Lella's blog led me to this touching letter that one of her followers said ought to be copy-furnished to every cardinal... The writer works for the Promotions Department of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce. I doubt that many - or any - in the media would subscribe to his feelings:
Open letter to Benedict XVI
by Ivan Quintavalle
From a group blog in Italian
http://costanzamiriano.com/2013/03/19/lettera-aperta-a-benedetto-xvi/
March 19,2013
Mio dolce Benedetto,
These are strange days, you know. There is a strange atmosphere about.
There is such euphoria - as if the world suddenly has undergone a conversion. Maybe so. I hope so, sincerely. But I find myself unable to rejoice. It doesn't matter, really. But I was trying to understand why not. Last night, I sought to clear out my heart. But not having your saintliness, I cannot live through all this with your serenity of spirit.
In battling my insomnia, I understood the reason behind my sadness, subtle but still sad. The principal reason for my spiritual uneasiness is my ingratitude. Perhaps it is one of the worst failings in human beings, but it is the fault that more than anything else makes me less human.
We are all rejoicing these days for having 'rediscovered' poverty, and yet we no longer think of you who have become, in one sense, the poorest of us all.
You who have chosen solitude and silence, you who do not vaunt your poverty to the world, because you have never wished to advertise your virtues. You simply placed them in the service of all of us and of the Church of Christ. You practised your virtues in such a discreet and non-personalized way so that they did not seem to be yours alone.
But how ungrateful and unloving I was to you all these years!
I questioned your decision to renounce the Pontificate, tempted initially to see it as an act of cowardice. But these days have served to make your greatness shine forth. [But only to a few, it seems!] Indeed, recent events have clarified it but in an invisible way. Just as you, Holiness, have chosen to be hidden.
What greatness, what courage in your decision! No love for oneself, only for Christ and his Church. But we continue to make comparisons. We did so all the time, comparing you with your beloved predecessor, John Paul II, while you were silently writing memorable pages in the Magisterium of the Church.
We are doing so now, while you, with your voluntary absence, are writing what I might call your most beautiful encyclical. On humility.
Today is your name day, my beloved Benedict. I ask you to forgive me for my previous ingratitude, but above all for my lack of faith.
I wish you happy days, and I will try to be a better son to Pope Francis than I ever was for you.
In Christ,
Ivan Quintavalle
