongs to Christ. The sign of the mustard seed becomes a reality in the 265th successor to St Peter.

In 1996, in his famous interview with Peter Seewald, he said, "Maybe we are facing a new and different kind of epoch in the church’s history, where Christianity will again be characterized more by the mustard seed, where it will exist in small, seemingly insignificant groups that nonetheless live an intense struggle against evil and bring good into the world – that let God in".

It is the hallmark of a man who practices what he preaches. Pope Benedict XVI shows us the way by example of how to live as a Christian in a world increasingly hostile to the Gospel and the Church: as mustard seeds of faith.

He may not know it until the Final Judgment, but Joseph Ratzinger has inspired countless young men and women, priests, religious and laypeople to be just like those mustard seeds. We are privileged that he has shown us the way. Viva il Papa!



St. Corbinian’s bear goes free
by Jeff Miller

February 11, 2013

Days like this make me so wish that I was independently wealthy so I could have blogged my reaction to the Pope’s resignation and not having to go to work. That reaction has been bubbling up through me all day.

I remember when he was elected and when I first heard the word “Joseph” I was already jumping up and down and screaming for joy. Whatever the exact opposite reaction to this is what I experienced this morning.

When I first saw a reference to this on Twitter I thought surely this is typical bad media coverage, but I soon found out this was not so. I felt that buzzed feeling you have when you come close to having an accident where both your mind and body reacts.

I am both shocked and yet not surprised. There have certainly been clues to this possibly happening, and I thought that just perhaps at a later date this might just be an option he might choose. That he choose it now is what mostly surprised me. It is one thing to think about such a possibility and another to see it happen.

Most of my reaction was quite selfish. I thought “Noooooooooooo” this can’t be! I so love pretty much everything about Pope Benedict XVI. I greedily soak up everything he says and writes and so it is like a blow to have this taken away. [I still find it unthinkable what it will be like 16 days from now and not to have my daily dose of B16!

Still you also have to wonder about what he would have written if he had not become Pope and was able to retire. [He would have written the JESUS books, anyway, because that was the great projnect he set for himself.] There has always been a tension in him about how to serve the Church, from the time he was first appointed bishop, his years as Prefect of the CDF, and then becoming Pope. His coat of arms with the bear of St. Corbinian has been an indicator of this and he has long carried the pack for his beloved Church. To carry and to go where he did not personally choose, but to live a life of service to the Church. Yet even St. Corbinian’s bear was finally loosed to return to the forests.

I certainly won’t be second-guessing his decision. If he thought this was the best for the Church then who am I to disagree? His decision will also certainly have some influence on future Popes as another possible route. The path of suffering that Blessed John Paul II took was a blessing for the world and perhaps even this act of humility by the current Pope will also be in its own way. So much of the world only see the office of Pope as a power and not the weight of the world the office holder assumes...

I am annoyed, though, by all the talk of who is “papabile.” Right now I just really don’t want to talk about it. Speaking of his possible successor now feels to me like having your wife die and talking about possible girlfriends. This is a silly metaphor, yet it has some validity in my own reaction...

It is hard to believe that when Easter does come that it is almost assured that it will be with a new Pope. His resignation has led me to that Lenten feeling of loss two days early, and this Lent is going to be exceptionally penitential in one dimension. The media and the talking heads are the penitential aspect I am thinking about. The collective low IQ of the media will take a logarithmic downturn over the coming month or so in regards to the conclave.

No doubt we are already hearing and will be hearing constantly how the election of a new pope will change the Church. If they only pick the right guy then all those annoying doctrines well be shed like the skin of a snake and sloughed off with the shiny new skin of progress...

As a convert I remember feeling some jealousy before, when some Catholics would be able describe the day of election of more than one Pope. Now I don’t feel quite the same way. While I was glad to rack up one experience of white smoke and Habemus Papam, I would have preferred to delay by more than a decade the need of white smoke again.

'Joseph'
By Thomas L. McDonald


February 11, 2013

The Room of Tears is the place where a Pope traditionally first goes after being chosen [to don papal garments for the first time]. Here, they contemplate the burden they are about to assume: a 2000-year-old office founded by Christ himself not on a book or a government or a place, but on a man named Simon, thereafter known as Cephas, petros, rock: Peter.

It’s an impossible burden only upheld with the aid of the Holy Spirit. It’s likely that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wept when he retired to this room, for he truly did not want this office. A quiet, scholarly, humble man, he had labored in the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith for many long years, and wanted nothing more than to retire quietly to Germany and write.

But when the Holy Spirit calls, you answer. All of us serving in the faith know that, none so well as he did. Some gnashed their teeth and railed when he was chosen to assume the office of Peter. I didn’t. After my return to the faith, I read Cardinal Ratzinger closely and came to love the man, his wisdom, his clarity, his charity. He was the master catechist of our age, and as one called to the catechetical ministry, I felt a connection to this Pope that I never had with Bl. John Paul II.

He is the person I admire most in the world, now more than ever, when this man caricatured as an “arch-conservative” (and who anyone with eyes to see knew was nothing of the sort) has once again done something bold and unexpected. He has recognized his limitations, and acted accordingly.

There are those who will point to Bl. John Paul II who suffered and bent under the burden of the Petrine office as illness consumed him. They will be right to do so, because it was a powerful witness to the dignity of human life. It also affected the way he managed the Church, and as the abuse scandal exploded, that was something we could ill afford. Perhaps this potential for failure loomed large in Benedict’s mind when he made this decision.

He will never again be just another man. What he will be is, right now, uncertain. After being Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, Father, Professor, I think, for a little while at least, at the end, he wants to just be Joseph.

May God bless and keep him in this and in all things, and may He continue to guide our Church.

April 24, 2005 Inaugurating the Petrine Ministry of Benedict XVI

BELOVED BENEDICT,


TO US YOU WILL EVER BE


HOLY FATHER, HOLINESS -


PADRE SANTO, SANTITA

When Benedict XVI paid tribute - twice -
to Celestine V, the Pope of the 'great refusal'

Dante referred to Celestine V in the Divine Comedy as 'il Papa del gran rifiuto', referring to his abdication just five months after the Benedictine hermit was elected Pope in absentia at age 84 (or 79, depending on the date of birth used), arriving to a papal court rife with intrigue and of whom he refused to be a tool. He penned the decree about a Pope's resignation and five months later, acted on it. He was imprisoned by his successor and died two years later. Italian blogsites and media are now using the term 'il Papa del gran rifiuto' for Benedict XVI, many of them negatively.

I posted a biography of Celestine V on Page 116 of this Forum in July 2010
benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=85272...
to mark the visit of Benedict XVI to Sulmona, which has jurisdiction over the site of Celestine's hermitage in the hill overlooking the city. It is worth revisiting the page for the visit itself, and Benedict's homily and remarks to the young people of Sulmona.

