The Bishop of Rome is the successor of St Peter, and as such, Pope of the universal Church. Believers know he has been chosen by the Lord to lead the Church at a given time.
Every Pope brings to the Church his own gifts, personality and vision of how best to preach the gospel. Clearly every Pope also has limitations, but this does not prevent Catholics from listening to and revering him. Sadly, some Catholics have an unhealthy tendency to compare one Pope with another. In faith, in the depths of their hearts, believers know that each Pope is providential for the Church at the time he serves as pontiff.
Coming as he did in between Pope St John Paul II and Pope Francis, two pontiffs very popular with vast segments of the Church, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger), now living a life of prayer and reflection, has often been the subject of unfair comparisons.
The Pope Emeritus granted several long interviews to the German journalist Peter Seewald. This led to the pleasant surprise of a book published last September, entitled Ultime Conversazioni.
Fr Federico Lombardi, under Pope Emeritus Benedict, and until recently, spokesperson of the Holy See, is now president of the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI. He commented on three themes from the book.
Firstly and above all, Pope Emeritus Benedict’s witness of his serene spiritual experience as an old man, on his way to meeting his Creator. He talks about the mystery of God the Father, and Jesus, the focal point of His life. He mentions the great questions he still grapples with – while remaining rooted in the faith.
The Pope Emeritus freely admits he regrets not having done enough for others, but he trusts in God’s faithful love, adding that when he meets God he will ask Him to be lenient and merciful.
The second theme concerns Pope Emeritus’ Benedict’s resignation as Pope in 2013. Benedict has here given a clear and unequivocal reply to all the theories about why he resigned. Pressed by Seewald’s awkward questions, Ratzinger very clearly states that he reached the decision after a lengthy process of discernment, at the end of which he communicated his decision and acted upon it. He stresses that he did not resign because of (imagined) plots or scandals, nor because of pressure put on him, nor was his resignation a cowardly escape from facing difficult issues.
Lombardi notes that the Pope Emeritus, through his decision to resign after prayerful discernment, has set a precedent that future popes may now freely follow.
The third theme we could call Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s ‘intellectual apostolate’ in and for the Church. Ratzinger taught theology, was an expert (peritus) at Vatican Council II, and now states that in his pontificate he wished to make use of a particular strength he knew he possessed: that of proclaiming God and the faith in a positive way, while giving primacy to Scripture.
He placed his books about Jesus of Nazareth at the heart of his mission. As Pope, he did not write them as an aside, a theologian’s pastime, as it were. He considered them his most important service to the Church because “if we no longer know Jesus, it is the end of the Church…” (pages 192-193).
So Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI emerges from this important publication as a wise elderly man who is close to his definitive encounter with the God of mercy.
At the same time, he remains the theologian Pope who passionately loved truth and wrote about the reasonableness of the Christian faith, the Pope who repeatedly called for dialogue between faith and reason, and between faith and science.
He dialogued with non-believers like the philosopher Jürgen Habermas. As Pope he encouraged the setting up of the so-called ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’ for dialogue with people of other persuasions.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has left us a very distinctive contribution for which we should all be very grateful.
Fr Robert Soler is a member of the Society of Jesus.