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January 8, 2023: A Tribute to Pope Benedict XVI
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In this week’s column, I offer a tribute to recently deceased Pope Benedict XVI, known in his pre-Pontiff years by his baptismal name of Joseph Ratzinger. As I said last week at a couple of Masses, it’s not every day that a Pope dies. Pope Benedict XVI went home to the Lord on December 31, the vigil of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. It seems from one angle that the former Father, Bishop, and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, called by the Holy Spirit and elected by a conclave to become Pope Benedict XVI, waited until the last day of 2022 before his holy soul left his holy body to go home to the everlasting Holy Land as a way of wanting to complete the year before the angels showed up to carry him to the bosom of Abraham. This can appear as an interesting contradiction, since Pope Benedict was the first Pontiff in centuries to resign the position of Vicar of Christ on Earth, apparently because he felt he lacked the energy to fulfill his duties as Supreme Pontiff of the Church. A move, in my personal opinion, that took a great deal of courage to make. Prior to Benedict’s resignation, a Pope had not resigned in 600 years. Yet, his life was brought by God to the very end of this past year, to the very last day, in a monastery close to the Vatican where this holy and brilliant Pope prayed for Mother Church each and every day since his resignation as Supreme Pontiff, ushering in the papacy of Pope Francis.
While not knowing the personal parts in the life of a Pope, there is basic knowledge of their lives that stands out where all guessing is put aside, and a certain knowledge of their lives is visible for all people to see. For example, we know for sure the many assignments that Fr. Joseph Ratzinger held in the Church from the time of his ordination in 1951. We know he was Germany. There lacks no understanding of what Parishes he served in Germany as a young priest, what religious classes he taught to many people along the way, and when he arrived in Rome under Pope John Paul II as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, a position Cardinal Ratzinger held for much of Pope St. John Paul II’s pontificate. These things we know about his life. We can know what personality traits he possessed as an individual based on those who knew Pope Benedict well. The same for us; those who know us well know what virtues and/or vices define us with a certain level of accuracy. It seems the virtue that defined Pope Benedict with consistency was that of humility, a good central virtue for someone as intellectually gifted and brilliant as he was. But, there remains much we will never know about Pope Benedict, or any of us for that matter, except for God who knows all.
When I think about the amazing life that Pope Benedict was blessed to live, from his early years in Germany to his last decades in Rome, my first thought is that of him being a faithful servant to Christ in his Church. Pope Benedict understood with precision his role as a baptized Catholic, and that of a priest, called to the highest degree of Holy Orders as Supreme Pontiff. In whatever role God called him to in priesthood over his long life, he was first and foremost a humble servant for Christ Jesus in his Church.
As we see nowadays in prominent ways, the first step in which an individual is faithful to Jesus and his Bride, the Church, is through the grace of humility. Pope Benedict, I believe, perfected this virtue in his life. Again, his life was that of a faithful, humble servant. As intelligent as he was, he never looked to somehow change any teachings of Christ, as one too many Catholics waste their time and energy seek to do in present times. He understood his first responsibility as Supreme Pontiff; to preserve the faith of Christ handed down from the Apostles, ensuring it is handed on with accuracy to future generations of Catholics. Pope Benedict understood with perfection and practice that our culture, though powerful and influential, is not a product that decides how we live and breathe our Catholic faith. The society of every nation in our world has some degree of influence, in some cases much too much influence, over how we think and act in our religious lives. At the end of the day, only Christ Jesus and his Church are to hold such influence over our religious hearts and minds. This should be the goal of every Christian as we walk this path to heaven. Quite honestly, as much as I love my country, I continue to strive to be fully centered in the life and death of Jesus Christ above all other influences in this world. I’m all for God and country, but Jesus alone is the One who saves me and will carry me to the real Holy Land. I could see and appreciate this fact in the life and actions of Pope Benedict XVI. He was a humble servant of God’s Church, despite his brilliant mind and seemingly infinite capacity to explain and teach the truths of what Christ has handed on to us through his chosen Apostles.