There are those who now wonder whether Benedict XVI was already signalling his thoughts about papal resignation (thoughts that he woiuld articulate in July 2010 when he gave Peter Seewald the interview that became Light of the World) when, on April 28, 2009, on a visit to earthquake victims in the L'Aquila region, he visited the Basilica of Collemaggio which caved in but spared the glass coffin containing the remains of Celestine V. On that visit, Benedict XVI left the pallium with which he had been invested at his inaugural Mass as Pope on his predecessor's coffin.

He then declared August 2009-August 2010 as the Celestinian Jubilee Year to mark the 900th anniversary of the hermit Pope's death.

And in July 2010, he visited Sulmona to mark that anniversary, with the pallium-draped coffin of Celestine sharing the altar on which Benedict XVI said Mass.



In his moving homily that day, he quoted from St. Paul - "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6,14) - saying the line was a perfect spiritual portrait of Celestine V. Perhaps as well, the spiritual motto for Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI as he embarks on a new phase of his amazing and truly exceptional life. A Pope who is not just 'one in a century' but already, one for the ages. And God willing, ultimately, Doctor of the Church.

And I reiterate my first prayer and wish after learning the news yesterday, because I believe that 'priest' best describes JR-B16, perhaps even in his own mind:

AD MULTOS ANNOS,


JOSEPH RATZINGER,


PRIEST AND


SERVANT OF GOD

Tuesday, February 12, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Mardi Gras (Tuesday before Ash Wednesday)

ST. APOLLONIA (Egypt, d Alexandria 249), MARTYR
One of the early martyrs of the Church, she is thought to have been a deaconess quite advanced
in age at the time of her death. In the first wave of persecutions against Christians under
Emperor Philip, Christians fled Alexandria after some of them were stoned to death. Apollonia
was captured by a mob who beat her and knocked out all her teeth. They then built a fire and
threatened to burn her unless she denounced her God. Legend has it she asked them to give her
a minute to think about it, then jumped into the fire herself. She is considered the patron of
dentists, and her images generally show her with pincers holding teeth. In the Middle Ages, she
was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who were saints invoked for help in specific diseases.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021213.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.

But a major change was announced for the Ash Wednesday rites:
Instead of going to the Aventine Hill for the traditional procession from the Church of Sant'Anselmo to the Basilica
of Santa Sabina, the first of Rome's 40 churches visited by pilgrims at Lent, Benedict XVI will celebrate the Mass of
Ash Wednesday and the imposition of ashes at St. Peter's Basilica. It will be his last liturgical celebration as Pope.
The Mass will begin at 5 pm. The Pope will hold his regular Wednesday audience tomorrow morning.

The Vatican has confirmed the remaining events on the Pope's schedule until he steps down on February 28:

Thursday, Feb. 14 - Annual Q&A with the Roman clergy
Friday, Feb. 15 - Audience with the President of Romania, Traian Basescu
Saturday, Feb. 16-Saturday, Feb. 23 - Lenten spiritual exercises with the Roman Curia
Sunday, Feb 24 - Angelus
Wednesday, Feb 27 - General

I did not factor in the weeklong Lenten retreat yesterday, so we really have only one more Angelus and 2 GAs left. But no definite word yet about the faith encyclical.

P.S. Apparently, there is also a scheduled meeting with the President of Guatemala and one more group of Italian bishops on ad-limina visit. (The rest will be making their ad-limina visits, scheduled over the rest of the year, to the new Pope.)




- Those of you who follow Vatican Insider have probably noticed that there are two stories about reactions in Germany to Benedict XVI's resignation - one completely negative, quoting most of the major German media; the other one, putting a positive gloss without even referring to the negatives.

- There is an interview with Peter Seewald in today's Corriere della Sera which I must translate. Sample question: "Whom did the Pope consult in making this decision?" Answer: "Jesus Christ"

- Paul Badde has a lengthy article in German with analysis and commentary - that will take longer to translate.

Fr. Lombardi's
briefing today
Translated from the Italian service of

February 12, 2013

In a news briefing today, Fr. Federico Lombardi reiterated that Pope Benedict is well and very calm, and did not resign because of illness, but only due to general physical deterioration due to his age.

He also confirmed that the Pope recently underwent a 'routine intervention' to replace the battery on his pacemaker, but he said that had no bearing on the decision at all. (An Italian newspaper reported the Pope had 'undergone heart surgery' three months ago. [I wasn't even aware he was wearing a pacemaker. It was never mentioned even at the time his brother was fitted with one at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, unless he got his later. The English service of Vatican Radio has since published its report on the Lombardi briefing and says that the Pope has had a pacemaker for more than 10 years now..]

Fr. Lombardi confirmed the papal calendar till February 28, Benedict XVI's last day as Pope, which includes in the next two weeks, meetings with Italian bishops on ad limina visit, meetings with the presidents of Romania and Guatemala, and his last Angelus and General Audience.

The last GA, on February 27, will be held in St. Peter's Square because a large influx of pilgrims is expected.

There will be no encyclical on faith. [I hope this is merely reported wrong![

He said to pay attention to what the Pope will be saying in the next few days, starting with the GA tomorrow, as well as at the Ash Wednesday homily in St. Peter's.

He confirmed what was stated in today's issue of L'Osservatore Romano that the Pope's exhaustion after the trip to Cuba and Mexico in March last year was a definitive step in reaching his decision to resign but was not yet final at that time.

He said the presence of the emeritus Pope in Rome should be no problem for his successor. "We all know that Pope Benedict is a person of extreme discretion and propriety. He is not a person one would expect to interfere in any way or cause the least uneasiness for his successor. The problem does not exist even if this is a completely new situation. Rather, his successor will be sustained by the prayers, love and moral support of someone who knows exactly what his job entails."

He did not provide any information about how the emeritus Pope will be addressed or how he will dress once he is back to private life.

He reiterated that the Conclave must begin between 15 to 20 days from the commencement of the ‘Sede vacante’ or Vacant See, (March 1st) and that it is not the Pope who convokes the Cardinals to Rome.

The Vatican’s Office for Protocol, Lombardi revealed, is already studying the constitution and norms governing the Papacy to clarify the state and situation of Benedict XVI once he resigns. What title he will be given, his role within the Church and even the fate of the fisherman’s ring and papal seal. “It’s unchartered territory for us all”, he said.

Fr. Lombardi said that 8 pm Friday was set as the moment of vacating the office simply because Benedict XVI's normal working day ends at 8 p.m. He says his last day as Pope will be like any ordinary day.

Fr. Lombardi thanked the newsmen for their work, and for the respectful and thoughtful comments that appreciated the courage and humility of the Pope's decision, his sense of responsibility, the lucidity of his historic decision, and a sense of understanding of how Benedict XVI is experiencing a decision made before God - the reason, he says, the Pope has been quite serene.

He also said that Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz had not meant to make an unfavorable comparison between John Paul II and Benedict XVI, when he was quoted as saying, "John Paul stayed to the very end, because one does not come down from the Cross".

He provided copies of the full statement made by the Archbishop of Cracow who expressed his love and esteem for Papa Ratzinger. [I am still looking for the text of the statement.]

I might just note that John Paul's cross was imposed by nature, not by malevolent legions as Benedict's is.


