BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

The meeting in Castel Gandolfo:
What the media do not see
Translated from

March 24, 2013

It certainly is not an everyday event to see two Popes converse, pray and lunch together fraternally. Indeed, it is definitely a unique event, even If only one of the two is the actual Pope - the other was, and is now emeritus Pope.

But above all, it is not usual t see a unity so profound, and it is almost impossible to find two men - called to such supreme ministry - who have lived and are living through that responsibility, placing themselves completely in the background with respect to him whom they both love, he to whom the Church belongs ("The Church is not ours, it belongs to Christ" was one of the last thoughts left to us by Benedict XVI when he explained his decision to renounce the Pontificate.

Nonetheless, it was predictable that the meeting in Castel Gandolfo between Pope Francis and Benedict XVI would set off a media babble with an unseemly and improper focus on so-called secret dossiers (no one will simply say 'documents') that the emeritus Pope was turning over to the Pope, despite an official denial that this was the case. [An official denial that was unnecessary, especially since the next day, a white document box was clearly on the table between the two protagonists in the photos released of their private meeting in the library in Castel Gandolfo. Besides, what would be wrong if Benedict XVI did turn over documents and even notes that he might consider useful for the new Pope? He already said weeks ago that he would turn over the cardinals; report on Vatileaks and the Curia to his successor.]

In the media, very few grasped - or even paid attention to - the spiritual dimension of this unique meeting between two men of God, preferring instead to discuss all the 'incidentals' - questions about the Curia, the cardinals' report, the issue of both living in the Vatican, the changes the new Pope will make in the Curia...

But that's the way the media are, in general. They are absolutely not 'Christian'. But they are 'clerical' - and how! Namely, often hostile to Catholicism and the Church, but crazed in their obsession with the Roman Curia and any gossip in and about the Curia.

This has been seen these weeks in the oceanic quantity of articles, transmissions and online posts dedicated to the renunciation of Benedict XVI, the election of his successor, and all the presumed behind-the-scenes happenings, every imaginable insinuation, gossip tidbit or banality peddled as 'scoops'.

All this flood of 'information' does not mean attention for the Church. Indeed, MSM are almost universally indifferent to what the Popes teach, to true spiritual content, and most of all, to that extraordinary submerged world, unseen by the cameras and unreported by anyone, which are the Christian communities where the teachings of the Church are welcomed and accepted, where the faithful experience their faith in friendship with Jesus Christ, and for not a few, often in a daily dimension of holiness.

It is the 'curias' or Church hierarchies that interest the media, not Christians, much less saints. As Charles Peguy once observed, "clerical curias' and 'anti-clerical curias' share a common horizon - which is that of politics and power.
[The dictionary definition of clericalism, in fact, is "a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy" or, more clearly, "a policy of supporting the power and influence of the clergy in political or secular matters".]

Paradoxically, among those whom one might cite as completely 'non-clerical' are Joseph Ratzinger and Jorge Bergoglio. Both of them, all their life, have shown profound and absolute disinterest for hierarchy, for power, for 'roles'. As priests, they have only wanted to 'serve' in order to bring Christ's salvation, and therefore, true happiness, to all men.

Benedict XVI's luminous catecheses and homilies marvelously express the 'secret' of this two men of God.

I remember two distinctly from his last months as Pope: "Never place 'I' in place of God" (Beautifully put in Italian, where it reads 'l'io nel posto di Dio') - which is exactly what Papa Bergoglio meant when he denounced 'worldliness' and self-referentiality within the Church.

Then there was Benedict XVI's homily at the feast of the Immaculate Conception last December. To reread those words today is surprising, because they seem to be the most perfect interpretation of all the gestures by Pope Francis since his election that have been widely hailed and praised.

Pope Benedict, thinking of Mary - who was the humblest as well as the most elevated of all human creatures - called attention to the poor people of God, all those who are undergoing personal trials or live at the margins of society, who feel unheard or irrelevant in history because the media are never interested in them.

Benedict underscored this about the Annunciation (which was the Gospel for the day): "This moment crucial to humanity’s destiny, the moment in which God was made man, is shrouded in deep silence. The encounter between the divine messenger and the Immaculate Virgin takes place completely unnoticed; nobody knows and nobody talks about it. It is an event which, were it to happen in our time, would leave no trace in the newspapers and magazines, because it is a mystery that happens in silence. What is truly great often goes unnoticed..."

And then, he said: "The world’s salvation is not the work of human beings — of science, of technology, of an ideology — but it comes from Grace... Mary is called “full of grace” (Lk 1:28) and with her specific identity, she reminds us of God’s primacy in our life and in the history of the world, she reminds us that the power of God’s love is stronger than evil..."

Pope Benedict adds another pearl which is similar to what Francis said at his first Angelus remarks, that God forgive all and forgives always: "Mary tells us that however low man may fall it is never too low for God, who descended even into hell; however far astray our heart may have gone, God is always “greater than our hearts” (1 Jn 3:20). The gentle breath of Grace can dispel the darkest cloud and can make life beautiful and rich in meaning even in the most inhuman situations.“

The following day, which was a Sunday, Benedict at his Angelus remarks spoke again of the "the great event, the birth of Christ, which his contemporaries did not even notice... For God the great figures of history serve as a frame for the lowly!"

It almost seems as if Pope Francis has been trying to show every day the truths that Pope Benedict amply announced [and which he lived himself!] during his Pontificate.

Morever, Francis, in addressing the diplomatic corps to the Holy See for the first time, explicitly recalled the condemnation of the 'dictatorship of relativism' made by his predecessor (but it must be noted that many news reports about the speech failed to mention this).

Therefore, the profound unity between these two men is evident. Especially since Pope Francis's exhortations find a marvelous example not just in his own life but in the life of Benedict XVI.

The latter's very renunciation of the Pontificate showed a truly Franciscan detachment from earthly things - and it is the example of humility that can be cited and followed by those who would heed Pope Francis's call to abandon even 'spiritual worldliness'. [It was very striking when news reports made much of this phrase used by the Pope, that practically no one recalled Benedict's emphatic exhortations to the Catholics of Germany during his state visit in 2011 for Entweltlichung, that very descriptive German word which means 'getting rid of all worldliness', saying attention must be given first to personal renewal and purification rather than being exclusively obsessed with structures in the Church.]

Indeed, both these men of God see in the saint of Assisi a way towards a luminous future for the Church. In a book he wrote years ago as cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger referred to St. Francis, saying that though in his time, he was considered simplex and illiteratus, he knew more about God than all the educated men of his time because he loved him more".

So we have two men with different biographies and temperaments as different as a piano from a violin, who nonetheless play the music of the same great and beautiful divine work in perfect harmony, one that is enchanting.

As enchanting as the Madonna of Humility that Pope Francis gave to his predecessor, Mary whose protection embraces both men, who are privileged witnesses to Christ in our time as his Vicar on earth, past and present.


My addendum: Of course, the story is well-known by now that the icon was, in fact, a gift to Pope Francis from Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, presented to him on March 20 by Metropolitan Hilarion, who represented Kirill at the inauguration:

A report from the Moscow Patriarchate's foreign relations department referred to the icon as "Our Lady, Support of the Humble". And Metropolitan Hilarion is quoted as telling Pope Francis when presenting it, "The first steps of Your Holiness after being elected were marked with humility," to which the Pope said in response, "I have no humility and I'm asking you to pray that God gives it to me."

In presenting the icon later to Benedict XVI, Pope Francis said: "The icon is called Our Lady of Humility and I will take the liberty to say just one thing: I thought of you, being so humble as Pope."