Thank you Pope Benedict XVI

Rome (Italy). On the morning of 31 December 2022, at 9:34 am, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the age of 95, passed away in his residence of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, surrounded by prayers and expressions of closeness from all over the world, even non-Catholic.

In fact, at the Audience on Wednesday 28 December, given the deterioration in health conditions due to advancing age, Pope Francis had asked for “a special prayer” for the “very ill” Pope Emeritus, to ask the Lord for consolation and support, “in this testimony of love for the Church, until the end”.

The Mother General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sr. Chiara Cazzuola, on behalf of all the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in the world, expresses her gratitude to the Lord for the gift of Benedict XVI to the Church:

Today, Pope Benedict XVI has left us to enter the Father’s House and experience the joy of the resurrection.

At a time when the world’s attention is focusing on the figure and work of this great and humble Pope, we too feel the need to remember him to say our thanks to him, for his life, for his unceasing gift made into prayer and intercession for the Church and for humanity, for his luminous testimony.

I remember that I was very struck by what Pope Benedict XVI had said in German, to a group of his compatriots speaking of his election.

“I never thought I would be elected or did I work to make it happen, but I can tell you that when I saw this guillotine approaching, I thought ‘up until now I had believed that my life’s work was over and quieter years awaited me. So, I said to the Lord, God, spare me this; You have younger, better candidates, with more enthusiasm and more strength than me’. But evidently in this situation the Lord was unable to listen to me. In those days what touched my heart was a small missive sent to me by a confrere of the Conclave. He reminded me of my homily delivered at the funeral of my beloved John Paul II. On that occasion I chose to repeat the prayer: If the Lord calls you, be obedient and do not deny it. The confrere reminded me that it was I who had repeated that do not deny it and then I no longer had any other choice and I said yes…”.

A Pope who, on 19 April 2005, as he left the Sistine Chapel, gave a clear definition of himself in an emotional and calm voice, “After the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.” And so simple and humble did he consider himself, despite his apparent seriousness and austerity that hid a heart full of sweetness and disarming kindness, of polite and witty good humor. At the time he had said that he had no “programs”, but that he wanted to “listen, with the whole Church, to the word and will of the Lord.” And so, he did by listening to reality, the needs and desires of humanity, placing himself in an attitude of dialogue and openness in the encounter between culture and theology, valuing all the seeds of goodness of our time. He listened to the will of the Lord expressed in his fragility and left the Chair without hesitation when he felt physically inadequate to bear the weight of the pontificate.

Faced with the evidence of scandals and ecclesiastical careerism, he called on the Church not to be worldly in order to dedicate itself to everyone and be truly open to the world. He proclaimed the Year of Faith, on the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, because he was aware of a spiritual ‘desertification’, which left a void and swept away any reference to God but from which humanity could rediscover the value of what is essential and the ultimate meaning of life.

As Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, we remember Pope Benedict XVI also for the Letter of 21 January 2008 to the diocese and the city of Rome, in which he highlights the educational emergency that dates back to the social crisis caused by cultural and ethical relativism and by the great socio-cultural changes.

His rich magisterium urges us to be lovers of the truth in the Church and as a Church, courageous in openness to dialogue, intrepid in creating unity and paths of peace in the Church and around us.

Pope Benedict had the gift of completing his earthly pilgrimage keeping a clear mind, approaching with fully aware experience those ‘ultimate realities’ about which he had the courage to think and speak about like few others, thanks to the faith received and lived. Both as theologian and as Pope, he had spoken to us about it in a profound, credible, and convincing way. His pages and his words on eschatology, his encyclical on hope remain a gift for the Church on which his silent prayer has placed the seal in the long years of retreat ‘on the mountain’.

As Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, we join Pope Francis in thanking the Lord for having enriched, in the person of the Pope Emeritus, the Church with a Father and Shepherd rich in humanity and a faithful servant of the Word.

The Director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, reported that the funeral will be held on Thursday 5 January 2023, at 9:30 in St. Peter’s Square, presided over by the Holy Father, according to the requests of the Pope Emeritus, that everything be based on simplicity (as he lived).

Joseph Ratzinger, born in Marktl, Germany, on 16 April 1927, was Archbishop of Munich and Freising and was created Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977. On 19 April 2005, with the Conclave following the death of Pope John Paul II, he was elected as 265^th Pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name of Benedict XVI. He carried on the Petrine ministry until 28 February 2013, the day of his resignation, to then retire in prayer to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.