Reading about the practical implications on sundry 'details' resulting from the Pope's resignation, two struck me to the heart this morning: The first is that after 8 pm on February 28, he will no longer be prayed for as required in the canon of the Mass = so he needs our prayers more than ever. (And hope that every priest who says Mass silently adds a prayer for him, anyway). The other is that all symbols of his Pontificate used in the daily work routine and liturgy will be taken out or replaced, starting with the Ring of the Fisherman, which is usually smashed to pieces with a hammer in the case of dead Popes.

P.S. That line about the encyclical was not wrong.
Here is what Fr. Lombardi said about it: "The encyclical will not be published by the end of the month - it is not in a state ready for publication. It will remain an awaited document, but we do not know what form it will take". [Obviously no longer a papal document, much less an encyclical, but who cares? Perhaps we will see it before the Year of Faith ends.]


PPS - It turns out John Allen happens to be in Rome at this time, so he was at the Lombardi briefing described above. On his blog today,
ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/qa-benedicts-bombshell
lengthy and gossipy as usual, but he does not add any new data. He does raise all the basic questions about what an ex-Pope will do, etc, that no one is able to answer for now, because there is no precedent for it in modern times, nor for its highly unusual circumstances.

As Fr. Lombardi suggested, we must be attentive to what Benedict XVI himself is able to tell us, in the few occasions left for him to address the faithful. Peter Seewald told the Corriere della Sera that at the time he interviewed the Pope in 2010, he gathered that he had already thought at length about the question of a papal resignation. Which makes sense, as Cardinal Ratzinger must have had at least 3 years to reflect on it and to research it if he could, during the final stages of John Paul II's illness.

One must note that none of the major Vaticanistas - not even Allen or Sandro Magister - has yet published a commentary or analysis on this historic event. And I am thankful to them for that. Because instant judgments will not serve anyone at this point. Those who have declared themselves - and I am limiting myself to the positive declarations I have read (I have not sought out the negative, and have thankfully not stumbled on any, yet) - have not pretended to an exhaustive presentation but more like a reaffirmation of what they had always thought to be the virtues of Benedict XVI and his Pontificate.

Perhaps even more obvious is the 'silence' so far from two major Italian commentators (Antonio Socci in September 2010 and Giuliano Ferrara at the height of the Vatileaks furor last year) who separately advocated, on different occasions and for different reasons, that Benedict XVI should resign - a suggestion that many, including myself, found ridiculous. In my case, primarily because I did not even want to envision the possibility. I'm with Jeff Miller who says he would much rather not have to watch for white smoke from the Sistine Chapel until at least a decade from now.

PPPS -Almost ignored by all the other reports I have seen so far on Fr. Lombardi's briefing today is this news reported by Reuters - minor in comparison to the resignation, certainly but nonetheless, one of those annoying harassments by the Italian banking system on the Vatican:

Banking-card payments allowed
once more at the Vatican


VATICAN CITY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The Vatican has reached an agreement allowing the resumption of debit and credit card payments which Italian banking authorities had blocked within the tiny city state, the Vatican spokesman said on Tuesday.

"Credit card payments in the Vatican city state are once more activated," Father Federico Lombardi told a news briefing.

He said Swiss group Aduno will be responsible for managing the electronic payment services, which are used by millions of tourists and pilgrims visiting museums and shops within the Vatican. [The EPS had been under the management of Deutsche Bank when the block was imposed.]

Italian regulators blocked the use of debit and credit cards last month over concerns about a lack of transparency. [The Italian central bank being holier-than-Moneyval about this!]

I'm numb and heartbroken.
I'm furious at my own selfishness.
I'm humbled by his humility.
In one sense I feel abandoned; in another I'm so happy for him!
He deserves to rest his weary body.
It's been so painful to see him lately - exhausted and slow on his feet.
Yesterday I was scared and lost. Furious, sad, happy, proud, sad, sad and furious....
I'm furious at his homeland which was never able to give him the love and support he was hoping to get.
We let him down in the most efficient way and I'm deeply ashamed for that.
I have NO idea what to think.
I will miss him so terribly!!!



Dearest Heike,

I don't think any of us has been able to think straight or coherently since this news broke, because it all goes back to the fact that he will no longer be Pope after February 28. And yes, what will we all do without our daily dose of B16? It's hard to sort out all the emotions and thoughts elicited by the simple fact that 16 days from now, he will no longer be Pope and we will be starving for news about him. My selfish reaction is counteracted by my deep joy that he has taken a step he 'consulted' God about, that will give him physical rest and renewal, and time to do the things he wanted to do before he became Pope. I shudder to think it may have to include learning a new language, Braille, before his eyesight fails, for what could be worse for a writer and scholar? Fr. Lombardi said he won't be cloistered and will be free to come and go, but does that really mean he can take a walk through Borgo Pio as he used to do? If only for security, he may not be allowed to do that unless they find a way to make him do these things incognito. But what's the point if he can't have contact with regular folk?

For now, in order to function, I have decided I will take in one thing at a time about this subject matter (I can't be in total denial as I still am for that unspeakable man in the White House) and hope to avoid the really hurtful bits (such as what I've read reported about what FAZ, SDZ, Spiegel and even BILD have been saying.

Meanwhile, he will have given us eight years and nine months of sheer joy, delight, pleasure, upliftment, inspiration, and if we get to see or hear little of him in the days to come, it is also a source of joy to look back on the Pontificate which, fortunately, we have for the most part documented to the extent that was possible. And I would much rather not see him debilitated the way John Paul II was in his final years, when I could not bear to watch any video from the Vatican at all, having experienced his vigorous presence in the early years.

That's about the only way I can console myself right now... That and the fact that he has always been capable of surprising everyone, so who knows what surprises are coming our way?... Perhaps the various forums and sites dedicated to Benedict XVI can also reorganize into prayer groups to pray for him, as the cloistered nuns in the Vatican pray exclusively for the Pope, whoever he is...

Now I'm rambling.... But it's good to know one is not alone in having to deal with this internal maelstrom that is, fortunately, not all negative...

TERESA

Ten reasons to give thanks
for Pope Benedict XVI

February 12, 2013

The pontificate of Benedict XVI was full of surprises and on Monday he sprang the greatest one of all. His abdication – the first for almost 600 years – caught even the Vatican unawares. As we struggle to absorb the news, here are 10 reasons to give thanks for his papacy.

His steadfastness: In his inaugural homily Pope Benedict said: “Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.” In 2010 there was a concerted media effort to force his resignation under the cover of the clerical abuse crisis. He held firm and it is only now, in a rare tranquil moment of his papacy, that he has chosen to resign.

His crystal-clear teaching: Even in his abdication Pope Benedict was teaching us. His lesson – that none of us should cling to power – was conveyed with characteristic force and clarity. He has left us with a rich body of teaching, contained not only within his homilies, encyclical and trilogy of books on Jesus, but also in his actions.

His reform of the liturgy: Pope Benedict’s decision to lift restrictions on the older form of the Mass was historic. As well as rescuing the Extraordinary Form from oblivion, he has renewed the celebration of the Ordinary Form of the Mass in our parishes through the new English translation.

