Pope remembers Benedict XVI’s love and knowledge on anniversary of loss of life, as secretary displays on legacy
VATICAN CITY — Tributes had been paid Sunday on the primary anniversary of the loss of life of Pope Benedict XVI, with Pope Francis praising his love and knowledge and Benedict‘s private secretary expressing hope he might one day be declared a saint.
Benedict, the first pope to retire in six centuries, died last Dec. 31 at the age of 95 in the Vatican monastery where he spent 10 years as a pope emeritus. He is buried in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s Basilica.
Speaking on the finish of his weekly midday blessing, Francis mentioned the devoted really feel “so much love, so much gratitude, so much admiration” for Benedict. He praised the “love and wisdom” with which Benedict guided the church and requested for a spherical of applause from the pilgrims and vacationers gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Earlier within the day, Benedict‘s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, celebrated a special Mass in the basilica and then participated in an anniversary event to reflect on Benedict’s legacy.
Speaking on the sidelines, Gaenswein acknowledged a few of the polemics that surrounded Benedict‘s decade-long retirement alongside Francis within the Vatican, however mentioned they might be forgotten in favor of the substance of his ministry and his remaining phrases: “Lord, I love you.”
History, Gaenswein mentioned, would choose Benedict as a “great theologian, a very simple person and a man of deep faith.”
Francis incessantly praised Benedict’s determination to retire as brave and mentioned he, too, would possibly comply with in his footsteps. But now that Benedict has died, Francis has reaffirmed the papacy is mostly a job for all times, and a consensus has emerged that the unprecedented actuality of getting two popes dwelling facet by facet within the Vatican created issues that should be addressed earlier than any future pope decides to step down.
Benedict, a famous conservative theologian who spent a quarter-century because the Vatican’s doctrine chief, remained a degree of reference for conservatives and traditionalists, who’ve solely elevated their criticism of Francis within the 12 months since he died. Francis, for his half, has appeared now to really feel extra free to impose his progressive imaginative and prescient of a reformed church now he’s not below Benedict‘s shadow.
Gaenswein, whom Francis exiled to his native Germany soon after the death, recalled that Benedict had only expected to live a few months, maybe a year, after his 2013 resignation. Despite his longer-than-expected retirement, Benedict stayed true to his pledge to pray for the church and for his successor, he said.
“I pray that he will be a saint,” Gaenswein said. “I wish he would be a saint, and I’m satisfied he might be a saint.”
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni additionally praised Benedict as “a great man of history and a giant of reason, faith and the positive synthesis between the two.” In a press release, she mentioned his non secular and mental legacy would reside on even amongst nonbelievers due to its “profound civic value” and skill to talk to individuals’s minds and hearts.