Another thought concerning the life of Pope Benedict XVI was, as mentioned above, that of his intellectual gifts. I remember when going through seminary after the death of Pope St. John Paul II and the subsequent election of Benedict XVI as Pope in April 2005, that many of us seminarians at the time bantered around the question, “So, which one is smarter, John Paul or Benedict?” This is like asking, “So, who’s holier, Francis of Assisi or Clare of Assisi?” Of course, by this time in 2005, St. John Paul II had written many encyclicals on various topics that have enriched God’s Church for centuries to come, along with his treatise called The Theology of the Body that will continue to be unpacked until Jesus returns. His written legacy is unmatched by few saintly men and women over 20 centuries in the history of the Church. However, interestingly, the majority of seminarians gave a slight edge to Pope Benedict XVI in answering the above question. Fortunately, no scientific proof can show the correct answer. But we do know that seminarians seem to know much more than priests who have been at it for 30 or more years.
The number of books written by Pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger) on varying topics of our Catholic faith and on the life and Person of Christ, is large. I remember our Bishop asking one time about Pope Benedict, “Where does he find the time to write so much?” Good question. Pope Benedict’s prolific writings offered him 30 hours to every day rather than the standard 24 hours we know. Either that, or he never slept. He accomplished in his life a level of spiritual writing that will bring him one day, I believe, to the title Doctor of the Church. Doctors of the Church are not medical doctors, mind you. They are Doctors who expressed in millions of words what it means to be a child of God, a faithful servant to his Son Jesus, and the truest way to arrive safely to the real Holy Land, which, by the way, is through His Church. Pope Benedict’s contribution in writing about our faith is, again, very large. For it is through reading and understanding such brilliant writers who were humble servants of Christ that most of us Christians will come to deepen our own faith. As mentioned at a Mass last week, I invite all in our Parish to consider reading a book written by Pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger) this coming year as a tribute to his humble life. By doing so, one will come to a deeper understanding of our Catholic faith, and do so in a present world attempting to water down/change our Christian faith, or outright steal it from you.
Lastly, what I admire about Pope Benedict’s life, and his last years, was, as already mentioned, his courageous choice to step down from the position of Supreme Pontiff, seemingly for the reason of not having the energy to hold the position needed each day. This has been contrasted with the way Pope John Paul II remained Pontiff until the end of his life, with great suffering and agony his last few years, bringing forth the question, “Why did he not resign like Pope Benedict?” Even Pope Francis has now signed his resignation paper if and when the time arrives he can no longer be as effective as he would like.” Regarding Pope John Paul II, my thought on his not resigning in the midst of great suffering the last few years of his life is best answered as his choice to be a visible witness for carrying one’s Cross, which Jesus commands in the Gospel. Such visible witness is no small matter, for how many of us are presently carrying crosses? We need great lives to be holy examples of the much harder parts of our faith.
Pope Benedict, however, saw it differently, which was God’s way for him. God has many paths to his glory, even through the lives of Popes. What I love about Pope Benedict’s difficult choice he arrived at through intense personal prayer, was him becoming “monastic,” praying for God’s Church in silence and solitude every day after he left the Office of Supreme Pontiff. How I would love to spend the last years of my priestly life in a monastery praying for the good of God’s Church under present worldly circumstances. Yes, I’m a bit envious of Pope Benedict being able to go home to Jesus through this manner of living. But I’m also certain that his prayers in heaven will support God’s Church in greater ways than they could here.
In the end, the life of Pope Benedict XVI was that of a holy, humble, faithful, joyful priest. Not by any means a life of perfection that Blessed Mary knew. Nor was the life of any other Pope. Heck, St. Peter denied the Lord 3 times. But the life of Pope Benedict was that of an honest, true servant of Christ Jesus and his Church. If someone tell you otherwise, ignore them. Especially the media. May we grow our faith through his extensive writings, allowing the same Spirit Who worked through Benedict’s pen to work on us who continue on this journey. May Pope Benedict XVI rest in peace, and may he pray for us.