His programme of purification: From the Legionaries of Christ to Vatican finances, Benedict XVI has attempted to purify the Church of corruption. This concerted effort has barely registered in the media, but the Church will benefit from it for years to come.

His outreach to Islam: Pope Benedict did not shrink when his Regensburg lecture was violently misunderstood in parts of the Islamic world. While apologising for unintended offence, he stood by his address, which called for an alliance between Catholics and Muslims in our secular age. As a result, Catholic-Islamic dialogue is arguably stronger today than it has ever been. This is a vital achievement on which his successor can build.

His bravery: When Benedict XVI visited Turkey, at a time of intense Islamic anger after the Regensburg address, he refused to wear a bulletproof vest. His abdication showed an equally courageous trust in Providence.

His love of Britain: Benedict XVI felt a special affection for Britain. That is why he visited us in 2010, when so many other nations were tugging at the papal sleeve. He defended conscience in Westminster Hall as eloquently as St Thomas More, broke his own rule to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman and strengthened our resolve to resist aggressive secularism.

His creation of the ordinariate: The ordinariate for groups of former Anglicans is one of Benedict XVI’s greatest legacies. It is remarkable that he was able to create this new structure, bringing thousands of souls into full communion, without irreparably harming relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

His balance: Pope Benedict was, at first, caricatured as an “arch-conservative”. But it soon became clear that he had a daring and supple mind that confounded crude labels. In an age of unbalanced thinking, his thought stood out for its harmony and integrity. With his notion of “the hermeneutic of continuity” he reconciled fidelity to tradition with the creativity needed to meet the challenges of our time.

His humility: Even within the Church it is hard for men to renounce power and status. Pope Benedict has shown remarkable humility in sacrificing his own papal ministry for what he believes is the greater good of the Church. Let’s pray for him, and for his successor, as we have never prayed before.

Benedict XVI is such a total package - he not only has it all, he's done it all - compared to anyone I can think of in the modern era that I am wary of 'lists' about his virtues and his achievements, but nonetheless, they can provide good points for reflection.

Benedict XVI will be seen
as an innovator who helped the Church
keep the faith in a completely new age
Interview with Peter Seewald
by Paolo Lepri
Translated from

February 12, 2013


BERLIN – Peter Seewald has always thought that Benedict XVI would resign if he felt he no longer had the strength to carry out his ministry as Pope.

In fact, it was he who brought up this possibility with the Pope in the book-length interview Light of the World, which resulted from a series of conversations in Castel Gandolfo in the summer of 2010.

“I understood then that he had thought about this at length. And he is a man who does what he thinks and what he says”, said Seewald, the 58-year-old German journalist and author, when this newspaper reached by telephone at his home in Munich.

"His idea of leading the Church,” he says, “has nothing to do with the exercise of power, only with its religious and spiritual dimension. This outlook has been characteristic of him”.

So you would have been one of the first to learn, or at least, to imagine, that this would happen. Who did the Pope consult before taking the decision he announced yesterday?
With Jesus Christ.

How much did his health have to do with this decision?
Benedict XVI cannot be described as ailing from a strictly medical point of view. But he does have the infirmities that are common to a man his age – tiredness, loss of strength. He has a problem seeing with one eye, and he now walks with difficulty. Obviously, he has understood that he cannot go on as Pope this way.

So what will he be doing now?
It’s difficult to say because this has never happened in modern times. He will be a cardinal again. I do not know if he will have anything to do with the next conclave or if he will completely keep his distance. But he will not fail to offer his support and Christian closeness to his successor. However, I think that he may completely retreat to a spiritual dimension. He did not seek this office, to which he has dedicated all his powers as far as he could.

How do you think he will be remembered?
As an innovator, who taught the Church to keep the contents of the faith in a new age. No other Pope has left a legacy of writings that are so important and profound. No one has written such an important work on Jesus. The eight years of his Pontificate have led to a renewal of the Church which today is more internally united.

What are the fundamental characteristics of his personality?
Courage, and the genius to be able to present spirituality in simple ways. He is a person of great authoritativeness but also one who has great lightness. He makes it easy for anyone to talk to him.

His Pontificate will be remembered for having made clear to everyone the centrality of God. This is what will remain, beyond the terrible scandals that have marked his Pontificate. [But the scandals were mostly media-generated, insofar as they had to do with Benedict XVI himself. Media tried to make him the scapegoat for all the cases of sex abuse by priests in the 1960s to the 1990s that only lately have surfaced in countries like Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland. And Vatileaks had nothing substantial by way of 'evil and corruption' that reflected badly on the Pope at all, even if it was the sordid tale of betrayal by a megalomaniacal valet.]

How do you rate his work against the scandal of pedophile priests?
As he said once, it has been an ‘infinite' blow to him. But it will be seen that he had always wanted to confront this problem, even as a cardinal when he realized the extent and gravity of it. He never tried to sweep it under the rug and has considered it the priority to get justice for the victims and to help the victims.

But his governance of the Church has not been easy…
He has had to govern in difficult times. But whenever he decided to do something, he did it. However, he ought to have had more support from within the Vatican and from the Church in Germany.

What are your personal feelings on a day like this?
I am split between sadness and gratitude for all that this Pope has done.

It is remarkable that Benedict the Innovator is also the theme of the following essay by a Church historian who is a regular contributor to L'Oseervatore Romano...

Benedict XVI -
An unacknowledged innovator
by Lucetta Scaraffia
Translated from

February 12, 2013

Whoever has not grasped the innovative significance of the figure and Pontificate of Joseph Ratzinger - and continues to see him and to interpret his words and deeds as proof of his conservatism and rejection of anything new - has now been roundly refuted by his sudden and unforeseen resignation, which is an absolute innovation. In addition to being an extraordinary gesture of humility and love for the Church.

Because Joseph Ratzinger has been a novelty in many ways. There has never been, at least in the last few centuries, a Pope who is also a great intellectual capable of giving new interpretations to the historical moment that the Church is living and to propose courageous ways of intervention by Catholics. [This is the second time I have seen Scaraffia make a statement like this, which is strange and wrong coming from a Church historian. Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul II were all considered great intellectuals (not to mention that John XXIII nor John Paul I were far from intellectual slouches!) - the question is whether they were able to analyze the culture and adapt the Church's ways of evangelization to the culture in which she operates the way Benedict XVI has done.]

In fact, his Pontificate has been characterized by great and prolific intellectial work in seeking to understand the present in order to find new ways to make the Gospel message actual and relevant.

His three books on Jesus constitute a synthesis of faith and reason that allows the reader to encounter Jesus as a consistent historical figure [and what about his divinity?] who is acceptable in the present culture.

But many of his addresses and catecheses also cast new light on the current social and cultural situation with analyses that are dense with significance and rich with proposals about what Catholics can do to affirm themselves and bear witness to Christ.

Without a true understanding of what ails the contemporary world, it is difficult to move in any direction. And that is why he has continually denounced various forms of relativism, why he has continually appealed that faith must always be accompanied by reason in order not to be neutralized by the scientistic world of today.

He has shown a constant will to understand contemporary society and contemporary men. He has been capable of surprising in this respect, as when, at the German Parliament, he praised the opinions and actions of many non-believers who on some delicate issues are more in line with Catholic teaching than some Catholics are.

Starting with choosing the papal name Benedict, he has not tired of indicating the priority of a new evangelization in Europe, a continent that is forgetting or ignoring its Christian roots.

The need for this new evangelization has been such a priority in this Pontificate along with the purification of the Church, a condition that is more than ever necessary to make the Christian message credible.

This theme of purification - which he memorably expressed in the Good Friday meditations of 2005 before became Pope - has to do with the problem that has weighed most heavily on his Pontificate.

Benedict XVI has had to pay for the sins of others, carrying on his back the weight of the pedophile scandals [that mostly took place in the 1960s-1990s] which he had faced courageously as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when John Paul II gave his dicastery the primary responsibility for dealing with accusations from everywhere that were ignored at the diocesan level.

With the same courage and desire for truth, he has continued to denounce, in his addresses to the Curia, the poisonous effects of internal fights involving power and money. This is without a doubt the thorniest and most insidious issue that he has had to face within the Church - a fight that he leaves to his successor as an exigent necessity. [The exhortations have not been limited to the Curia but have in fact been frequently directed to bishops and priests whom he has often asked not to pursue careerism but rather their pastoral ministry.]

With his meek and gentle ways, devoid of charisma as this is commonly and superficially understood, he has shown he is able to speak to the 'crowd' and warm their hearts, renewing faith and enthusiasm in young people and in women, ion the elderly and in priests - everyone who has been to one of his public events have acknowledged and appreciated his uniquely personal style.

But there is no doubt that the most powerful significance of his Pontificate is in his latest gesture - a decision that deeply confirms his extraordinary spiritual stature. And above all, his trust in God, into whose hands he places the destiny of the Church. His trust that the Holy Spirit will make himself felt, as he has in all the conclaves of the 20th century and the 2005 Conclave - breaking up aggrupations and alliances and leading the cardinals to somehow always choose the best man appropriate for the historical moment.

Even if Benedict XVI's unexpected decision may leave the Catholics who love him feeling sad and even somewhat abandoned, we can all join him in looking with hope and trust towards what God has in store for the future of the Church.

Retiring Pope faces
uncharted territory
By NICOLE WINFIELD


VATICAN CITY, Feb. 12 (AP) — For months, construction crews have been renovating a four-story building attached to a monastery on the northern edge of the Vatican gardens where nuns would live for a few years at a time in cloister.

Only a handful of Vatican officials knew it would one day be Pope Benedict XVI's retirement home.

On Tuesday, construction materials littered the front lawn of the house and plastic tubing snaked down from the top floor to a cargo container. The restoration deadline has become even more critical following Benedict's stunning announcement that he will resign Feb. 28 and live his remaining days in prayer.

From a new name to this new home to the awkward reality of having a reigning Pope and a retired one, Benedict is facing uncharted territory as he becomes the first Pontiff in six centuries to retire. The 85-year-old Benedict said Monday he was stepping down because he simply no longer had the strength in mind or body to carry on. [AP has been using this formulation since yesterday, ostensibly based on the English language translation of the resignation declaratio which the Pope had written in Latin. It may be technically right, since the appositive phrase following it reads in the English translation - "strength that I no longer have...' - I don't think anyone who knows Benedict XVI would say he was referring to 'strength of mind' here!]

Although no date for a conclave has been announced, it must begin within 20 days of his Feb. 28 retirement. That means a new Pope will likely be elected by the College of Cardinals by Easter — March 31 this year.

The decision immediately raised questions about what Benedict would be called, where he would live — and how that might affect his successor.

The Vatican's senior communications adviser, Greg Burke, said Tuesday the fact that Benedict had chosen to live in a monastery is significant.

"It is something that he has wanted to do for a while," Burke said. "But I think it also suggests that his role is going to be a very quiet one, and that is important so you don't have a situation of ... two different Popes at the same time, and one influencing the other.

"I think the obvious thing is when he says retirement, it really means retiring," he said.

As for his name, Burke said Benedict would most likely be referred to as "Bishop of Rome, emeritus" as opposed to "Pope Emeritus." The Vatican's spokesman, The Rev. Federico Lombardi, also said Benedict would take some kind of "emeritus" title.

Other Vatican officials said it would probably be up to the next Pope to decide Benedict's new title, and wouldn't exclude that he might still be called "Your Holiness" as a courtesy, much as retired presidents are often referred to as "President." It was not clear whether the retired pope will retain the name Benedict - or revert to being called Joseph Ratzinger again.

Benedict had important unfinished business before his retirement: He has been widely expected to issue his fourth encyclical, concerning faith, before Easter. But Lombardi on Tuesday ruled out that the encyclical would be ready before his retirement.

Already, he was changing his schedule to take into account his new circumstances. He had been scheduled to go to a church on Rome's Aventine hill for the annual Ash Wednesday service this week starting the Church's Lenten season; the service will take place in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome instead.

The official reason given by Lombardi is that a larger space was needed to accommodate the throngs expected to greet the outgoing Pope - but observers suspect the Vatican may also want to spare Benedict from the crowds along the hill.

Immediately after his resignation, Benedict will spend some time at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Albano in the hills south of Rome where he has spent his summer vacations reading and writing. By March, the weather may start to warm up and he should be able to enjoy the gardens and feed the goldfish in a pond near a statue of the Madonna where he often liked to visit.

If he's interested, he can do some star gazing. The Vatican Observatory is located inside the palazzo, complete with a telescope and a world-class collection of meteorites.

Lombardi said Benedict would eventually return to the Vatican and live at a monastery inside the Vatican gardens. Asked if he might like to go somewhere else, Lombardi said the Pope would feel "much safer" inside the Vatican walls.


Left photo, the Mater Ecclesiae residence is the four-story building on the left. Other photos show the location of the monastery relative to the highest point in the Vatican and to St. Peter's Basilica.

The Mater Ecclesiae monastery was built in 1992, on the site of a former residence for the Vatican's gardeners. Pope John Paul II had wanted a residence inside the Vatican walls to host contemplative religious orders, and over the years several different orders would come for spells of a few years, said Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

The last such order of nuns left the residence in October, and renovation work began immediately afterward, Vian told AP. He said Benedict had decided to retire last April after his taxing but exhilarating trip to Mexico and Cuba in March.

"Many people thought they were doing the renovations for new sisters, but it was for the Pope," Vian said. He said only a few people knew of the Pope's plans, yet the secret didn't get out.

"That shows the seriousness and loyalty of the few senior Holy See officials who were aware," he said — a reference to the 2012 scandal over leaked papal documents by the Pope's own butler.

Benedict has visited the monastery, with its own chapel on the grounds, a handful of times over the years.

There's a garden right outside the front door, where nuns living in the residence would tend to the lemon and orange trees and the roses, which are used in liturgical ceremonies or sent as gifts to the Pope. No chemical fertilizers were used, just organic fertilizer sent straight from the gardens at Castel Gandolfo.

A similar Reuters report makes it appear that the emeritus Pope will be occupying the entire four-story building! I think the Press Office should clarify this right away. It must be pointed out that the Vatican built for Cardinal Sodano, after he retired as Secretary of State, an apartment in a building belonging to the Ethiopian College located within the Vatican.

The editors of Avvenire take a deeper look at the epochal significance of Benedict XVI's unprecedented gesture.

The humility and grandeur
of Benedict XVI's decision
by Marco Tarquinio
Editor
Translated from

February 12, 2013

We have been stunned and shaken. We are greatly moved. And it is only natural, Even if the history books say otherwise, it is the first time - in human and in Christian living memory - that a Pope 'has resigned'.

And of course, it is the first time that the world could listen to his announcement 'live' in the Church's ancient language, Latin, and could see the news propagated instantly in all the possible languages of peoples and of modernity.

Benedict XVI has been inviting us for some time, openly and calmly, to consider the Christian and human reasonableness of such a gesture. But it's one thing to consider an eventuality, quite another to actually have to face the event.

Yet here we are. My hand still trembles as I write, not out of fear, but out of an incredulous yet also an already-comforted pain, and of a strange gratitude in search of comfort.

This latest and extraordinarily humble decision of Pope Benedict - to consign himself at the end of this month to a life of service to God and his brothers through silence, hiddenness, and prayer - completes (as it will gradually become ever clearer) the decision with which Joseph Ratzinger, courageous, already aged servant gifted with limpid and profound language, eight years ago accepted his election to the Chair of Peter, bowing to the will of God and the request of the Church, and presenting himself to all of us as 'a humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord'.

And now, in the midst of the Year of Faith, the humility and the grandeur of Peter have been manifested in a carefully matured decision to retire from the scene, in order to pave the way for the election of a new and more vigorous 'servant of the servants of God'.

It is inevitable to turn our thoughts, with similar emotion, to another self-detachment and another great lesson that - it seems just yesterday - were shown in all fullness in the eventually arduous journey and the voice that finally gave out of John Paul II's final years.

Two distinct and complementary faces of evangelical humility have been shown to us in exemplary sequence at the start of the third Christian millennium.

And today, as it was yesterday and always, a 'scandal' and a 'sign' place us before and within an event that touches the spirit of everyone, which marks the history of each of us, which interpellates and prods, in a way that is quite revolutionary, the great community of the Catholic faith, and speaks to every other believer in Jesus of Nazareth.

And so here we are - agitated much more than we would have expected, in these days which have been truly unforeseen. Besieged with questions in a time of harsh challenges and captivating illusions which constitute nagging questions for men of faith and of science.

Here we are, in front of the Cross of Christ, and the teaching of a Pope who has reminded us in the most disarming and engaging ways of our responsibilities and our limitations.

Here we are, with open hands which are not empty. As if something precious had been taken from us and something offered to us in the same gesture.

And perhaps many of us, on this cold day in February in the Year of our Lord 2013, now understand more and better that nothing belongs to us for always, but that if we belong to Him, nothing and no one is taken from us, and everything is given to us.

We are stunned and shaken, yes. And we are extremely moved. The heart will help us to better understand the Pope's decision, and to say to him once again, with trust and hope, 'Thank you'.

Thank you because you have taught us, and will continue to do so with unique intensity and power, the vital link between faith and reason, between the life of men and women in our time and the truth about men and women in all times.

Thank you because once again, Benedict has shown to us who Peter is and how he serves the one Lord.

An epochal gesture
for a turning-point
Benedict XVI's total passion
and total detachment
by Pierangelo Sequeri
Translated from

February 12, 2013

Please be indulgent. For centuries, no theologian has been prepared to comment on the resignation of a Pope. And truth to say, I was totally unprepared for the resignation of this Pope.

His lucid and penetrating mastery of doctrine, his style that is at once so immediate and so un-mediatic, his very sincere exercise of a a ministry of gentleness but of firmness in the faith, had made me so habituated to his spiritual strength, but it also made be unprepared for the greatness of his self-detachment.

But I do sense that the ecclesial passion of his service which now - and rightly so - has been illuminated so sharply, is destined to become an epochal lesson in style for any ministry that involves both power and service in the community of faith.

I will try to muster the words to roughly express what I sense. One is servant, not master, of the Petrine ministry, in the Church and for the Church. And to demonstrate this, it is not necessary for death to occur.

And thus, we, after having received numberless gifts and proofs of his protection of the faith and of his honor, are now witnesses, emotional and stunned, at the gesture of his resignation.

The Christian Joseph Ratzinger, faithful servant of the Church, while still alive, is returning the Petrine ministry to the Church, so that she, by listening to the voice of the Spirit and interpreting the Lord's signs, may assign it to someone who would be the most suitable to instill in her new vigor that will confirm her faith, and be the leader that the Church requires at this time in history.

It is a gesture that is strange to our banal imagination, a sign of responsibility which precedes that detachment from the self that it requires interiorly = in this ministry more than in any other.

But in order to understand this fully, as something beyond just the abnegation of a great spirit, we must understand the lucidity of the action in terms of the present situation of the Church and the world.

This statement from the Pope takes place with respect to a special conjuncture of the faith and the history we are living. Not by chance, Benedict XVI has, with great determination, concentrated the fire of his words in his most recent admonitions on this conjuncture.

He announced his resignation in the full swing of the Year of Faith that he decreed, and after the Bishops' Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization. An epochal gesture to mark a turning-point in the revitalization of the faith. The courageous Pope takes his last step by walking ahead of the Church which must follow him.

How could we possibly see his action with a mere gesture of understanding and perhaps even condescension? Benedict XVI merits - and has earned - infinitely more. The final act of his ministry does honor to the Petrine charism, and must be honored as such. Of course, the very gesture itself has left us staggering and breathless.

But we can also feel that never before have we been exposed like this to the naked faith that the Pope has shown, so that the Church - and the Gospel that has been entrusted to us humans = can make way for new energies and new callings. In order that she may be allowed to demonstrate, in a completely persuasive way, her total passion for the Gospel as well as her total detachment from herself.

From Benedict's gesture, we shall owe - and it will be so for centuries - the Church's rediscovery of this strength that comes from the perfect super-imposition of total passion and total self-detachment.

And what greater thing can a Pope do to convince us to abandon, once and for all, any and all pathetic passions and ambiguous interests that distract us from the Lord's call? We can never forget the way with which he has thrown open for us the doors of a totally disinterested faith to which we must restitute passionate proof of our Christian witness, for the sake of those who have lost sight of the picture.

And we shall have no excuses if, in the face of history, we do not treasure this splendid teaching given us by the voluntary departure of a Pope.

Andrea Tornielli has been 'forced', as it were, to take a stand perhaps before he meant to, because of an unfortunate and widely-reported statement attributed to Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz, saying "John Paul stayed to the very end, because one does not come down from the Cross"... This certainly is not his definitive commentary on the resignation, but I thank him for responding to the Dsiwisz statement so promptly and so strongly.

The Pope is not 'leaving the Cross':
He is acknowledging his frailty and
doing so, relativizes the Papacy
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from the Italian service of

February 12, 2013

The words of John Paul II's former secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz, that John Paul II "did not come from the cross" have appeared - beyond his intentions when he said it - like a resounding negative judgment against the decision of Benedict XVI to resign the Papacy.

Indeed, the Pope freely chose to resign - or had announced that he will formally do so by 8 p.m. on February 28 - because he feels that his strength has deteriorated. He has no apparent specific ailment. Nor can one say that his intellectual capacity has weakened in any way, as we heard from his extemporaneous lectio divina to the seminarians of Rome a few days ago.

Why then is the Pope 'coming down from the Cross'? Is he trying to escape from his responsibilities?

In his homily at the start of his Pontificate, in April 2005, Benedict XVI asked the faithful to pray for him: "Pray for me that I may not feel from the wolves". And in these almost eight years of his Pontificate, there have been more than enough wolves. And the Pope faced all of them with gentleness.

Now he has chosen to leave the Pontificate at a time of calm, after the conclusion of the Vatileaks episode, after having given the Church
iron-clad measures to fight the sexual abuse of children and minors by priests.

Did the Cross of the Pontificate become too heavy for him to carry? It must be so, otherwise the 85-year-old theologian would never have come to such a 'sensational' decision - a precedent in the history of the Church, considering that none of the very few papal resignations that have happened in the two preceding millenia can be comparable to his.

But it is precisely in this that we can see Papa Ratzinger's last great teaching. From the Pope who, in his first address to the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel after his election, said that the Pope should make the light of Christ shine forth, not his.

Everything in these troubled years of his Pontificate has been carried out by him to make the Church understand that the true guide of the Church is not the Pope nor his protagonism nor his heroism as a solitary figure hoisted on a pinnacle and constantly exposed to the pitiless eye of TV cameras. The Church's leader and guide is Jesus, of whom the Pope is 'only' the Vicar.

And this teaching is contained yet again in how he acknowledged his physical and perhaps psychological frailty when he carried out his humble and free act of leaving the Pontificate, which, in a way, 'relativizes' the Pontificate.

The Pope is Pope because he is Bishop of Rome. Bishops are required to submit their resignation when they turn 75 and should become accustomed to being 'emeritus'.

It doesn't happen with the Pope, and it is obvious that an emeritus Pope who moreover, still lives in the Vatican, would be an encumbrance to whoever his successor is.

And yet, despite these issues, in Benedict's request to be forgiven for his faults, and in admitting that it is impossible for him to continue his Petrine ministry as it ought to be carried out, we see an example of great Christian realism: That the ministers who serve the Church are all frail humans. From he who sits on Peter's Chair to the least of priests.

The article seems to be left dangling - and I've checked both the Italian and English versions in the Insider site. The missing thought appears to be that the age rule for bishops should also apply to the Bishop of Rome: This is how Benedict XVI's gesture 'relativizes' the Papacy, in that the Pope should not have the absolute right to hold on to his position until he dies, regardless of whether he continues to be capable or not. I read somewhere else that it was another way by which Benedict XVI would broaden the meaning of collegiality, without weakening the inherent primacy and supremacy of Peter among the bishops.

Here, on the other hand, is what could be a definitive commentary on the B16 Pontificate - and an excellent one even if not as 'comprehensive' as it could be. (But comprehensive in reporting about Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI can get to be encyclopedic fast!_ It starts out with a dead-on analysis of how and why the media have done their best to demonize Benedict XVI and therefore to find nothing positive at all to say about his Pontificate. !

The reluctant Pope
By George Neumayr

February 12, 2013

He served out of duty, not ambition.

On Benedict XVI’s papal coat of arms appears a beast of burden (a bear with a pack-saddle), a symbol of the reluctance and dutifulness with which Benedict served in the Vatican. In fact, he had once [THRICE - every time he racked up another five-year term after his first 10 years in Rome] asked Pope John Paul II if he could leave Rome and return to Germany. But the Pope asked him to stay and continue to serve as the Church’s head of doctrine.

After John Paul II’s death, Benedict emerged as the indispensable man, without the least bit of angling for that role. He didn’t seek the papacy; it simply fell upon him. He had hoped the college of cardinals would select someone else. But his acute intellect, grasp of the Church’s crisis, and closeness to John Paul II made him the obvious choice.

Given this background, his resignation appears more understandable. He entered the papacy humbly and now leaves it humbly. His resignation is a great loss for the Church and the world. He represented the unity of reason and faith at a moment when the world was fast losing both. Between the West’s culture of abortion and the East’s culture of jihad, he stood as the civilizational center for life.

The media verdicts so far on his supposedly inconsequential and failed pontificate have been useless, reflecting nothing more than the progressive prejudices of reporters and pundits. Long after their spiteful articles have yellowed, his encyclicals will be read.

The truth is that they didn’t like him from the start, treating the elevation of a believing Catholic to the papacy as somehow “controversial.” Bill Keller, the former executive editor of the New York Times, once blurted out that “the struggle within the Church is interesting as part of a larger struggle within the human race, between the forces of tolerance and absolutism.”

That is the only prism through which the media ever saw Benedict: he fell on the wrong side of the progressive “struggle” and so became a target for endless media bias.

All the coming coverage of the papal election, sure to be absurdly ill-informed and tedious, will turn on that same standard. Candidates who appear sympathetic to the “forces of tolerance” will receive glowing coverage for weeks while the Church is lectured about the need to “modernize” and avoid a “contentious” Pope.

Modern liberals simply can’t rest until the Church elects a liberal Pope. Hijacking the Church for their own ideological purposes has long been their goal. They dream of a Pope giving his imprimatur to the sexual revolution and socialism. Then at last the “forces of absolutism” will have been defeated!

By absolutism, the Kellers ultimately mean God. That’s the absolute authority they seek to overthrow. They numbered Benedict among their historical enemies for refusing to join them in removing God from religion. He wouldn’t swallow the secularist acids they dish up as “dialogue” and so he had to be dismissed. [i.e., forced out of office.]

But historians decades from now will take his pontificate seriously. It stands as an important step toward the restoration of order and orthodoxy within the Church after many years of scandal and foolishness.

While plenty of dysfunction is still on display, Benedict did what he could to curb it. Contrary to the media’s spinning, he inherited these crises; he didn’t create them.

Indeed, the moments in his Pontificate that the media has worked hardest to try and trivialize and discredit will hold up the best:
- his battles with the “dictatorship of relativism,”
- his promotion of wider use of the traditional Latin Mass,
- his reinstitution of the ban on the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood,
- his historic overture to disaffected Anglicans,
- his voluminous stream of speeches and writings aimed at repairing the catechetical collapse within the Church;
- his insistence on the “non-negotiable” character of the natural moral law in shaping politics and culture.

He threw out an anchor to stop the doctrinal and disciplinary drift within the Church, which future generations will appreciate even if this one doesn’t.

The pressure* on modern Popes, both from outside and inside the Church, to pander to the permissive society is enormous. He resisted that pressure, understanding that if the Church mirrors the morality and philosophy of the world, she becomes just one more force for evil and delusion in it.

He was a reluctant Pope but a conscientious one, whose legacy, like that of his namesake, will be to have scattered seeds of recovery along the dark fields of Europe and the world.


^[GBut very simply, there is no way that a Pope - whose duty is to protect and defend the faith - could ever give way to pressures, external or internal, to 'adapt' the faith to changing times. An adaptable faith is no faith at all. And an adaptable Pope would be derelict to his duty. This are basic principles that seculars (and therefore the media), along with Catholic liberals and dissidents, obstinately fail to see.

Georg Ratzinger on his brother's decision:
'I knew it was coming -
we are all small and mortal'
Interview by Andrea Tarquini
Translated from

February 12, 2013

Berlin – “I have known it was coming for some time, and we had spoken about it. It is a gesture of Christian humility and reminds us that we are all small and mortal.”

Mons. Georg Ratzinger sought to keep back his emotion and his nervousness as we spoke on the telephone.

Padre Georg, how did you react when you learned the news? Were you surprised?
No, because I had known with certainty for some time that the moment of decision would have to come, and that he would know how to face it.

Did you know this or did you assume it?
I knew and I assumed, for many reasons - not the least because I too am old and I have three more years than he has weighing down on me.

Therefore?
And so I know the feeling very well, because I have been experiencing advanced age muself as a time of passage and change. I know how after a certain age, you feel that your strength is diminishing daily, that it is abandoning you little by little.

It is a turning point that changes you within = day after day, it reduces each of your capacities, of the body and of the spirit, capacities that had always accompanied you and which you had considered your day-to-day condition. But in old age, the time comes which makes us face its challenges and forces us to make choices.

What did you think of the decision your brother made, as a man of faith and as a brother?
I look at it very objectively, or at least I try. I had observed for some time how he did not seem to have the strength he used to have, and that this was affecting his will to go on. To the point that he no longer feels he has enough to be able to continue being in the Chair of Peter. At least, not with the energies and the sense of responsibility that he has always felt it dutiful and necessary for the job.

Is it true that his doctors had advised him against making any more long trips?
It is true, His personal physician expressly told him that from here on, he should avoid trans-Atlantic trips or similar long-distance travel because his physical condition no longer allows it.

And is it true that your brother finds it difficult even to walk now?
Yes, for some time now, he has had to come to terms with that.

And so this has been a dramatic internal struggle for him?
Not dramatic – he has not lived it as anything dramatic, But with full awareness that the problem of steadily deteriorating strength would only grow worse with time.

Do you think your brother will return to Bavaria?
No. I think he wants to stay in Rome. I expect to see him soon but that would be when I go to Rome, though I do not have any definite travel plans just now.

Do you think his decision was good or admirable?
It was a conclusion that was merited – this conscious decision he made. It is a way of saying, as a Christian, that we are all small and mortal. .. Let us hope that a new generation of religious persons will be maturing who are able to face the challenges for which elderly people like us no longer have the capcity to find the right answers.

I was frankly surprised at first that Benedict XVI is staying on in Rome, because I had assumed he would go back to Bavaria as he wanted to do back in 2005 after John Paul II died. I think practical reasons have compelled him not to do so, because it would present the Vatican with the logistical problems - and great expense - of having to provide for an ex-Pope living in a foreign country, a problem it has never had to face. On the other hand, it is used to arranging living conditions for emeritus cardinals who live in Rome, and if it was possible to give Cardinal Sodano an apartment in one of the buildings in the Vatican, then it ought to be possible to do that for Cardinal Ratzinger. Within Vatican walls, they do not need special security. I do wonder whether it will be possible for Benedict XVI now to travel to Regensburg the next Feast of All Souls to visit his parents' and sister's graves, or would that cause the same logistical difficulties even if short-term for the Vatican?

I find this brief interview the most compelling and touching 'explanation' if anyone needed it for Benedict XVI's resignation. Georg Ratzinger's description of the qualitative and not just quantitative change in human physiology that comes after a certain age is something no octogenarian has had to describe in public before, because after all, how many octogenarians have stayed on occupying high public position even in our time? The Church can point back to Paul VI who reached 81 and John Paul II who reached 84, but Paul VI died of a heart attack, and John Paul II had spent ten years afflicted with Parkinson's disease with its far worse degenerative effects on the body than simple old age. so neither case was 'typical'.

Benedict XVI has aged before our eyes, though I am guilty of trying to fend off having to acknowledge that as much as I could. At a certain point - that I cannot place - he stopped being the youthful, ageless marvel that he had been for us in the first years of the Pontificate, and to show the normal ravages of age. Better than most octogenarians, true, in terms of his physical appearance, because he remains a very good-looking man.

But because he always seemed to hold up well for the public events that we could watch - other than small signs like an occasional stumble - it was not until the rolling platform came into use that it dawned on me how much we do not see of his actual physical condition by the limited observations we have of him during his public events, and started redoubling my prayers for his health, calling especially on Padre Pio and Blessed John Paul II to intercede for him.

I am not surprised at the revelation that he has had a pacemaker for the past ten years or so, given his known medical history since his stroke in the early 1990s. That he needed a pacemaker at least four years before his older brother got one already tells us something.
Would the cardinals have elected him Pope in 2005 if they had known he was using a pacemaker? I think so, because there was no other viable choice for that historical moment, especially if - as many presume - they thought they were choosing a transitional Pope, someone who could get the Church through the trauma of John Paul II's death and the years of his worsening illness. In the same way that they did not consider his age an impediment for that reason, they would not have thought a pacemaker in this day and age would represent an additional impediment!

So here we are contemplating this infinitely beloved figure who has been such an integral part of my most intimate being for the past eight years that I cannot imagine how I will deal, 15 days from now, with the new reality that I will no longer have virtual contact with or knowledge of what he is doing every day. It is some comfort that he has already left us so much to look back on even in eight short years - not to mention everything that preceded his being Pope - that I can spend as much time looking back on each day of those past eight years, with as much joy and vivid pleasure as I now spend following what he does every day (and the good things written about him). And that does not even include a systematic (preferably chronological) read-through of his major texts, if not all his books. Not to mention a necessary daily online search of any new material about him...

So yes, I will keep being just as occupied with Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI who has enriched my life in every way, far more than anyone ever has, or that I ever thought any person could possibly do. And as I said to Gloria after the announcement came, we must be thankful we are not mourning a death, that heretofore unspeakable eventuality that I had refused to think about at all before this, but for which this constitutes an unexpected preparation.

God willing, without the burden of daily work at age 86 - unthinkable for most people even if it were the simplest job - he will have many more years ahead of him. God always be with you, dearest Benedict. You will always be under his special care even after you are no longer his Vicar on earth, just as for us, you will always be our 'dolce Cristo in terra'.